Valentine’s day is nearly here. Have you made your plans yet?

So, here are 3 restaurants I think are great choices for Valentine’s Day. These restaurants have great food, a good atmosphere and won’t break the bank. Oh yeah, and as of the time this post is published, you can still score a table there, but hurry.

Divan Restaurant and Hookah Lounge
This is a small restaurant that specialized in middle eastern food and Hookahs. They have a 4 course meal for between $35 and $45 per person, depending on your seating time.
Website
3125 Piedmont Rd NE
Atlanta, GA 30305
(404) 467-4297

Pura Vida
Tapas are so sexy! There’s something about the small plates and sharing all the dishes with each other. Pura Vida’s Valentine’s special includes 6 tapas (for the couple), a bottle of wine, and a dessert to share. They stress that the menu will highlight aphrodisiacs. Oysters anyone? Price is $40 per person.
656 N Highland Ave NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
(404) 870-9797
Website

WaterHaven is a really overlooked restaurant. I’m sure due to it’s location near GA Tech, it is often forgotten. But it is truly lovely inside and the food is incredible. Their Valentine’s menu is only $35 per person and a fantastic deal! Also, wine is half off that night.

Guys this is a great restaurant if you’re stumped for one. And they are wide open for reservations at the time of this post. Check out the Valentine menu below. I recommend the lamb sliders followed by the trout.

STARTERS
House Salad spring mix, candied walnuts, blue cheese, sherry thyme vinaigrette
WaterHaven Caesar romaine, asiago, anchovy lemonette dressing
Lamb Sliders spiced lamb, minted yogurt, yeast roll
Crab Cake jumbo lump, kafir lime, cucumber salad, house remoulade
Calamari lightly battered, sweet chili sauce, lemon garlic aioli
Soup of the Day chef’s inspiration

ENTREES
Georgia Trout pan seared with applewood smoked bacon, butternut squash
ravioli, toasted pecans, dried cranberries, sage butter
Pork Loin grilled loin chop with apple chutney and winter greens timbale
Salmon fennel coriander crust, orange saffron butter, creamed leeks, grilled fennel
Fresh Vegetable Plate chef’s choice of fresh local vegetables
Filet Mignon grilled beef medallions, loaded potato rosti, mushroom ragu
Herb Chicken roasted with grilled new potatoes, winter greens

DESSERT
Chef’s Special Holiday Dessert

75 Fifth Street NW
Atlanta, GA 30308
404 214 6740
Website

Ok, still want a reservation at one of those fancy, expensive restaurants? I’ve made a reservation for Dogwood restaurant on Valentine’s Day, which is completely booked between 5 and 9PM. They have a Prix Fix menu for $60 per person.

Leave a comment telling me why you want it. The best one scores the reservation!! Good Luck!

Who: Chef Chris Lee of WaterHaven

When: Monday, February 8, 7-9 p.m.

Where: The Cook’s Warehouse – Midtown/Ansley Mall
1544 Piedmont Road, Ste. 403-R, Atlanta, GA 30324

Cost: $55 – Demonstration and Tasting

I absolutely fell in love with WaterHaven after visiting it for Midtown Restaurant week last summer. So, I was thrilled to see that Chef Lee will be teaching a cooking class specifically geared to Valentine’s Day. Chef Lee will help you impress that special someone in your life by demonstrating how to prepare

• Oysters with apple horseradish mignonette

• Hearts of Palm Soup with Georgia white shrimp

• Lobster and Mussels in saffron cream with angel hair pasta

• Chocolate Hazelnut Bars with Gran Marnier sauce.

The evening includes wine tastings sponsored by National Distributor’s.

The Atlanta Community Food Bank’s Simple Abundance Cooking Class series provides you the opportunity to interact with Atlanta’s top chefs, learn the secrets of exquisite dishes, and help feed Atlanta’s hungry. One hundred percent of class tuition benefits Atlanta’s Table, a project of the Food Bank that collects food from our local hospitality industry and delivers it to more than 40 nonprofit partner agencies that provide meals for those in need.

