Café Valentina

Ugh — the food is terrible. We have given this neighborhood restaurant several tries but the food continues to be a disappointment. Everything is drenched in massive amounts of raw minced garlic. We finally asked for «no garlic» when we order pizza, but didn’t thInk we needed that request when we ordered a caprese salad. It was once again drenched in minced raw garlic, but the awful, tasteless winter tomatoes and bland olive oil made it totally inedible. The pizzas we order always have burned and bitter tasting crusts, but the one we ordered tonight sealed the deal — awful! Never again. We have tried eating in the restaurant, but the awful service, packaged salad dressing and glaring lack of care about the food being served made us resolve to never return again. There are too many other wonder Italian restaurants in the area to ever visit this place!

I’ve only ordered take out from this italian restaurant — pizza, calzones, pasta. The pizza is my absolute favorite in the area and I just had the calzones once with my family, both delicious! The pizza is what I’d call New York style — crust is relatively thin and bends when you take a hot slice from the pie. The top of the pizza has the right amount of sauce and is smothered in cheese as a good pizza should be. The calzones we ordered were stuffed full of warm melty cheese and they were huge –one filling meal for a teenager, enough for Mom to make two meals out of it. The pasta dish I had was good but not great. I don’t recall exactly what it was because I only ordered it once. The past is the only reason I gave this restaurant 4 instead of 5 stars. Very friendly staff greets you at the counter and the food is always ready when I get there and still hot.

Nice size portions — small and cozy atmosphere — reasonable prices and authentic cuisine. Reminds me of the NY area Italian restaurants I grew up with. Once you go it will become a favorite — a place you will return to because your soul needs it. The owner is a great guy who rings you up when you take out — just don’t be a wise guy.
Try the Chicken Cacciatore.

We sat ourselves based on what the sign read, but then waited a little bit before our server came over. Not a hugely excessive wait, but longer than normal at most other restaurants. The garlic rolls were great, but could have been better. The tops were a little charred. The pizza was very good and the service picked up after the initial delay.

Maybe its my own fault for ordering Fettucine Alfredo from an italian restaurant, but theirs was very mediocre. The pasta itself was cooked nicely but the alfredo sauce lacked flavor, so much so that I needed to whip out my own seasonings at home just to make it edible. Also, the shrimp that were included with this dish were not tossed with the pasta, just nicely arranged on top, which also meant they lacked flavor. The restaurant definitely smelled like an old-​school italian joint with the wood paneling, green shaded lights, etc. and this got me excited to try the food here but I was seriously disappointed. However I’m willing to give them a second try on some of the other Unilocalers’ recommendations.

The Valentino pasta was very decent! The ricotta cheese was very light and the oil on the pasta gave in the right flavor. The tiramisu cake was also very moist and delicious. The restaurant had no alcohol, but was BYOB, which is a nice option.

Being Italian, when someone says they’ll ‘be right back with the garlic rolls’, my mouth waters. I was a little disappointed with what came out, though — they seemed to be swimming in garlic and oil but they were crispy enough to only have this on the outside. The inside was dry and had no taste, so we found ourselves dipping it into the leftover pool of oil. Mmmmm. Unhealthy. But needed salt or cheese.
House salad was typical with iceberg lettuce, shredded carrots, half of a slice of tomato and a slice of cucumber. C’mon guys, that’s a little stingy… but the house dressing (despite an odd pink color) was tasty.
I ordered the Ortolana. It was a massive amount of spaghetti with (obviously frozen) broccoli, mushrooms, spinach, and tomatoes. The sauce was described as a light garlic marinara sauce, but that translated onto the plate as a thin and watery non-​marinara sauce. I do have to say, though, that after adding grated cheese it really did taste fine. You definitely get your money’s worth because I have at least another meal leftover in the fridge right now.
My dining companion just had the spaghetti pomodoro and he had a similar reaction — his was soupy as well. It was hard to understand how the sauce came out because it was a bit watered down. Neither of us could decide if this was a lack of proper straining or a strange chef’s tool. However, it couldn’t have been that bad because he took the leftovers home as well.
The saving grace here is really the service. Our waitress, Alicia, was very nice and extremely patient. She was attentive despite having to deal with so many tables at once and she got everything right. So, while the food could have been better, I gave an extra star for our ‘star’ waitress. (That was pretty cheesy, sorry…)

