The best restaurants for Valentine's Day dinner in Miami

It’s fitting to celebrate a love-themed holiday at a restaurant helmed by husband-and-wife duo Juan Manuel Umbert and Janice Buraschi. The Peruvian chefs will offer a la carte specials including Peruvian corn cappellacci, raviolo all uovo and a chocolate tart. Perhaps watching these two cook together from the open kitchen will set a mood?

A favorite of, well, everyone, Macchialina will continue its Valentine’s tradition of throwing down ‘90s R&B hits, pairing Keith Sweat with a four-course chef's tasting menu for $160. The lineup includes the downright incredible Macchialina polenta, gnocchi with chanterelles and a filet with braised escarole. I’m afraid to say reservations went live on January 14, so you’d better have a connection.

This will be the last Valentine’s Day at the bayside La Mar before it moves to a new location in the heart of Brickell. So soak up those stunning views with three special menu options from $220 to $330. Expect lavish ingredients to make appearances, like Ossetra caviar and Hokkaido scallops, ending with a dessert of honeydew, white chocolate and almond financière (which sounds a lot like fiancée, hint hint).

Good, high-end Chinese food isn’t exactly common in Miami, so newcomer MIMI will offer an overview of its offerings with a $120 menu for early seatings and a bumped-up version of that menu for $150 later in the night. We’re talking bluefin tuna, supreme fried rice, shrimp toast and a black pepper dry-aged sirloin. You’ll get bubbly to start and dessert to end things--or maybe it’s only the beginning.

The $195 special menu at Fiola will be offered at two seatings, at 5:30pm and 10pm. Bluefin and king salmon crudo start things, continuing to dishes including lobster ravioli and a Florida strawberry cheesecake. There are options for vegetarians and also a $250 caviar course to show your Valentine that you care.

Reborn in the South of Fifth neighborhood, the Catch will offer Valentine's Day specials, including jumbo stone crab claws (MP), torched snow crab nigiri ($28), and toro tartare and caviar ($49). At the end, the signature Hit Me Cake is ideal to take out frustrations if the date isn’t going as planned.

The new funhouse-colored rooftop restaurant from famed chef Massimo Bottura will offer a $165 prixe-fixe menu. The lineup includes amberjack carpaccio, a wagyu tartare risotto and a passionfruit semifreddo. There’s also the a la carte menu in case baby wants options.

To be honest, the $80 menu offered at Cotoletta is technically the same as it is every other day: veal Milanese with some pasta and a single red wine. But this is the place if you don’t want to distract your date with tons of menu choices and instead concentrate on that big question you have to ask.

Wynwood’s outpost of the Austin sushi restaurant will celebrate with a special 10-course omakase that’s also available as takeout, just in case you want doggo to participate in things. Finish the meal with four offerings from Austin-based Cookie Rich, which makes sandwiches out of two downright darling cookies.

There’s a series of special plates on offer at Lafayette, where classic steakhouse fare pairs with a vintage design. The one-night-only items include a bluefin tuna crudo, a prime filet and a dessert titled “A Rose For You,” maybe setting the romance level for the rest of your night.

Chef Marcus Samuelsson’s Overtown restaurant has a comparably reasonably priced $95 holiday menu that begins with caramelized plantains and sweet potato madeleines, ideal for those who would rather skip right to dessert. There’s also smoked jerk short rib, peri peri chicken and two pie options—we’re thinking sweet potato over key lime to keep things on theme.

Celeb chef Laurent Tourondel’s restaurant inside The Betsy has a special menu planned with a 32-ounce wagyu tomahawk headliner and a finish of a white chocolate cake. There will be live jazz and, of course, a patio that would make a fine spot to stare lovingly at each other.

Chef Richard Sandoval’s Pan-Latin steakhouse in the InterContinental Miami will offer two seatings at 6pm and 11pm, with a three-course menu at $120 per person. It starts with glasses of bubbly and includes lobster arepas, beef tiradito, and upgrades to wagyu cuts that will show your date that you know how to splurge.

With a theme you could probably guess (Tulum), the restaurant atop the W Miami has a paella-for-two special planned at $115 for both of you. It comes with two glasses of white and a mini dessert trio spread over two tiers, with macarons, cheesecakes—and maybe a ring hidden in there somewhere?

The breezy, beachy Brickell location of The Hampton Social will affordably get you started on the love-themed holiday with a dozen oysters and two glasses of sparkling rosé for 30 bucks. Add a dollop of caviar to each oyster for $10 more, because fish eggs are a great way to say I love you.