A Taste of Valentine’s Day: Staffer reviews restaurants’ Valentine’s Day specials

Flowers are overrated. If you truly love me, you’ll buy me food. 

There’s nothing better than holiday treats: Kinder Eggs for Easter, Gingerbread Lattes for Christmas and of course heart-shaped everything for Valentine’s Day! 

With plenty of local and chain restaurants promoting Valentine’s Day variations of all their classic meals, I knew I had to try out a few to satisfy my growling stomach. 

Krispy Kreme

I’m a firm believer that food tastes different depending on its shape and therefore a heart-shaped donut is far superior to a circular one. 

Upon walking into the Krispy Kreme on Metcalf Ave, I was informed that all of the Valentine’s dozen variety boxes had been sold out, leaving me feeling disappointed. But they still had a few iced, heart-shaped jelly donuts left.

I think it’s about time we had a serious discussion about where jelly should and shouldn’t be. The inside of a donut, for example, is no place for jelly. Jelly donuts are a mess to eat and ruin the entire doughy experience. 

Regardless of the jelly, however, the donuts were prime Krispy Kreme quality. Fresh and flaky with an intricate design of sprinkles and icing drizzle to top it all off. 

Next February I’ll have to remember to show up as early as December to get in line for the official Valentine’s Day box. 

Dunkin’ Donuts 

Say it with me: coffee should not be pink! 

Along with their annual heart-shaped donuts, Dunkin’ is now offering pink velvet and mocha Valentine’s macchiatos. I applaud the creativity, but at some point we need to ask ourselves, “to what extent can we alter the flavor of coffee and still in good conscience call it coffee?”

The concept of the pink velvet macchiato was to mimic the red velvet cupcake, a classic Valentine’s Day treat. 

Coffee cake is where I draw the line when it comes to coffee and pastries intermingling. 

I’m never one to complain about too much chocolate, in fact I don’t believe there is such a thing. However, the flavor of this macchiato was more akin to that of chocolate milk. 

If one were craving a sweet treat then these macchiatos would be a go to, but wouldn’t satisfy a coffee craving.  

Chick-Fil-A

After the donut debacle, I decided to call and double check that my local Chick-Fil-A had the heart shaped nugget trays in stock. As per usual, the Chick-Fil-A at Ward Parkway Center came through with the 30-count chicken nuggets in a heart-shaped tray. 

Granted, this tray would have much greater sentiment if it were gifted to me by a gentleman suitor instead of my mother, but nevertheless I felt very loved. 

The only drawback I had with this tray was that it’s 16 dollars for one tray, which is a bit steep for nuggets. 

This special holiday offer was the best out of the three, as it hit the mark on festivity with the heart-shaped tray, but I was also secure knowing that there’d be no jelly-filled surprises.