This past Valentine’s Day I celebrated the holiday of love at the Upper East Side’s Barking Dog. Because, you know, nothing says “Happy Valentine’s Day” like puppy love, dinner, and dessert.
The Barking Dog is a restaurant at 1678 3rd Ave, New York, New York — and their gimmick is they allow you to dine with your dog inside. In addition to ordering your classic diner breakfast, lunch, and dinner items, guests can also order off a pup-friendly menu for the well-behaved canines dining with their families.
The family-friendly restaurant has been a neighborhood staple for decades. The owner of the Barking Dog immigrated here from Europe more than 30 years ago, and they arrived with a vision: “create a friendly neighborhood restaurant where people and their dogs felt at home.” Now, they have three locations including one in Hell’s Kitchen.
Not sure if I’d call it home, but I definitely felt the love dining at the Barking Dog on Valentine’s Day with Bean and Heinrich.
The Barking Dog experience
Similar to Cafe D’Anvers‘ 2025 Restaurant Week menu the other week, the Barking Dog’s Valentine’s Day menu caught my attention. The menu flashing on their website and in my face the afternoon before dinner, was too good a deal to not consider.
Bean and I had plans to see a ‘slasher’ movie for the holiday of love but gore makes me squeamish and now I have separation anxiety when I’m away from the dog I’m dogsitting: my Mom’s Pomeranian, Heinrich. So, where’s the one place a girl can go to have Bean, Heinrich, and chocolate all in one place? The Barking Dog.
Walking into the restaurant, I was under the impression the special included a glass of Prosseco, an appetizer, an entree, a dessert (they had chocolate lava cake!), and a free pup meal for $55.
However, the menu presented to me in the establishment differed. For $50, the Valentine’s Day meal included an appetizer, entree, and dessert. No Prosecco included or pup meal included. Though, bringing Heinrich did get Bean and I happy hour prices on our Margaritas. So, that was a bit of a bummer but I understand how restaurants and locations vary.
Vibe check
- The ambiance: The interior was decorated with canine-themed memorabilia which is fine, I guess. Definitely spacious enough for at least a third of the guests to have dogs.
- The service: Nice enough. They let me switch tables from sitting at a table with chairs to a booth so Heiny would be more comfortable. Tip 20 percent.
- The dinner: A versatile menu offering fairly tasty well-portioned homey dishes.
I ordered the savory French Onion soup to start and went crazy and got the Branzino with feta mashed potatoes and spinach. Bean also ordered the French Onion soup but she ordered the Lobster Ravioli with cream sauce for her dinner. For Heiny, I asked for one hamburger patty since he eats a lot of chicken at home. Looking back, I don’t remember Bean saying anything specific about her meal, good or bad.
My meal felt basic. Our server presented the French Onion soup with no broiled cheese caramelization on the top so it was more glob of Mozzarella cheese than melty goodness. The broth was tasty and not too salty. As for the fish, I’ve never had Branzino before so I decided to go for it.
Was it the best place to try a new fish? Not really, but I needed a thrill. Did I get the thrill? Eh. The chefs cooked the fish perfectly and the texture melted in my mouth. Another consideration was that the whitefish was slightly flavorless as were the potatoes and spinach. The spinach earned a point after I squeezed some lemon juice on top.
Of course, it all comes down to what’s for dessert to put the cherry on top of a decent Valentine’s Day.
The Barking Dog dessert
What I was most excited for at the Barking Dog was the molten chocolate lava cake and ice cream posted online. Instead, at the Upper East Side location, their V-Day menu offered a chocolate mousse cake. So, I ordered the chocolate mousse cake and Bean opted for the New York cheesecake.
It was a beautiful slice of cake with a bright ready Marchino cherry on top. The chocolate cake itself was a bit stale and its single chocolate mousse layer was thin. Bean’s cheesecake was much better.
At least I got my Valentine’s Day cherry.
The Barking Dog takeaways
The Barking Dog offers a unique and sacred space to families and their canine counterparts. They take “anyone is welcome” to a whole new meaning. That being said, don’t expect the food to be what brings you back.
I will be returning to the Barking Dog over and over again. If not for their dry chocolate cake or unmemorable soup, then for the opportunity to have dinner with my whole family, paws, chocolate and all.
