Date Lab

7 p.m. | Buck's Fishing and Camping | Upper Northwest

Alejandra: I tend to be a stilettos girl, so I wore a pencil skirt, a black shirt and Manolo Blahniks. They're my favorite shoes. I got there first, and the hostess brought Alfredo over not long after. My instant reaction: He's definitely not my type. I'm attracted to taller, broader guys. He was small and compact. He looked like my brother.

Alfredo: She was okay. She had a nice smile. But she was heavier than I thought she'd be. And she was really dressed up. It was a bit too much for a first date, a bit flashy.

Alejandra: When we got our menus, he said we shouldn't order appetizers because he'd heard the portions were large. He kept talking about how he couldn't finish it and how much Americans eat. I'm the kind of person who likes to sit and enjoy a meal, and he wasn't into that.

Alfredo: I'm a nutritional writer, so a lot of my stories are about portion sizes. Especially when dealing with immigrants who gain weight because of the way Americans eat. It's something I notice.

Alejandra: The conversation flowed, but it wasn't very rich. It was more like, "What did you do today?" He seemed evasive and guarded. For instance, I said I was a Web editor. And he said, "Oh, so we're both journalists." So I asked him where he worked, and he said, "Oh, nowhere, just a small publication." He didn't volunteer much information at all.

Alfredo: I was trying to keep it simple, very basic first date etiquette. She was intelligent. And I really dug that she spent a year in Italy in culinary school. But we were both curious as to why we'd be set up. We didn't mesh at all. We're journalists from the East Coast and Latino, and those were the things we talked about. It didn't go much further than that.

Alejandra: He kept checking his phone under the table. At two points during the date, he ran to the bathroom, and as he was getting up, he'd have his hand on his pocket. I mean, just say you're going to make a call. I thought that was rude and kind of shady. He was also sending text messages underneath the table. It's a beautiful, dark restaurant, and his lap was glowing because he had his phone open.

Alfredo: I was texting with a friend of mine who was just coming into town. He was flying in from Ireland. I didn't know if he was up for meeting that night. I was hoping Alejandra didn't catch me, but I guess she did.

Alejandra: After dinner, we walked outside. I hailed a cab and was going to just jump in, but he hugged me goodbye. Nobody made a move to get a number or e-mail or anything. And when I turned around as we were pulling away, he had his phone out again. Dinner wasn't unpleasant, but I definitely wouldn't want to go out with him again. I don't even have that impulse to hang out as friends. I'd give the date a 3.

Alfredo: I'd give the date a 3. I'm not at all interested in seeing her again.

Interviews by Kelly DiNardo