Valentine's Day Dinner Deals | Bread & Butter

Like it, love it, hate it, loathe it: for all those with significant others, it’s that time of year again.

Grocery store roses and heart shaped boxes of candy are flying off the shelves; jewelry stores are overrun with desperate last minute shoppers; greeting card aisles are left virtually decimated and couples are clogging your favorite restaurants, all in the name of St. Valentine.

Under such frenzied circumstances, properly wooing your man or woman can be daunting and sometimes financially devastating.

But love was never meant to break the bank (only your heart), and it doesn’t have to this time around.

According to the National Restaurant Association’s Holiday Dining survey in 2000, Valentine’s Day is the third-most popular holiday to ditch your pots and pans and head to your favorite romantic neighborhood eatery to celebrate instead.

But romance, candlelight and linen tablecloths often come at a price, and in this economic climate, all of us could afford to get a little more ambiance and glow for a little less green.

Luckily, Cincinnati restaurants are vying for your reservations and many are offering special Valentine’s Day dinner packages; otherwise, there are always the few, the proud and the reasonably priced gems scattered around the city.

York Street Café – Newport

One such gem is the York Street Café located just a hop, skip and a jump away in Newport, Ky., York Street Café is never short on cozy ambiance, as the building is a living antique built in the 1880s, complete with stained glass, chandelier-lit rooms and old, wooden bookshelves just loaded with kitschy knickknacks to observe in between scanning the moderately priced menu.

While the atmosphere is adorably antique, the food is decidedly not, as York Street Café offers an eclectic, seasonal menu. It features everything from worldly tapas and “conversation boards” – including babaganoush, hummus and escargot – to more standard entrees and dining fare.

Two lovebirds can make a meal of it for around $50 (or less if you stick to sampling from the tapas portion of the menu).

Bella Luna – Columbia-Tusculum

Out-of-the-way Bella Luna might just be the best authentic, independently owned Italian restaurant in all of Cincinnati, and with credentials like that, it’s hard to go wrong.

The aesthetic is over-the-top warm, cozy and funky, from the leopard-print carpet to the blue-velvet curtains to the walls saturated in rich, vibrant hues of gold, red and purple. The feel is a nontraditional, hip, neighborhood Italian joint (sans the red-and-white-checkered table cloths), while the food is quite fine dining.

Couples craving a little Italy for their special evening should take advantage of Bella Luna’s Valentine’s week special (yes, week!) of a three-course dinner for two for only $50.

This deal includes one of their fabulous desserts, and who can say no to that?

Honey – Northside

One of Cincinnati’s sweeter spots can be found just up the street from Shake It Records in Northside. Honey is one of the younger restaurants on the Cincinnati scene, at just under 4-years-old, and offers an almost minimalist yet warm, inviting and chic atmosphere.

Honey may be subtle and muted in décor, but the food is certainly not. The seasonal menu is ever changing on the whim of chef Shoshannah Hafner, but it is never disappointing, as there always seems to be something new and exciting for everyone.

The menu features everything from their staple Honey fries for an appetizer to their fun, contemporary entrees that are always as beautiful as they taste.

A couple of love-struck individuals can dine in style for around $50 (or less, depending on what you order).

La Skyline – Blue Ash

If white tablecloths and filet mignon just aren’t your style, the Skyline Blue Ash location has a Valentine’s Day dinner solution for you.

For the Cincinnati diehard couple with chili in their veins, Scott Callaway, manager of the Blue Ash restaurant, cooked up the idea to transform his location into the ultimate, romantic chili experience.

There are promises of candlelight, roses for the ladies and even a violinist to help set the mood. Reservations are required and the restaurant is dishing up a special menu featuring two, three-course Skyline meals for $26.99 a valentine.

And really, when you think about it, what could be more romantic than a 3-way?