So, What Even Is TimeLeft?

TimeLeft is a social dining event where you sign up to have dinner with a group of strangers. It’s kind of like speed dating, but instead of romance, the goal is just to have interesting conversations and meet new people. You book a seat at a table, show up, and chat with whoever is there. There’s no set agenda, it’s just food, conversation, and a chance to step outside your social comfort zone. Think of it as a dinner party where no one knows each other — until they do.

Photo by Papaioannou Kostas on Unsplash

How I Ended Up There

A friend of ours had mentioned TimeLeft to Alex this past weekend in conversation and, naturally, he was intrigued. He told me about it and thought “what the heck, let’s give it a shot!” The concept sounded like a mix of thrilling and awkward, which, in my book, is usually fertile grounds for an interesting night. So, we both booked a spot for the next upcoming night here in Honolulu, Hawai’i — fingers crossed we would be placed in different restaurants, or at least different tables — because why not dive headfirst into the experiment? We showed up with open minds and mildly skeptical expectations, but spoiler alert: it was actually fun!

The Experience Itself

After signing up for TimeLeft, you choose a date, location, and language before booking a seat at a mystery table. As the event nears, you gradually receive details about where to go and a high-level overview of your group, including nationality and field of work. On the day of the event, you check-in through the app, get assigned your table, and take your seat with a group of strangers. Conversation is intended to kick off naturally from there, but if crickets start chirping, there’s an in-app icebreaker with question cards to help things along. The setup is simple but makes for a pretty unique social experience.

Our dinner took place at O’Kims, a Korean fusion spot in Honolulu’s Chinatown. Alex and I had luckily been sat at separate tables as we’d hoped, at least initially — more on that in a second. I was pleased to find myself seated with a diverse group of five from across the U.S., though one person never showed. The mix of personalities made for an overall lighthearted and balanced dynamic. Though I’ll admit, I was surprised to find that four out of the five of us who showed up were all guys — I had suspected it might be more women-heavy. But boy (no pun intended), was I wrong! The one woman who did show up reported that she had tried TimeLeft once before, however, and the turn out was five women and two men on that occasion. I guess it’s just the luck of the draw? About halfway through dinner, Alex’s table, having only surmounted to be just him and one other guy, ended up merging with mine, bringing our group to seven — making the sausage fest only that much bigger (poor girl). While nothing particularly wild or dramatic happened, everyone was very friendly and well-mannered, conversation flowed easily, and the experience felt seamless — just a casual, enjoyable night of meeting new people.

Thoughts & Suggestions

For something that involved meeting total strangers over dinner, it was surprisingly pleasant — especially given my post-pandemic proclivities toward hermitism. The conversation flowed with only a few brief stagnations followed by a quick recovery. The vibe felt relaxed, not forced. That said, I have a few thoughts on how it could be improved:

• Better table matching? Maybe a more robust personality and interest quiz beforehand would help improve your matches. I can’t truly complain about the group I was sat with, they were all cool people — and it is nice to meet people who you may never have overlapped with in real-life otherwise. But that said, we were all pretty different. I wonder if it might be helpful to be matched with people who have more in common? Especially when it comes to interests.
• A little extra boldness wouldn’t hurt. Along similar lines, some of the icebreaker prompts were a bit general and neutral in tone. I think at least for me, leaning into humor a bit more would be helpful to keep the energy light and fun. And rather than being so flat and ‘safe’ to start (e.g. “What made you smile today?), they could be a bit more evocative (e.g. “Describe yourself in just 5 words”).
• Push for more balanced grouping. I think the table of five to seven people feels about right in size, but six men and only one woman? I’d say that’s a bit of a miss for me. Keeping the group split more half and half would have made the dynamic feel more balanced. Don’t get me wrong, they were all great guys and I’m glad to have been able to meet them, but I do tend to connect with women a little more easily than I do other men so it would be nice to have a better mix of both. And for the one woman in the group last night, I can imagine that was maybe not ideal for her either.

Photo by Javier Esteban on Unsplash

Final Verdict

Did sparks fly? Perhaps not. But was it still fun and worth it? Absolutely. In fact, I’ve already signed up to do it again! For me, it was a solid blend of lighthearted fun, some killer bibimbap, and a healthy, much-needed dose of “hey, humans aren’t so bad.” I’d give it an 7.5/10 — a few minor areas of improvement, but totally worth the experience.

Would I recommend it? If you like meeting new people and aren’t afraid of a little social uncertainty, definitely. It’s a fun way to shake things up a bit, and that alone I think makes it worth trying at least once — and you’ll never really know until you give it a shot for yourself! I say go for it, what do you have to lose?