The Okanagan may have hundreds of eateries, but only one Valley restaurant is among those said to be the 100 most romantic in Canada.
Old Vines Restaurant at Quails’ Gate Winery in West BԪַ is the only one to make the list, released in advance of ValentineBԪַ Day by OpenTable, an online reservation system.
No restaurants in Penticton, Vernon, or other Valley communities are on the list. Sixteen BԪַ restaurants are on the list, most of them being in Vancouver and Victoria.
“Nearly half of Canadians plan to dine out this ValentineBԪַ Day,” says Matt Davis of OpenTable Canada. “This year marks a shift beyond the traditional couple celebrations, with group dining and double dates on the menu too.”
Open Table says the Top 100 romantic restaurants list is based on more than 900,000 reviews from verified users of the OpenTable app and other ‘dining metrics’ gathered between Dec. 1, 2023 and Nov. 30, 2024. There was also an online survey conducted by PureSpectrum among 1,510 Canadians during the recent Christmas season.
Romantic restaurants are an apparent rarity in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Newfoundland, and Prince Edward Island, as no eateries in these provinces made the top 100 list.
Among survey respondents, 80 per cent said they were going to book a ValentineBԪַ Day dinner at a restaurant they had never visited before.And 20 per cent said they plan to celebrate ‘GalentineBԪַ Day’, an emerging tradition on Feb. 13 that celebrates female friendship.
Anyone planning to make a reservation for Feb. 14 at the OkanaganBԪַ most romantic restaurant through the OpenTable app had best act fast, however. As of Wednesday, the only times available for a table for two were at 4:45 p.m., 5 p.m., 7:30 p.m., and 8 p.m., and those spots were only at the bar or outside, with no space in the main dining room.
