Creative Valentine’s Day Specials: A Guest’s Perspective

Love is in the air, but is creativity there too?

In most cases, Valentine’s Day is relied upon among the most if not probably the most profitable days for restaurants in the initial quarter of the entire year—this especially applies in winter areas. It’s each day when both well-established and aspiring couples pamper one another to show their love. Jewelry, roses, chocolate, and expensive gifts will be the traditional offerings of preference, but taking your partner out to a lovely dinner is frequently the highlight of the vacation.

If your restaurant comes with an even marginally “romantic” vibe, you should have without doubt already prepared a particular Valentine’s menu: probably prix fixe and multi-course. You need it to be elegant yet accessible, and you also encourage couples to book well beforehand. Or maybe you adhere to a la carte, but put a supplementary entree or two and a red velvet cake dessert special through to the chalkboard.

As a normal patron of restaurants so when somebody who loves innovation and “from the box” ideas, I was wanting to see what my home of Providence provides in that regard. A lot of the restaurants I perused were going the more traditional route, and I could’t fault them for that; “If it ain’t broke, don’t correct it,” because the saying goes. This city is chock filled with exemplary eateries, and many of the people I contacted said they might curently have trouble squeezing me in when I called a complete week out. They’re already booked solid, so that they don’t need extra promotions to create in guests.

WHEN I looked around, however, I did so find some places which were really going the excess mile with regards to creativity, and those will be the ones I would like to highlight here. I also probed my social networking to get recommendations and discover what they were searching for as they ready to dazzle their amours. They are the outcomes of my research:

Edible Arrangements

The Duck & Bunny, the adorable creperie, cupcakerie and self-proclaimed “snuggery” saved on Wickenden Street devised an extremely clever (and affordable) option to the original bouquet of roses: the Bouquet of Cupcakes, designed for $20 a half dozen or $35 twelve on special order. The colorful flavors include lemon blueberry, chocolate raspberry, champagne rose, strawberries & cream, honey lavender, and chocolate blackberry. Their seven-course Valentine’s Day prix fixe dinner, with multiple appetizer and entree options to select from like beef bourguignon, crepeccini, and pork roulade, also appears like a bargain at $125 per couple.

Hip to Be Square

Never to be outdone, Julian’s on Broadway is one which came heavily recommended by my friends; renowned because of their quirky, humorous decor and fantastic offerings (including in the vegetarian/vegan department), Julian’s also distinguishes itself as a “perfect date night” because of patient, attentive service, great pacing of courses, and solid drink pairings coming in at $129 a couple of for a six-course menu. The best part personally, however, may be the retro promotional art they’ve created, “We’re Celebrating THE ENERGY of Love”: an old-school cartoon of Huey Lewis in hot pink, turquoise, and yellow. If Back again to the near future references don’t impress your date, i quickly don’t know very well what will!

Only a Lovely Brunch

Another interesting direction I saw taken is that Clean Plate on South Water Street includes a Valentine’s Day Brunch on Sunday the 12th, featuring Red Velvet waffles with walnut cream, scallop cake benedict, lemon ricotta pancakes, and chicken fried steak Benedict with tomato bacon hollandaise on biscuits, paired with blood orange mimosas and roasted strawberry lemonade–both drink specials designed for the event. It looks like a smart idea to supply folks with that alternative option, but I didn’t see many types of other restaurants carrying it out.

I asked Clean Plate owner and chef Susan Alper why they made a decision to do brunch rather than a dinner special, and she responded that, “We prefer to be beyond your box here, also it was only a different move to make. We execute a great brunch normally, so that it seemed like a good idea.” It’s the 3rd Valentine’s Day brunch for the restaurant–as much years since it’s been open. “The response has been excellent,” says Susan.

Sea of Roses

Easily the most amazing and intriguing Valentine’s Day event I learned all about occurs at Basta Ristorante on Broad Street in nearby Cranston. For the 3rd year straight, they’re holding a Celebration of Roses, hanging literally a large number of red and pink roses from the ceiling above the seating area. The meals is reported to be excellent, but even though it wasn’t, considering the photos makes me desire to experience this romantic wonderland firsthand.

Some Tips from the Guest

A straightforward, quick promotional proven fact that I saw several places use would be to take photos of either your signature or seasonal cocktails which are traditional Valentine’s colors like red, pink, burgundy, and peach: they develop a pretty, holiday-themed display that also gets mouths watering. I’ll also explain that a large number of restaurants didn’t post their special menus online, so when a consumer, it’s nice in order to check out them before deciding, and I don’t prefer to bug busy restaurant staff by calling to ask. Make your specials no problem finding on your own website and Facebook page—maybe create a specific Facebook event with the menu clearly displayed, and be sure to answer peoples’ questions in due time. Don’t make customers need to work to get menus or get ahold of you.

Whether you go the more traditional route and focus on your loyal clientele, or whether you decide to spice things up and obtain creative, it is important, of course, would be to maintain high degrees of service and quality with this busy night. Help your couples make one another’s nights special and memorable, plus they’ll make sure to return next year.