A: I know a nice, intimate restaurant off Lincoln.
B: Why don’t we do intimate here?
Question: “do intimate”, do native speakers do say that? Is it a common phrase?
May I know intimate here is used as adjective or noun?
Thank you!!!
In the subtitles the “do intimate” should really be in quotes because it is incorrect grammatically and is a colloquial use of the word. I’d say it’s an Americanism originally and will annoy English purists (to be honest I don’t like it myself). It’s not an uncommon construction. In the “do intimate” the word is acting as a noun when it isn’t a noun (others may correct me here).
There is a completely different meaning of the word “intimate”. It’s a verb that means to hint at something as in “she intimated that the wedding may not go ahead”…
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I wouldn’t say it’s a common construction, at least where I’m at in the US (Indiana). I would say that she’s sort of making a play on words here. The other person knows an intimate restaurant, but rather than go there let’s “do intimate” here. It’s really hard to put into words, so I don’t know if that makes any sense.
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Also, it’s possible that the one woman is using this play on words to hint at her romantic interest in the other character, because as you probably know the word intimate has a few definitions one has to do with the setting or atmosphere of a place and the other has a romantic or sexual connotation, so that seems like the most likely usage of this particular phrasing to me. Maybe OP can give a bit more context to this, that would be useful.
May I know what OP means?
Original Poster, the person who started the thread. That’s you 
Now I know a new word, OP, means original poster. Thank you very much.
Here are some part of their conversation, I hope it helps.
Woman: There you are.
Kalinda: Here I am. Oh, you wanted to get my attention.
Woman: I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, Kalinda. The IRS caught your little freelance problem. I just picked up the ball.
Kalinda: And where are you carrying this…. ball?
Woman: Let’s have dinner, and we can talk.
Kalinda: No. Let’s talk here.
Woman: No, it’s too crowded here. I know a nice, intimate restaurant off Lincoln.
Kalinda: Why don’t we do intimate here?
Woman: Kalinda, I asked you to join me at the FBI. You wouldn’t be having any problems now, but you decided to stick it out at Lockhard/Gardner.
This is such a rare on context based sentence that I wouldn’t worry about it. Almost no one would say this except when being sassy, and even then its rare.
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I found this exposition (typographical errors included) on WordPress, which lends more context to this scene.
"Kalinda looks for Lana Delaney in an gray, institutional looking FBI cafeteria, filled with gray suits and FBI windbreakers; it looks out onto a lobby through a wall of windows. There are ghostly reflections of American flags in the windows, which is really cool. “Here you are,” Lana notes as Kalinda joins her. “Here I am,” Kalinda says as she crosses her arms on the table tops. ” You wanted to get my attention?” “I don’t want you to get the wrong idea, Kalinda. The IRS caught your little freelance problem. I just picked up the ball.” Riiiight. Why would she get the wrong idea about that? “And where are you carrying this … ball?” Kalinda wonders. Lana gives her a pointed look. “Let’s have dinner and we can talk,” she purrs.
Kalinda looks away, annoyed. It’s back to those games. “No. Let’s talk here.” Lana looks around the cafeteria – oh. The flags really are in the courtyard, but the reflections on the windows are distorting them. “No. It’s too crowded. I know a nice intimate restaurant off Lincoln.” What’s with the inappropriateness tonight? Because Lana is so frigging inappropriate. Her idea of romantic is just not. “Why don’t we do intimate here?” Kalinda asks, skooching her chair closer. Genius! That’s right, Kalinda, don’t let her get her claws into you! Use her tricks on her instead! Lana looks around, apprehensively. The she wiggles in her seat and starts whispering. “I asked you to join me with the FBI. You wouldn’t be having any problems now, but you decided to stick it out with Lockhart/Gardner.” Just as Lana starts to drink her coffee, Kalinda reaches out to brush her bangs, which makes Lana flinch (“Kalinda!”) and brings the attention of male colleagues from nearby tables. Ha. “You have such pretty lips,” Kalinda coos. Awesome. “What’re you doing?” Lana hisses as more colleagues begin to whisper about them. “Why do we have to wait for dinner? Why not here?” Kalinda pouts, putting her hand over Lana’s. “What’s wrong? Kiss me!” Kalinda leans in. Now I’m just going to laugh. Lana holds up a finger. “Okay, just so you know, this is not the way your handle this meeting.” Oh, but it is. This is just the kind of stunt you’d be pulling if you were at that intimate restaurant, turning something that ought to be about legal problems into obligatory sex. “And just so you know, if you want to talk about business we can talk about business. If you want to talk about something else” – and here Kalinda tries to take Lana’s hand, which is snatched away -“we can talk about something else. Just don’t mix the two.” Lana blinks, then walks away, somewhat stunned. She gets a great covert look from an agent slouched down in the table behind Kalinda. Kalinda smiles into the paper coffee cup.
Alrighty. That was tremendously satisfying, seeing Kalinda turn the tables on someone so predatory. They’ve always had insane chemistry, those two, but Lana is just too into power dynamics. I loathe seeing Kalinda under anyone’s thumb."
I think when Kalinda says, “Why don’t we do intimate here?” she is saying, “Why do we need to go to an intimate restaurant to be intimate? We can be just as intimate here in front of all of your colleagues.” As the last paragraph describes, it’s Kalinda’s way of turning the tables on Lana. Some people are very uncomfortable with PDA (public displays of affection), except in very limited circumstances, like in a private booth at a quiet restaurant.
Native speakers would not normally say this. It is not a common expression.
I agree with redstrat’s assessment, ‘intimate’ is an adjective acting here as if it were a noun, when it isn’t a noun. (It is not a noun in the traditional sense ‘a very close friend.’) To ‘do intimate’ would mean to act intimate; to be intimate. Being intimate is a euphemism for being in a sexual relationship.
More common expressions are: Let’s do that. / Why don’t we do that? Let’s do dinner at my place. / Why don’t we do dinner at my place? (Let’s have dinner at my place.) Kalinda is in Lana’s circle of intimates. (They are very close friends.) Kalinda and Lana are intimate. (euphemism: They are in a sexual relationship.)
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