Cafe Valentino

In short, I’ve been here twice and I’d choose to dine elsewhere in chch in places I know do a much better experience for this price. I don’t have pictures from our visit but they wouldn’t justify anything anyway. The truffle fries had no truffle, just pecorino cheese on top to make them look like truffle fries, a common hack/ trick. The gluten free pizza base could do with some work/improvements, we’ve definitely had better. The kids menu items are $20 which is so expensive for what you get. We ordered the kids macaroni, and for that portion (the size of a bread and butter plate in a small cast iron sizzler) it would cost $3 to make and they’re charging $20, already steep for a kids meal so I expected it to be amaaaazing. It also came out on a sizzling plate, from a kids menu!? Why would you serve a piping hot cast iron plate to children? It makes absolutely no sense. The staff could do with some major training on the drinks list, it’s a small wine list and wouldn’t take very long to teach the staff what is what, they knew nothing about wine whatsoever. The flavour of our pizza was ok, the beef cheek was lovely, they also have a sparking red wine which was new for us and delicious (even if the waitress didn’t know if it was actually sparkling red wine). All in all I’d choose other restaurants over this next time for sure. There just aren’t enough redeeming factors.

Best gluten free pasta I have ever had. Service was excellent.