I was always under the impression, "he's cute", while it _could_
  mean "aww, how cute" (which in itself can be demeaning when
  speaking about another person but it's not _quite_ as bad: Just
  think about to being a little kid and being called 'cute' gets
  to feel awkward and annoying after a while, at least it was to
  me)... ... but it often means, "What's his number? where does he
  work? anybody know anything about him?" and all in the direction
  that goes