How it works
Vale puts together dinners for 6 people who have not met, on Thursday nights in Austin, at real restaurants. It runs entirely by text message: there is no app to install, no profile to fill in, and nobody to swipe.
It is free. There is no fee and no membership — you pay the restaurant for what you eat, like anyone else there.
Vale is an AI, and says so first
Here are the first two messages. Not an illustration — this is the actual text, and the second one is fixed in our code rather than written by the model, so it cannot come out any other way.
YouHi Vale. Let's begin.
ValeGood to meet you — I'm an AI, and I put together small dinners in Austin. What's your first name, and whereabouts are you living? Neighbourhood or nearest town is fine. If you drop off, I'll nudge you once. Reply stop to opt out.
After that it is a conversation, so the wording changes with what you say. Three things do not change, because they are not left to the model: it never claims to be a person, it never sends a second message before you have answered the first, and stop ends it immediately.
The people at the table are real, and a human being puts every table together and books every restaurant.
The four steps
- You text, and answer a few questions. Where you live, how long you have been in town, what you do, what your weeks look like, when you are free in the evening, and anything you can't eat. Ten minutes if you do it in one go; people spread it over days.
- You go on the list. Then nothing — and that is the part worth knowing in advance. We do not write again until there is a table coming together on your side of town, which can take a few weeks. There is nothing to check and nothing to chase; if you write, you get an answer.
- A Thursday. We ask if you are in. If you are, the day before we send the place, the address, the time, and the first names of the people coming.
- You show up. The morning after we ask how it went, in two or three messages. Once a month we ask whether you have seen anyone from the dinners since — that answer is the only thing that tells us whether any of this works.
What we do not do
- We do not run background checks and we do not verify identity. A person reads what each of you told us, and that is the whole of our screening.
- We do not promise you a dinner, a friendship, or an outcome.
- We never sell or share what you tell us.
- We never send anyone your phone number, your last name or your address. The table gets your first name, and only the day before.
- There are no advertising pixels or analytics scripts on this site.
- We never ask about your health.
When you go, the restaurant is a public place on purpose. Tell a friend where you are going, arrange your own transport, and leave whenever you want to — you owe nobody an explanation. The full terms are in our Terms of Service.
To stop
Reply STOP at any time and we stop writing to you — or just tell us to stop in your own words, or write to info@textjuliet.com. Reply HELP for help. Message and data rates may apply. 18+ only, and the service runs on iMessage — for now, that means iPhone.
Who we are
Vestalis SRL
VAT IT10843950964
Galleria dei Borromeo 3, 35137 Padova (PD), Italy
info@textjuliet.com
Write to us at that address for anything — a question, a copy of what we hold about you, or to have it deleted. We answer within 30 days.