Date night can mean drinks with your bestie, dinner to impress a new sweetie, celebrating a big anniversary or a few stolen moments before the babysitter needs to go home. No matter who’s on the other side of the table, there’s a special place for both of you at one of these Oregon restaurants. Here’s our guide to a special evening at romantic restaurants around the state.
Splurge on Award-Winning Dining
Some dates just call for pulling out all the stops. If you’re aiming to impress, plan ahead and book a table at one of the state’s many nationally recognized restaurants.
In Portland the James Beard Foundation’s 2024 Outstanding Restaurant Langbaan highlights creative interpretations of regional Thai dishes in its always-changing five-course tasting menu. If they’re booked, try sister restaurant Yaowarat, an homage to the cuisine of Bangkok’s Chinatown (and one of the New York Times’ 50 best restaurants of 2024). Both drinkers and nondrinkers alike will love the fruity, flowery nonalcoholic cocktails of Sousòl. The swanky cocktail bar is the brainchild of Gregory Gourdet — the award-winning chef at Haitian-inspired, live-fire restaurant Kann, located upstairs.
Wine lovers should head for L’Orange, an intimate second-story dining room serving sophisticated yet effortless France-meets-Northwest dishes in Southeast Portland. The restaurant was also named one of the 50 best restaurants in the country in 2024 by the New York Times. There are no cocktails here, just a beautifully curated wine list overseen by a prominent local winemaker.
Headed to wine country? James Beard finalist Hayward in Carlton serves up inventive vegetable-forward dishes showcasing the bounty of the Willamette Valley. Another premier spot to book a bucket-list meal is the award-winning Joel Palmer House Restaurant in Dayton, where chef/owner Christopher Czarnecki has kept his fourth-generation family legacy of culinary excellence going strong. The restaurant’s evolving prix-fixe menu spotlights Oregon’s wild mushrooms, local ingredients and Willamette Valley pinot noir — specifically over 600 wines, exclusively from Oregon dating back to 1994. The restaurant holds the prestigious distinctions of being the Pacific Northwest’s first and only official Château d’Yquem Lighthouse Restaurant — an honor for fine-dining restaurants across the globe — and a AAA Four Diamond designation — awarded for upscale ambiance, service and decor.
Farther south, fellow finalist MÄS in Ashland offers two seatings an evening in its tiny, jewel-like dining room to experience chef Josh Dorcak’s Cascadian cuisine, which applies Japanese- and French-influenced techniques to the sparkling seafood of the South Coast.
Settle In for an Overnight Stay
Celebrating something special? Book a night or weekend at one of Oregon’s many luxury hotels with exceptional on-site dining. At the airy, modern Meridian Restaurant & Bar at Headlands Coastal Lodge & Spa in Pacific City, you can watch the sun set over the surf with cocktails and crab cakes in hand, then move on to steaks and more seafood before strolling down the hallway to your oceanview room.
For a romantic retreat in Central Oregon, don’t miss eco-friendly SCP Redmond, with modern, fresh rooms situated as a perfect gateway to outdoor adventures with your love. Head up for an intimate meal amid native plants on the top floor of the hotel — here, the Rooftop Restaurant offers creative cocktails and small plates that are perfect accompaniments to a sunset over the Cascades peaks. In winter, you can opt to snuggle up as you dine outside in a heated igloo.
If your idea of romance is cozy solitude with your loved one, The Retreat at Silvies Valley Ranch may be for you. In Southeastern Oregon, midway between John Day and Burns, this luxury homestead-style guest ranch that offers a truly unique dinner service for guests, served ranch-style at one big table with a different beef or goat-based protein nightly. On Fridays there’s a western barbeque buffet for dinner.
If brunch makes your heart beat faster, book a stay at Abbey Road Farm in Carlton, where you can sleep in a beautifully refurbished grain silo on a working winery after trying local pinot noir. In the morning, you’ll get to savor a five-course scratch-made farm breakfast featuring local produce before heading off for more wine tasting.
Add an Adventure to Your Date
Meals don’t have to be fancy to be romantic. Sometimes inspiring surroundings, novel flavors or the chance to participate in making — or catching — your dinner are what elevate a date from good to great.
Everyone’s had pizza, but not everyone’s had it the way James Beard semifinalist Sarah Minnick makes it at Lovely’s Fifty Fifty in Portland. Here, sourdough pies come blanketed in foraged nettles, topped with veggies like chanterelle mushrooms and turnips or sprinkled with edible flower petals. Afterward, split a scoop of buckwheat honey or fenugreek vanilla-bean ice cream.
Seeing someone outdoorsy? After a waterfall hike in the Columbia River Gorge, surprise them with a platter of what’s called Tex-ish barbecue at Grasslands Barbecue in Hood River after they open for the season in March. The line can be long, but that just gives you plenty of time to decide between brisket, pulled pork or sausage at this award-winning barbecue cart. Afterward, head to the riverfront for a post-meal stroll along the Columbia River to watch the windsurfers catching air.
If your partner has a fondness for road trips, hearty meals and cowboy culture, point your wagon toward the Cowboy Dinner Tree in remote Silver Lake, about 50 miles southeast of La Pine. There’s no menu at this former cattle-drive stop, now kitted out with live-edge tables and vintage horse tack. Instead, you just need to decide if you want chicken or steak, then sit back and prepare for an authentic chuck-wagon experience. Come hungry and bring cash — no cards accepted.
Do you really know somebody until you’ve fished a feisty live Dungeness crab out of a trap with them? If you’re ready to take things to the next level, head for Kelly’s Brighton Marina or Jetty Fishery on Nehalem Bay for everything you need for a tasty crabbing adventure, from rental pots and bait to beverages to sip while you wait. If you catch crabs (or buy them from the on-site market), they’ll cook them right there for you to savor.
