Stuart's Best Date Nights
Five reservations worth planning around — from a downtown oyster bar with 120 wines to a Jensen Beach dining room that only opens three nights a week.
Picked and checked by hand; updated when hours, venues, menus, or source pages change.
The downtown standard, and the one most likely to work on a first date and an anniversary alike. The kitchen leans Southern — steaks, seafood, and shrimp and grits that regulars order without looking at the menu. The bar opens an hour before the dining room, which is the whole play: get there at 4, take a drink at the bar, and slide into the table when the room opens at 5.
- 47 SW Flagler Ave, Stuart, FL 34994
- Closed Mondays. Reserve at thegafford.com/reservations or call (772) 221-9517.
If the date is going well, this is where it goes long. More than 120 wines are on the list with over 50 available by the glass, so you can keep exploring without committing to a bottle. A fresh raw bar handles the oysters and a USDA Prime center-cut steak anchors the other end of the menu — which means the person who wants to graze and the person who wants a real dinner both get their way.
- 201 SW St. Lucie Ave, Stuart, FL 34994
- Open until 9pm Sunday–Thursday and 10pm Friday–Saturday, in the heart of historic downtown. (772) 221-1511.
Modern Italian fine dining, handled with a light touch: handcrafted cooking and a wine list that's focused rather than sprawling. It's the pick when you want the evening to feel like an occasion without a two-hour drive to find one. Friday is the sleeper night — the only day they run lunch, which turns a weekday afternoon into something better than it deserves to be.
- 101 SE Ocean Blvd Unit 103, Stuart, FL 34994
- Closed Sunday; kitchen closes at 9pm most nights, 9:30pm Friday and Saturday. Reservations through SpotOn; private events at (772) 872-6251.
Worth the drive over the bridge. The concept is Floribbean prime seafood and steakhouse — the kind of menu where you can order oysters, a steak, or lobster and none of them feel like a compromise. It's the biggest, most special-occasion room on this list, and the weeknight specials are aggressive enough to make a Tuesday feel indulgent.
- 10900 S Ocean Dr, Hutchinson Island (Jensen Beach), FL 34957
- Monday is $2 half-shell oysters, Tuesday is 50% off wine bottles, Wednesday is lobster night. Open until 10:30pm Friday and Saturday.
The one you plan for. Dinner is served three nights a week, the dining room is small, and Chef Michael Perrin's menu moves with the seasons — so no two visits land the same way. Bar and wine service opens at 5:30, half an hour before the kitchen, and that first drink in a room this size is a real part of the evening rather than a holding pattern.
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- 3224 NE Maple Ave, Jensen Beach, FL 34957
- Dinner Thursday–Saturday, 6–9pm only. Seating is limited; call (772) 334-7714 well ahead.