Simplify and succeed: Crafting a classic Valentine’s restaurant menu

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Valentine’s Day is the second busiest day for restaurants in the United States, and as such restaurateurs can and should make the most of the opportunity to impress guests and let them impress each other. But what should a Valentine’s restaurant menu look like? You probably have some ideas in your head, but we’re here to get into specifics.

Because a Valentine’s Day dinner (or brunch, or lunch) is an important meal for couples, would-be couples, and even friends, you can go the extra mile to make the day special with a special menu. If you were to conduct a “Family Feud” style survey asking ordinary people what they associate with a Valentine’s Day menu, you’d probably hear suggestions for Italian or French food, which both have a well-earned reputation of being romantic. At least, they’re far more traditionally romantic than, say, a cheesesteak shop—though there are plenty, this writer included, who would find that romantic for myriad reasons.

So let’s explore some traditionally romantic Valentine’s day menu ideas, consider ways to work the holiday into your operation, and look to methods to maximize both the dining experience and your restaurant’s financial success.

No need to reinvent the wheel

Valentine’s Day is a great opportunity to show off your chef’s creative flair while remaining in the bounds of what’s traditionally expected on the day. One approach is to play it safe and color within the lines.

But those lines are broad and offer quite a lot of room to maneuver and get creative within. For both practical and romantic purposes, a three-course prix fixe menu is an excellent idea as it simplifies choices for diners, simplifies your back-of-house’s effort and inventory management, and helps guests understand price expectations on a day that can certainly trigger price anxiety in some. Simply put, we’re looking at an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert. You can go the à la carte menu route if you so choose, but the set menu gives off a romantic vibe. It also lets people focus on their conversation instead of choosing what to eat during what should be a romantic dinner.

Wine pairings or cocktail pairings must be on your menu assuming you serve alcohol. They’re a key feature of the day for many and can help turn a good meal into an excellent—and profitable—one.

Within the confines of those ideas, let’s jump into some ideas for each course of the meal. This is a time where your chefs really get to show off. It’ll be fun.

Start with an irresistible appetizer

Any great prix fixe menu—especially for Valentine’s Day—will need to start with a fitting appetizer. There are many ways this can go. Caviar is an increasingly popular menu item (it’s trending for 2024), and can be used in a wide variety of appetizers. While you can certainly serve caviar as a simple bump on the hand, it can go well with crispy fried baby potatoes with crème fraîche and dill. Or, consider pairing caviar in the form of a sauce with other seafood like sautéed scallops for an extra punch of flavor.

Soups and salads make excellent appetizers and fit in nicely with a set menu. For example, try a seafood bisque enhanced with black truffles and let the freshness of the seafood do the heavy lifting. An arugula and beef carpaccio salad (salad is a generous term here) can trigger some serious savory senses, and get date night going right. For a more traditional salad, again, don’t overthink it: A beautiful vinaigrette is hard to beat. Goat cheese goes in many salads, as do capers and pine nuts and parmesan.

Foie gras is another classic appetizer option that leads to all sorts of culinary options. Recommendation: Leave your chef in the kitchen with some high-quality foie gras and whatever else they have on hand and let them get creative with it. It also helps those on a date show off their refined tastes.

Entrées make the day

Whether you’re running an American restaurant in the form of a steakhouse or anything else, it doesn’t matter. Take this opportunity to present some of the most desired dishes on the planet to diners. We’re talking filet mignon, ribeye, lobster tail, sea bass, seared tuna, oysters, and more. Get saucy with a wine-shallot sauce or a simple au poivre sauce for your steak. Classic is ideal. The market demands it, and wise restaurateurs respond to market demands.

If you’re running a fast food franchise, obviously, don’t do this. But if you’re in charge of the menu, make your Valentine’s Day specials appeal to as broad an audience as possible. Japanese restaurants have no reason to not serve filet mignon, for example: Wagyu beef is an item many customers will want to take photos of and share online.

How you serve your entrées will depend entirely on your restaurant’s theme, style, and aesthetic. Not every restaurant has to serve in the form of fine dining—feel free to mix up your plating options with heart-shaped plates, unique presentation, or flair like tableside flambé.

Traditionally, Italian meals have a small pasta dish followed by a main course like a steak. Gnocchi or ravioli are always a popular option for pastas, as these are dishes customers are unlikely to frequently make at home. If this fits with your restaurant, you can extend your three-course menu to a four-course menu: an appetizer followed by pasta, a meat-based entrée, and dessert.

Decadent desserts delight diners

Desserts are often a highlight of Valentine’s Day. You can take a classic approach with homemade ice cream flavors that match your vibe, classics like chocolate mousse or chocolate cake, or a creation entirely your own. Variations on cheesecake are especially popular, like passion fruit or coconut New York cheesecake.

Whatever the case, we highly recommend including chocolate on the dessert menu in some form, even if it’s just a high-quality dark or white chocolate as a complement to another dessert. Brioche bread pudding with the above-mentioned homemade ice cream is another decadent idea.

Drink pairings make the night

Wine and Valentine’s Day are practically synonymous. If you have a deep wine cellar, offering a wine tasting menu can be an excellent way to guide diners through the evening with a pairing for each course. This ties back to the prix fixe format: Thinking ahead will allow your chef and/or sommelier to suggest wines that pair well with each dish. Minimizing dishes served will help minimize the amount and variety of wine you need to order in addition to the ingredients needed for each offering.

Cocktails can play a prominent role in the night as well. Consider the Instagrammable Pink Lady cocktail, made with gin, applejack, lemon juice, grenadine, and egg white. Want your customers to show off your offerings online? Having your creative bartenders make beautiful cocktails will help you gain clout online.

Offer brunch and lunch for greater flexibility

Maybe not everyone is free for dinner. Maybe they’d prefer a brunch or lunch or even a takeout option. Great! These simply present you new opportunities to show off your talented staff’s culinary prowess. Nothing decisively needs to change between dinner and lunch—it’s simply the time of day. If you’re offering brunch, consider setting up a special wine bar for customers to enjoy the day early on and get in that romantic mood before the sun sets. Just make sure to promote your Valentine’s Day offerings to get the attention you need.

Single people need love, too

Not everyone is on a date on Valentine’s Day—in fact, many women celebrate their friend group with a Galentine’s Day outing. Both offering and promoting Valentine’s Day as a friends’ dinner is a great way to attract the non-attached who still want an excellent meal without any romantic pressure. To be honest, you don’t need to do anything different here—simply make clear in your social media marketing that you’re catering to single people or groups of single people as well and that all are welcome.

Your service makes you memorable

For some customers, Valentine’s Day will be one of the first times they visit your establishment. For others, especially regulars, showing up on that day is an intimate display of trust that should be rewarded with the best dining experience possible. Whether you’re in Manhattan, NYC, or Manhattan, Kansas, diners everywhere will be looking for a special meal.

So, how do you do that? Simple: Equip your staff with the best possible tools to do their job. At the same time, make it as easy as possible for customers to find you and make a reservation.

Here’s our suggestion: Yelp Guest Manager. It helps staff perform at their peak in front-of-house service, allows customers to get a table at the touch of a button or two, and provides two-way communication between you and your customers. Best of all, the fully customizable software makes front-of-house service a breeze, ensuring that all-important customer experience.

If that sounds like just what you need, reach out to us for a free demo of Yelp Guest Manager before Valentine’s Day. We’ll show you all the bells and whistles, help you all the way through with a dedicated onboarding manager, and make sure your customers walk away raving about your service. We trust you make good food—we’re here to make sure your customer’s dining experience is brilliant.