Date Night for Cheap—Hear Us Out!
BYO picnic to Miller Outdoor Theater, made easier with to-go boxes from the aptly named Picnic in West University.
Image: Jeffry J. Cotner
Doshi House
This cute-as-a-sitcom-set Third Ward café serves a single, always-vegan option for $6.95 at dinner each evening. Get to know each other over pozole on Fridays or toast with Karbach Hopadillo beers over “not-so-butter chicken” on Saturdays—and if your date isn’t okay with having a meat-free meet-up, well, at least you’ve established that fact early on.
BYOB: $5 corkage fee
Pampa Grill
A meal at this intimate, family-run Argentine restaurant in Spring Branch feels like nothing so much as an escape to Buenos Aires, if only for the evening. We love lingering over the house-made gnocchi and ravioli ($9.90 and $10, respectively).
BYOB: $5 corkage fee
Café TH
Image: Cooper + Ricca
Café TH
This EaDo Vietnamese sub shop transforms into a romantic little spot at night. Flickering candles and a soundtrack of ’40s standards provide a backdrop for the lusty beef stew with French bread and bowls of delicately gingery crab-and-shrimp soup—both go for $8.50 for a small bowl, $10 for a large.
BYOB: $5 corkage fee
Allô French Rotisserie
This is dinner and a movie done right: Split an elegant rotisserie-roasted chicken (a whole bird is $19) and pair it with $7 glasses of house Chardonnay at this Gallic sidewalk café in Champions, then take a short stroll under the twinkling lights of Vintage Park to Alamo Drafthouse.
Picnic
This cute West U café does all the hard work for you, packing perfect lunch boxes, each with a sandwich or salad, fruit salad, chips, cookie and a pickle (starting at $9). Stop by, then surprise your sweetheart with an al fresco afternoon at the nearby Menil Park or a free performance at Miller Outdoor Theater in Hermann Park.
