Omnivore - Dining out on Valentine’s Day, or amateur night armageddon
Why do people do it?
Last night I was having a drink at the bar of an undisclosed restaurant, and I got talking to that restaurant’s maitre d’. I mentioned that one of my coworkers was bringing his lovely wife in for Valentine’s dinner. “Oh god,” the maitre d’ said. “Tell him to stay home.”
“I just don’t get it,” he went on. “What’s so romantic about sitting crammed in with a zillion other couples, eating an overpriced prix fix meal? Every restaurant in town is a shit show. None of us are at our best. It’s just madness.”
It seems a tad ungrateful for a restaurateur to turn up his nose at a guaranteed full house in this economy, but I don’t think that’s what our gracious friend was doing. Rather, it genuinely baffles industry folks why anyone would want to be in a restaurant on the busiest night of the year. New Year’s Eve is almost as bad, but not quite as couple oriented.
I have to admit, I don’t get it either. I know dining out can be a romantic experience, but on Valentine’s Day? With the guarantee of a stressed waiter, busy kitchen, and tons of other googly-eyed couples around you? No thanks.