Where to Go For Valentine’s Day Specials in San Diego

Maybe you’re weekend road-trippers. Saturday morning hikers. Craft brew aficionados. Maybe you really do like piña coladas and getting caught in the rain. Every couple has their thing—and there’s no better time to celebrate what makes the two of you YOU than on the designated day of love.

On February 14, treat your better half to a Valentine’s Day outing that matches your unique vibe, whether that’s wine and oysters or cider and sweets.

---

For Hopeless Romantics 

Bleu Bohème

Softly lit and styled like an Old World French bistro, Kensington’s Bleu Bohème provides a three-course menu with croquettes, salmon, and crème brûlée (among other options) and a cozy environment that will likely inspire tabletop hand-holding. Priced at $89 per person.

Wolf in the Woods

Wall sconces and a chandelier set with candles and New Mexico-inspired decor accent the intimate ambiance at Mission Hills wine bar Wolf in the Woods, where you can enjoy four courses—think truffle-flavored lobster bouche, orange vinaigrette-drizzled scallops, seared chilean sea bass—and a glass of Champagne for $135 per person.

Herb & Wood

Herb & Wood serves four rounds of Mediterranean bites, like blood orange hamachi and herb-pistachio lamb, for $125 in a Little Italy restaurant so charming it often doubles as a reception space for weddings.

Valentina

Share oysters and pepper-crusted carpaccio with your one and only beneath twinkle lights in Leucadia. Along with an $89 three-course dinner, Spanish-inspired wine bar Valentina stocks a robust list of bubbles and wine for couples who know their way around a rare varietal.

---

For View Seekers

Coco Maya

Taste Caribbean-inspired takes on oysters, beef tartare, Champagne-infused strawberries and cream, and other delicacies with a four-course rendezvous on Coco Maya’s comfy rooftop terrace, which overlooks Little Italy. Priced at $149 per guest.

La Valencia Hotel

La Valencia Hotel’s four-course prix-fixe includes indulgent offerings like caviar, baked lobster, and filet mignon. Dinner is served in the resort’s dreamy Mediterranean Room, an elegant tiled dining area with ocean views. Priced at $129 per person.

Mister A’s

Tear your gaze away from your lover’s beautiful face (and your four-course dinner’s impressive plating) long enough to take in your surroundings—Coronado Bridge, San Diego Bay, the zoo—from the rooftop. $155 per person.

Beeside Balcony

Boasting stunning coastal environs beyond its twinkle light-adorned balcony, this Del Mar Mediterranean spot serves a $75 trio of seafood-forward courses. In addition to an appetizer, an entree, and a decadent dessert, your meal comes with a glass of bubbly.

Covewood

Mission Bay Resort’s breezy restaurant presents a three-course, $95 spread. Choose between lobster bisque, French kiss oysters (festive!), and a strawberry salad to start. After entrees and dessert, cross the scant few feet to the waterfront for a picturesque stroll.

Cannonball

The era of mixtapes may be (tragically) over, but you can still treat your sweetheart to a little serenading. In addition to views of the Pacific, sushi rolls and special Valentine’s Day cocktails, like the fizzy, cherry-flavored Sakura, rooftop Belmont Park restaurant Cannonball offers live acoustic tunes all evening.

---

For Staycationers

Ponto Lago

The vibrant selections at this Carlsbad resort restaurant’s $150 menu include arepas with avocado crema, lamb loin al pastor, and a meat-free lion’s mane entree. After dinner, stroll the spectacular grounds of the Park Hyatt Aviara—or book a night in advance for a true lovers’ getaway.

Adelaide

Looking to top last year’s Valentine’s Day present? Surprise your sweetie with a stay at beachside resort L’Auberge Del Mar and a four-course dinner crafted with ingredients sourced from local farmers and fishermen. Select plates like Petrale sole with cauliflower and smoked beurre blanc or wagyu beef ribeye with black garlic for $165 per person.

Rancho Valencia

At Rancho Valencia Resort’s Pony Room, the $165 prix-fixe menu includes plenty of seafood for any fish lover as well as plant-centric options, including roasted heirloom carrots and a chimichurri-topped cauliflower steak, that are just as thoughtful as its meat and seafood selections.

---

For Influencers

Cloak & Petal

Share a four-course meal complete with an appetizer, sushi roll, entree, and dessert for $75 per person at Cloak & Petal. Endlessly photogenic, the Little Italy lounge is both romantic (an indoor tree bursting with sakura blossoms) and playful (cheeky, innuendo-laden signage)—like all good relationships.

Ember and Rye

Top Chef alum (and fellow San Diego resident) Richard Blais drops by his Park Hyatt Aviara steakhouse during Valentine’s Day dinner, which includes entree choices like seared scallops and miso-glazed salmon alongside family-style sides. Priced at $160 per person.

