Valentine's Day Prix Fixe Dinners Are a Total Ripoff

Welcome back to Restaurant Confessionals, where we talk to the unheard voices of the restaurant industry from both the front-of-house (FOH) and back-of-house (BOH) about what really goes on behind the scenes at your favorite establishments.

From a consumer's standpoint, Valentine's Day dinner can appear to be a ripoff—restaurants gouging people, because it's that time of year and everyone feels obligated to be a part of Valentine's Day, and their girlfriends or boyfriends or wives or husbands or mistresses require that sort of thing.

I will say, from an operator's perspective, the margins are extremely big. You know how hard it is to make money in a restaurant. When you know you're guaranteed to have a certain amount of business—you're guaranteed to be super busy that day—you'd kind of be a moron to not take advantage of that.

When January and February are two of the slowest months of the year, and you have an opportunity to maybe make some money for a day, I don't blame anyone from taking advantage of it. Some places will serve a meal that's typically $55 for $135.

All of the cooks prepare for a Saturday night to be busy—that's just in their rhythm. It's when you throw a wrench in on a Tuesday or Thursday that it becomes dreadful and frustrating. I won't pretend I haven't had Valentine's Days when I wanted to tear my hair out. The restaurant is going to be three times more busy than on a normal weeknight—but, with proper planning, it can run as smoothly as any other day at the restaurant.

Most Valentine's prix fixe menus are designed assuming people are out to spend big money—lobsters, caviar, truffles. And that's a way of taking advantage of check averages on a day like Valentine's Day.

The clientele that comes in on Valentine's Day isn't the same as on a normal weeknight. We call them the "bridge and tunnelers" in New York. They're the people that live in Long Island, or New Jersey or Westchester. They're not your weeknight diners. You get a lot more, "my lobster's undercooked", "I want the steak well-done", "what are truffles?" The crowd isn't necessarily as sophisticated as our normal weeknight Goldman Sachs executives. That shift in clientele has to affect the menu choices—you want these people to go home happy and tell their friends how much they loved it, regardless of whether or not you agree with it as a chef. You need to be prepared for the people coming into your restaurant and serve them what they want—even if it's well-done steak.

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"A middle-tier restaurant is likely to give you a below-middle-tier experience on a night like that."

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As a customer, I loathe Valentine's Day. I think it's a disaster. There's nothing about it that appeals to me. I know what it's like, I know how hard it is on the staff, and I know how likely it is that you'll receive bad service and a mediocre-to-average experience at a restaurant that would normally be great.

I don't go out for dinner on Valentine's Day, because I know that the likelihood of having a bad experience is doubled. A middle-tier restaurant is likely to give you a below-middle-tier experience on a night like that.

On Tuesday night, cook at home.

As told to Becky Hughes