A restaurant for Valentine's Day: menus and booking terms

Choose a Valentine's restaurant by its actual menu, total price and rules for changing or cancelling. A table reservation, a prepaid dinner and a card guarantee are different agreements. For a restaurant service on a specified date, you should not assume the standard 14-day withdrawal right for online purchases applies. Obtain the terms before paying. Rules and sources checked on 12 November 2026.

Start with the agreement you are buying

Section 18(2)(12) of Denmark's Consumer Contracts Act excludes, among other services, catering on a specified date or during a specified period from the ordinary withdrawal right. This matters when buying a dinner for 14 February. Any option to cancel free of charge must therefore come from the restaurant's agreement, rather than an assumed general rule for online shopping. Consumer Contracts Act

Read the booking as an agreement about both time and service. Are you reserving only a table, or also ordering a particular menu? Is a payment a deposit, the full price or a potential charge for not attending? Keep the confirmation with the terms you accept.

The fee and cancellation deadline belong to the individual agreement.

Compare the complete meal

For distance contracts, section 8 of the Consumer Contracts Act requires information about the total price, including taxes and relevant additional costs. A menu price per person is useful for your budget only when you know which parts of the evening it covers. Statutory information requirements

Look for drinks, water, coffee and optional extras. Use the same guest numbers and choices when comparing two possibilities. An additional course you do not want does not necessarily make a package more suitable.

Calculate the menu for all guests, chosen drinks and extras, plus any other mandatory costs. Deduct an earlier payment from the balance only if the agreement says it is credited towards the bill. There is no documented standard Valentine's restaurant price for Denmark.

Explain allergies before ordering

Restaurants must provide information about the 14 allergen categories covered by the food authority's rules. In this setting, information may be provided orally where guests are clearly told that they can ask staff. Danish food authority: allergen information

Name the ingredient or allergen concerned. Ask for a response about the menu you are actually ordering, rather than relying on a general preference checkbox. A vegetarian label, for example, does not itself answer whether a dish contains milk or eggs. If the menu changes, the response needs to concern the replacement dish.

Cancellations and changes

The withdrawal exception does not mean every restaurant has identical terms. An agreement may allow cancellation or changes, but its deadline, financial consequences and procedure belong to that particular booking. This is especially relevant when paying in advance. Consumer Contracts Act, section 18

Before confirming, find three answers: the latest time for a change, the channel to use and what happens to the payment. Keep the restaurant's response if something is clarified separately. An unanswered message is not the same evidence as a confirmed cancellation.

If your plans are uncertain, look for an agreement with clearly stated options for changes. Choose terms that fit your needs instead of depending on an exception being made afterwards.

Buying through a deal or booking service

Forbrug.dk advises customers buying through deal sites to establish who their contract is with. The website taking payment and the restaurant providing dinner can have different roles. Forbrug.dk: deals and deal sites

Find the contracting party's name on the order confirmation. Also establish whether the purchase includes a reservation or requires another step. Buying a voucher is not, by itself, evidence of a table at your preferred time.

If an offer is unclear, clarify its menu, date and booking arrangements together. Keep the offer and correspondence in one place, so the subject of any complaint is clear.

Choose an area before choosing a table

DenmarkGuide has restaurant directories for Copenhagen and Aarhus, plus an Aalborg city guide. The popular places guide can help identify an activity nearby. Use addresses to keep dinner and an activity in an area that suits your evening.

For ideas about the occasion itself, see the separate guide to Valentine's Day in Denmark. The restaurant's own confirmation remains the basis for the menu, table and booking terms.

Official sources

Checked on 12 November 2026.

Retsinformation: Consumer Contracts Act, particularly sections 8 and 18

Forbrug.dk: deals and deal sites

Danish food authority: allergen information