Animae

Restaurateur Brian Malarkey and executive chef Tara Monsod helm this impeccably designed (green velvet! robot murals!) steakhouse in downtown. Taste (and shoot) the flavorful seafood and world-class meat that earned them a Michelin Plate award with a four-course dinner starting at $155 per person.

---

For the Non-Traditionalists

Bivouac Ciderworks

Trade candlelit courses and toe-pinching dress shoes for a laidback night of sweets and sips with your main squeeze. Bivouac Ciderworks teams up with local home baker Emmie Bakes to curate $25 pairings: three ciders plus three mini desserts.

The Seventh House

Love is in the air…and maybe in the cards. Tarot-themed North Park eatery The Seventh House conjures a four-course lineup featuring strawberry salad and squid ink pappardelle for $85 per person. After you dine, seek occult inspiration from the restaurant’s Voltar fortune-telling machine

Cardellino

San Diego restaurant mogul Brad Wise curates the four-course Tuscan Experience at Mission Hills eatery Cardellino according to his current passions. Made to be shared between three to four diners, the $375 affair is the perfect excuse to invite another couple along for date night and pairs perfectly with chocolate-infused drinks from the chophouse’s Valentines Day cocktail menu.

Spill the Beans

Found your match in a fellow morning person? Skip the V-Day dinner crowds and grab $4.20 heart-shaped everything bagels and a generous swipe of red chili and garlic shmear at Spill the Beans. Or surprise your sleepyhead (opposites attract!) with breakfast in bed.

---

For Aphrodisiac Believers 

Herb & Sea

Raw oysters are among the foods said to ramp up desire. Test the theory at Herb & Sea in Encinitas, where the $119 dinner can start with the shellfish crowned in pomello mint granita and serrano salt. Then come choices like seared scallops, cioppino, and a lava cake with chocolate, another alleged libido-booster.

JRDN

The $70 per person, three-course dinner at Tower 23 Hotel restaurant JRDN begins with three appetizer choices, including the mood-setting aphrodisiac roll, stuffed with fried soft shell crab, avocado, yamagobo, tuna, masago, negi, and sesame.

---

For Lovers on a Budget

Al Dente

A rare Italian prix-fixe ringing in at under $50 per diner, Al Dente’s menu consists of three courses with multiple vegetarian options, including zucchini and eggplant with burrata and spinach-and-cheese ravioli shaped like little hearts.

Take the Bait

Dig into a seafood dinner with your boo in Kearny Mesa’s Convoy District for less than $40 a person, tip and all. Take the Bait offers a shellfish boil for two—that’s four pounds of seafood (shrimp, clams, crab legs, crawfish) and sides—for $62.

The Presley

The $50-per-guest prix-fixe at cozy outdoor eatery The Presley includes a salad, a main (such as chimichurri-crowned skirt steak or horseradish-crusted salmon), an ice cream sandwich, and a glass of Champagne or wine.

Hash House A Go Go

Sure, you’re committed to your honey, but if you’re a long-time San Diegan, you probably still think of now-shuttered Hillcrest institution The Tractor Room as the one who got away. Return to your glory days for a night at Hash House a Go Go, whose owners pay homage to their closed outpost with a $70 prix-fixe full of Tractor Room favorites.

---

For Last Minute Gifters 

Juniper & Ivy

A former Little Italy warehouse turned sexy with dark wood and mood lighting, Juniper & Ivy serves a seasonally minded, four-course dinner for $125 a person—plus the option to have a bouquet of roses or a box of house-crafted candy waiting at your table, in case you forgot to pick up that perfume they’ve been asking for (it happens!).

Marisi

Designed to transport diners to Italy’s Amalfi Coast, La Jolla trattoria Marisi crafts pasta by hand for its $125 four-course Valentine’s Day feast, which includes cacio e pepe and black truffle cappelletti. Charm your amore with the addition of a dozen roses and a bottle of rosé Champagne, all handled in-house.

---

For Can’t-Deciders

Provisional Kitchen

Sometimes romance is having dinner already decided. If even slimmed-down prix-fixe menus prove tough to pick from, try the Pendry’s Provisional Kitchen, where $120 a person gets you a divine lineup of chocolate clam aguachile, artichoke-stuffed pasta, main lobster, and strawberries and cream. All you have to think about is whether to tack on seared Wagyu for an extra $75.

Ranch 45

In addition to an onsite prix-fixe, Solana Beach outpost Ranch 45 offers a $200 date night box for lovers looking to light the spark in the comfort of their own abode. Select bone-in ribeye, ocean trout, or filet mignon, plus salad, sides, and dessert. For extra clams, seafood fans can add shrimp cocktail or crab cakes, plus a few glasses of vino.