Black Saturday Reports: Vertical, Fig, CUT, More!

Maybe it was the rainy evening, maybe it was the long weekend, maybe the worst has yet to come, but for whatever reason, nearly all of the Valentine's Day tales have been warm and fuzzy to this point. Here's a sampling of the Eater post-mortem buzz thus far (note: some entries edited for length):

1) Vertical Wine Bistro: "There were five of us, and we were seated on time for the prix fixe dinner of four courses. The dining room was packed with tables for two – it was couples galore. But the service was spot-on, the food was very good and the noise level was at a minimum. Vertical has always been consistently good, and I think the night brought out a good number of regulars. It was the complete opposite of Villa Sorrisso, which my sister passed on the way to Vertical, which had a huge banner out front that said, 'Reserve your Valentine’s Dinner Here!' with their number in big, bold font. Desperate." [Eater Inbox]

2) Fig: "We went for the Valentine's Prix Fixe. Between Sunday and Wednesday I requested a copy of the menu no less than 6 times, with a frustrating lack of success. Made our reservation for 9:30pm without knowing what we would be tasting. Finally got an email copy Thursday afternoon before almost jumping ship for an old standby. They didn't have our reservation when we arrived but were very kind about seating us at a table near the bar anyway. So the front of house management is seriously lacking in task management and follow through, but they were completely nice and lacking in pretension while (not) doing it. Good news, the dishes were absolutely incredible. Flavors and plating that I was thinking about when I woke up this morning." [Eater Inbox]

3) CUT: None other than Mr. Jay Weston chimes in on his evening: "Valentine Day’s experience at CUT, Wolfgang’s idiocyncratic steak house, was unexpectedly superb ... set price menu of $120 person was so reasonable for a restaurant noted for its expensive fare, but they went all out to make it a delicious, painless experience ... lots of amuse starters,most from the bar menu ... hot gougeres (sinful cheese snaps) and knishes ... kobe beef sliders ... tuna tartare ... and then the various cuts, tastings of different modes of beef, and when I wanted regular beef short ribs, not in the special pie with black truffles, got them ... sides were superb especially creamed spinach with organic egg and the crispy tempura onion rings, the best I ever have had there ... expressed desire for marrow bones and three luscious ones appeared ... followed by a cornucopia of delicious desserts ... offered a glass of champagne by smart, attractive sommelier Dana Farmer ... even coffee was rich and frothy." [Eater Inbox]

4) Drago Centro: From the comments: "Went to Drago Centro with my boyfriend on Saturday. They offered a prix fixe menu as well as a la carte. We chose to go a la carte, and were VERY pleased. The food was outstanding, and the service was great! The place was packed too, and it seemed as if everyone was enjoying their time and were happy. I am going back again with some work collegues [sic] for lunch this week." [Eater Comments]

So far, so good, but we've got a feeling that's not all she wrote. Keep submitting your tales of glory and horror from the Black Saturday that was.