It's excruciating when they are like this, I rarely do dinner with clients but it's sort of the same in a booking when you get a quiet one. I try as hard as I can to come up with conversation they might react well to and say something but then I get to the point when I think, OK they just don't want talking to and are obviously happy to just be in my company so stop trying. At least in a dinner date you are eating so have a reason not to talk!


How about actually asking him - say something like, I feel like I'm doing all the talking here, what would you like to talk about? (don't forget to ask an open question so he can't just say no!
Hopefully he will tell you or say something like, it's OK, I like hearing you talk!

We often complain men are lousy listeners so maybe try and think right, I can talk all I want on a subject I like talking about!