Valentine’s Day, Without Breaking The Bank

It’s easy to write a guide on how to impress your Valentine’s date and drop big names like Davio’s or Moo, but this guide is about getting that same reaction without having to drop over $200 on dinner. 

The Liberty Hotel (West End)

It might sound weird putting a hotel bar on our list of top spots to impress on Valentine’s Day, but take one step inside the Liberty and you’ill see why it made the list.

Originally the Charles Street Jail, this prison has been transformed into a luxury hotel with several restaurants and bars. Its open design concept gives it a very “prison luxury” type feel (if that’s even a thing).

We would recommend sitting at the main bar, which has views of the entire hotel. And there is also “the clink” which was once prison cells, located on the main floor.

Fox & The Knife (South Boston)

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again– the best Italian in Boston is not in the North End.

All of the pasta at Fox & The Knife in South Boston is homemade, and all of the ingredients are super fresh. This type of quality shines through in every dish they put out.

Even non-pasta dishes are great here, including the milanese di maiale– an Italian twist on what reminded us of wiener schnitzel. The standout to us was the wild boar bologna on tagliatele. The “gravy” (as they call it) was rich and meaty, and the thick noodles of tagliatele did a great job pairing with it.

The portions here are not over-the-top, so you can try a few things without bringing home a ton of to-go boxes. They also have a lot of great cocktails. To us, the gin drinks really stood out. Their classic gin & tonic uses Bully Boy gin that was made exclusively for the restaurant.

FuGakyu

We previously covered FuGaKyu in one of our sushi guides, but we had to add it here too, because it checks all of the boxes for a killer V-Day dinner.

From the outside it does not look like much, but when you walk in, it’s bamboo and water fixtures as far as the eye can see. The little details in this restaurant transport you to foreign land. FuGaKyu is not a one-trick pony though. The sushi here is some of our favorite in Boston. Using only quality ingredients and fresh fish, their sushi melts in your mouth with every bite. They are constantly getting specials shipped in from Japan, so be on the lookout– you never know what they might have.

We had the Fujusan salmon, which is sashimi from salmon that was raised and caught in the springs of Mt. Fuji. Is there a bit of marketing involved there, probably, but it definitely tasted delicious. Plating here is also a 10/10. The sashimi came out on top of dry ice with smoke pouring out from the sides. At FuGaKyu, you get a top-class sushi experience without breaking the bank