Well this was our 2nd trip to Valentino's. We were here last year and loved it, so we put it on our itinerary to come back on this trip. This time the experience was a little different, but the food was better than we remembered. Let me explain. My bf and I called ahead of time to make a reservation for 9 pm on a Sat night. We were planning to sit in the front of the restaurant (the grill) part of Valentino. When we got to the restaurant, the hostess immediately took us into the separate super fancy/stuffy back room. It was way over our heads, with a THICK wine list and all kinds of very $$ entrees- we had no idea what they were. I asked about the lasagna and he said we COULD make that with a meat sauce. I figured why have them TRY to make it when its on the menu in the OTHER ROOM!!! We simply wanted the amazing lasagna bolognese we had last year. There were 2 waiters constantly at our table who were very pushy and aggressive over ordering wine (which we did not want) and to order from the tasting pre fixed $85 pp menu (which we did not want). We both felt very uncomfortable back there, so I went out to the hostess and asked if we could get moved to the grill part in front. She said no problem and was very accomodating. As Im waiting in the front of the restaurant for my bf to come out from the back and get reseated, one of the aggressive waiters from the back room comes out to me to ask why Im moving! He insists he can do my dish off the regular menu and serve it to me in the back room. He was very annoyed with us and pushy. I told him no, we d be more comfortable in this room. It was so odd to us that he came over to us. Its like car salesmen competing for commission...Lol.
Anyway, our new laid back young waiters were amazing and couldnt have been better. When we asked if they could take a pic of us, they moved us over to the entranceway so we could have the pic taken with the gorgeous red glittery wall and Valentino sign behind us. Great food. Amazing lasagna once again, and this year no room for dessert. AVOID THE BACK ROOOM!!!