Wines & Prologues

Since I was little, I’ve always been told to stay away from strangers, but now that I’m an adult, I’ve become more of a rebel, and did just that during my Cebu trip. (teehee!)

So, let me tell you about my experience having dinner with complete strangers in as vividly as I could remember it—and the story goes…

Once upon an afternoon after I was told that I will be sent to Cebu for a 3-day workshop, one of the things I immediately checked was how far or near was I to places that I haven’t been to yet. THEN when I saw that I will be travelling Tuesday, I remembered Timeleft.

Yes, Timeleft app—an app which matches you with 4-5 other people for a blind dinner. Don’t get me wrong, this is NOT a matchmaking app or is it a dating app. I find it to be more of a friend-making app. A good way for you to make friends with people that you may or may not even come across with and sit down for dinner and chat on a normal day.

Now, if you are here reading this post, I am 101% sure that you’ve come across Timeleft, got curious, but doubting if it’s safe, or not, to go. First and foremost, I want to make it clear that this is not a sponsored post, and what I’m writing about is purely my own experience in the 3 hours that I was in this restaurant with my other dinnermates.

The reason I emphasized not being sponsored right off the bat was because I’ve been in your position. I’ve searched for the safety of this app and only saw sponsored videos and posts. The only post that got me semi-convinced that this is safe was a reddit one asking if anyone had used Timeleft in Cebu. It only had 3 answers and only one said it was okay, with the others saying they haven’t used it because of safety concerns too.

Not so reassuring, I know, so imagine my anxiety that day. I have always been a risk taker, but as I was waiting in traffic, I kept thinking what if I arrive and it’s a scam? Or worst, I got kidnapped? (Okay, the being kidnapped part is an exxageration, but everything is possible, right?)

Anyway, if the same thing’s running through your mind, I got you, my love. (*wink, wink)

So, as I’ve mentioned, Timeleft is more about socialization rather than matchmaking. When I booked a dinner—which only happens every Wednesday of the month—I was only given a confirmation and nothing more. No names, photos, or even age. Nada. Just these would be available for me to know.

I booked the dinner a week before my trip, so, waiting for the date that I could find out about the group was a mixture of excitement and anxiety.

Tuesday, May 20, was the day I was travelling so believe me when I say that I couldn’t stop looking at my watch for 7pm.

Oh! Before I continue, there a fee of Php500 if you’re going to book for one dinner only, like I did mine. But cheaper options are available if you opt to pay for longer periods.

Fast forward to Tuesday, past 7pm, because I was having dinner and forgot the time, the list of group was announced.

I had a to do a little computation of what’s what to have a gist of how many Filipinos would be at the dinner and if I was already one of those or if these are purely my dinnermates. Turned out, I was already one of the Filipinos that belonged in the 67%. Sadly, the one from Cameroon cancelled last minute.

Now, as a naturally curious girlie, this has gotten me super curious. The anxiety is still there since we might end up at a restaurant that’s far away from where I stayed.

The next day, D-day, Wednesday, morning, there was an update on the app showing the restaurant.

The first thing I did was look for it on Google Maps to see how far it would be for me and then looked at the street, ’cause again, safety first. When I saw that it was 15-20mins away from my hotel, plus considering traffic, I planned to leave my hotel at 6:30pm. Next, I checked out the restaurant’s page. The Instagram and FB accounts made me breathe a little. To me, seeing these accounts and knowing the company reassured me, that maybe this is, in fact, safe.

Sorry, my overthinking, overanalyzing, anxious, self is very fidgety. Better safe that sorry, right?

Fast forward to Wednesday night. What happened? What’s the overall experience? Hmm…

If I have to rate it, it would be 4.5/5⭐ as a first time experience.

On my way to the place, a notification popped from the app informing me that two of my dinnermates would be late. So, I ended up texting my friend who I told about the dinner that I might end up eating alone.

When I got in the place, I asked a staff, if there’s any table for Timeleft and she smiled and said yes, then she guided me to a staircase leading to their second floor where another staff led me to the table.

The table was enough for 6 people, but there were only 4 of us there.

2 of my dinnermates, Anthony and Gibz, already had their first Timeleft dinner, Anthony in Cebu and Gibz in BGC, if I remember correctly. And our 3rd, Alvin, was someone who we called a ‘seasoned Timelefter’, because he travels a lot and have already attended atleast 20 Timeleft dinners.

Matter of fact, he stayed in Cebu for another night just so he could attend a dinner there. We didn’t get to play the games suggested in the app though, because the conversation was already flowing.

So now, that we’re almost at the end of my story, you might be wondering how I got paired with these people and why we vibed? The questionnaires we answered when we signed up was what the algorithm considered. Simple, right?

And if you’re wondering how my dinnermates were, we’ll as I’ve mentioned, dinner was great! Gibz offered to wait with me as I book a Grab back to my hotel. As of writing, I’m still in contact with Anthony and Gibz. We had plans to meet if we’re ever in each other’s area—if that’s not a great takeaway from this Timeleft dinner, I don’t know what is.

BUT BEFORE I END THIS POST, MY LOVELY READERS, THERE’S A COUPLE OF THINGS THAT I WANT YOU TO TAKE IN MIND.

1. SAFETY FIRST. Tell your friends about your dinner. Although I have a pretty positive first Timeleft dinner, and that the app’s algorithm would pair you to similar minded people, we all know that we can’t predict people’s behaviors in reality.
2. RESEARCH. RESEARCH. RESEARCH. When you get the other details for the dinner, read about the restaurant beforehand so you’d know what to expect. If they have a menu online, great. The restaurant we went to gave us individual bills, which my dinnermates said was great because then we don’t have to bother transferring money around.
3. SHARE YOUR LOCATION. I shared my grab location on my way to the restaurant and on my way back to the hotel to my friend, and even the location of the restaurant.
4. BE OPEN-MINDED IN A LOT OF THINGS. In who you’re going to meet, what kind of restaurant you’d be assigned to, the food, the conversations, and probably a lot more.
5. HAVE CLEAR COMMUNICATION. I say this because sometimes when the mood’s great, we tend to go with the flow of things. As far as I’ve learned from Gibz and Alvin in the previous dinners they’ve been to in other places, there’s usually an after-dinner drinking where all the Timeleft-ers in gather in one area and it turns into a whole new socialization thing. This is not mandatory. You can decline if you don’t want to go.
6. HAVE FUN! You’re meeting people who could be future friends, so be yourself and have lots of fun.

At the end of the dinner, you’d be given a chance to evaluate your dinnermates. It’s possible to have dinner with them again in the future, but if they’re a bit rude, you can always report. This will let the people behind the app not to match you guys again for dinner, or take matters in their own hands.

For other tips and do’s and don’ts, you can check out Timeleft’s website. You can book via their website, or you can download their app.

WOULD I WANT TO BOOK A DINNER AGAIN? Yes. Absolutely.

If you’ve made it here at the end, the fin, of my storytelling, thank you so much! I thrive on listening to other people’s story too, so if you’re a seasoned Timelefter. like Alvin, or a newbie like me, I’d love to hear from you. Let’s share our stories on the comment section for others who want to try to app too.