Valentine's Day 2027 is a Sunday and Super Bowl night: prix fixe, two seatings and deposits

Half of US searches for "valentines day reservations" come in the last six to eight days before 14 February, in our analysis of three seasons of Google Trends data. Your own guests can be booked weeks earlier, and the nights either side of a full Sunday are what you have to sell.

Valentine's Day 2027 is Sunday 14 February, the same night as Super Bowl LXI, and Monday 15 February is Presidents' Day. Run two seatings timed around kickoff, set the room as two-tops, take a deposit per guest that comes off the check, and keep a waitlist instead of closing the book. Then sell the Saturday and the Monday as part of a Valentine's weekend. Last checked: 5 November 2026.

What is different about Valentine's Day 2027?

Three things land on the same weekend, and each changes who books and when:

The NFL lists Super Bowl LXI for Sunday 14 February at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, in its 2026 to 2027 important dates. As of 5 November 2026 the league has not published a kickoff time. Super Bowl LX in February 2026 kicked off at 6:30 pm ET, according to the NFL's game preview, so plan on that slot and check NFL.com in late January.

When Sunday sells out, do not simply close the book. The couples you turn away do not move themselves to Saturday or Monday. Offer those nights in the same message, and put Sunday's extra guests on a waitlist.

When should Valentine's seatings start on Super Bowl Sunday?

In the Eastern and Central zones the game covers the whole dinner window, so sell both seatings to couples skipping it, with an early one that ends at kickoff in the East. In the Mountain and Pacific zones the game is over by 7 or 8 pm, so start the second seating after the final whistle. The table assumes a 6:30 pm ET kickoff and a game of about three and a half hours, which is a planning assumption, not an NFL figure.

In the East and Central zones, your Sunday guests are mostly couples who chose dinner over the game, plus early diners who want to be home for kickoff. In the West, the second seating catches couples who watched the game first and booked late, so expect it to fill last.

Then decide what the room is for:

• No screens in the dining room. Market it as the game-free Valentine's dinner. This is the simplest choice for a romantic room.
• Game in the bar, dinner in the dining room. Keep separate menus and separate staff, and seat couples away from the bar.
• Game everywhere. Then it is a Super Bowl party, not a Valentine's dinner. Sell it that way, or you will disappoint both groups.

If you also run takeout on game night, the Super Bowl catering guide covers platters, pre-orders and splitting the kitchen.

How many couples can you seat?

Your Valentine's capacity is the number of tables a couple can sit at, times two, per seating. Seats do not matter on this night; deuces do.

Worked example: a 64-seat room

Across two seatings, that is 50 couples instead of 40. At a $95 prix fixe per guest, the 20 extra covers are worth $1,900 before drinks. The four four-tops and the six-top you kept still take double dates and Super Bowl groups who want dinner after the game.

Checks before you move furniture:

1. Measure the gaps. Servers need room to pass behind chairs with a tray. If a split puts two chairs back to back, leave that table as it is. Our floor plan guide gives the spacing and aisle widths to check against.
2. Keep one or two four-tops free for the party of four that books on the day.
3. Mark which tables guests can book online, so the system does not sell a six-top to a couple.
4. Set the times in the booking. Two hours for the first seating, longer for the second, written into the confirmation.

To price the menu itself, use the cost floor and seat floor method in the New Year's Eve pricing guide. On Valentine's Day the seat floor works per table: two covers per two-top, per seating.

When do guests search for Valentine's reservations?

Strangers search late, and in a rush. Our analysis of Google Trends daily US search interest for three searches, over the 2024, 2025 and 2026 seasons (1 December to 14 February, pulled on 5 November 2026), found interest starting around the first week of January and about half of it arriving in the final eight or nine days.

Method: for each search and season we summed the daily index and counted back from 14 February to the day the running total passed 10% and 50%. Google Trends returns a sampled, scaled index, not search counts, so read the timing, not the size. The pattern is the same in all three years.

Searches measure strangers. Your regulars and past guests are yours to reach first: email your own list before the searching starts.

What to do with it:

• Open bookings in the first week of January. Early planners are a small group, but they book the best tables and pay deposits.
• Save your big push for 4 to 7 February. Half the searching happens in the last eight or nine days.
• Hold the waitlist open to the last day. Some of the searching happens on 14 February itself, and late cancellations need someone to fill them.

Deposits per guest for Valentine's Day

Take a deposit per guest, credited to the check, for both seatings on Sunday. For Saturday and Monday, a deposit on the late seating alone is usually enough. The reservation software guide compares deposits, card holds, saved cards and prepayment.

Size it from your loss on an empty two-top: the food you bought for it and the covers you could have sold. The no-show cost calculator does the sum. For the $95 menu above, $25 per guest ($50 per couple) is a common-sense floor. Show the terms before the guest pays, keep a record that they agreed, and remember that a guest can still dispute the charge with their bank.

Gift cards for the guests you cannot seat

Every couple you turn away on Sunday is a gift card you can still sell. Put a gift card link in the "fully booked" message and on the waitlist confirmation, and in your last Valentine's email. The US gift card guide covers the federal and state rules on expiry and fees.

Two-seating plan and deposit terms to copy

VALENTINE'S WEEKEND PLAN 2027

Saturday 13 February
  Seatings: [5:30 pm] and [8:00 pm], à la carte or prix fixe
  Deposit: late seating only, $[20] per guest

Sunday 14 February (Valentine's Day, Super Bowl LXI)
  Kickoff: [check NFL.com in late January; plan on 6:30 pm ET]
  First seating: [4:30] to [6:30] pm    Prix fixe: $[95] per guest
  Second seating: [7:00] to [9:30] pm   Prix fixe: $[95] per guest
  Deposit: $[25] per guest, both seatings, credited to the check
  Room: [no screens / game in the bar only]
  Floor: [number] two-tops bookable online, [2] four-tops held back
  Waitlist: open until close on Sunday

Monday 15 February (Presidents' Day)
  Dinner: [regular menu plus the Valentine's dessert]

Timeline
  First week of January: open bookings, email the list
  25 to 29 January: confirm kickoff time, finalize the menu
  4 to 7 February: main push; gift card link in every message
  12 February: reminders go out; move the waitlist into cancellations

Booking terms, shown before the guest pays:

Valentine's Day, Sunday 14 February 2027

Our Valentine's menu is $95 per guest, before tax, drinks and gratuity.
We take a $25 deposit per guest when you book. It comes off your check.

Your table is reserved for [two hours] for the 4:30 pm seating and until
close for the 7:00 pm seating.

Cancel or change by Thursday 11 February for a full refund. After that we
keep the deposit, unless we fill your table, in which case we refund it.

We are [not showing the game in the dining room / showing the game in the
bar only].

Can TablePort handle this for you?

Yes, for the bookings and deposits. The menu, the floor and the screens are your call.

1. Give Sunday its own deposit. Deposits, cancellation terms and hours are set per shift, so Valentine's dinner can ask for a deposit while Monday lunch stays free.
2. Choose which tables guests can book online, and seat any free table by hand on the night.
3. Remind and waitlist. Guests get a confirmation and a reminder; walk-ins and late callers go on the waitlist with real-time text updates.
4. Sell gift cards online to the couples you cannot seat, kept in Apple Wallet or Google Wallet.

The honest limit: a deposit does not stop a guest disputing the charge with their bank. See Reservations.