04/18/09

Disappointing

by hunteradam

I took my wife to this restaurant for our Valentine's dinner, and was really excited to go. The food was pretty good. Similar to other reviewers, I thought for the price it could be better and the wine prices were way over the top, but I expected as much. However, the crowd was depressingly small for a Friday night. When we tried to get our coats back from the coat check, the real fun began. They had mixed up the tags with other patrons, which caused a delay and ultimately ended up in them misplacing my wife's Louis Vuitton cashmere scarf. I only mention the name brand to illustrate how expensive a mistake this was.

One would think that a place that charges 35$ for a plate of pasta and 20$ for a glass of wine would have some fantastic service to justify those prices. Alas, despite my best efforts to work with their managers and even their insurance company the best answer I got for their mistake was "too bad". Anyone that has experienced truly good service from renown establishments knows what their course of action should have been here. It isn't if you make a mistake, it's how you recover that stays with people. They had an opportunity to truly wow us with their ability to serve their customers by offering some sort of compensation for the scarf, but instead they chose the route of a cheap mechanic that got grease on your seats and stonewalled us. Effectively, I paid 700$ for a dinner for 2 that night including the cost of the scarf. They will probably lose at least that much on my business alone in the next 12 months (we like to eat out) and they get this nice review to boot.

In reading the other reviews, it seems that I am not the only one that sees this restaurant and recognizes that in the new economy, it's a dinosaur waiting for extinction. Service is king, and people will pay extra for it, but if you'd rather have your pasta with a side of "F-U" like we got, there's lots of places nearby that charge much less for it.

• Pros: Food was different than usual Italian
• Cons: Service, Service, Service. Dining room decor

02/20/09

Excellent food and style

by dgoldwas

This high-style restaurant has excellent food, perfectly prepared. The wine list is a veritable phone book of options, but the wait staff was extremely helpful. Every bite of food was pure heaven and while it's a bit of a bump to the wallet, if you're looking for fine dining on the westside, Valentino is absolutely worth going to.

• Pros: Intimate atmosphere, excellent food and service
• Cons: Too many wines to choose from!

02/15/09

Well worth the wait.

by chudjr

I have been thinking of trying Valentino for many years, but frankly the negative reviews put it lower on my list. We were quite pleasantly surprised at how delicious all the food was. The flavor of the food is superb. This is one of the best Italian restaurants on the Westside, maybe just one of the best restaurants on the Westside period. I don't know why there are any negative reviews. I will definitely be back to try it again. Yes, it is expensive, but worth it. Parking is valet, but there is some street parking.

• Pros: Amazing food.
• Cons: Valet parking, flooring is not level at all tables.