Restaurants get an early start on Valentine’s Day

Since Valentine’s Day falls on a Tuesday this year—a night when some couples may prefer to dine in—a number of restaurants are trying to snag customers for dinner the weekend before or through the end of that week. Others are running special promotions for single women and parents of young children who may opt out of Valentine’s Day plans altogether. Take a look at what eight operators are doing to build traffic when the holiday doesn’t fall on an ideal day.

At multiple locations of this traditional casual-dining chain, customers can dine on a two-course prix-fixe menu for $21.95 to $25.95 per person (depending on the entree), served all day from Feb. 10-14. Guests have a choice of several soups and salads, followed by chicken Parmesan, lobster ravioli or filet mignon.

Sister concept Brio Tuscan Grille has a similar two-course dinner deal from Feb. 10-14, with entrees including chicken saltimbocca, crab-stuffed shrimp and lobster tail, and scallop risotto. Prices run from $20.95 to $29.95 per person.

This multiunit Mediterranean concept is hosting a Romantic Week package from Feb. 12-19. At the Chicago location, the $125 couples’ dinner includes three crostini, a whole branzino for two (including two sides) and a bottle of bubbly.

From Feb. 10-14, this Indian-Latin fusion restaurant in Chicago is featuring a Sultry Red Eat Your Heart Out Valentine’s menu, with each item sporting a shade of red. Crimson pomegranate seeds are scattered over oysters, tomato rice accompanies lamb shank, and ruby hibiscus sorbet and candied rose petals garnish the chocolate cake dessert. The price is $65 per person for five courses.

On Feb. 11 and 12, Miami Beach-based Izzy’s is running a Valentine’s Day brunch from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The per-person $25 prix-fixe menu includes bottomless rose wine, an entree and dessert. On Valentine’s Day itself, dinner is available from 5 p.m. until closing with specials including oysters and caviar, stone crabs, black truffle fettucine and bubbly.

On offer from Feb. 10-14 at all True Food Kitchen locations is a Valentine's-inspired cocktail menu built on the concept’s principles of using anti-inflammatory ingredients such as pomegranate, ginger and honey. The four romantically named cocktails ($11 each) include Bow & Eros (ginger, honey, lime and spiced rum) and Hot in the Dark (pomegranate, lime, jalapeno and organic tequila). There’s also the Red Moon mocktail ($4) with grapefruit, yuzu and honey.

The owner of this Nyack, N.Y., indie—who also runs New York concepts 273 Kitchen in Harrison and 251 Lex in Mt. Kisco—is holding Galentine’s Day dinners at all three locations from Feb. 10-13. Management is inviting “gal pals to celebrate each other” with special three-course menus for $45 per guest. Dishes include a variety of mezze as appetizers; grilled octopus, braised pork shank or housemade gnudi for an entree; and a sweet potato and cashew tart for dessert. Wine pairings are $15 extra.

Full-service restaurants are not the only ones offering offbeat Valentine’s specials. Fast casual PDQ is giving parents a break on Feb. 14. Families who come to one of the chicken chain’s locations after 3 p.m. on Valentine’s Day will receive a free kids meal with the purchase of any combo meal.

And for parents who are due for a splurge and can get a babysitter, this upscale restaurant in The Willard InterContinental hotel in Washington, D.C., is serving a $72 red-themed prix-fixe menu from Feb. 11-14. Couples can start off with seared scallops on red beet mousseline, move on to a compressed watermelon and goat cheese salad or red lentil soup, then choose from halibut or grilled beef tenderloin and complete the meal with an elaborate chocolate dessert.