The Most Romantic Restaurants in Berkeley

Split a two-person paella at La Marcha, a Spanish tapas and paella bar in West Berkeley, and add a pitcher of vermouth. It is a relaxed, good-value date, and a seat in the corner of the bar is worth asking for.

Dinner runs from 4pm to 10pm daily. Lunch is served on weekdays, brunch on weekends, and happy hour runs weekdays from 4pm to 6pm.

Local, organic farm-to-table cooking fills the menu at Gather, a downtown spot near campus. Settle into the warm indoor room or take a table on the heated, covered patio. The cooking is seasonal, vegetarians have plenty to choose from, and the natural-wine list is short. Banquette seating is part of the room.

It is a dependable midweek date, and same-day reservations are possible. Gather is open Monday through Friday from 11am to 2pm and 4pm to 8:30pm, and weekends from 10am to 2pm and 4pm to 8:30pm.

Grab a seat by the firepits at Jupiter, a downtown brewpub with house-brewed beer, wood-fired pizza and live music. Firepits, heaters and string lights fill the patio, and diners can also head upstairs.

Date nights are among the crowds it welcomes. Jupiter is open from 11:30am to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and until 11pm Fridays and Saturdays.

Line up for a pizza at Cheese Board Collective, a worker-owned co-op pizzeria on North Shattuck that has been going since 1971. The pizza is vegetarian, on thin sourdough crust, with salad, beer and wine on the side.

Live music plays at lunch and dinner. Waits are often long, but the queue keeps moving quickly.

Via del Corso is an Italian trattoria in North Berkeley, a good pick when you want dinner to feel like a small occasion. Pasta leads the menu in a snug dining room, from a gnocchi alla norma to ravioli filled with beef. Dinner is served Tuesday through Sunday, starting at 5pm.

Charcoal-grilled yakitori is the focus at Ippuku, an izakaya downtown that also serves standard izakaya dishes alongside shochu, sake and Japanese whisky. Its shochu selection is known as the largest outside Japan.

Ippuku is open from 5pm to 10pm Sunday through Thursday and until 11pm Fridays and Saturdays.

For a special night in Gourmet Ghetto, we'd pick Chez Panisse. The downstairs room serves a fixed menu, while the upstairs Cafe offers a daily-changing a la carte menu of Mediterranean-inspired dishes made with local seasonal ingredients. We'd suggest the Cafe for a lighter date.

Dinner in the restaurant is served Monday through Saturday. The Cafe serves lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday, plus dinner on Mondays.

Revival Bar + Kitchen is a California brasserie and cocktail lounge on Shattuck Avenue's theater row, cooking with organic ingredients from local farms. The room is airy and softly lit, with a canopy of lights overhead and a second bar for people-watching.

Berkeley Rep is just down the block, so a show and dinner pair easily.

Head to Comal, a modern Mexican restaurant downtown, and settle onto the covered, heated back patio. Fire pits warm the space, with lounge chairs and shared tables to pick from. Ask for the patio when you book, and reserve one to two weeks ahead.

Inside, the open kitchen runs large flat tortilla griddles, and the bar stocks a big tequila and mezcal list. We'd start with the white shrimp ceviche and the wood-grilled rock cod tacos. Comal is open 5pm to 9pm Monday through Wednesday and Sunday, and until 10pm Thursday through Saturday.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served every day at ZINO, a Mediterranean restaurant inside Hotel Shattuck Plaza. Weekdays bring happy hour and weekends bring brunch, with food-friendly wines and craft cocktails that add a Mediterranean twist.