How to Pull Off a Restaurant-Quality Date Night at Home

This is Starter Kit, a series where our editors share the food, drink, and kitchen essentials they recommend when you’re setting up from scratch. Here, Erin Bunch asks three chic chefs and professional party throwers for the handful of items that can make your dining room (or kitchen nook) feel like a swanky, sexy bistro—no reservation needed.

Dinner out for two, somewhere a little fancy with cloth napkins and candlelight, is the classic choice for a romantic occasion. But there’s something about inviting a love interest into your home to share a meal—something more intimate—that makes it the swoon move of the moment.

You don’t have to be an accomplished chef or professional hostess to pull off a special night at home, either. Sure, good food matters, but when you want to get romantic, the most important ingredient is intention. Promise you this: Even if you share a home with your amore and the dining table is used for looking at the bills, eating delivery pizza, and fighting with your kid about—I mean, helping your kid with—their homework, it’s possible to achieve an ambience that puts you in the mood for love.

Here, chefs and entertaining experts share tips for creating a date night at home that feels effortless, seductive, and entirely your own.

Your Date-Night-In Starter Kit

To set make your night in feel like a night out, make sure you have the following items. You can find a curated selected of each below; pick yours to taste.

✓ Cloth napkins (this isn’t the time for paper towels)
✓ Grown-up glasses
✓ Candles
✓ Fresh flowers
✓ Choice luxury ingredients
✓ Something sweet
✓ A thoughtful beverage selection

Set the table

A few high-quality items elevate the ambiance from any-given-Tuesday to special-occasion.

Napkins

Food writer, photographer, and human embodiment of French-Girl-chic Chloe Crane-Leroux advises keeping decor simple but thoughtful in order to avoid feeling too try-hard or cheesy. “Think candles, warm textures, maybe a linen napkin or a small floral moment—nothing fussy, just inviting,” she says.

According to Stephanie Nass, caterer, designer, and founder of entertaining brand Chefanie, you don’t need a full spread—tablecloths, placemats, the whole nine yards. Simple linen napkins and a few candles (she’s partial to tapers for occasions like this) can shift the energy of the room.

Glasses

Keep the plastic tumblers and souvenir cups in your cabinet. “For water, I gravitate toward crystal, ribbed glasses, or even whiskey glasses. For wine, I love a high-stem goblet,” says Crane-Leroux. “Paired together, they feel a little unexpected yet timeless. It’s that mix of unconventional and classic that instantly turns an ordinary night at home into something quietly chic.”

Holding a fancy glass—particularly a stemmed flute or coup—can even change your entire posture, Nass adds.

Dishes and silverware

Filling out the table doesn’t require a coordinated collection or a big budget. Nass sources much of her tableware from estate sales and auctions, proof that one-of-a-kind finds often feel more memorable and personal than a perfectly matched set. “The entirety of the table is always greater than the sum of the parts,” she says.

Go ahead and use your everyday dinnerware, but add a nice serving dish, elegant utensils, or unique decorative pieces for a zhush. “Set a table with items you don’t normally use,” Nass says. Wedding keepsakes, heirlooms, or objects collected on trips can transform a familiar space into something that feels romantic and meaningful. As she puts it, “These special goodies elevate a common area to a romantic atmosphere.”

Set the mood

Put a record on, dim the lights, and wear something nice.

Candles

Anyone who’s ever tried to woo someone under fluorescents knows atmosphere is everything, and Crane-Leroux is a huge proponent of intentional vibe-setting. “Soft lighting, good music, and comfort set the mood and help everything feel intimate,” she says.

Both Nass and Crane-Leroux are partial to candlelight. “I light the candles, the room softens, and just like that, the evening has begun,” says Crane-Leroux.

Roe’s not a fan of candles—they can get messy, and as a chef, she’s sensitive to scents that could compete with her food—and instead suggests a more permanent solution for mood lighting: dimmers. Her partner taught her how to install them, and now she’s an evangelist. “The vibe is just immediately better,” she says.

Once that’s sorted, turn your attention to the music. “When I’m preparing my home for date night, this playlist is always the first thing I play,” Crane-Leroux says. “It stays on all night—a blend of Louis Armstrong, Eartha Kitt, Glenn Miller, and Nat King Cole.”

On date nights with her partner, Roe uses a playlist she’s been building since the start of their relationship, which has now grown to over 1,000 songs. The shared soundtrack brings them both back to meaningful moments, fostering connection.

Wardrobe

For Roe, atmosphere also extends to how you present yourself. Dressing up—wearing an outfit you’d normally save for going out—signals that it’s a special occasion. She’s also recommends adding an apron to your ensemble; it’s a little costumey, a bit coquettish, and can be totally spicy. She’s partial to Leila Gohar’s waist aprons, which she describes as cheeky. “Every time I put one on, I feel really cute in the kitchen,” she says. “And if you’re actually cooking for someone, [the apron] can be really hot.”

