Valentino Pizzeria & Trattoria

My husbands favorite Buffalo Chicken Pizza in all of Sarasota! Great garlic rolls and Chicken Fettuccine is rich and delicious! They have giant booths to accommodate large parties and all of the service have been friendly and attentive. Great staple in the area!

The pepperoni pizza was awesome flavor wise, even though the toppings weren’t totally set up and were falling off. The sausage was kind of meh, but did not experience the toppings falling off issue. It did have a really odd fold in it, like a whole edge folded over on itself in the box. The garlic knots were pretty terrible… Super dry with no dipping sauce. Would give them another shot though.

Decent Italian food, but not the best in the area. I used to live near their other location on Clark Road and I still prefer that one. Sometimes the wine is good and sometimes the house wine is stuff you’ve never heard of, and wouldn’t buy again. Not cheap either. Be sure to try some before you order a glass. The food is generally decent, although at times I have had to send a meal back to the kitchen because it wasn’t cooked enough (ravioli shouldn’t be that hard to get right). It’s close, so I come once a month, but I wish they’d crank up the quality just a little bit.

Pizza is good but I was extremely disappointed
With the cannolis. DON’T BUY THEM they charge $
5.50 for a large which is the width of two fingers and generally considered small. overall this place is expensive overcharging for location.

Décor is modern and very attractive; dark colors and high glossed wood. They also have a wine rack labeled with chalk that adds character to look. They also offer outdoor seating that seemed nice.
The portions were generous, but I thought it was weird that I couldn’t have the side of pasta that came with my meal turned into a small baked ziti. I was told they wouldn’t just charge me an extra fee for such a size instead they’d charge me for a full dinner portion size. And unfortunately, the vodka sauce I got instead was awful. Way too much cream and really not enough tomatoes. It was 100% liquid besides. I was caught off guard considering the feel of the place, but based on the taste, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s pre-​bought stuff. The red sauce was good, but again too liquidy. Thankfully the cutlets were sliced thin. And their wine list was diverse enough. My mom got the shrimp francese and said it tasted overlooked.
Our server, Miranda, was good. Got our orders exactly right and came around often enough.
I would go back, but it might not be my first choice.

If you don’t know great pizza from good pizza, or good pizza from fair, you’ll appreciate this place. If you’ve never had authentic Italian eats, it’s pretty good. You know how Taco Bell has its time and place but certainly isn’t mexican? That’s what this place is to Italian food. It has its time and place but authentic it is not. I don’t think they bill themselves as authentic though. Slow service, and ok good. I mean all the ingredients are there and the foods tasty enough but something’s missing. Feels more like a sports bar than a restraint. I’ve had good eggplant here, and terrible eggplant. I’ve had good bolognaise and fair bolognaise, I’ve had good service and terrible service. Even if it was «just ok» all of the time, I’d eat here more often but it waivers from good to ok to bad whether it’s the service, food or atmosphere. Wish I could give it 3.5

3.5 stars would be a more appropriate rating. The biggest negative is the noise level.
I was pleasantly surprised at the good food that is served here. My husband dined here several months ago when he was visiting family in Sarasota.
When he suggested Italian (I’m Ital-​American), I cringed. I rarely go out for Italian food. I ordered the eggplant rollatini with a side of penne. I opted for a salad too. My mother-​in-​law ordered the veal piccata, my husband ordered cioppino. We live in San Francisco, so eating cioppino outside of SF is kind of big deal.
I see a review talks about having to seat yourself, we didn’t experience that. We were seated after a short wait. Our order was taken after a short wait, the restaurant was very busy. Our service was very good. Every table was filled, but our salads and meals were brought out within a very reasonable wait. I’m not sure what all the negative remarks are about the service.
When my pasta and eggplant were brought to the table, I was expecting kind of a bland sauce, but it was really good. Reminiscent of my grandmother’s sauce. Thick and tasty. The cioppino was good, I tasted it, the calamari in it was a little overcooked, but it’s hard to have it perfect. My mother-​in-​law loved her veal piccata. My husband had that on a previous visit.
This is an above-​average restaurant in my humble opinion.
Maybe it depends on what you order.

Many two and three star reviews makes me wonder, but we had an all star experience on a recent visit. I’d have to go once or twice again to step this up to 5 stars but it seems this place provides authentic Italian food that is in such short supply in Sarasota.
We arrived late (for Sarasota) about 8PM on a Friday night and had to wait just about ten minutes before being seated. A pleasant and efficient server arrived promptly. One of our group had been here before and re-​ordered the meatball sandwich, while my wife ordered the eggplant parm sandwich. The portions here are huge with the meatball sandwich ($ 7.90) including four large meatballs. The ample grilled eggplant ($ 8.90) was stacked in the sandwich and then covered with sauce and cheese that went to the edge of the plate. Half came home for the following day.
I had Grandma’s Sunday Gravy ($ 14.00); penne pasta served with one nice sized meatball, and a mildly spicy sausage and a huge scoop of Ricotta to mix with the beautifully prepared sweet delicious sauce/​gravy. Maybe the name of this dish made it taste so good, but it was simply prepared and presented and had a outstanding flavor. Served along with bread, I needed help to finish.
The brick oven pizzas looked fabulous and are offered in many unique toppings. We will definitely return with hopes they earn their fifth star.

Service was practically non-​exsistant, never got a refill on my drink the whole time we were there. We ordered three large pizzas, they were of an average quality. Crust was hard like cardboard. Maybe the oven temp was down and it took longer to bake and therefore the crust dried out. Seems like a restaurant with good potential, but the service was a let down. She was friendly enough, but just never came back after taking our order. A couple of us wanted to order beers but never got the chance. We’ve been to the other location and that seems to have better management.