This new app is connecting D.C. strangers for dinner

There's a new app pairing people up for weekly dinner dates around D.C., and I tried it out.

Why it matters: D.C. is a transient city, and thanks to the lingering effects of Covid and remote work, it can be hard to make friends — and easy to feel lonely .

The big picture: The Timeleft app says it is fighting "big-city loneliness" one dinner at a time in almost 50 countries across the globe.

• It launched in the U.S. in April, Andrea Stambaugh, the company's U.S. growth manager, tells Axios. It's now in 35 cities across the country — including D.C.

How it works: When you sign up for dinner, Timeleft poses a series of questions — asking what field you work in, if you're introverted or extroverted, if you're religious, whether you work out often, even if you have kids or are in a relationship.

• It also asks about your dietary restrictions and menu preferences.

Dinners happen Wednesdays at 7pm, and you'll decide whether you want to go to a restaurant around Capitol Hill, Navy Yard, Dupont Circle, or Shaw.

• The app then matches you with five people based on your compatibility.
• You don't know anything about those strangers. The only details come the night before when the app tells you what industries your dining partners work in and what their zodiac signs are.
• The app will tell you the restaurant location on the morning of the dinner. Multiple groups have dinner in the same city at various restaurants every week.

Afterward, the app reveals a bar where everyone in D.C. who had dinner through Timeleft that night can meet for an after-party. That allows you to meet more strangers beyond your dinner table.

If you go: It costs $16 to book a one-night dinner. Subscriptions are also available.

• A one-month pass costs $26. It's $56 for three months and $86 for six months.

My experience: I met my assigned group for dinner at Giovanni's Trattu in Dupont Circle, where we all opted for a classic move to ease the jitters of what was essentially a huge platonic group date: ordering cocktails and attacking the bread basket.

• But honestly? It ended up not being awkward at all. (Negronis helped.)

Everyone at the table worked in different industries, and likely wouldn't have crossed paths without the app — but we were all similar enough for easy convo.

• All my fellow dinner guests were smart and well-traveled and also in their 30s, and topics bounced from our hometowns to Icelandic vacations to dating to the presidential election.
• There's also a certain vulnerability that accompanies chatting with strangers, and my group quickly dove from polite chatter into the conversational deep end, discussing things like our families and past relationships. (Again, Negronis helped.)

Several of the people at my table were Timeleft veterans and told me the app has created its own social ecosystem in D.C.

• Local past participants have a WhatsApp group, and one diner was planning to head on a hike with people from the chat.
• Afterward, we all threw our numbers into a group text, and everyone headed out to The Golden Age in Dupont Circle for drinks with all the other attendees of Timeleft dinners across the city. (Alright, fine, I didn't go to the bar, but I also identify as an octogenarian in a 32-year-old's body.)

Yes, but: Like any blind date, there's always the risk of it, you know, totally sucking.

• My crew got along great, but one person at my table was texting with a friend at a Timeleft dinner in Navy Yard, and apparently her setup was a total bust.
• And there was another Timeleft table at our restaurant where the majority didn't show, forcing two strangers into a super intimate dinner.

The bottom line: I'd recommend it — it can be hard to break out of your friend bubble in D.C., and I enjoyed spending time with a group of people I might not have ever met otherwise.

• Plus: It forced me out to try a new-to-me restaurant on a night I ordinarily would have eaten a sad salad bag at home while suffering through my dog's post-dinner farts. Big wins all around.