Top Stories

By Stephen Fink, wcbstv.com
NEW YORK (CBS) ― Valentine's Day is a day for lovers to rejoice over a delicious dinner and restaurants to rejoice over record revenue. And of course there's the color red, the color most associated with this holiday for the heart.

On this Valentine's Day in Manhattan, however, it's been anything but a normal day for restaurants and restaurant patrons. With white-out conditions outside, there's been plenty of white out blanketing the inside of the restaurants' reservation books too.

At the trendy midtown Manhattan hot-spot Tao on East 58th Street, manager Caitlin Smith said she's seen a significant amount of cancellations on Valentine's Day -- rare for a restaurant that's typically tough to find a seat in even on a regular Friday night.

"So far 170 people have cancelled, and we had I believe around 700 people reserved for tonight," Smith told wcbstv.com.

Though she said the significant decline is disappointing, other patrons are making new reservations, taking advantage of the fact that some people just don't want to brave the storm.

"We've had a lot of cancellations, but we have other people who have wanted to come in and are getting reservations now. They know to come in because others are canceling," Smith said.

The little bit of snow that had fallen overnight turned into freezing rain by morning, providing an icy glaze to the already slushy roads plaguing the city. Traffic was moving at a considerably slower pace, and most sidewalks were very messy making it more difficult for pedestrians to walk.

CBS 2 Meteorologist John Bolaris anticipates the freezing rain turning back over to snow as temperatures continue to drop into the 20s, though additional accumulations in the city likely won't exceed two inches. The biggest threat, however, will be the temperatures because they will be well below freezing. Roads and sidewalks will become very dangerous to navigate because the slushy mess will turn into a frozen sheet.

One city restaurant is taking matters into its own hands, offering free limo service to its customers who have called to cancel. Nino Selimaj, owner of Nino's Ristorante on 1st Avenue, said he's already lost 50 percent of his business Wednesday thanks to the winter storm.

"This morning when I came in from New Jersey, I spent two hours driving. When I came in I had 400 reservations -- our busiest night of the year -- and now we're down to 200," Selimaj said. "A half-hour later I said, 'Why don't I do something, maybe somebody will still come if I provide limo service.'"

So Selimaj, frustrated yet insistent on doing what he could to make it a happy Valentine's day for all, called many of his cancelled customers, offering to have a car come and bring them to dinner. Though not everyone has taken him up on his offer, he said most were "extremely happy" with the gesture.

"For my steady, loyal customers who made reservations months in advance, to have mother nature disappointing us like this, I figure even if I lose money with the limo at least I can do the good thing to get the customer out of the house," he said.

Still, not all restaurants are experiencing a decline in business despite the weather. The popular steakhouse Dylan Prime on Laight Street in TriBeCa said it's only seen a slight drop in reservations. Manager Gina Kohler said only about 30 reservations have been cancelled out of the 250 booked before the restaurant opened Wednesday afternoon.

"It hasn't really affected us quite so much. There's been a little bit of decline, but actually it's holding it pretty strong, people seem like they're going to brave the storm and come out," she said.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)