“You get disoriented, and rapidly stress builds and nervousness builds,” Wet Lehrman, 47, a woodworker, mentioned. She and her husband, Leonard White, 44, a trainer, had dropped off their two kids in Ikea’s little one care space and have been splitting the cod. “It appeared just like the fanciest factor,” Mr. White mentioned.

Whereas most company have been dressed casually, Tiffany Shum and Lani Wang, each 19-year-old college students on the Cooper Union, had wore coordinating pale blue attire for the event. The 2 associates had chosen to skip their laptop structure class in favor of one thing extra enjoyable and head to Crimson Hook.

They every mentioned they’d think about bringing a date to Ikea. “However not a primary date,” Ms. Shum added.

If lots of the company thought of Ikea to be a jokey rebuke of the fussiness of Valentine’s Day, not less than one couple discovered it to be genuinely romantic.

Jade Doskow, 45, a contract photographer, and Lambert Fernando, 52, a senior safety supervisor on the Metropolitan Museum of Artwork, spent Valentine’s Day collectively on the identical Ikea greater than 15 years in the past as a result of it had appeared like the most affordable possibility with a great view of town. (The menu has modified little, Mr. Fernando mentioned.)

This time, they have been joined by their 13-year-old son, Benjamin, who ate French fries and didn’t precisely share of their nostalgia. “It’s simply, like, a giant chain Swedish retailer with furnishings,” he mentioned. “It’s not a lot of a romantic place in any respect.”

His mom corrected him: “It’s tonight.”