Venti's Cafe + Beer Vault — Restaurant in Salem

I've been a Venti's customer for 10 years. Back before downtown's remodel or the expansion on Commercial. I would kick it with one of the chefs and would come by nearly every week. It would not be an exaggeration that Venti's Spicy Mac was a regular topic of conversation while at other restaurants. I would always send friends here when they were passing through. That just isn't the case anymore.This review is in the vein of "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed".

Over the last 6-7 years prices have gone up and quality has gone down. Gradually food has become less rich with lower quality. Simple plates replaced by flavorless, but trendy dishes. Today, the Mac and cheese was oily, bodiless, and hardly spicy. The street tacos were bland, full of soggy meat, and overall not appetizing. That's $17 for the mac & $14 for the tacos. There has been more than one day over the last few years when dishes have come out cold.

I don't believe this has anything to do with individual employees. The years over which this decline has occurred can only come from one place, management. The choice of ingredients, instructions on how long to take on a dish, and where the company spends its time and money are all at play here. The cool thing is that management also has the power to make changes for the better. Return to a simpler dish format, emphasize quality over speed, and work with higher quality ingredients that carry the richness Venti's food used to have. If those things return, the prices would make sense but as it currently stands the price is no longer commensurate with the food being served, in my opinion. I hope things change...

Fair and honest review: I loved Ventis, for years and still think it’s a great spot with a world of options for any dietary need. What disappointed me was the change of the best sandwich in Salem: the steak aoli flatbread sandwich. I went in tonight with my wife and ordered my go to, steak aoli with spicy tots; when my server put it down in the table it looked a little different no biggie. Took a bite no aoli, no big deal, bite 2: flavor seems weird and where is the aoli in top of the steak? Wait is this not steak, it looks like pulled pork? Try just the meat: bland dry, kind of a mid color still can’t figure out if it’s pork or steak. Wife asks a server walking by, server says they’ve switched the cuts of steak...it’s now a shredded/pulled beef that’s been cooked in an oven or crockpot, not little cubes of heaven grilled to perfection like before. Still tried to power through, noticed a thin strip of aoli soaked into the flatbread; instead of putting it on last to cover the steak, cheese and veggies it’s just sitting in the bottom making a soggy flat bread. Didn’t finish 2/3 of the sandwich even after trying to dump my spicy tot aoli on the steak. Bland dry yet soggy at the same time just bad really really bad. Wife’s bowl was amazing as always so 1 extra star for making hers right. Love This place but won’t comeback until the steak aoli flatbread goes back to...

Venti's has become one of our go-to restaurants in Salem. It has something for everyone and can fit almost any occasion. The menu offers a wide variety of foods, as well as clearly labeled vegetarian, vegan, and gluten free options. We met up with friends that needed a kid friendly restaurant, so we sat upstairs and the kiddo got a coloring sheet to entertain him. The basement is a great kid-free area for date nights or meeting up with friends. Upstairs is order at the counter, downstairs is table service/ bar. I met up with a large group of work friends in the basement and the bartender split up our tab 8 ways without us even asking. She even knew to put my partner and I on the same bill because she recognized us. They have live music, but that's not really our thing, so we can head down to the basement to avoid it. Huge tap list and full bar. I can ask for classics like martinis and negronis and the bartenders don't look at me like I'm crazy. Some food recommendations: The black bean burger, Korean BBQ tempeh tacos, the Bouda Burger, the wings with Rooster Sauce (I love Franks Red Hot, but it's nice to have something different. Their sauce is made...