Need Valentine's Day Solution...

[gauchosi]

So every year, Valentine's Day comes along and I'm faced with the same dilemma. The majority of restaurants either offer only a prefix menu, or unreasonably hike up the prices. On top of that, I've also found that you can count on poor service. My options in the past have been to cook myself, or go for a good sushi meal, where the food and service is relatively consistent whether it's a holiday or not.

Thus, I'm always looking for a good restaurant where I can avoid this. And while I don't mind spending money at quality restaurants on good food , I do object spending a lot on mediocre food paired with bad service.

If anyone has any suggestions on where I can go on Valentine's Day, and avoid these issues, please let me know. Thanks!

[lambrusche]

Valentino is amazing for Valentines day

[OCAnn]

Have you thought about going the day before or after? We rarely go on the day of.... Have you considered doing a late lunch perhaps?

[hyacinthgirl]

I actually don't know if they have anything going on for Valentine's Day, but I think it would be worth a call to Musha in Santa Monica. When you make a reservation, ask if you can have a private booth in the back. They're small and you can sit close together and they're completely private, with little curtains, so that makes for a nice romantic atmosphere. And the prices are good, even if you have some sake.

[westsidegal]

the only private booth in the back of musha that i've seen seats 10.
is there another, smaller, private booth back there that i've missed?

[hyacinthgirl]

I believe there are 3 private booths back there, there might be 4. I know that at least 2 of the booths seat no more than 4 people, and they've been fine seating two people in those booths in the past. I've used it as a date spot a few times...

[mollyomormon]

Are you sure? I believe there's only the small booth that seats four or fewer or the large booth that seats 10-12. Regardless, I like the suggestion.

[hyacinthgirl]

I'm only going on my own memory, but in the last year, I went with one date and sat in a small booth closest to the main dining room and on another date, I believe I sat in a small booth closest to the kitchen.
There's always the possibility the dates were so bad, I hallucinated two different spots?

[gauchosi]

Thanks. How about places besides Musha?

[Silverlaker]

A few years back, we spent about $300 for a horrible dinner at Lucques. They were VERY smart and gave us a comp dinner b/c they knew they were in the wrong. Since then, we've been back and it's on our rotation of "special dinner" venues. But after spending so much money on pricey restaurants w either horrible service or food -- just on V day -- we opt now to have a nice dinner at home. And yeah, we're seven years into our relationship -- not sure if this would fly on our first V day together, but perhaps order from a high-end foodie place like Clementines or Joans, and dine in. This year I'm making short-ribs and y'know what, mine taste just as good -- if not better -- than the upscale restaurants. If you have a dutch oven (and the time), cinch to make.

[Clyde]

Last year i went to Angeli on Melrose and it was great - they had their normal menu.
There was a table with a family of 4 kids next to us screaming which was a bummer, but other than that it was nice.