Some local restaurant groups have built their reputations on waterfront locations with a view. Most offer special Valentine’s Day menus. Duke’s Chowder House, Daniel’s Broiler, Anthony’s, Salty’s, Ivar’s and other restaurant groups have multiple locations with water views. Fire & Vine has two waterfront concepts, Aerlume — just north of Pike Place Market — and AQUA by El Gaucho on Pier 70.  

Many other dining institutions also have spectacular views and are offering Valentine’s Day menus. They include Canlis, Ray’s Boathouse, Restaurant 67 at the Edgewater Hotel, The Dining Room at The Salish Lodge, Elliott’s Oyster House, The Loupe Lounge at the Space Needle and Palisade.  

Some restaurants will extend their special Valentine’s Day menus into Saturday, Feb. 15.  

For dining options with a view, consider the following local restaurants:  

The especially romantic Table #1 at this intimate Pike Place Market bistro has been booked since last year. Other tables with views of Puget Sound are still available at Place Pigalle throughout Valentine’s Day weekend.  

For diners looking for an intimate, off-the-beaten-path location with views of Lake Washington, Iconiq in the Mount Baker neighborhood fits the bill. Cost is $150 per person for four courses, plus an amuse bouche.  

Perched on the 31stfloor of Lincoln Square in Downtown Bellevue, Ascend offers stunning views of the Seattle skyline, Lake Washington and the Cascades. The steakhouse and sushi restaurant will offer a special Valentine’s menu from Feb. 14-17.  

Chef and restaurateur Ethan Stowell has been consulting on the menu since Goldfinch opened in 2008. Executive Sous Chef Jeffrey Hunter and Pastry Sous Chef Danielle Grogan run the day-to-day in the kitchen, including a three-course menu on Valentine’s Day for $150 per guest.  

The eponymous pink door is the only sign of the festive decor awaiting guests inside this Pike Place Market institution on Post Alley that has fed locals and tourists since 1981. Reserve a table by the west-facing windows with views of the Market and Elliott Bay. 

Ray’s offers a three-course prix-fixe menu for $80. 

Sister restaurants AQUA by El Gaucho and Aerlume, about half a mile apart along the Seattle waterfront, offer stunning views and will be offering caviar specials on Valentine’s Day.  

The eponymous local chowder chain celebrates Valentine’s Day for 12 days, now through Feb. 17, at all of its seven Puget Sound locations. If the expansive views from the Alki location don’t put you in the mood, the luxurious lobster tail stuffed with Dungeness Crab and prawns for $44 might.  

With spectacular views of Elliott Bay from its 16th-floor location at the Lotte Hotel, Charlotte Restaurant & Lounge features a four-course menu, plus an amuse bouche, for $140 per guest. 

This casual, Alki local-centric restaurant Driftwood is a labor of love. Wife Jackie Mallahan designed the dining room. Husband Dan Mallahan runs the kitchen.  

For a more casual dinner out, walk on the West Seattle water taxi across Elliott Bay from the Seattle waterfront for Marination’s sexy tofu tacos (two for $7) or its famous Kalbi Beef fried rice ($14). Or take it to go and go for a stroll on Alki Beach.  

La Fontana has unassumingly been delivering Sicilian specialties such as the vegetarian Spaghetti Norma with eggplant and its seafood risotto for more than 30 years in an off-the-beaten-path building in Belltown that is more than a century old. Views of the romantic courtyard with its eponymous fountain (Fontana is Italian for fountain) will bring you back to the Old World.  

Sitting on different corners of Lake Union, (Westward on the north shore, White Swan on the east) are casual destinations specializing in oysters. 

Love is in the DNA of this Capitol Hill restaurant. Founders Linda di Lello Morton and the late Tamara Murphy also started “Food is Love” in the thick of the pandemic to feed schoolchildren and the unhoused. The heated rooftop patio at Terra Plata is the cozy outpost for guests seeking luxury comfort food and views of downtown Seattle to Capitol Hill.  

Another oyster destination, Elliott’s Oyster House on Pier 56 on the Seattle waterfront, offers nearly 30 choices of bivalves. Hama Hama oysters are a favorite among the staff as well as guests. Elliott’s will also serve other Valentine’s Day specials. 

Restaurant veteran Jeffrey Dorgan, who has held leadership positions at dining destinations such as the Space Needle, Barking Frog, The Butcher’s Table, The Sorrento Hotel, Cedarbrook Lodge and Sullivan’s, comes to the historic restaurant at the Edgewater Hotel on Pier 67 on Seattle’s waterfront in time to set the table for Valentine’s Day. The special four-course dinner (plus amuse bouche) runs $125 per person and features expansive views of Elliott Bay are priceless.