I knew I would create an uproar.
Yes, if you ask da’as torah, you will find out there are times where there is a mitzva to lie. NOT ALL THE TIME, JUST SOME SITUATIONS.
When something falls into my previously mentioned category #3 there could very well be a mitzva to lie initially, especially if it is something which will not be discovered while on a date, and something which one will ignore if the dating is going well.
E.g. The girl ideally wants to date a guy whose mother covers her hair. However, we know that she’ll have no problem with this if she likes the guy. Could very well be that there will be a Mitzva here to lie, enabling her to make the decision vis-a-vis her feelings of the mother’s not covering of her hair after meeting this boy. How about other examples (age, how plates are removed from the Shabbos table, tablecloth etc) The main thing which must be considered is whether the couple meeting first will positively affect the processing of this information vs. them not meeting first)
Oh, and NEVER lie to a Kohen about a girl he cannot marry!! It should be so obvious, yet so many shadchanim are so very incompetent in this area.
Look, I know most shadchanim wrongly play this card (as to be expected), just realize that there times when it can AND SHOULD be played.
In the name of full disclosure, I never would have dated my wife if I knew her age initially. Someone knew this and told me she was a year younger, we found this out right away, but at least we had went out.