Valentino - LA - Santa Ana

We ordered the salad special appetizers, pasta and the vanilla and praline pudding. Every dish was more delicious than the last. Service was excellent. We're going to miss Valentino.

Valentino was extremely off today. Maybe it is short timers syndrome as their imminent closure is days away. The veal was mediocre. The service was terrible. Granted it was very busy. The service was so bad and nobody loved their meal.

We visited the last dinner at Valentino's on New Year's Eve. We have eaten there often and wanted to say goodbye to a favorite place. We had eaten there a few months ago and had a great time. Our waiter didn't make quite a pleasure last time. We asked ourselves about the wine pairing mentioned on the preprinted menu, but he said we could just make our own choices. After our first glass of champagne, he never came back to inquire about our next wine choices, and when we went down, he recommended 2 particularly bad wines. We had to ask for bread plates, and he brought us to use salad plates. They were from the duck I chose (Osso Buco), but he waited so long to tell me that my second course was almost the same as my third course (short ribs pasta/short ribs). We heard another waiter who told us about the Dessert selection, so when our waiter said there was only one choice, we had to tell him that we knew there were other options. We will continue to have great memories of Valentino, but we wish we had allowed our previous visit as our last visit.

As patrons of Valentino for over twenty years. We wanted to leave before they closed. Early reservation, 5PM to avoid rush. Piero welcomed us as usual. I saw a little flustered, handed over to waiters who have been there forever, but very rude. We broke up, another waiter, two months on the job. Fortunately, our ordinary waiter seemed to welcome us, but he didn't work. New type brought menus, very limited choices, took beverage orders, delivered them and hovered around the table waiting for us order. It was awkward. We asked if it would be possible to get our salad, a bean salad with warm blue cheese, he said no. Valentinos is known for fulfilling customer requirements. Rude Kellner comes back and says, will check if cook can prepare. Return and said no. Say good, give us a moment. Rude Kellner back, says now, cook can make our salad, but we need to order complete meal immediately. Salad at the table in three minutes. The bread asked three times. Never offered water, had to ask. My halibut was excellent, vegetables were extremely scarce, eight green beans, a very small roasted potato. The steak of my husband was very good and well prepared, again vegetables a joke. Since our waiter never checked for us, my husband asked the busboy to Gravy or Sauce for steak and potatoes. Waiter returns, said can't. Then the bus boy brought the sauce. When a rude waiter appeared to clear courts, my husband called our waiter on the table to show him, in fact there was Sauce available. More excuses. Ordered a decaf cappuccino, no foam, tasted terrible. I told him to take it away. It was never so disappointed. Bad service I ever met at Valentinos. Probably it didn't matter because this was her last night in Santa Monica. Your fame days have been over for a long time. I thought I was sad to see her, but after tonight it's definitely time.

This was it – the end of 40 years eating well, and we will miss it... a lot. Buona Fortuna, Piero, and thanks for all wonderful meals.