Patch Picks: Where to Dine with Your Valentine?

Patch Picks appears every Thursday on Alameda Patch. Each week we'll bring you a top five list for something. Last week it was . This week it's best places for a Valentine's date.

I myself am a little crowd-phobic, inclined to go out on off-days and non-holidays, but for those of you going out with a loved one (or friend, even) in the next few days, here are some terrific local options as suggested by some of our lovely Alameda Patch contributors. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments. 

• Alameda Patch says she likes the . "It's dark in there and I look better under the light of flickering Tiki torches," she writes. "And the booths are good for cuddling." She also recommends sharing a drink called a Scorpion Bowl and drinking it with two straws, "like '50s teenagers." 
• Lewis also says she favors : "The owners always make me feel like I am their most important customer and the food is worth the points."
• Patch contributor Jan Greene says she and her husband like  (Vietnamese) and  (Asian fusion) for a night out. "Both are creative and most everything on the menu is tasty," she writes. "And the people at both are really nice." All of which, Greene writes, "adds up to a nice atmosphere on Valentine's."
• says a top choice in her family is Zachary's Pizza. "Isn't that romantic?" she asks. And, yes, it's off Island, but she says she and her husband, Will, sometimes eat it on: "We've gotten Zachary's to go and eaten it at Alameda Beach while listening to the lapping waves," she writes.
• Contributor Karen Zeltzer says she and her husband include their children in their Valentine's celebration, and so they'll be heading to (). "La Piñata is the best family restaurant on the Island," she says. "Bar none."