Valenti's Ristorante — Restaurant in Venice

First impression, was of the large bandaged wound on the forearm of the waitress. This was actually a minor distraction, only worth mentioning because the rest of the evenings experience. The wine list intrigued me and was on the main menu. The bottle of chianti we ordered, happened to also be the house wine. It arrived at the table already open. This should have been a red flag, but I was distracted by one of our party smelling the cork, which being an epicure I jumped in to correct. The wine was fine, but was still a point that started to add up in the back of my mind. We ordered the calamari appetizer, it was adequately prepared with a jar quality marinara. My companions both had salads that arrives at the same time. The calamari plate had been cold, thus chilled the appetizer fairly quickly. Dinner arrived a bit too soon especially for a very not busy restaurant. The dishes ordered; included chicken francese- the chicken was cooked correctly however the sauce: lemony lacked any sign of garlic (a traditional ingredient) and no balance to the flavoring with white wine(not traditional) that wasn't in the flavor at all, quickly overpowered by the addition of can, we did comment on this to the waitress. I had lobster ravioli- one of my favorites when the bowl arrived there was no sign of the ravioli as it looked like a soup with the overabundance of sauce which was lumpy and dull. The lobster had obviously been over boiled to the point of losing its flavor quite convinced it was the mini langostino tails that you can find in the local supermarket freezer section. Not satisfying at all. The last one of my companions had the veal valente, there was cooked properly sauce again not balanced not glossy flat doll again with the canned mushrooms and canned artichoke hearts which took away from the overall attempt at a flavor. The waitress however was very lively and full of banter and was tipped well. I shall not be going back! Oh I should mention that I am a certified Chef from a very renowned school I'm worked in NYC...

We were looking for a location to host a reception for my Mother-in-law's celebration of life and Valenti's was one of the only locations we contacted that a) actually picked up the phone; b) could accommodate our group, and c) worked with us to make it a perfect and memorable event. Cesare and the entire staff there were amazing. They transformed the lounge into a beautiful and warm location and went above and beyond, adding black table linens, bud vases with flowers on the tables and candles, none of which we asked for, but all of which he delivered. It was such a nice touch and added a lot of warmth to the event. We had several older Italian's in our party (my Father-in-law is 84) and it was the perfect location for them to sit, fill their belly's and reminisce with family they hadn't seen for years. Cesare prepared a special menu for my Father-in-law, to include an antipasto, caprese salad, chicken piccata, meatballs and baked ziti, which seemed to please the crowd. They also allowed us to bring in pictures of my Mother-in-law to sit around and use their television to have a scrolling slide show of photos of her. The staff was very attentive to our group and made my Father-in-law feel very special. I cannot express how grateful we were to the entire team there for making this...

Food was quite good and portions huge, but other problems ruined my experience.

Man who waited on me inside for a to-go order was NOT properly masked (it was down under his chin, over the neck, what good does that do?) For that reason alone, I will not be back.

But there were still other problems. When I pulled up in the drive-through after phoning in my order, no one came to the window/door, so I had to go inside where I met the improperly masked man. Then he read somebody else's order to me, and I had to correct him.

But they apparently have changed the menu on the website, because he said my shrimp-pesto-pasta entree would come with linguine, while the website says fettucine. They must also have raised prices from what the website says, because the web says my entree should have been $18 plus $2 for the salad I wanted. With 7% tax that would have been $21.40. But he charged me almost $24. Didn't catch the discrepancy until driving home, and I wasn't about to drive back and deal with Mr. Wrong Mask to get a refund!

In short, based on my experience they need to improve the to-go ordering process, pay attention to the drive-through lane, keep the website and pricing up to date, and have the staff properly masked during the current...