Cafe Va Bene — Restaurant in Adelaide

Initially, I was Very Excited to eat here when it was suggested we dine @ Cafe Va Bene, as their Online Reviews were Great! UNFORTUNATELY...THAT, is where the Positive ENDS!! VERY Disappointed with the Overall dining Experience, AND Quality (or lack thereof) of the food here @ Cafe Va Bene, ESPECIALLY Considering those Online Reviews & Prices!!!!

The Decor is a little dated! Although they DO have ceiling fans Very High up, They're only on Very Slow & only JUST manage to circulate the air...somewhat! The FLIES...Oh My Gosh!! An OBSCENE amount of FLIES were Buzzing around the INSIDE of Cafe Va Bene (Big Red Flag)!! IF I had wanted to dine With Flies, I would have requested seating/dining Outside, NOT Inside!!!! Menus were placed on the tables almost immediately, BUT we had to wait for ages for the orders to be taken, and an even Longer wait for the food to arrive. Not off to a Good start!!

NOW...FOR THE FOOD 😬

** Chicken Salad...had only 4 Teeny Tiny Overcooked Strips of Bland/Unseasoned Chicken that were Luke Warm/Tepid, AT BEST, thrown on top of a bed of OLD pre-packaged lettuce Leaves (ldentical to the pre-packaged stuff from the local supermarket) that still had the Aged/Brown ends from when it was removed from the plant (& pre-packaged For the local Supermarket) DAYS if not WEEKS Prior. Chef did Not even Bother cutting off the brown bits to make it look Nice,Fresh &/or appetising. Salad also had Capsicum, Cucumber & Tomato tossed in, with feta & Olives! The Capsicum, Cucumber & Tomato Looked fresh, at least!!! Score 1/10

** Carbonara...Horribly OILY, So Oily In fact, when the bowl was tipped...it pooled all around the bottom. There was NO Bacon in this Carbonara, there WAS, However a few strips of Bacon FAT! Score 1/10

** Risotto.....Bland, Gluggy & Hard to Swallow!!! Norwood Morialta's year 9 cooking class make a MUCH Better Rositto & They're just KIDS!! Score 1/10

** Pasta & Meatballs...HORRIBLY Bland, NO Seasoning in the meatballs AT ALL!!!! It Looked & Tasted like a bowl of Packet Pasta with a can of Heinz Tomato Soup stirred in!! Score 1/10

** Pasta Bolognese....NO COMENT (Believe Me when I say..."you do NOT Want To Know My thoughts on THIS dish")!! Score 0/10

5/5 Meals were left MOSTLY UN-EATEN & returned to the kitchen!!!

WHERE ON EARTH, are they getting these Positive Reviews from? Staff members? Family & Friends? WHERE?? & more importantly - OH MY GOSH...WHY????? Happy to Say..."I will NEVER be Returning to Cafe Va Bene"!! After all, WHY pay Top Dollar @ Cafe Va Bene, when I Can & DO, Cook ALOT Better Quality (Looks, Freshness &...

We have been going here regularly for at least 12yrs & have always found the food & service excellent. A slight decline started showing slowly but in the last week it became evident that the once fabulous outing was extremely disappointing. I have to say at this point that the staff & service remain excellent. The employees are wonderful,friendly & hard working, so nothing to complain about there! The food though has fallen below average. The fish is NOT fresh & neither are the vegetables. We were there today & ordered our favorite dish, the Atlantic salmon. Could not believe we were in the same place that has ALWAYS delivered a delicious meal. We wanted to leave immediately after one mouthful but felt loyal enough not to make a fuss. So disappointed though because it was for a special occasion. I was there with a friend 4 days before for lunch & ordered the fish divine which has also been a favorite. It was too dry to finish. I thought, oh well, a once off thing. Obviously I'm wrong & unfortunately we will not come again. It is not a cheap outing so one expects a good standard meal. I hope the standards lift again. It is such a wonderful...

Worst meal we have had in years, can't remember the last time we had a meal this bad......2 serves of traditional Italian veal.....1 pescatore and one funghi.....$95 with one small glass of wine. 2 small dry pieces of veal with boiled veggies and some watery sauce slapped on top. Tasted like the veal had been boiled and the veggies had been pre cooked and sitting in water for hours. Took around 5 mins from order to table which means nothing was cooked fresh or with any care....original order came out wrong and the waiter came to the table with 2 different meals for other tables. The whole experience from booking to ordering to service was atrocious. Please take your cook's, (not chefs) whom were all indian, to Italian cooking classes as you should be ashamed of the slop you dished up to us.......will not be back and we are local.......we refused the offer of free coffee and deserts to not take advantage as that was not what it was about........below substandard to say the least and the manager was apparently too busy to speak to us......very sad...