While Valentine’s Day is a time-honored excuse for roses, champagne, and diamonds, it’s also one of the most popular nights of the year to dine out. The challenge, of course, is choosing where.
You could lean into tradition with white tablecloths and candlelit Italian – perfect for a Lady and the Tramp–style spaghetti moment. Or perhaps French fine dining is more your speed. Some couples gravitate toward seafood, sharing a chilled platter of oysters or a towering shellfish spread, while others prefer the intensity of an omakase counter, where the evening unfolds course by course.
To help narrow the field, Elite Traveler has curated a list of the best restaurants for Valentine’s Day in New York City. Whatever your idea of romantic dining looks like, consider this your starting point for Valentine’s Day restaurants in NYC.
Our Guide to Valentine’s Day Restaurants in New York City
Muku
Still relatively new to the New York City dining scene after opening in September, this ten-seat chef’s table restaurant is offering a limited-time experience for Valentine’s Day weekend in NYC, with a menu devoted to one of Japan’s most prized winter delicacies: kani.
For Muku’s special Valentine’s Day menu, Chef Manabu will serve Japanese snow crab in various forms, showcasing the ingredient’s natural sweetness through shabu-shabu, charcoal grilling, and his signature hand-cut soba.
Guests are also welcome to bring their own bottles (corkage is $175 per bottle), making the evening a perfect opportunity to open that special vintage or sake you’ve been saving for the occasion.
Per Se
If your partner loves fine dining, why not mark Valentine’s Day with one of NYC’s three-Michelin-star experiences?
Chef Thomas Keller’s Per Se will begin the evening with a glass of champagne, followed by a special Valentine’s tasting menu. The refined French restaurant also boasts one of the most extensive wine lists in New York City, with more than 2,000 bottles available to complement the meal.
Priced at $1,000 per diner, it’s one of the most glamorous Valentine’s Day dinners in NYC.
Marea
For oysters and seafood-driven romance, head to Marea’s raw bar. The name translates to ‘tide’ in Italian, and the menu reflects it, with seafood pastas, lump crab, and lobster taking center stage.
The restaurant will serve a Valentine’s Day four-course prix fixe menu with an optional wine pairing. Start your evening with caviar – four types to choose from – served with gougeres, chips, brioche, chives, and creme fraiche.
Other menu highlights include tuna tartare, Nova Scotia lobster with burrata, pan-seared wild Dover sole, squid ink ravioli, and king crab mafaldine. And for dessert, the tiramisu is a must.
Masa
If you’re looking for an experience that prioritizes the food over decor, book two seats at Masa. One of the most revered sushi restaurants in New York City, the minimalist dining room allows the ingredients to take full focus.
Chef Masa Takayama blends traditional Japanese dining with modern technique for an immersive omakase experience. For Valentine’s Day, Masa offers a Hinoki Counter Experience.
While the rules are strict – no photography, videography, or strong fragrance – the evening is unforgettable, with counter seating starting at $1,150 per person.
The Modern
The Modern showcases Chef Thomas Allan’s contemporary cooking in an upscale dining room overlooking MoMA’s Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden.
Valentine’s Day diners can enjoy a six-course tasting menu on both Friday and Saturday, featuring oysters, venison tartare, grilled diver scallop, and Australian wagyu beef, complemented by salsify and pickled red cabbage. Dessert leans chocolate-forward, with a dark chocolate cremeaux paired with black cherry and almond.
If you already have dinner plans, The Modern is also offering a four-course prix fixe lunch on February 14.
Gabriel Kreuther
Overlooking Bryant Park in Midtown, Gabriel Kreuther is a contemporary French-American restaurant where Alsatian-born Chef Gabriel Kreuther delivers some of New York City’s most celebrated fine dining.
The art-filled dining room, complete with cream-colored banquettes, set a romantic tone, ideal for Valentine’s Day. The weekend’s prix fixe menu will include playful dishes, including a ‘Lady & The Tramp’ soba noodle with uni coulis and caviar, butter poached lobster with grilled abalone, and Kagoshima A5 wagyu with a red wine jus. For dessert, there’s a dark chocolate souffle, made to share.
The wine list is especially strong in Rieslings, Pinot Blancs, and Gewürztraminers, nodding to the chef’s Alsatian roots.
