Best Restaurants for Birthdays in Princeton

Zinna’s Bistro is our number one choice for a gourmet meal. Connor provided outstanding service and the new menu is excellent. We had a party of 8 and every selection was prepared exceptionally. My favorite appetizer is the long stem artichokes. The short ribs were fantastic. Scallops done perfect. Our party also had the grouper, and lobster bisque among other dishes. The entire meal was outstanding!!

As always, the food was outstanding, service was top notch and the ambiance was nice. Great time celebrating our second anniversary.

Ruth’s Chris handled the Valentine’s Day crowd very well. They were about 30-45 min behind on reservations so we sat at the bar and waited for our table. The bartender was great and the All Star Weekend activities were playing on the TV. Once our table was ready, the great service continued with Jim. The food was delicious and the cocktails were also great, made the wait worth it. Will definitely return to this location on a non holiday evening.

Our second time at Blue Bottle and we plan to return even though we live over an hour away. The Valentine's Day Prix Fixe meal was deliciously paired, expertly prepared and wonderfully served. Our wait staff, Brian, is an absolute gem. He also served us on our first visit 3 months prior and we were stunned that he recalled where we sat, what we ate and where we stayed for the weekend in nearby Princeton. He was extremely attentive without being intrusive and expertly ensured our evening was wonderful. The stuffed mushrooms and braised red roast duck crepe appetizers were off the chart delicious. Their Blue Bottle salad is simple yet wonderfully balanced. The pan roasted New York strip steaks were cooked to order, including rare for my wife which she loves, but at so many other places is poorly executed. The tomato confit with the meat was so good Brian bought us extra. We had decision anxiety on dessert, but were delighted with the profiteroles and pineapple upside-down cake with caramel sauce. They were so delicious that we went rogue getting a third ala carte dessert, the chocolate pot du creme, which was the best we've ever had.

We had a nice experience besides waiting for a bit even with having a reservation. This is one of our GO-TO places to eat. We travel about 45 -60 minutes each way to get the restaurant. We had a nice waiter, Nick. He took our orders, everything came out well.. no issues. The only disappointing thing was that when the bill came (we were with another couple), he automatically took my earned Chang's cash off the bill without us asking him to. We didn't want to use it on this dinner because of personal reasons with friends and wanted to save it for when it was just us for a date night. We try and save that for just US. Other than that, it went well.