In 2026, singles are getting creative.
“Me and my friends were actually thinking of coming to happy hour in about an hour, and I just wanted to ask if there were, like, any cute guys there?” one girl asks a local restaurant in a video with more than 7.4 million views. “Normalize calling the restaurant to see if there’s any cute guys there,” she wrote over the video.
Others have called coffee shops and bars asking the same question. “NYC dating is hard ya know,” one creator captioned a video calling a West Village restaurant asking if there are any cute guys there. “When Hinge isn’t working so you have to call the bars,” another creator wrote over a video of her friend calling a bar in Vancouver that racked up 1.5 million views.
While some of the
videos are intended for comedic purposes, it’s a reflection of the state of dating that young people are increasingly looking to meet offline. As young people report burnout from dating apps, they’re increasingly nostalgic for the “meet cutes” they heard about from their parents’ generation or watched happen in 2000s rom coms.
“The proliferation of dating apps and now AI-optimizing the dating process has made romance very transactional,” Amy Chan, a dating coach and the author of"Unsingle: How to Date Smarter and Create Love that Lasts" previously told USA TODAY. “The ‘meet cute’ is the antithesis of that. It injects magic and serendipity into the equation.”
What’s behind the search for a ‘meet cute’?
“This is genius,” one person commented on a video of women calling a bar. “Honestly I like the idea of getting a bartender to play secret matchmaker for me,” wrote another.
It’s one of the more creative ways young people are going about searching for in-person opportunities to meet people. There are the influencers who have posted about wearing “I’m Single” hats and “Looking for my future husband” shirts with a QR code. Others have embraced Victorian-era acquaintance cards, viral matchmaking booths and pitch-a-friend style dating events.
There are live comedydating shows likeUpDating andWhere There’s a Will There’s a Way, the dating event seriesMet Through Friends, which hosts a plus-one party for which each guest must bring a single friend of the opposite sex, and groups like Hot and Social, a company that organizes in-person gatherings for people in their late 20s to 40s to meet.
Eventbrite found a 117% increase in U.S. events using “meet cute” language in the first half of 2026, with attendance up 128% from the same period last year.
There’s definitely an interest among young people to get off apps and meet in person. They have app fatigue.
“Constantly swiping and meeting strangers from dating apps are proving to be a recipe for disappointment and dating horror stories,” Chan previously told USA TODAY. “Meeting someone in person removes a lot of the barriers that are baked into app dating.
Young people’s dating app burnout
More than half of adults under 30 report having used dating apps like Tinder, Match, Bumble and Hinge, according to 2023 data fromPew Research.
Chan previously told USA TODAY that the “short-form, swipe-heavy nature of modern dating culture” complicates dating. She said the paradox of choice on apps fosters a “shopping cart mentality” where daters evaluate users as if they were products.
That algorithmic loop can be exhausting, and aForbes Health survey found that 79% of Gen Zers report burnout from apps.
With horror stories and red flags amplified on social media, Chan told USA TODAY that trust levels are also lower than ever.
And apps are responding — Tinder in March launched an events tab in select markets. In NYC, 66% of Gen Z users have engaged with the feature, according to Global Chief Marketing Officer Melissa Hobley. A wave of new apps like Cerca and Frnds of Frnds have popped up with the premise of connecting users through mutual friends.
“For most of human history, you met people through friends, community, work, school, and there were social consequences if you behaved poorly,” Chan said. “The apps removed that, and now it seems like the market demand is putting it back in.”
What modern dating trends say about Gen Z
Gen Z’s dating style reflects a deeper trend of risk aversion — young people are alsodrinking less andhaving less sex. While those things can be positive, they’re also indicators that some Gen Zers are socially isolated. Much of Gen Z missed out on pivotal years in the classroom or office during the pandemic, impacting their ability to socialize.
“If you’re not really forced to be in these social situations and lack the social skills, the path of least resistance is to avoid,” Chan said. “It’s easy to stay home, play video games, watch porn, even get an AI girlfriend to give temporary hits of dopamine and a false sense of intimacy.”
A nationwide reckoning with the #MeToo Movement, evolving gender roles in the home and workplace, the rise of viral, online cancel culture and steep political polarization have reshaped the social norms around how men and women engage. Young people are less likely to approach others in person romantically, according to Chan, primarily due to fear of rejection or being perceived as intrusive.
All of these elements have made the "meet cute" appealing. Chan called it the “analog version of romance.”
“This generation never got to experience dating before app culture, doom scrolling and social media,”Chan told USA TODAY. “They’re not longing for something they lost, they’re longing for an idea of something — something that must have been better than what their current reality is.”
Rachel Hale’s role covering Youth Mental Health at USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Reach her at rhale@usatoday.com and@rachelleighhale on X.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Forget dating apps. Young people are cold-calling restaurants to find a date