Casa Cruz
Casa Cruz is a fabulous Upper East Side spot for Valentine’s Day, spread across six floors with a number of dining rooms and cozy corners for post-dinner drinks, including intimate lounges, living rooms, bars, and a rooftop terrace.
Come Valentine’s Day, the Beaux-Arts townhouse will be serving up its full signature menu from Chef John Fraser, alongside some romantic specials. Culinary highlights include a roasted beet salad with ricotta, charred octopus, and, our dish of choice, surf and turf, featuring petite filet and butter-poached lobster tail.
Dessert leans indulgent with a red velvet souffle, paired with stracciatella gelato – made for sharing – and guests are encouraged to mix and match between the regular and Valentine’s menu.
Ai Fiori
Translated as ‘among the flowers,’ Ai Fiori serves Riviera-inspired dishes influenced by both France and Italy, from Nice to Portofino. Found on the second floor of The Langham on Fifth Avenue, it’s a classic New York setting for Valentine’s Day.
Throughout the weekend, the restaurant will offer a five-course Valentine’s set menu alongside its regular offerings. The meal begins with an oyster, and continues with trofie nero, pesto campanelle, or veal breast and reblochon ravioli.
Seafood makes up the third course, while the fourth offers wagyu ribeye, roasted quail, or market beets with rice, pomelo, shiitake mushrooms, and yogurt.
Restaurant Daniel
For Valentine’s Day in New York City, it’s hard to go wrong with a reservation at Chef Daniel Boulud’s flagship Upper East Side restaurant. A pillar of the city’s dining scene since 1993, Daniel remains one of the most in-demand restaurants in New York, making for a memorable evening.
Inside, coffered ceilings topped with Bernardaud porcelain chandeliers, along with art by James Rosenquist, make for an elegant dining room, while Executive Chef Eddy Leroux’s cuisine matches the refined atmosphere.For Valentine’s Day, Daniel offers a five-course tasting menu throughout the weekend, plus a three-course prix fixe lunch on February 14.
Each course is themed – exotic, delicate, sumptuous, seductive, and tender – with dishes spanning foie gras, roe quail eggs, Ossetra caviar, Massachusetts Jonah crab, black truffle, and wagyu beef.
Le Jardinier
Le Jardinier New York will be offering two dinner tasting menus for celebrating couples, a four-course and a six-course, with an optional wine pairing. Chef Alain Verzeroli’s Midtown joint will be serving elevated French classics, such as pan-seared scallops with black truffles, and vol-au-vent de homard, with a complimentary glass of Champagne.
If you’re looking for that little extra privacy, book Sereine, the restaurant’s upstairs private dining space.
l’abeille
If you can’t decide on one singular cuisine, reserve a table at l’abeille for a French-Japanese fusion Valentine’s meal. The intimate Michelin-starred restaurant provides an effortlessly romantic backdrop for the big day without going overboard. Settle into one of its cozy velvet booths and enjoy tableside presentation from Chef Mitsunobu Nagae.
The Tribeca dining room will be serving a seven-course tasting menu both Friday and Saturday evening. Dishes lean luxurious, with caviar and oyster with sea jelly, and black truffle risotto with onsen-tamago and Comte foam. For mains, there’s Wagyu beef with smoked beets, yogurt, and chocolate sauce, with a raspberry and chocolate pavlova for dessert.
Cuerno
If you’re not looking for fancy French fare this Valentine’s, but are looking for something more down-to-earth (without compromising on flavor), Cuerno is a great choice. The restaurant takes inspiration from the flavors of Northern Mexico, with highlight dishes including grilled oysters with mahaca butter, lobster aguachile, and horchata tres leches.
Over Valentine’s weekend, Chef Oriol Mendivil will be serving a selection of Valentine’s specials, alongside the usual à la carte menu, and a dedicated bubbles menu. The restaurant also boasts a broad wine list, with 70 bottles from Mexico alone.
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How we chose the best Valentine’s Day restaurants in New York
Each restaurant featured is independently selected by Elite Traveler’s editors, informed by first-hand experience where possible and rigorous, in-depth research where not. Our curation spans the world’s most revered luxury destinations alongside in-the-know addresses, each chosen for its uncompromising standards and exceptional service.
