cafe valentino

ate here fordinneron 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.

had a lovely lunch today at cafe valentino. attentive and friendly staff. the food was gorgeous! i had the pulled pork sandwich and my husband had the the lamb flatbread. will definitely be back to try thedinnermenu.

went fordinnerwith friends to this christchurch institution. the food was incredible - pizza and pasta both highly recommended. staff went above and beyond - fantastic service!

we had thedinnerin the first day we arrived new zealand. the lamb shanks are very tender and have good flavour. linguine marinara is also a good recommend. i like the brownies most! it's one of the best brownies i've had.

went fordinnerlast night with a group of work colleges. the food was excellent not one person in the group didn't enjoy there meal. also the service from the wait staff was too notch even the the place was very busy. i would highly recommend this restaurant

wow wow lovely food nice atmosphere and friendly team.
the steak is devine and if you choose it keepdinnerto that and maybe a bread only first as the steak is a perfect size.
would of loved to try the dessert as the peoples beside us looked great but i needed more room.
definitely make sure you book as we went on a wednesday night and the restaurant was full.

cafe valentino is a greatdinnerspot that is surviving in the reviving cbd. bookings are definitely recommended for this hotspot as it gets crowded in the evenings; i also recommend a business casual outfit, but definitely not required. my friends and i sat outside as it was the only table available at 7:30pm on a saturday. the inside features a bar area where old american movies play with subtitles and a more comfortable dining area. 

service was slow, but only due to the high volume of customers, otherwise our waitress was on top of it. we ordered bruschetta (with extra bread as it only comes with three pieces normally) and mussels. both were fantastic. the tomato-based sauce the mussels were marinading it was amazing and the mound of fresh tomatoes, garlic onions on top of the large bread slices in balsalmic and olive oil were mouth watering. everyone ordered a pasta dish, though meat/chicken/vegetable mains are available. i ordered the potato and parmesan gnocchi. it was served in a red sauce, tossed with zucchini, red peppers and garlic and was baked with melted mozzarella on top. it was a little heavy on the sauce and the gnocchi was a little undercooked, but i would prefer that to overcooked. i still ate every bite. one friend ordered spaghetti bolognese with red sauce and ground meat. it's simple, but a classic. his wife ordered rigatoni zucca (without chicken) and was extremely satisfied. my husband ordered the most popular penne basilicata with canterbury lamb fillet which was served on penne noodles, manuka smoked tomatoes, feta and spinach. the sauce was sweet chili and sundried tomato infused olive oil. sounds amazing? well, it is.

with ourdinnerwe enjoyed affordable glasses of wine from the moderate selection. my husband had two moata beers. we didn't opt for dessert, but the menu looked delicious, so i recommend saving space. overall, i was very full when i left cafe valentino and would happily return again.

we are a quantity surveying firm that have decided to visit a new restaurant each month, that has either re-located or recently opened due to the earthquakes and our first restaurant to visit was cafe valentino, most of the staff gave it between an 8-10 rating out of 10.

we visited on a thursday fordinnerand sat at the bar for a bit and didn't seem busy at all which was lucky as it approached 6.30pm the people rolled in, was very busy but the head waitress was amazingly helpful and accommodated our extra guests (plus children) at the last minute and even got them colouring books etc.

selection on the menu was astounding... was very hard to chose! most people got pasta and were pleased with this and i got the lamb salad... which was missing the feta but still very good, the roasted pecans were delicious.

price was reasonable, decor was great, service was excellent and food amazing

only negative was the lack of space between tables.. i could barely walk between my table and the one behind as the chairs were back to back.

we haddinnerat cafe valentino on tuesday night. we had to wait for over 20 minutes for our booked table. the head waitress said she would ask the other diners to leave as they had been there over 2.5hours. we were asked to wait in the "bar" area, where we waited a good 10 minutes to get served for drinks. it was cramped and awkward standing amongst people at the tall tables waiting. when we finally got our table, we ordered quickly as we were all very hungry and we waited over an hour for any food to arrive. it is easy to see how the last diners were taking so long to leave - they were just waiting on their food most likely! admittedly it is two weeks before christmas, but this was unacceptable service. it was incredibly loud, the tables are far too close together, making it difficult to even get to your table and conversation with anyone except the person beside you is just not going to be possible.
the food was ok - i had the chicken and cream sauce pasta. there was far too many sundried tomato's in it, but other than that, it was fine. the other four people i was with said their meals were fine, nothing outstanding. one diner had the fish of the day which was on mashed potato with prawns and a wasabi sauce which she said was delicious.
overall, i would not go back to cafe valentino in a hurry.