Okay, its 1÷21÷14 at 11am and its snowing unbelievably. I drive a sporty sedan so I can’t make it to most of the restaurants that I frequent. So, on the way home I decide to try this place. I normally only eat at Café Napoli (which is very good), but I can’t make it there. My car ‘barely’ made it to this place! So, I give them the typical italian test. Nothing to crazy, right? If, you don’t know the test, its simple… you get lasagna, antipasto, slice of pizza, linguine with your favorite sauce, etc. This is a «tester» to see if the rest of the food there is up to par. My favorite tester is antipasto salad and Italian Wedding Soup; so thats what I ordered. I can’t think of nothing better than being home on a snowy day with Italian wedding soup and some chopped prosciutto, salami, cheese, and who cares what else because lets be honest, the prosciutto is the star of the meal. The waitress takes my order more quickly than I would have liked (being I was 1 of 2 people in the restaraunt) and asked me if I would like my salad chopped. I responded, «Do you mean diced? And If I don’t choose that option would you just lay whole pieces of prosciutto and mozarella on top of the salad?» She responded, «I’m sorry I mean they would just chop it all up for you.» (She does the «Kung Fu Fighting dance while describing the chopping process.) I really didn’t want to speak to her anymore, so I promptly agreed the salad should be chopped and she writes up my receipt. I ask her if its okay to order something else. (The soup, remember?) She apologizes for her abruptness and quickly updates my order to include the cup of soup. All of this comes to $ 10.89. I start my trip home and barely make it because I have to drive some pretty steep hills in Hockessin. I get home and open my bag. (Why didn’t I check it before I got home! I been punished by the fast food gods before, smfh…) My salad is a typical chef salad with salami and ham on top… I guess the olives make it italian. (Thier black olives, btw.) The soup is a version of Italian Wedding. It has egg, chopped ‘meat ’ instead of meatballs, onions, whole leaves of spinah, and I never found the substituate for the traditional little pasta balls. I’m pissed. I sort of risked my life for this nonsense. I call up and cordially tell them I wanted prosciutto in my antipasto salad… they claim they thought I ordered the «American Version» of antipasto. They go on to say they will take care of me next time, however they never take my name and number, so I assume they have a very strong telepath on staff. They won’t take care of me next time, because I’m not going back. On the positive side, the all smiled and were courteous while ruining my snow day meal. Thank God also picked up a bottle of wine in the same shopping center!

Very good pizza for the area. Their meals are tasty as well. Not a big fan of the garlic rolls, too much oil for my taste. Service is always great, very nice people.

Hands down the most disgusting restaurant I’ve ever been to. I had whole wheat pasta with traditional tomato sauce. The sauce was SO salty and swimming in pasta water. I started feeling sick a calf hour after I left. My friend cad the chicken parm also swimming in water and the chicken was so tough. The server took it off the menu without asking thankfully.

my wife and i love their pizza! co-​workers and i regularly have lunch here during inservice days. i’m a pizza snob. i can’t stand seasons and domino’s, so this is a welcome change from those pre-​formed pizza chain brands.

This is the only place outside of my off-​the-​boat Italian grandmother’s house that I eat red sauce.
The pasta is the best — the texture, flavor… and it reheats beautifully. The wheat pasta is excellent — and they don’t under or over cook it here.
If you’re a regular here, you really are treated like family. Maybe better, even ;)

This restaurant serves the best Spaghetti Carbonara I have ever had. Their prices are more than reasonable. The service is first rate, although we usually get takeout.

