Taking your significant other out for a quiet, romantic dinner is a wonderful way to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Telling him or her not to order anything more than 10 bucks and then writing about it in the newspaper is not.

Fortunately, the Daily’s devoted restaurant critics sacrificed their charisma — and possibly their love lives — in the name of finding a cheap V-Day dining establishment. With the assistance of Aaron’s girlfriend Jill and Eric’s girlfriend Abbie, the dynamic dining duo did their best at keeping costs low on the granddaddy of money-sucking holidays. With the exception of a few pitchers of Dos Equis, they succeeded.

Atmosphere:

AL: Lovish would have lost a lot of appeal points — the unpainted wood on the outside walls, the small tables and booths, the quirky d‚cor — if it weren’t for the tango lessons taking place right before our eyes in the middle of the restaurant. Along with the fun Latin music and dimmed lights, the dancing set the place apart from the typical romantic restaurant. For first dates, visiting Lovish on a Monday night would give you plenty to talk about.

ER: It was dark, and therefore romantic … right? The dimly lit dining room was just another addition to the dive-ish feel of Caf‚ Lovish. The entire decor of the place was a bit confusing. Who puts up Christmas garland in a restaurant that serves food from Latin America? To top it off, Caf‚ Lovish had booths with tables that were too small. For the duration of the meal, my elbows hung off the end — a huge disappointment. Lovish wasn’t the romantic feel I wanted — it was more along the lines of bright yellow decor, arches in the front and a 99 cent menu. But my date was happy, and that means I was happy.

Service:

AL: Although a bit slow, I was fairly satisfied with the speed with which we received our meals and drinks. Our pitchers, salads and meals were spaced out evenly, giving Eric and I plenty of time to try and out-gentleman each other in front of our lady friends. Our waitress also brought all the meals at the same time — a nice touch, considering it kept the competition even when we fed our dates small bites of food and made kissy faces at them. Thankfully, the restaurant was fairly empty, so very few people had to witness our nauseating attempts at being romantic.

ER: Our waitress was good. The ability to take a large order without writing it down and getting it right always impresses me. People like her are few and far between. To top it off, she suggested we get a pitcher of beer instead of individual drinks. It may have jacked our total price over the Dirt Poor Dining limit, but looking out for the customer’s well-being is a lost art these days. Unfortunately, the meal took 35 minutes to arrive, which is usually way too long for me — but I was so preoccupied with trying to one-up Aaron’s attempts at being romantic, the time went by fast.

Quantity/Value:

AL: For $7.95, I wasn’t full to the point of feeling bloated (which is always a negative on a date), but I was definitely satisfied. A relatively large chunk of cow, along with a baked potato and more tabouli than I could handle, made the carne asada enough to keep my taste buds quenched for quite a while.

Jill’s pollo asada, which was listed next to my meal on the menu, was nothing like what I had to eat. Her side dishes — a baked potato and rice — were identical to mine. But her piece of chicken was massive — so big, in fact, that I had the pleasure of helping her finish it. Luckily, it was so tasty, I didn’t mind. The spices definitely stood out better on the chicken than on the beef, and me being a big fan of spicy food, I wasn’t about to complain.

ER: Things were a bit pricey, but it was a date, so Aaron and I decided to splurge a bit. It was a bit cheaper after I told Abbie I would only pay for her meal if it came from the left — and cheaper — side of the menu. Caf‚ Lovish’s menu was also huge. Gyros, light meals, Mexican dishes, Latin American dinners, pastas and seafood were the choices for the main entr‚e. And I thought Pita Pit had a diverse selection! I ordered the Chimichanga with tabouli and refried beans for $7.95. Abbie ordered Chicken Tandoori for $5.95 and a side salad for an outrageous $3.50.

After the meal arrived, Abbie realized she wanted a little bigger entree. Although good, she said it was a little too spicy for her. I was hoping the meal came with a piece of Orbit — kissing someone who had curry for dinner isn’t like smelling roses. We were both happy about the amount of food we had though. I left feeling stuffed; so I was happy, although the meal did come with a heavy price tag. So heavy, in fact, that Aaron and I had to have “guy time,” but instead of going to the bathroom, we ran to the nearest ATM to withdraw more money from our life savings.

Quality/Taste:

AL: It’s nearly impossible for a restaurant to make my steak or burger rare enough for me to enjoy. As far as I’m concerned, they could just walk the cow through a warm room and I’d be happy. This, along with the fact that the “spicy” beef in the carne asada was incredibly bland compared to its chicken counterpart, left me feeling slightly left out. However, the tabouli, which is wheat mixed with onions and tomatoes, served chilled, was a tasty little surprise in my mouth. Being a tabouli virgin, I was a bit shocked when the ice-cold granules hit my mouth. After the shock wore off, however, the texture and flavor of the grainy dish complemented the slightly boring steak well.

ER: Outstanding. It blew my mind. I couldn’t believe you could pack so much flavor into a Chimichanga. The flour tortilla was sweet and the shredded beef melted in my mouth. The tabouli, which I’ve never had, was served cold and gave my palate a good cleansing. The refried beans were OK, nothing like how I like them at El Azteca.

Abbie’s chicken tandoori was served on a pita and heavily seasoned with Indian spices. Almost too much seasoning. Abbie didn’t finished the food, but it wasn’t because it was bad — she just didn’t feel like ingesting a mass of curry.

Final Say:

AL: 3.5 of 5 forks

ER: 4 of 5 forks