Fall in Love with the Most Romantic Restaurants in Boston

This sexy Back Bay lair has returned after a two-year hiatus, just in time for all your romantic date night needs. Tequila is the move here, along with crispy pork tacos, blackened shrimp quesadillas, and four different kinds of guacamole. Moody lighting and gothic decor puts seduction front and center—you don’t need to come with a partner to hang out at the bar and potentially leave with one.
How to book: Via SevenRooms

Nobody does romance like restaurateur Barbara Lynch. While love blooms at all of her restaurants, her flagship space really brings the heat. The townhouse setting of No. 9 Park, the front-of-room wood bar, the antique chandeliers—it all adds up to l’amour, and that’s even before you’ve opened the menu. The food is, of course, the real aphrodisiac with dishes like oysters, steak tartare, seared foie gras, Bavette steak. If you’re feeling generous with each other, you can opt for the chef’s tasting menu with the wine pairing.

If it’s romantic enough for Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively—O Ya was the site of their first date—it’s romantic enough for you. Fifteen years ago, owners Tim and Nancy Cushman created a date spot like none other, a sumptuous Japanese sanctuary that invites you to embrace indulgence. The nightly omakase menu is a 20-course extravagance of nigiri, sashimi, and seared delicacies, each course as beautifully presented as it is revelatory to eat. Yes, it’s insanely insanely expensive, but this is what special-event dining is made for—which is why Ryan and Blake returned here for their 10-year wedding anniversary.

Asta flies just under the radar, which makes it the perfect place for a clandestine rendezvous. Chef Alex Crabb just kills it year after year with high-concept fare in a congenial, Scandinavian-style space. It offers just a single tasting menu, which is perfect for a stress-free night out: you simply sit back and wait to see what wonder Crabb will come up with next. And the space is so unlike any other in town that you’ll genuinely feel like you slipped out of the country for a night.

Honestly, the French do everything better, especially romance. So don your most Euro-centric evening wear and lean into the sexy vibes. Upstairs, the roaring fireplace, white table linens, and stunning views set the tone, while the bistro space downstairs is enchanting in its own right. Either way, you’re starting with a couple of Champagne cocktails then diving into a French- and New England-influenced menu spanning foie gras terrine, moules frites, filet mignon, and chocolate souffle.

This one feels straight out of a Nancy Meyers movie: An American comfort fare restaurant tucked away on a charming side street, complete with a black awning and two enormous windows facing the street. In other words, you want to save this one for someone special. As you’re splitting the molten chocolate cake and lingering over the last of your Willamette Valley Pinot, you’re bound to feel the love.

A 4,000-square-foot rooftop trattoria space, luxuriously appointed in art deco details that almost pull you away from the sweeping city views (and, oh yeah, your date). The Italian bill invites you and your sweetie to dine on prosciutto from five different regions, tortellini en brodo, pizza, and dry-aged bistecca fiorentina. Start with a spritz, move onto a Negroni or Martini, and revel in a special evening spent literally above it all (just be sure to book way ahead of time).

How romantic is Deuxave? So romantic that there’s literally a designated table for marriage proposals. Chef Chris Coombs and restaurateur Brian Piccini have nailed down all the must-haves for a beguiling evening, from the central fireplace and the floor-to-ceiling arched windows to a nationally celebrated wine program. Of course, you’re here for the ingredient-driven modern French menu, seductive in its own right, but you’d be forgiven if you and your plus-one skipped straight to desserts, where a decadent flourless chocolate cake and artisan cheese plate await.

Give us some exposed bricks and classic Sicilian fare, and we’re yours for the night. Euno offers both in spades, with a roaring fireplace and an impressive wine list to boot. Little wonder that this place books out for Valentine’s Day so far in advance. Pro tip: Step up your dapper game by booking a table in the candlelit wine grotto downstairs.

There’s a little Francophile in all of us, which is why it’s so hard to resist this intimate Parisian bistro-inspired space. The kitchen serves mostly small-plate versions of the classics, from escargot toast to beef bourguignon, plus 30 wines by the glass, all best shared with your paramour. True romance mandates you wait for your table in the back-room solarium, both due to the privacy and the dramatic floral backdrop. And if you find yourself waiting for a perpetually late date, you could do far worse than cozying up to the snug bar and sipping a French red while you wait.

First date, ninth date, anniversary date, besties date… Giulia is perfect for them all. The cozy, intimate, brick-walled space is so dimly lit, it’s almost impossible not to feel romantic vibes. And the service is so far above what you might usually settle for that you’ll quickly relax into the evening—just in time to twirl delectable plates of housemade pasta before sharing bites of chocolate terrine. And when you inevitably return years later for your engagement party, be sure to snag the special-occasion pasta table.

It’s romance for the erudite set. The farm-to-table menu, garden terrace, and fireplaces both inside and out attract all manner of couples who delight in seasonal pleasures. If you’re feeling indulgent, a stacked cheese plate and the revered chocolate tart will both do nicely.

This Greek-inflected tapas and wine emporium is claiming its rightful place among Boston’s top date-night destinations—and not just because of the moody gray-and-blue interior. Meze, meze, meze! Charcuterie, cheeses, dips, and glorious small plates like moussaka tartar, filet mignon, marinated octopus, fried mussels, and a daily rotisserie number make up the bulk of the festive roster. Have we mentioned the tableside tzatziki? The eats, of course, demand wine pairings, specifically Greek selections sourced from Crete, Santorini, Ioannina, and other breezy European locales. After dinner, an intimate nightcap awaits in Hecate, the speakeasy bar downstairs.

Here’s a little secret: Mistral is the go-to date night restaurant for pretty much every long-term couple in town. It might be the moody, evocative lighting, or the soaring ceilings, or the sophisticated decor that transports you to Provence. Or it could just be the seductive French-Mediterranean menu that gifts you both seared foie gras and grilled thin-crust pizzas or dover sole meuniere and housemade linguini with tomatoes.

Oleana has proven the world’s greatest date spot for vegetarian couples, given that the majority of the meze plates are totally meat-free. But even paleo pairs can’t deny the delicious allure of Oleana’s baked Alaska. And anyone who has spent more than a year or two living in this town has almost assuredly enjoyed at least one romantic meal on the twee patio.

Another romantic date, another intoxicating fireplace—this one double-sided. And there’s so much more that makes Pammy’s such an ambrosial date spot. The bracing cocktails will fuel conversation, the attentive but laid-back service will calm your nerves, and the perfectly executed new American cuisine will simply make you happy.

It’s hard not to feel the love at Talulla. Husband and wife team Conor Dennehy and Danielle Ayer have created a space that overflows with affection, from the spare but cheery decor to flavor-forward dishes that reflect their passion for seasonal ingredients. And in a restaurant with just 12 tables, flawless service is assured. You’ll feel warm and fuzzy afterward, and not just because of those epic wine pairings. If you seek peak romance, book one of the six private greenhouses set up for wintertime outdoor dining.

Here's a bit of life romantic dining advice: Go where the French expats go. The onetime Theater District mainstay, now ensconced in the Financial District, is still renowned for its wild wine cellar stocked with hard-to-find vintages from Argentina, Hungary, Spain, and France. Its champagne offerings alone guarantee an amorous adventure. But the food—oysters, steak tartare, duck breast, truffled chicken for two—is its own aphrodisiac. You can absolutely spring for the chocolate souffle as dessert, but why would you when the cheese plate awaits?