Fingernails in my food! My daughter and I loved getting the eggplant rollatini here until she recently got nails in her dessert. I ordered take out and when my daughter was eating her cannoli she started freaking out. She said mommy I think I ate a nail. I thought for sure I had heard her wrong but she ran into the kitchen and started vomiting. I looked at her cannoli and to my disgust there was not only a nail she had spit out but I found more pieces. It was the top of the nails only like someone had either cut them or bitten them off. I called the restaurant to let them know and the manager didn’t seem too concerned. He offered her a free dessert! Really my kid chewed on a fingernail from your food and you offered her a cannoli? We told him we weren’t interested but just wanted to make sure this didn’t happen to someone else and ended the call. A few minutes later he called back and said he found more nails! He said it was in the cannoli cream then explained to me that they buy the cream and shells from someplace else then assemble them at the restaurant. He said he was going to call his supplier and tell them what happened. Then again he offered a free cannoli the next time we were in. Why would we want that? It was gross and I don’t know how fingernails could make it into the cream. And who knows whether it really happened at the suppliers or not. Does it even matter?

Love their menu pizza and service

Let me tell you people who’s gonna read this review. I was told to go to this Italian restaurant and my experience was met. I had the panni vodka with sun-​dried tomato chk and I added shp. This dish is of the menu but it is a great dish. There garlic knots are amazing as well as there wedding soup. I will def recommend to all my friends.

I love their garlic rolls, house salad (the dressing is the best!) and lobster raviolis (simply the best I have ever had!) I love the cozy atmosphere and they are also great for take out.

This was my first visit back to Café Valentina, since the same owner changed the name several years ago. The one thing I looked forward to, that is one of thier signature items, was the garlic rolls. I remember them being tall, warm, fluffy on the inside & covered with garlic, which they still picture that way on thier website. I was very disappointed to get three little shrunken rolls that looked & tasted like they were laying in the kitchen for days, swimming in a pool of garlic & olive oil, virtually, unetible. The next turn off, was when my salad arrived. This was the first sitdown resteraunt that I’ve been in, that had the cheapness to serve salad dressing in a squeeze packet, «you’ve got to be kidding?» My entrée was a pasta dish with shrimp & clams on linguini w/​fra diavola sauce. The clams came in shell, that I litterally had to put my glasses on to find the microscopic clams, which, collectivly, they would have all fit in a teaspoon. The sauce/​pasta was so watery, it had no substance & body to it. The shrimp were the only good thing about the dish. They were large, fresh & tender. I wanted dessert, so I ordered the strawberry shortcake. Once again, I was disappointed & decieved with a three layer white cake with pinkish/​redish icing that did not taste like strawberry, and not one morsal of real strawberry to be found.
I would never recomend Café Valentina for the food or the inexperienced young wait staff that could’nt remember what I asked for, a couple of times. My only recommendation is, don’t waste your time or money, there’s plenty of desent Italian resteraunts in the area… this is not one of them. The only high rating Café Valentina will get will be # 9 on the «Suck-​Meter»

I’m kind of a stickler when it comes to Italian food, but I’m also realistic with my expectations. I don’t expect every place to completely wow me with their take on Italian favorites, but the food here was mediocre at best. Very bland, very disappointing — ok I’ll be honest it’s terrible. If you’re craving good Italian food, drive the extra distance and head into Wilmington.

Had a nice lunch here while visiting PA over the weekend.
We stopped in for a couple of slices of pizza and changed our minds instead having the Cheesesteak & Fries lunch special.
Our cheesesteak’s were large, and packed with meat, fried onions & cheese. They were also very juicy and one of the better cheesesteaks I’ve had in quite some time.
I also tried a slice of pizza while there and I’ll just say the pizza was serviceable. The crust was fresh and well cooked, however what turned me off was the pepperoni they used. Not a fan of it, but that may just fall to personal preference.
Our server was friendly and attentive throughout the visit. Also the owner welcomed us when we arrived and thanked us when leaving. They’re definitely worth trying out. :)