NYC's best romantic restaurants for anniversaries, dates, and Valentine's Day

Aside from the fact that this is Jeremy Allen White’s favorite restaurant (you might already be sold), Rolo’s wood-fired cooking and warm, tavern-like atmosphere make it a top spot for intimate date nights. The dimly lit interior will make you squint to read the menu, but I’ll make it easy for you: start with the Calabrian chili butter polenta bread and follow it with the two-sheet lasagna, with “war-style” crispy potatoes on the side. But the best part about dates is that you can pick a few different things and share them – which will definitely be necessary, especially when it comes to dessert (get the brown butter apple tart with the housemade sweet cream ice cream).

If you can’t snag a reservation, try showing up when they open at 5:00 for a table. While you’re in the area, grab a drink at Ask Alita across the street, or walk down to Nowadays for a late-night dancing sesh with your beau or belle.

In true Williamsburg fashion, Bar Madonna started with a painting made by streetwear designer KidSuper, portraying a group of people drinking cocktails in a stylish bar. The figures, resembling the painter and owner’s loved ones, are doodled onto plates and staff uniforms, an ode to relationships and community. Warm wood floors and tables are complemented by the signature emerald green walls and banquettes, with globe lights, high ceilings, and the Bar Madonna painting hung up in the back.

The cocktail-focused menu features a simple signature martini alongside more avant-garde flavors like banana juice, Earl Grey, prickly pear, and fig. The drinks are to be paired with more casual Italian-American bites, like a smashed meatball parm sandwich, stracciatella with apricot, and arancino alla vodka. It’s a great spot to sit and snack for hours while talking to someone you’re really into – no matter how long you’ve been together.

If you’ve been lucky enough to eat at Lilia, you’ve likely never stopped thinking about it. The pasta is otherworldly and made daily by hand, with a changing menu of seasonal ingredients honoring traditional Italian recipes. Housed in a converted auto-body shop in Brooklyn, the space has maintained its industrial roots, with concrete floors, large garage-style windows, and wooden beams across high ceilings. For a romantic lunch date, the sunlight pours in beams across the restaurant, and in the evening it transforms into a cozy candlelit dining experience that doesn’t feel too cramped.

The highlight is the food (duh), and we’d recommend going straight for the pasta. The sheep’s milk cheese agnolotti will live in your head rent-free until you can go back and get it again. Mop up that extra sauce with the focaccia paired with green garlic butter, and finish off with the Italian Job, a vanilla soft-serve topped with olive oil. Trust.

Looking to get intimate? Osteria57 is snug. Like you would a travel buddy, we recommend taking someone familiar to this spot. Its underground location and flattering low lighting make it a romantic setting that’ll make you forget you’re in the center of Manhattan. The interior is fairy-tale-like, with iron fixtures, palms lining the brick walls, and a colorful tiled bar.

Inspired by the Italian coast, the menu is exclusively pescatarian, with options like clam linguine, swordfish bolognese, and branzino. Chef Ricardo Orfino hand-picks ingredients fresh from the Union Square Farmer’s Market, with dishes rotating with the seasons. For a romantic cocktail, try Viva Amor (“long live love” in Italian), a vodka-based drink with pomegranate molasses, lime juice, and orange blossom.

Part fancy supper club, part underground piano bar, The Nines is a timeless date spot that will transfer you to the romantic glamour of the golden age. Claiming itself as “the sexiest date night place in New York City,” the red lacquer walls, leopard-print carpet, and glittering chandeliers create an atmosphere reminiscent of a smoky bar in old Hollywood, where you’d come across a future lover and convince them to buy you multiple martini rounds with just a wink.

The menu is inspired by Europe’s grand hotels, with extravagant offerings like caviar service, foie gras with huckleberry and cardamom, and filet mignon. Cocktails are simple with an elevated twist: think a G&T with sumac and grapefruit or a gimlet with yuzu and green tea.

There aren’t any prices on the menu, but we’d advise coming with plenty of balance left on your credit card, so you and your date can cosplay as rich 1920s aristocrats. The bill is tomorrow’s problem.