Flowers

Roe says fresh flowers are essential as well, and for those looking for a more interactive evening, she suggests assembling the floral arrangement with your date. “That could be a cool activity you do together, even going to the flower market, picking out the flowers, and then coming back to the house and making the arrangements,” she says. “There’s a lot of physicality, and I imagine it being a cool icebreaker for someone you’ve maybe only talked to on the phone.”

“The menu should feel comforting and a little special, easy to share and enjoy slowly, so the focus stays on connection, conversation, and being present together,” says Crane-Leroux.

For starters

Before you even start cooking, Roe recommends having something ready for your date to nibble on. “There’s nothing more annoying than when someone’s coming over for a date night, and you’re cooking, and they’re just there,” she says. This initial nosh doesn’t have to be an elaborate spread—just a drink and some fruit to snack on.

The meat and potatoes

It’s not every day you enjoy luxury ingredients like Wagyu beef, handmade pasta, or a DIY (with some help…) raw bar—and that’s the point. So treat yourself!

As for the cooking itself, the experts recommend one of two strategies to keep stress low. The first is to bring your date into the kitchen. For Crane-Leroux, cooking together is what makes the night feel truly special. “Interactive food can be fun, like making sushi together,” she says. She recalls a friend who practiced rolling sushi earlier in the day, then turned it into a hands-on date-night activity complete with an array of small bowls and accoutrements—a setup that felt playful and, as Roe puts it, “kind of sexy.”

For those who’d rather not put their date to work—or simply want the bulk of cooking done before they arrive—Roe and Nass recommend set-it-and-forget-it recipes. Roe cautions against dishes like pasta, which require constant attention and can pull focus away from conversation, as well as anything easily overcooked. Instead, she recommends braises and stews—meals that improve the longer they sit.

Nass agrees, noting that many protein dishes can be cooked in the oven without constant attention. “If you pair an oven protein with an oven-roasted vegetable and potato, that could be an entire meal in one to two sheet trays,” she says.

Roe is also a fan of making something that can be repurposed the next morning—especially if the date stretches into an overnight stay. Short ribs, she says, check nearly every box: They’re largely hands-off to cook, feel elevated and special, and make excellent leftovers. “You can also add eggs to anything,” she notes. “Let’s say you made a fried rice bowl for dinner. The next day you add two eggs to the leftovers and throw them into a waffle iron and you have a fried rice waffle—delicious.”

For those looking to take shortcuts without sacrificing the experience, Roe offers workarounds to cooking an entire meal from scratch. One option: call a favorite restaurant and ask if they’ll sell you an oyster set to take home. Buying, shucking, and cleaning oysters can feel intimidating, she says—so let a restaurant handle the prep, then enjoy the professional spread together at home.

Of course, no date night is complete without drinks. Crane-Leroux likes to ease into the evening with something celebratory. “I usually like to begin with something bubbly—a good Champagne or sparkling wine,” she says. As the night unfolds, she’ll switch to red or white depending on the meal, though a crisp Sancerre is a frequent go-to. “It’s such an easy, versatile pairing that works beautifully with so many dishes,” she says.

Roe is equally enthusiastic about wine with dinner—Lambrusco, pét-nat, or orange wine are regular picks of hers—but she emphasizes the importance of checking in on your date’s preferences to see if they prefer beer, spirits, or nonalcoholic beverages. These days, she’s just as likely to reach for a thoughtfully made nonalcoholic option as she is something boozy, and she points to the growing number of premixed cocktails that feel festive without the effort (or the hangover). One favorite is Ghia’s La Fizz, which she says drinks like a nonalcoholic Lambrusco and is “so good it hardly feels like a compromise.”

Dessert

All three experts agree: Store-bought is the move for after-dinner sweet treats. Outsourcing the final course lets you stay present with your date instead of disappearing into the kitchen. “Don’t feel like you have to do everything yourself,” says Roe. “Lean on the really great expert restaurants and bakeries in your neighborhood.”

Crane-Leroux is a fan of ordering dessert from a favorite local spot. “My go-to is the chocolate cherry cake from ABCV, or a box of pastries from Vanessa Patisserie. And honestly, Levain cookies are always perfect in a pinch.”

Nass has her own favorites—local and otherwise—including a cake said to be the actual recipe from JFK and Jackie’s 1953 wedding. “It’s historic, romantic, and delicious,” she says. She’s also partial to an “otherworldly” chocolate babka and, for the lowest-effort win, these classic French biscuits you can order online and keep on hand.

And if you didn’t plan ahead? Roe proves you don’t need anything extravagant: Grab a pound cake from any bakery and make it feel special with fresh strawberries, lemon zest, and a dusting of confectioners’ sugar.

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