cafe valentino

gorgeous food, great setting and the service was the best we've ever experienced in new zealand, to the point that we felt compelled to leave a tip! not only would we be more than happy to go back, we'd also more than happy to recommend this restaurant to all our friends.

we went for a girls night out on a friday night. great energy, great food, loved seeing the old show posters up and friendly service. they need to think about something to reduce the noise, otherwise a great night out for our group.

the ambiance is just awesome. we had piccante pizza and fettuccine all salmone e vodka pasta. food was delicious. service was good. would like to go again sometime.

dined here a few weeks ago, given it was around the time of the students graduating it was no surprise to find the place incredibly busy. to their misfortune the eftpos went down as well so there were no shortage of people sniping at a very calm and patient staff.

i ordered a chicken pizza of some sort that was much nicer than the mushroom ordered by my colleague, but then she won with the gf chocolate brownie that was absolutely delicious.

overall it was a good meal and not particularly expensive, i'll dine there again.

good afternoon.

i think people need to know what is happening in this restaurant as its all about reputation. 

i m a big fan of italian restaurant, as i have traveled different parts of the world. but i felt so insulted and disappointed by your staff behavior that i couldn’t wait in your restaurant even for a minute. 

yesterday @ 0600 pm, we gave a call to book a table, the girl was so rude on the phone and didn’t know how to speak to customers, anyhow our table got booked at 0730 pm. 

once we arrived, was told and shown that the booth is getting ready in 5 mins, but later somebody else was given that booth who gave hug to the waitress and the waiter and then we were given a small table to have dinner. very very unprofessional and no manners to speak to the customers.  

i was recommended by my colleague to enjoy the food and ambiance out there but the behavior and the attitude was completely opposite.  

this type of behavior is spoiling the reputation of such a beautiful restaurant. 

thought kiwis are gentle, but in this restaurant didn’t looked atall. 

thank you

we had the most perfect date night at cafe valentino tonight. the service was extremely friendly and efficient, the food was pretty fast coming out to the table. we ordered a woodfired garlic flatbread, arancini, polpettine di maiale e finocchi and the rigotoni cardinale. all of the dishes were amazing, bursting with flavours and were all cooked perfectly. the pricing is really low considering the quality of the food. the atmosphere and layout of the restaurant is really comfortable a i could not fault a single thing about this restaurant, will definitely be going back!

the service was really really slow, we waited an hour for entree to come out. a drink took even longer than that. the food itself had no flavour and no apology from a very inattentive waitress. 45 minutes after we finished these, our mains finally arrived with one completely inedible and 2 completely flavorless with different ingredients than what was written on the menu. (food we wouldnt have ordered if we had known) the pizza was great, no complaints there. not once were we asked how the food was or we would’ve politely commented on the food at the time. we weren’t asked how the food was when we went to pay and an insincere apology was received. with really expensive food, really really poor service, we would never recommend this restaurant. very disappointed as we had been 2 years ago and absolutely loved it.

food was pretty good, especially the pizza but it did take a long time (50-60 minutes) to come out. however service was really poor. i found a hair in my drink but the waiter was not apologetic at all and just replaced my drink as if nothing happened - total lack of basic restaurant service standards. secondly, when we went to the counter to pay the lady did not say one word to us. she put the bill in front of our faces, we paid and said thanks but still she said absolutely nothing at all, not even a good bye or thank you for coming. seems like many -not all- of the staff lack the absolute basics of customer service. very disappointing and will not be returning. would expect friendlier service from a mcdonalds.

its been a while without trying such a great pasta! omg it blew my mind, definitely recommend the pasta with salmon on vodka on creamy base, delicious taste, also try the wooden fire bread with fetta and onion! absolutely delicious, finally close down with a tiramisu, photo attached, its just the best experience.

firstly the summer kiwi cocktail is a must try!! then i had the arancini, coule be one of the best arancini i have ever had. also nice strong sauce. also love the bruchetta.
i didnt like the kidney but cant blame them because it is sort of an acquired taste of food.
all in all, good and busy busy, if you looking for a quiet romantic place, this is not for you. but for gooes food and drink.. definite must!!

ate here for dinner on a relatively quiet saturday night, and whilst the food was great - the service was so bad! took a long time after our starters for our mains to arrive and then we waited 30 minutes for a dessert menu and ended up having to ask for one. disappointing when the restaurant was quite quiet and it seemed like most of the staff weren't interested and were sitting in a booth laughing and joking rather than dealing with the customers in the restaurant.

from australia! the place is beautiful and buzzing, the food is delicious and nothing to fault . the only thing is the service is slow. hopefully they improve on that .

food is amazing but even more than that the staff are lovely, helpful and accomodating. it was a really enjoyable way to spend an evening. highly reccomend to others, whether it be for date night or an excuse to get family, friends or work colleagues out together for a night.

good food and excellent, friendly service. we ordered a half-and-half woodfired pizza - the pepperoni and the piccante. the base was great - thin and mostly crispy. a little longer in the oven would have made it perfect. the pepperoni half lacked a little punch, but the ingredients were of good quality. similar for the piccante half. there was also too much cheese, causing the toppings to slide off the base, at times. overall, though, it hit the spot. we also shared the polpettine de cervo - spiced venison meatballs and spaghetti in a red wine, tomato, garlic and basil sauce. for me, the meatballs needed more seasoning and they fell apart too easily. the pasta was spot-on and my only criticism of the sauce was that there was too much of it. in short, it was good family fare and the service from our waitress was outstanding.

i ordered the melenzane parmigiana - grilled eggplant layered with tomato, fresh basil and clevedon coast buffalo mozzarella : oven baked ($26.50) with a side of truffle parmesan fries. ($11.00). both were a good size for value.

it was disappointing that it took over an hour for the main to arrive. although it was tasty and filling, i would not say it was worth the wait. the parmesan fries were also lacking some flavour. possibly not enough truffle oil.

dessert: took another 30 mins to come out. chocolate brownie with caramel & a milk shake was moist and tasty. i would recommend this

overall service: lacked attentiveness and urgency. they probably needed more team members to table. when they did serve us, the wait staff was pleasant.