She says no dinner dates but open to ideas: how to reply

A line like not into dinner dates usually means she finds the setup heavy, not that she doesn't want to meet. Two hours across a table, a bill to split, nowhere to leave if it goes flat, all of that adds up. Pay attention to the word open. She chose it on purpose. If she were done, she would have said something like not interested or let's just chat. Read the message as a request for a lower-pressure version of the same thing.

That also tells you how much to read into it. She has not said she wants to stop talking to you. She has said the first plan was the wrong shape. If you respond as though the whole idea of meeting is now off the table, you are reading more into it than she meant. Keep your reply proportionate to a small, specific adjustment.

The fastest way to move this forward is to pick one idea and make it easy to say yes to. Something you could both do in under an hour, in a place close to where you both are, at a time that's clearly defined. Drinks at a bar near her after work on Thursday is a plan. Let's do something fun sometime is not. The specificity does the work, because she can answer yes or no without designing anything herself.

If you have a second option, you can mention it, but keep it to one alternative and let her choose between the two. A menu of three or four options reads like a survey. Two options that are both easy tends to get a fast answer.

A new plan doesn't have to be the perfect date. It only has to be a step she can agree to without much thought. Once the first meeting goes well, the next plan is easier to suggest, and she has evidence you're easy to be around. People who turn down dinner often say yes to a short drink, a walk, or a casual activity, and then warm up to longer plans over time.

Keep that in mind when you write the message. You are not trying to win the whole relationship in one exchange. You are trying to get a short, low-stakes meeting onto the calendar.