Two couples, who are Italian restaurant owners on Arthur Avenue, shared their tips with News 12 on how they've kept the love alive for over 40 years of marriage ahead of Valentine’s Day.

Lori and Marco Coletta, the owners of the Italian restaurant Tra Di Noi, say their love wasn't instantaneous, but that didn't stop the chef.

"When he came to my house, he was bringing me steak instead of flowers because he knew I loved steak," Lori Coletta says. "He just wheedled his way in all of a sudden one day, I didn't know what life would be without him."

The couple is still going strong 41 years later.

For nearly 20 years, the couple has also been serving authentic traditional dishes at their restaurant. They say the key to what has worked all these years is finding a good balance.

"First of all, he stays in the kitchen and I stay in the dining room," Lori Coletta says. "We're not joined at the hip, we're joined at the heart."

A block away is Toni's Deli, owned by married couple Rosa and Giancarlo Pasciullo. They say they were pen pals before they met in person, but when they finally did meet in 1973, things moved quickly.

The last 15 years they've also worked together to sell specialty Italian ingredients and cooked dishes at the deli.

"We fight, it's very hard to live together and work together," Rosa Pasciullo says. "But at the end of the night, we have glass of wine and good dinner, and that's it."

For Valentine's Day, the two eateries are encouraging lovebirds to make the night romantic with some Italian cuisine. They say in their experience, it works.