As it turns out, there were a group of friends that wanted to check it out as well. So we headed out on a Tuesday night to sample their menu. I don’t know what it is about that subtle change from August to September, but there was an immediate drop in humidity, perfect for sitting outside. As I was the first to arrive in my group, I checked out the patio, which is about 10 wrought iron tables and chairs that seat 4 people each. It didn’t look all that comfortable so I opted to sit inside.

Our group arrived around 730ish. Wathaven offers some specialty cocktails like a strawberry infused mojito, sweat tea vodka, sloe gin mule and the like. I’ve been burned by theses cocktails as of late. And when I say “burned” I mean that the description sounds good, but it often ends up being a high-ticket price without delivering on the alcohol.

Several of us opted for wine instead. A nice Grenache priced at $48.

Waterhaven Lamb Sliders

Again, I loved that WaterHaven had a good representation of their menu for restaurant week. Actually, nearly everything on their regular menu was on the restaurant week menu. I was so glad there was a group so I could sample different menu options. For appetizers, we ordered a mix of the calamari, fried green tomatoes, lamb sliders, and the crabcake.

Waterhaven Crab Cake

My first inclination was to go with the lamb sliders, but as no one else was going to order the crabcake, I had to order that. Although it was full of meat and not too much bread, it lacked any real taste to it. It was pretty bland. The lamb sliders on the other hand, although simply prepared, were full of flavor. I was also concerned that the bun would be too much in relation to the amount of meat as with sliders at JCT Kitchen, but it wasn’t.

Waterhaven Fried Green Tomatoes

The calamari was decent, nothing to complain about, but was overshadowed by the lamb sliders as well as the fried green tomatoes. Now, this is probably the last appetizer that I would have chosen to order, but it was delightful. The thin, fried tomatoes were served with a pesto sauce that adds a wonderful flavor to the tomatoes. I don’t care for goat cheese so I didn’t taste that with the tomatoes but the others seemed to like it.

Waterhaven Bacon Wrapped Trout

As far as entrees we ran the gamut, from Bacon Wrapped Trout, Flatiron Steak, Chicken and of course the Oxtails. The trout was flaky and cooked perfectly with bacon and a side of mushroom lasagna. I’ve never seen lasagna quite like this before. It was like a round pasta sandwich. The pasta was on the top and bottom and the mushroom and asiago and ricotta cheese were mixed inside. Very yummy and unexpected. They could almost serve that dish by itself. In fact, it would make a perfect offering for vegetarians.

Waterhaven Oxtail

Waterhaven Steak

I did taste the Oxtails myself and was impressed. These were braised and fall off the bone tender. The only thing I didn’t care for or did my friend for that matter is the dumplings they were served with were not very dumpling-like. They were more like hard potatoes. But all in all it was a very pleasurable meal. I didn’t sample the steak or the chicken, but judging by the fact that there wasn’t a speck of food left on anyone’s plate, I’d take it everyone was satisfied.

But we weren’t done yet. We still had the dessert course. Our choices were the Chocolate icebox cake, the lemon and blueberry panacotta or the Chef’s nightly creation which was a poundcake with berries and ice cream. Again, within our group we had a sampling of all 3.

Waterhaven Desserts

The least favorite of mine was the chocolate cake. Don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate but this was so rich, one bite was plenty. The pound cake was delicious and moist and the sweetness of the cake went well with the tart berries. But the Lemon blueberry panacotta takes the cake, so to speak. If you’ve never had panacotta, it is like a pudding or flan. Not only was the plating pretty with thoughtful details like a candied lemon zest on top, the lemon flavor came through in every bite, with the lemon and blueberry in perfect harmony.

Service was also great, with friendly, consistent service. And the chef even came by to ask us how we liked everything. I love that even though they knew we were here for restaurant week, they still wanted to make sure we had a good experience. And they had a good menu offering as well. Listen up restaurants – THAT is how you successfully execute a restaurant week, quite the opposite of my many other restaurant week experiences.

75 5th St
Atlanta, GA 30308-1019
404 214-6740
Website

Extras: They have valet parking if you need it but street parking can be found nearby as well.