Valentino’s Pizzeria & Restaurant — Restaurant in Bailey's Crossroads

My husband and I drive by Valentino's all the time and yesterday, while sitting at the traffic light between Beauregard Street and Little River Turnpike my husband looked over and said "hey, I wonder how that place is rated?" Well, thanks to Google and Yelp we were able to quickly learn we had been missing out on a hidden gem for New York style pizza in the DMV. We immediately decided to rectify that situation by dining in last night. The location is in a busy shopping complex, but on my opinion, where it sits in the complex is very unassuming for such great food and service. The interior dining area is fairly small, but clean with modern decor. Our timing was perfect as we entered and saw a line building for ordering pizza by the slice, calzones and cannolis, but easily found a booth to sit in and were promptly greeted by a waiter. About 30 minutes later, the place was packed. The menu is a robust selection of Italian and Sicilian cuisine at a reasonable price. We ordered the garlic knots, garlic parmesan wings and Sam Adam's Boston Lager to start. The garlic knots were the perfect level of fluffy, doughy deliciousness and the marinara on top...yum. The wings were even better....garlic, parmesan and a little spicy kick...loved them. The beer selection is small and I'm not sure they even offered wine because they did not have a beer/wine list; so I went with what I could see in the cooler...Sam's looked like my best option and I'm from New England; so yes, I am biased. :-) Then we ordered a pizza and oh my gosh, did we get our money's worth. The large pizza is a 20" diameter and the slices are huge! You can combine multiple types or just order by the slice. We ordered half vegetation and half Valentino's special. The pizza dough was just the right amount of chewiness and the crust had a crunch; perfect. The toppings are definitely fresh and for the price, you basically just bought yourself multiple meals. We are two of the eight enormous slices and brought the rest home. No room for cannolis on this trip...next time. Thanks for the great meal...

Unfortunately, this would have been a NO STAR if I could.

Earlier this evening, I ordered a cheese pizza from Valentino's in Alexandria, VA and smack dab in the middle of the pizza is a piece of pepperoni. This was literally only a plain pizza request, no other topping, just simple ol' plain!

When I called to talk to the restaurant, the first employee I spoke to was deeply sympathetic and apologetic about the fact that a first time ever customer, and a Muslim customer at that had gotten their order done completely incorrectly. She said that even though I went through Uber Eats she can provide an in store credit for whenever I call back to place another order, I would have credit to use towards at that time. Apparently, they have an already set up policy for when a specific number calls, their employees can look up and see if there is any store credit (This should have been my first sign of the disasterous call ahead) that would be applied to the order; she said this to me in a matter of fact manner. I asked her how much credit is she going to provide me with, she then said she had to go ask "someone."

"Someone," I'm guessing a manager, gets on phone and immediately I could hear how already bothered he was with my call. When I asked if he was filled in regarding my issue, he says "no, not yet." So I explain what happened and he angerly says, "you need to go deal with Uber Eats, we don't wanna go through them, they're stupid." He proceeded to say, we don't wanna work with Uber Eats anyways and that if I wanted a refund, I had to go through them. Which I then said, sir, it was your kitchen that messed up the food, why should Uber Eats be responsible? He says I don't care. I then reiterated the fact that I'm a Muslim, first time customer who was really looking forward to eating the infamous Valentino's pizza, and was basically told I should have called and ordered from the store if I was so concerned about my food not getting mixed with pork products...... Yeah, that is what happened when I tried to support our local,...

When I first moved to Alexandria, Valentino's came highly recommended. I enjoyed my first few visits. For the past several months, I've experienced a significant decline in quality and service. Tonight, was the last time I will patronize this business. I ordered a pizza with very specific toppings. It took twenty minutes to order the pizza. After doing so, another individual came to the phone to confirm the order. It was incorrect. The order was corrected and I was told it would arrive within 45-60 minutes. About five minutes later, I called back to add additional items to my order. After receiving the order, it was incorrect. I called to speak to the manager to voice my dissatisfaction. He was very rude. I informed the manger I would not be patronizing the restaurant again as the customer service and quality had considerably declined. He told me that because I called later and ordered wings that it was my fault the order was incorrect. Additionally, he said that it was fine if I did not come back as "they will not close," and "they will still be around." I informed him that this was not my first time having a poor experience and I was disinclined to believe this was a one-time mistake. In the end, the manger refused to provide his name and was remarkably dismissive. My money was refunded, which I appreciate. However, the customer service is so lacking that I cannot consider visiting this restaurant again. I understand that mistakes happen, which is why I've overlooked previous errors. However, this appears to be a persistent issue. People work hard for their money. I know I do. I know they do. Customers want to be valued and treated with respect. Unfortunately, I did not experience that tonight. I am sorry I can no longer continue patronizing this local business. It is unfortunate and unnecessary. I hope...