BC’s Best Romantic Restaurants

BC offers so many incredible places to whet your whistle, satiate your appetite, and inspire love, sweet love

The stage is set for a seductive dinner when you combine expertly crafted cocktails, extensive and thoughtful wine lists, mouthwatering ingredients, elegant decor, and flirtatious, flickering candlelight.

And in BC there’s no shortage of culinary oomph to help sweep your sweetie off their feet, from the islands to the interior, and the coast to the mountains.

Following are some of BC’s most romantic places to raise a glass and pick up a fork.

Bacchus Restaurant and Lounge (Downtown Vancouver)

A crackling fireplace, dark wood, sumptuous furnishings, and sultry piano music set the tone for a romantic meal at Bacchus Restaurant and Lounge in Vancouver’s Wedgewood boutique hotel.

Begin with a velvety wine from their international cellar and share modern French plates made with West Coast ingredients like the decadent chicken liver and Cognac parfait (with fig chutney and toasted brioche), rustic pappardelle pasta (with smoked wild boar Bolognese), and roasted rack of Opal Valley lamb (with gratin potato, ratatouille, and tomato basil jus).

Bearfoot Bistro (Whistler)

Nothing fuels romance’s flame like a tall glass of champagne, and at Whistler’s Bearfoot Bistro you can ceremoniously descend into the massive wine cellar to saber your very own bottle of bubbly.

Then you can either perch yourselves at the custom-made pewter champagne bar and slurp up oysters on the half shell, or sink into one of the luxurious custom-made leather chairs to feast on executive chef Melissa Craig’s five-course tasting menu, complete with ice cream made right at your table by mixing real cream with liquid nitrogen in a giant hammered metal bowl on a trolley equipped with gourmet toppings like homemade caramel and chocolate sauce, fresh berries, and candied nuts.

Chambar (Crosstown Vancouver)

Stop at the bar, below exposed cedar beams, at this award-winning Belgian-influenced restaurant for a Crosstown Southside cocktail (gin, Bianco, house-made lavender syrup, fresh citrus and basil, peach bitters) and then slide into a leather bench against a heritage brick wall for 2011 chef of the year Nico Schuermans’s aphrodisiacal Moules Frites “Congolaise” (mussels, tomato coconut cream, smoked chili and lime, and cilantro).

Linger over a shared dessert, like Chambar‘s Pomme Lard (apple crepe terrine, whiskey milk jam, crab apple jelly, and maple bacon ice cream), at your candlelit table.

Il Terrazzo Ristorante (Victoria)

The courtyard entryway to Il Terrazzo, Victoria’s most-awarded Italian restaurant, is flanked by twinkling lights and lush vegetation, and leads you into a charming, candlelit dining room.

A sommelier will be happy to guide you through the monstrous wine list, as you nibble on the warm bread and olive tapenade amuse bouche, and peruse the Northern Italian-inspired menu.

Gather warmth from one of the brick fireplaces as you twirl homemade pasta onto your fork, devour a wood-fired pizza with your hands, and feed each other a delicious lemon tart on a shortbread crust with brandied mandarin oranges.

Ricardo’s Mediterranean Kitchen (Okanagan)

There’s reason Okanagan Life Magazine has voted Ricardo’s Mediterranean Kitchen the best romantic dining spot for the past three years – from the soft, romantic lighting and warm Tuscan hues to the luscious Mediterranean cuisine inspired by family recipes made fresh with local ingredients, the passion this award-winning restaurant elicits is evident.

Let live music pull at your heartstrings while you savour gnocchi in a gorgonzola cream sauce or linguine in a tomato sauce with mussels, clams, and shrimp, and finish with silky panna cotta or divine tiramisu, washed down with wine from a nice selection of local and international labels.