Valley Bistro — Restaurant in Hampden Township

I am utterly amazed with this restaurant. I told my fiance that I believe this may have been the best meal I have ever had. We were looking for a nice brunch to have together and someone suggested to us to come here. We pulled into the parking lot, which was packed (and a bit difficult to get into from the main road). We were excited to see that they have outdoor seating on our way up to the building. We walked in the front door to a very long line from the register through to the back of the restaurant. We didn't realize, but you order at the register then take a seat, vs the traditional restaurant of being seated and your order taken at the table. We waited in line for a very long time, but it was well worth the wait. We ordered then had a seat outside. It was beautiful out, and the food didn't take long at all to arrive at our table. We got the fried apple and bacon burger and the portobello pizza. Both were amazing. The fried apple was so unique and had a great variety of flavors including smokey, sweet, salty, and somehow tasted fresh and fatty at the same time. My only wish is that they would've added more of the fried apple, since I only had a few bites of the burger with the apple. We ordered the burger with the sweet potato fries and were not disappointed. We could actually taste sweet potato and weren't left with a fatty soaked fry like most places. They had the best crunch of a fry I have ever had. The portobello pizza was drenched in toppings and falling apart in our hands (in a good way). The crust wasn't too stable because I think they added oil to the pan, making it soggy on the bottom, but we didn't care. There was plenty of mushrooms, onions, goat cheese, and a delightful balsamic drizzle. These flavors melded together and intermingled into an umami paradise in my mouth cut by the acidity of the balsamic. I cannot sing the praises of this restaurant enough, and I only wish they were open after 2pm, because I would definitely come more often. We left the restaurant excitedly trying to decide what to try the next time we come, because there will 100% be a next time.

Follow up: Returned again and were not disappointed! We got their specialty burger for the week that had blueberry compote, jalapeno aioli, goat cheese, red onions, and arugula, and it was AMAZING. It should be added to their regular menu. It had the perfect combination of flavors, sweet, spicy,...

Stopped in again for Sunday Brunch. Great experience. No issues parking; plenty of spots. Only negative was waiting in line for 30 minutes to order. It didn’t seem that busy cuz there were plenty of open tables. Food took a bit but not too long, about 15-18 minutes or so.

We split the El Jefe wrap and Breakfast Nachos. The wrap wasn’t anything to look at but was very tasty. Nachos seemed like less bacon than our previous visit but was still good.

Kids got the Gianna’s This and That and The Shortie Benedict. The Shortie initially came out with hard yolks, but when we mentioned it to a food runner they took it back and fixed it. The Gianna’s is a lot of food! She ended up taking half the pancakes home for breakfast the next day.

ORIGINAL REVIEW

Our first time here, stopped in on a Saturday morning in April on the way up to Penn State. The entrance is a bit weird, a bit too close to a pretty big intersection, so after turning left onto the road, had to make another immediate left across 4 lanes of traffic. Also the parking lot is not flat, we had to park on a tilt, so opening car doors was either too easy (it wanted to fly and hit the car next to us) or hard uphill.

It's counter service ordering so the line snaking between the tables was a bit annoying, especially for diners at those tables. After ordering, we found a table in the back room, which looks like it used to be event space that they were in the middle of converting into dining space.

We ordered the Chicken & Waffles benedict and the Breakfast Nachos to share. Kids ordered the Classic Benny and Boston Creme pancakes. Everything was delicious! Will...

First off, let me start with the fact that I love that it's family owned and run. I honestly moved my stars from 3 to 4 simply bc of that fact. Now the food. I've heard amazing things about this place and have been eager to try it. In the last month, I've eaten here 3xs. The first time I got the Athena's Chicken wrap and it was delicious. 2nd time was the crab ragoon pizza. It was ok. There was way to much of the cheesy spread on it for my taste, but good nonetheless. I wouldn't order it again, but I ate it and chalked it up to an experience. The 3rd item that I tried was the Salmon BLT. I love salmon and avocado both. I was so excited for this sandwich. It looked amazing when I got it and I was psyched to try it. I took my first bite and virtually nothing. The ingredients in this sandwich had almost no flavor. The salmon did not have the buttery rich flavor that I love in salmon. The tomatoes were flavorless, the lemon dill aioli was virtually nonexistent on the sandwich and the bread was so thick that it drowned out almost all other flavors struggling to make their mark. The only flavor that stood out was the bacon, which oddly enough is my least favorite ingredient on this sandwich. I was very disappointed. Not entirely sure how a sandwich with such robust delicious looking ingredients had so little flavor, but that was exactly my experience. Again, only have it 4 stars bc it's family run and owned and the staff are really nice. I would have given it much lower stars for the food. For me, this place didn't live up...