Kalendar shines in a role it seems to have been working toward all its peaceful life, from its early days as a small coffee shop, an expansion that secured its footing as a competitive restaurant, and onward to gain the dubious distinction, year after year, as an irresistible mood-enhancer that has attracted saccharine-afflicted couples for over nine year s.Two little dining rooms, adorned with dark oak tiling and rough wood furnishings, feature a cute-as-a-button romantic scene throughout most of the room.

The ambitious spot works well on a number of levels, depending on what you’re coming here for: daytime cafe, evening cocktail bar and low-key restaurant, all wrapped up in a tender love story. We study all this through the eyes of love-struck couples throughout the room; small gatherings of secret business meetings, romantic liaisons and any other one-on-one gatherings that require extreme discretion.

You feel it in the air, the coziness of a room amid the frantic pace and sensory overload of College Street. Kalendar’s antique chandeliers, hardwood floors, eye candy at other tables along with a truckload of French Martinis should wipe out any regrets over a loser date or a cheating ex-mate.

Forget tonight - on a regular-run Saturday night it's tough enough to find a seat. At times, couples stand three deep around the dark wood bar area awaiting champagne cocktails, martinis and top-flight bubbly by the glass, including Taittinger La Francaise and Veuve Clicquot Brut. A crowd of 30-ish yuppies and silver foxes comes here regularly, many using Kalendar as their annual Valentine’s Day tryst.

"Kalendar is 'hands down ' the most romantic spot in the city,” says regular Dan Sherven, who comes here regularly with, or without, his girlfriend, Jill. "And we’ll be back here on Valentine’s, staking out our table. I have no choice that night is like Mother's Day -you have to go out or else you’re dead."