First dates are one of the most nerve-racking experiences, and they can be made significantly worse if you aren't careful. Toronto has some great places to spend time with your new hopefully-not-a-murderer beau, but there are some first date ideas that should definitely be avoided.

Here are my picks for the worst first date ideas in Toronto.

Eat at El Furniture Warehouse

I love El Furn, but it's such an overdone date idea that it kind of sends the message to your date that you didn't really put a lot of thought into this. A little extra effort goes along way.

Work through an escape room

This is actually a really fun thing to do, but it's likely best not to have a first date that involves yelling frantically at your potential suitor to find an anagram for tendered husk to discover the last clue.

Hang out at IKEA

IKEA is great but going there for a first date sounds like a nightmare. Big families with screaming children and time spent starring at shelving units does not sound romantic. Just thinking about disassembled furniture makes me panic.

The CN Tower

It might look like the most obvious thing; wooing your date by taking them to the revolving restaurant or testing your limits together at Edgewalk, but the golden rule for first dates should always be to keep it simple. Maybe find out what your date likes and go from there.

Go to a Munk Debate

Not only is sitting quietly next to someone a bad way to get to know them, but if you don't see eye to eye on Trump's foreign policy, the walk home is going to be awkward. Better to save this idea for when you're on board with each other's conspiracy theories.

Check out a cat cafe

Going to a cat cafe isn't for everyone. While your date could like animals, there's a level of comfort that should be retained during a first date, and maybe getting up close and personal with some feisty kitties wasn't want they had in mind.

Go to a library

There's nothing like bonding over books, but for a first date this doesn't make for the best setting. It might be hard to get to know someone in a space that insists on near complete silence, so maybe a bookstore would work better.

Try knife throwing

A good rule of thumb is to avoid any places that make you sign a waiver. With tensions already running high— plus you just met this person, who knows what they're really like? — this has the potential to go horribly wrong.

Dates disguised as non-dates

Don't try to sneak taking your dog out, grocery shopping or cooking at home as a way get to know them. While first dates are awkward for everyone, it's something we all have to do. Call it what it is and suffer through the awkwardness together.

Order Swiss Chalet and watch Netflix

You can both do better.