The best date nights look effortless because somebody did the planning in advance. Not much planning. Enough to avoid the three things that actually ruin an evening out: waiting for a table you assumed would be free, a menu that only works for one of you, and a kitchen that closed twenty minutes before you arrived.
This is the practical version for a dinner for two at The Steer, on Main Street in University Heights. It covers timing, the room, four ways to order, and what to do if the two of you eat very differently.
Timing, which decides most of it
The kitchen runs Tuesday through Saturday, 4pm to 10pm, and the bar stays open later, until midnight early in the week and 2am Thursday through Saturday. We are closed Sunday and Monday. Those two facts shape every plan:
- Tuesday and Wednesday are the quiet nights. Easiest table, most attention from the floor. One caveat: Tuesday is our karaoke night, and the Sing-Off starts at 8pm. If you want quiet, eat at six. If you want to sing to each other, eat at eight.
- Thursday is Ladies Night, and the bar side fills up later on. Dinner first, then decide whether you are staying.
- Friday and Saturday after 6pm are the nights to call ahead. Walk-ins are welcome, but a phone call before you leave the house is cheap insurance.
- Arrive before 8:30 if you want the full menu without hurrying. Ordering at 9:45 is possible. It is not relaxed.
Later in the evening the saloon takes over from the dining room, which is a feature rather than a problem. Dinner at seven, then a slow drink at the bar, is the standard shape of a good night here. If the evening has a curtain time attached, planning dinner before a show is a different calculation and we have written it up separately.
The room
Two different rooms, really. The dining room is the quieter half: booths along the wall, tables set properly, and enough ambient noise that a conversation stays private without either of you leaning in. Ask for a booth if you want to sit side by side.
The saloon is the other half: the long wooden bar, the stone fireplace, fourteen taps, and the cocktail list. It is louder and it gets more so as the night goes on. Tell whoever seats you which kind of evening you are having and they will put you in the right place.
In the warm months there is a third option, the rooftop patio, which sits above Main Street and is genuinely quiet by comparison. Patio season in Buffalo is short, so if the forecast is good, use it.
Four ways to order for two
These are combinations, not rules. Prices are on the menu; the point here is how the plates work together.
The steakhouse night
Share the calamari or the French onion soup, then order the King Cut Rib Eye. It is listed for one or two, and it is honestly a two-person steak: dry-aged, wood-fired, blue cheese butter, loaded mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables. One steak, two forks, and the "what are you getting" conversation is over. If you would each rather have your own, two 8oz New York strips with chimichurri do the same job with less negotiation. Order a temperature and mean it; a thick cut keeps cooking on the plate.
The Buffalo night
For someone new to the city, or someone who moved away and misses it. Split a half order of wings to start, then a Beef on Weck and a Stinger, and trade halves. That is two of the sandwiches this city is known for on one table, and neither of them is polite food, which is part of the charm. A Big Ditch Hayburner on draft goes with both. If you want to arrive with opinions, we wrote a page on what makes a beef on weck worth ordering.
The mixed table
One of you eats steak. The other is vegan, or vegetarian, or just not in the mood for meat. This is the most common date-night table we see, and it is the easiest one to get wrong at most restaurants. Here it is straightforward: a New York strip on one side, the lentil meatloaf on the other, with the white bean hummus in the middle for both of you. Nobody is eating a side salad. The full plant-based lineup, thirteen dishes, is on our vegan dining page, and if you want the dishes compared by appetite and flavor before you sit down, read the vegan ordering guide.
The lighter night
Not every date wants a two-person steak. The griddled goat cheese salad with heirloom beets, the bruschetta, and a pizza to share, the classic or the vegan one, makes a lighter dinner that still feels like an occasion. It also leaves room for the espresso martini, which is the correct answer to "should we get one more thing."
One steak, two forks, and the "what are you getting" conversation is over.
Drinks, briefly
Cocktails run from a Boulevardier and an Aperol spritz through the espresso martini to the Loganberry Mule, which is the one to order if one of you is from out of town. Wine is by the glass or the bottle, and there is a proper zero-proof list, so whoever is driving is not stuck with tap water. The whole bar list is on the menu, and if the cocktail names are unfamiliar, our guide to a saloon cocktail list will get you ordering with confidence.
If one of you has an allergy or a medical dietary need rather than a preference, call before you come and ask for the kitchen. We share a kitchen and a fryer between the meat side and the plant-based side, and we would rather tell you exactly what we can and cannot separate than have you guess at the table. The same goes for eating gluten-free here.
Getting here and getting home
We are at 3151 Main Street with parking on site, which removes the circling-the-block problem entirely. The Metro Rail runs up Main Street and the LaSalle and University stations are both a short walk, so if neither of you wants to drive, the train is a real option. Check the last train before you settle in at the bar. The bar will outlast it.
That is the whole plan. Pick a night, call if it is a weekend, decide which room you want, and order something the two of you can argue about later. Everything else about the restaurant on Main Street, the hours, the menu, the nights, is a click away.