Best Restaurants for Special Occasions in Santa Clara

We had a beautiful experience yesterday at Alpina/Terra! Our meal was fantastic: we started with a hot cheese fondue and housemade focaccia, followed by an authentic Italian dish called canederli, which I’m pretty sure you can’t find anywhere else. We also had an amazing polenta with American Wagyu wurstel. Since it was our Valentine's dinner, we ended our meal with the special dessert, which was absolutely delicious. Our server, Joseph, took great care of us. We’ll definitely be back!

The food is excellent. Everything was well prepared. Service was excellent. One thing to note, the side dishes are enormous. You should either order a half or be prepared to split it with one or two other people. Another thing, if you order a glass of wine instead of a bottle have them bring it immediately. It is quite cold and it takes a while for a red to warm up to the point where it can be fully appreciated. The rack of lamb has 7 ribs. Be prepared to split it or take some home. Doggie bags were quite common. Another neat trick, their prepared drinks come with dry ice on the glass. It keeps the liquid cool but it does not dilute the flavor as it melts. One last thing. Be prepared for an expensive experience. Two of us with drinks, 2 glasses of wine, 2 half appetizers, 3 half sides and 2 main courses ended up with a bill over $550 including tip. Worth it for special occasions but a lot for any kind of regular thing.

It was a busy valentines evening and unfortunately the kitchen had a problem with their system which messed our order up so I came at all different times. Instead of a hollow apology the server and their manager looked after us and more than made up for the problem. Great customer service.

I love this place! The food is great, the bread is even better, and I love the choices they have of different kinds of oysters, you can't go wrong with their seafood - especially the Chilean Sea Bass or fresh Alaskan Halibut.

This place is so aesthetic with mood lighting, high ceiling, and a buzzing atmosphere. Service from Makaela was top notch fantastic on Galentine’s (2/13)! We need more people like her. Cocktails were good. I got the Crimson & Clover (refreshing) and my friend got the spicy Tree of Life. Food was plated beautifully and the only complaint was saltiness for the pasta, pork chop, and mushrooms. We let them know. Flavors were delicious aside from that. They serve complimentary amouse bouche (savory cone with steak tartare & caviar that day), a palate cleanser to sip on (chilled honey citrus liquid), and even mini waffle bowls filled with chocolate ganache. So many nice surprises! We ended the night with sweet, hot n freshly fried loukomades beignets with honey, nuts, and angelaise cream hand poured table side. Excellent experience!