How to make your restaurant's Valentine's Day menu

Why a set menu on 14 February

Valentine’s Day is a night of small tables and guests in no hurry. With your usual menu, every table orders something different, the kitchen gets swamped and the average spend is unpredictable. With a set menu:

• You know how much to order. With confirmed bookings, the supplier order is almost exact.
• The kitchen works in courses. Few dishes, lots of mise en place and a pace you control.
• The couple knows what they’ll pay before they sit down, with no nasty surprises on the bill.
• You can run two sittings if the menu has a sensible length.

Structure: made for sharing

A romantic menu works best with dishes that invite sharing and a main that each person chooses:

1. Welcome: a glass of Champagne and a bite that sets the tone, such as an oyster or a smoked salmon blini.
2. Starters to share: two dishes for the table. Something fresh (a tartare, a carpaccio) and something hot.
3. Choice of main: a meat, a fish and a vegetarian option. Three choices are enough.
4. Dessert to share: chocolate is still the classic. A fondant or a tart for two, with two spoons.
5. Coffee and petits fours to finish at leisure.

Ask for the choice of main when the booking is confirmed if you can; if not, when you take the drinks order. And always ask about allergies when people book.

Price: per person or per couple, but clear

The price goes with a line underneath that says exactly what’s included:

£55 per person · Champagne on arrival, a bottle of wine per couple and coffee

In the UK, the price shown includes VAT; in the US, say whether tax and gratuity are added. Some decisions worth writing down:

• Drinks: if they’re included, say how much (a bottle per couple, for example) and what kind. If not, write “Drinks not included” and have the wine list ready.
• Supplements: if you add a pricier main, put the amount next to the dish, such as “Half lobster (+£12)”. Never on the bill.
• Price per couple: if you use it, add the per-person equivalent so nobody underestimates it.

Bookings, deposits and sittings

Valentine’s Day has a lot of no-shows. A small deposit reduces them:

• Deposit amount per couple and whether it comes off the bill.
• Cancellation deadline for a refund, for example up to 48 hours before.
• Sittings: arrival time and, with two sittings, when the table needs to be free.
• Allergies: to be given when booking, not when sitting down.

What matters is that the couple knows these terms before they pay anything. Write them at the bottom of the menu or in the confirmation message.

Allergens on a romantic menu

The typical dishes of this night concentrate allergens worth checking one by one:

• Chocolate and desserts: milk, eggs and gluten; petits fours often contain tree nuts.
• Seafood: scallops and oysters are molluscs; prawns and lobster are crustaceans. They’re declared separately.
• Champagne, wine and wine sauces: sulphites.
• Tartares with soy sauce and sesame: soybeans, sesame and fish, plus gluten if the soy sauce contains wheat.

Mark every dish even if it’s only on the menu for one night: your duties are the same as with your main menu.

When to prepare it

In 2027, 14 February falls on a Sunday, so decide early whether you’ll open on Saturday 13 too. In the US, the Super Bowl is scheduled for the same Sunday evening: expect more couples to choose Saturday, and a screen-free dining room may itself be a selling point. A sensible timeline:

• Mid-January: menu, price and terms finalised.
• Late January: posted online and on the door to open bookings.
• First week of February: supplier order based on confirmed bookings.

Pancake Day falls on 9 February and, in the UK, Mothering Sunday comes three weeks later, on 7 March, so this is the first of several special menus in a row. You’ll find every date in the restaurant calendar.

Design and formats

A Valentine’s menu calls for a special design that’s still readable in low light. The Modernista style, with its 1900s feel and fine ornaments, suits a dinner for two. Formats that work:

• A5 on each table, as a welcome menu the couple can take home.
• A4 or A3 on the door or in the window from late January.
• Post and story for Instagram or WhatsApp Status: that’s how this night gets booked.

Write the event as a custom date (“Dinner for two · 13 and 14 February”) instead of the automatic date.

Make it with MenuDesign

Open the Valentine’s Day template, change the dishes, price and terms, mark the allergens and download the PDF and the image for social media. For a different look, try other menu templates with the same content. Free, no sign-up.