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Fork Dork: You Can Still Make Valentine's Dinner Reservations But You Better Do It Early

The Cork Dork examines alternatives to finding a dining reservation on the day of romance.

Romantic procrastinators, if you haven’t yet scored a Valentine’s Day restaurant reservation, you may not score. However, there may still be time to sweep that special someone off their feet with a romantic Valentine’s dinner.  

The irony is if you waited this long, your best bet is to make reservations for an earlier date, before Valentine’s Day. Other options include scheduling dinner away from the prime dinner hours, finding reservations online, or requesting that you be put on the waiting list for restaurants that are already booked that night.

Alternately, do what I do on Valentine’s Day: cook at home. Valentine’s Day is the busiest dining out evening of the year. Thus, waits for a table can be long, restaurants can be crowded, service can be distracted and execution on food uneven. Instead, feeding and nurturing your special someone can be very romantic.

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Many romantic restaurants on the Eastside are booked solid on Feb. 14. Consider celebrating Valentine’s Day in advance this weekend. Dining out during the weekend gives most guests the option to dine longer, later and indulge in adult beverages without the burden of going to work the next morning. Many of the restaurants in the area that are booked on Valentine’s Day have some availability this weekend.

On Mercer Island, will be open this Valentine's Day weekend and feature a 3-course special menu starting tonight, Feb. 9, and run it tonight through Valentines Day.

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The menu — priced at $50 per person — features a mixed green salad with anjou pears, candied walnuts and gorgonzola drizzled with a champagne vinaigrette, a Meyers Ranch petite filet of beef and shrimp skewer garnished with brocolini and a "chocolate-chocolate" cake with rasberry sauce. 

"We're pretty busy" on Valentine's Day, said Bennett's general manager Ryan Shimabukuro. "Reservations aren't required, but we do suggest it. There's still space available, but we have a tendency to see people making reservations last-minute. I'd recommend doing it at least the day before."

Elsewhere on the Eastside, other local restaurants that are usually closed on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays will be open leading up to Valentine’s Day to feed hungry lovers.

 in Kirkland is booked solid on Valentine’s Day. Normally closed on Mondays, it will be open on Feb. 13 to keep up with demand for a table at the 36-seat restaurant.  in Woodinville, normally open Friday through Sunday and some Thursdays, will be open next Tuesday, in addition to its regular Friday through Sunday schedule for the Two Hearts dinner at $205 to $225 per person.

A simple web search as late as the middle of this week yielded reservations between the prime dining hours of 7 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. at some romantic restaurants such as  and the more casual  on the shores of Lake Washington in Kirkland.

For a directory of restaurants, click on the "Places" tab at the top of your Patch website.

Reservation websites such as www.OpenTable.com and www.Urbanspoon.com are also helpful in finding that rare table on Valentine’s Day. Keep in mind that businesses pay to be listed on OpenTable.com, so their recommendations may be weighted.

Alternately, keep an open mind and a flexible schedule and book either an early or late Valentine’s Day dinner. Bradley Dickinson of  in downtown Bellevue recommends dining as early as 5 p.m. and catching a romantic movie at the neighboring .

“The guys will call the morning of Valentine’s Day and ask, ‘Can I have a reservation for two at 7 p.m.?’ It’s crazy,” Dickinson said. “We are basically sold out unless you want to come in early or late.”

Dickinson recalls dining at the venerable Canlis on Queen Anne Hill on Valentine’s Day as a teenager.

“When I was a kid I always loved the experience of dining out,” Dickinson said.

Today some diners at Canlis will celebrate Valentine’s Day more than a week ahead.

“There were a few guests who came last weekend to come a week early to celebrate Valentine’s Day to beat the crowd,” said David Kim of Canlis. “I respect those guests because they have a lot of foresight to look ahead.”

Canlis will be serving a five-course menu of Meyer lemon soup, the Canlis Salad, King salmon, beef tenderloin and chocolate fondant for $125 per person plus an optional wine flight for $75.

Another tradition at Canlis is opening the reservation lines at 11 a.m. on Jan. 14, exactly a month before Valentine’s Day, to take reservations for the holiday for lovers. Reservations fill as quickly as within the hour. Availability for Friday, Feb. 10, and Saturday, Feb. 11, is scant.

Like Kim and Dickinson,  general manager and wine director Dawn Smith encourages guests to reserve a table at the Kirkland restaurant prior to Valentine’s Day. But reservations on Friday through Sunday are filling up. Earlier this week, Smith said the earliest availability on Saturday was at 9 p.m., while answering reservation requests over the phone at the rate of about every other minute.

Café Juanita is offering a six-course dinner for $135 per person plus wine pairing options of $55 and $95 per flight. The menu includes Wagyu beef, soft cooked organic hen’s egg, seared foie gras, striped bass, squab, plus dessert.

“(Chef) Holly (Smith) raises the bar of difficulty higher,” Dawn Smith said of their special Valentine's Day menu.

Some restaurants keep waiting lists after reservations are full during major holidays. Call the restaurant, though be advised, odds are slim that you will score a table. Café Juanita, for example, has a waiting list 20 reservations deep. Canlis' waiting list is 30 reservations long.

Dawn Smith urges guests to note special requests and dietary restrictions when making reservations so chefs can be prepared in advance.

Dawn Smith and Canlis’ Kim also recommend against making reservations at multiple restaurants on the same day for back-up, unless you cancel on time the reservations at the restaurants where you won’t be dining. Most of the restaurants in the area will require a credit card to secure a reservation on Valentine’s Day. If you don’t cancel reservations on time or don’t show up you could be charged upwards of $200 for a no-show.

“It’s the worst thing when guests no-show,” Canlis’ Kim laments.

Failing to cancel a reservation could deprive other diners from enjoying a romantic dinner at that restaurant. Also, be mindful once you are at the restaurant. Some guests will linger over their romantic dinners while others are anxious to carry on with the other traditional Valentine’s Day activity. Most fine dining restaurants will accommodate guests, however, be mindful of fellow diners and turn over your table as appropriate.

If all else fails, try Carnation’s Lazy K’s Pizza & Pasta, owned by Kirsten Burt. She previously owned the former Madame K’s Pizza Bistro in Ballard. The sassy Burt used to urge diners at Madame’s to finish with an Orgasm, her signature dessert of a giant chocolate chip cookie lathered with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The dessert has been renamed the Cow Pie at the current Carnation joint.

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