Blind Date: 28-year-old real estate guy and 23-year-old paralegal eat three hour dinner, swap numbers

Our Blind Date series is proudly presented by Emerson Joseph, Charlotte’s premier men’s grooming lounge in Uptown. Get date-ready with a haircut, straight-razor shave and shoe shine.

How does Blind Date work: Charlotteans fill out this Agenda Blind Date Survey about their make-or-breaks, their ideal types and their perfect dates. Then the Agenda plays matchmaker by sending couples out on blind dates. Below are the results. Want the chance to get matched? Fill out the survey!

I promised our couple total anonymity in exchange for candid post-date interviews so I could give you an article free of  “The date was a 5/5! We won’t see each other again though because we had no chemistry.”

Meet Matt and Megan.

Matt is a 28-year-old in the real estate business. He’s into fitness activities like Orange Theory and FlyWheel, plus checking out the breweries in town. His friends would describe him as someone with “subtle wit with occasionally terrible jokes.” Fun fact: he also watches The Bachelor and cites JoJo as one of his favorites.

Megan is a 23-year-old paralegal. She’s into trying new workouts and new restaurants, as well as going to concerts. Her friends would describe her as “nerdy, goofy, driven, a good musician, and someone who loves to travel.”

While I won’t reveal the full details of the date, these two had both mentioned wanting to try a restaurant in town that had just opened. Your wish is my command, guys. Here’s how the date went:

How would you describe the Charlotte dating scene?

Matt: It’s like any other big city. It’s all what you make it. I’m sure there’s a sightly different dating scene from one city to another, but at the end of the day it’s a big city, there are tons of people out there and you’re either meeting them or you’re not.

Megan: It feels like there are a lot more eligible women than men. I feel like the men aren’t ready to settle down and think they can be party animals until they’re ready to settle down when they’re 40 or 50 and the women will just be there. I don’t get it. And I feel like the men are threatened by women who have their act together.

How do you find dates?

Matt: Dating apps. I wish I did it more organically though.

Megan: I’ve been on the dating apps on and off, it just depends on my mood. I’ve gone on handfuls of dates on Hinge and Bumble, but I don’t get on very often because it takes a lot of effort and it’s hard for me to connect with someone if I haven’t met them in person. Sometimes a friend sets me up. Not really the bar scene.

How did you feel leading up to the first date?

Matt: Not nervous at all.

Megan: I felt fine with it. I think I can talk to anyone without too much trouble. I can find something in common.

What was your first impression of your date?

Matt: She seemed normal, in a good way. I liked her glasses, she kind of gave the vibe of a cute but smart and trendy look. Our conversation felt easy off the bat, and from there it was pretty smooth sailing.

Megan: He was already there, I was probably like three minutes late trying to find parking and I hate it when people are late, but I was happy he was there on time. He looked put-together and like somebody I would go for.

What was the date like?

Matt: Right at the beginning we immediately hit it off. I felt like we were having an engaging conversation. It wasn’t a lot of generic, “Hey, where are you from?” Obviously we covered all of that, but I definitely enjoyed talking to her. I could tell she was very smart and driven and had passions.  I enjoyed the conversation. Also, we were sitting and she got up to go to the bathroom and immediately these two girls, probably in their twenties maybe early thirties, leaned over and asked, “Are you on the Axios Charlotte blind date?” I was like, “What!? Yes!”

Megan: We were there for three hours just talking about pretty much everything. Podcasts, music, our jobs, where we lived and all that. The conversation was easy-flowing. It was loud there so it was hard to hear so we both had to repeat ourselves a lot, but other than that everything was smooth. There were two girls beside us, when I went to the restroom they asked if we were on the Axios Charlotte blind date. I thought that was so funny. We definitely mentioned Agenda a couple times because we both read it, but I thought that was funny.

On a scale of 1-10, rate your date’s personality:

Matt: 8

Megan: 8

On a scale of 1-10, rate your conversation:

Matt: 8 or a 9

Megan: 8

On a scale of 1-10, rate your chemistry:

Matt: 6 or 7

Megan: 7

On a scale of 1-10, rate the date overall:

Matt: 8

Megan: 9

So, how did you leave it?

Matt: We left the date being like, “Hey, let’s go on a second date.” I don’t know if and when that’s actually going to happen, but I could see us going on a second date.

Megan: He got my number that night before we parted ways. We went to get ice cream after, too. We texted a little bit about podcasts and music. I would go out with him again. We haven’t talked much since then, but I would go out with him again.