A romantic Valentine’s Day dinner may be the perfect time to propose, but sometimes men can get a little ahead of themselves.
Charlie Trotter’s dining room manager, Jason Platt, once had a man give him a ring for safekeeping, with instructions to bring it out near the end of the meal.
“Halfway through the dinner, he got up to use the restroom and told me to forget it,” Platt said.
However, Platt has seen many successful proposals and says the best come when men don’t wait too long to pop the question.
“Get it over at the beginning,” he suggests. “They’re so excited throughout the entire dinner. The girl keeps staring at her ring, and they’re so relaxed.”
Eric Clements, maitre d’ at The Pump Room, says another key is to not bring the other diners into what is a private moment.
“Try to make it as intimate as possible,” he says. “Because this is about the two of you, it’s not about everybody else.”
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Edited by RedEye staff (ritaredeye@tribune.com)
