Valentine — Restaurant in Phoenix

Went for dinner a few nights ago. The bill for 4 of us was an astounding $263. For the price of all of the food I was extremely disappointed. The atmosphere is nice, and the staff was very nice, but for the cost of the food, I did not see much appeal to it. I breakdown below what we ordered and my thought:

Drinks: Coffee Old Fashioned - Taste was more or less an Old Fashioned. I wish it had more of a coffee flavor to the drink.

Hatch Chili Margarita - Tasted just like hatch green chili's. They nailed the flavor of this drink.

Cactus Martini - Friend said the flavor was good. Nothing too sweet and had a nice flavor.

Cosmo - Friend stated it was a good drink with nothing to be disliked about it.

Small Plates: Olives - Olives had a strong citrus/jalapeno flavor. They were not bad for a finger style food. Pits were still in olives, which didn't bother me, but just as a warning to those who might not know.

Chips & Anasazi Bean Dip - Dip was cold. Didnt get a ton of flavor from the tomatillo chimichurri, as I do not think it had much on it. Chips were slightly over seasoned and took a lot of flavor away from the dip. Overall it was a decent small share, but nothing to write home about.

Hiramasa Crudo - We were told the fish was Yellow Tail. This dish came with what I would consider "Sashimi" style slices of Yellow Tail in a vinaigrette sauce. It was light and didnt seem to give off a ton of brown butter/fish sauce flavor. Overall this was okay, but I wouldn't get again for the price of $19.

Blue Oyster Mushrooms - If you like mushrooms these were by far the best small plate we had! I loved them. They had a great earthy flavor and a lovely sauce to go on them. I would recommend this dish!

Large Plates: The Elote Pasta - We were told the dishes are based around having the portion sizes to be shared. This I do not think is a sharable dish. It came with what I could consider a single serving for one person. The pasta had a very strong citrus flavor that completely overpowered the dish. Nothing stood out for being top notch with the pasta and for the price of $20 we found it to be a little disappointing.

NY Strip - This dish was a huge let down. I would say this was about a 8-10oz steak with a tomatillo chimichurri on the top. Nothing stood out for the seasoning of the steak, the beans were, what I feel, a strange edition that didn't add much to the dish. The pork belly wasn't really in the beans, besides some pieces of pork belly fat. The tortilla's were very good, but were street taco size. For $45 I was disappointed in the fact that I expected to have my socks blow off with flavor. To be honest I would be more hard pressed to make something like this at home for half the cost or more.

Sweets: Tres Leches - This cake was amazing. Probably the best thing of the night. It was light and had a great cinnamon flavor, without being heavily soaked like some Tres Leches Cakes are. The sunflower seed brittle on top was very good. This is a large recommendation from me.

Overall, for the price our party spent I was very disappointed. The atmosphere was wonderful and the staff was excellent and very friendly, but I find it hard to recommend this place because I didn't find a majority of the items to be above and beyond what I have had before. The steak was a disappointment for the price. I would have rather gone to a nice steak house or made my own at home for the $45 price tag. The pasta left a lot to be desired as I wish it didn't have as much citrus and slightly more salt...

REVIEW WITH A CAVEAT ABOUT SERVICE

I've been to Valentine more than a handful of times, usually for brunch due to scheduling. While restaurant prices aren't great in this day/economy, I've felt I paid well enough for the quality of food/flavors. I like the brunch menu, while a bit high than what I would pay for, the portions and flavors made up for it.

I've had dinner at Valentine twice, once with a friend and another time solo. The two experiences were quite different. The food was great both times! The service was... something else.

TL:DR - dine in for brunch, maybe 'to go' any other time, dine-in dinner seems to go either way - ymmv.

It took me sometime to make a review b/c I wanted to mull over my experience and not make a review off the bat. During my solo dinner experience, I was given the option of either the bar, the window or lounge seating, there was no offer of a table which there were plenty of. Perhaps there were upcoming reservations? I was told the bar was like a table, full service and all.

Well, I sat at the bar for some time and no one came by to see what I'd like to order. The bartender was busy making drinks as it was his job. I flagged down a passing waiter to change seats and when the hostess came by, she asked if I'd like to sit at the lounge (couch area with coffee table level tables)... why would I go out to dinner at a restaurant and eat at a coffee table? I asked if the window seating was still open and after a pause, there was.

After changing seats, I just ordered my food before the hostess left again as I wasn't sure when anyone would actually come back to me. My drink and 2 dishes came out quick after that. While eating, the hostess was quick to come back with the dessert menu and made suggestions. By that point, while I loved the food, I felt rushed and not welcomed to be honest. I asked a different passing waiter for the check and the hostess popped right behind him to say she'll handle it. How expedient of her.

As I left, I looked back into the restaurant and the empty 2-seater tables were still empty....

I made a reservation for 6:15. Arrived 6:00 and they seated my friend and I, who were early immediately, took 10 min. to order my glass of bubbles, but figured they were waiting for more people to arrive. 6:30 roles around and my two friends say there is no parking so making loops (5 times). They say we should order something and that they have a reservation right after us so if we want dessert we should order it and sit in the speakeasy. They come by again and say something again about ordering. I ask to be seated elsewhere because I’m feeling the pressure of being rushed and that is not how I want my dinner. She says they can’t because there are stacked reservations. I point to other tables as an option. When we begin to order a different waitress says it’s family style so shareables so we quickly just order a couple items feeling flustered trying to order fast for them and change our idea of dinner. Elote pasta wasn’t great. We eat and it’s so odd no refills on drinks until almost done or we request it. I feel like I am being a pain so we say we just want the check. The waitress tells us she reserved the speakeasy. Surprised! Great! We go to speakeasy and they show up with dessert and we feel bad because we didn’t order dessert. The waitress looks annoyed and doesn’t smile. She comes back and says they heard there was a birthday so we take it. But our friend is gluten free so others have to eat it. I share this as feedback because I train customer service at my company. One helpful tool is asking at seating if everyone is present (just to get a feel at first), secondly it’s respectful to inform the customers of the busy night, offer solutions ahead of time. Also, you can use the open time to give info on the restaurant, offer favorite dishes (not say “any proteins??”), more drinks to increase the final tab. Also, empathize about parking. Communication between a shared staff is key. If we are going to drop dessert add a note on the ticket or state what it is! I think I am in the mindset, if I get great service I’ll buy more and give...