Hoping to find the most romantic place to dine this Valentine’s Day?
OpenTable is out with its list of the 100 Most Romantic Restaurants in Canada, and four have made the cut in our province.
Director Matt Davis tells us you’ll find romance at Cut Steakhouse, The Ostrich Club, The Press Gang, and The Keg.
The list is based on roughly 720,000 diner reviews from across the country in 2021.
“The restaurants that land on this should feel fantastic because this is user-generated, these are diners that have dined at this restaurant and have said this is a really great place to have a romantic meal,” Davis says. “For four of those to be landing in Nova Scotia, I think it’s a fantastic thing and just speaks to the real calibre of restaurants in the province.”
Davis says ambiance is a big deal when choosing a romantic spot to dine as well as dessert.
Sixty per cent of Nova Scotians surveyed by OpenTable say they’re passionate about dessert over wine for a romantic date.
“Dessert actually stirs up a lot more passionate feelings than wine, with sixty per cent of Nova Scotian respondents declaring their love of sweets as something that drives them to a more romantic restaurant,” Davis says.
When asked about dream Valentine’s dates, Nova Scotians said they would prefer dining out with an author.
OpenTable says politicians were the least desirable date with no respondents dreaming of a special night out with an elected official.
Davis adds this is a great weekend to share the love and support businesses hard hit by the pandemic with Valentine’s Day on Monday.
“Valentine’s Day is historically one of the busiest days of the year for restaurants,” Davis says. “More than ever it’s really important to patronize those restaurants.”
Almost 50 percent of Nova Scotians have not celebrated Valentine’s Day at a restaurant since 2019, according to the survey.
In 2020, less than 1 percent of diners said they celebrated the occasion at a restaurant.
Davis warns reservations fill up fast, especially with capacity limits, so you’ll want to check ahead.
If you can’t head to a restaurant, he recommends getting take-out and sharing a great meal at home with your loved ones.
