Caffe Valentino

Below is a comprehensive and honest review from an inside perspective:
The only saving grace of this restaurant is its employees, notably Sam, head server, and its kitchen staff (2 people) who work tirously 7 days and nights per week to ensure the entire restaurant is fed and daily service is a success, which often includes cleaning and dishwashing while cooking. The loyalty of long term patrons also does much to liven the atmosphere. The food is tasty but leans toward overpriced. Most likely because the owners are trying to make up for the fact that they do not profit from liquor sales, which is reasonable. However, be careful about any add ons or changes to the menu… it will cost you $ 10 to substitute pasta for veggies and starch, $ 10 for chicken, $ 10 for proscuitto or salami, and $ 6 for shrimp. Unfortunately, the owner is arrogant and egotistical, with a mightier than thou outlook towards guests and employees alike. He puts on a nice show at times, but it is all a façade. He speaks much more than he listens, with no regard for the opinions, suggestions, and feelings of others. This has led to disgruntled staff and also unhappy guests. For instance, he will blast house music to the point where it drowns out conversation and guests want to leave, refusing to hear or accept that no ones enjoys this. One of the restaurant’s worst attributes is its neglect in maintenance, with standing water in the kitchen from unfixed plumbing leaks to ongoing pest issues. Cleanliness is questionable at best, so much so that one of the guests felt the need to hire their own cleaning crew before an event upstairs. With lack of staff and necessary vendors, its impossible to maintain the restaurant to the standards expected for safe, sanitary, and sufficient conditions. Also, be careful about visiting during extreme temperatures, as their thermostat in the summer is set to 78 – 80 degrees, and winter not much better. But alas, ownership knows best. So to all those that want to pay a visit, you will most likely receive decent food and have an OK time, but really… at what cost? You decide.

Excellent Italian meal at this neighborhood gem. I’ve never experienced such friendly waitstaff. I saw our waiter address his tables by name and immediately felt transported into the golden days of South Philly. Very much enjoyed the food, especially mushroom soup and burrata salad, both of which were specials that night. Food was fresh, high quality and healthier options than you might imagine for Italian food. They were very accommodating and vegetarian friendly.

One of my favs-​I go here at least twice a month. Love Heather, Cosimo and Sam– very neighborhood friendly– food’s great, too–

I was checking out a new neighborhood in Philly (new to me) and came across BYOB Italian restaurant. We were asked if we had reservations (and we didn’t) but they were able to provide seating outside. Waitress mentioned that they do take walk-​ins but they were busy that night. The pizza was great and the food was ok. The owner provided a free glass of his home-​made wine which was decent and really nice. They are opening a Beer establishment across the street in September that will offer beer and sandwiches. It has a front patio that has great potential as an outside seating area so I’ll return to give that a try.

Love this spot… so glad it opened just a few blocks from me last year. Brick oven pizza is awesome, as were all the entrees our friends ordered. Prices are decent, considering it’s a BYO and the service has been great every time we’ve been.

Great byob. I live steps from this place (literally) and went here one night starving. Although food took a long time once it came out you knew why. It was fresh handmade great Italian food. My wife and I had our rehearsal dinner here and people rave still about how amazing and how much food they were served. Clearly this made us happy. We’ve been back several times (Sam) is the best waiter who remembers us, we once came in more casual clothes and had female waitress who looked at us like white trash because we were in t shirt shorts and 6 pack of beer. I was upset but still will go back.

Dropped in one evening and what a great surprise. The menu excellent. Had imported Burata from Italy. Truly delicious. The pizza was perfect. Great toppings, perfect tomato sauce on it and crust very good. I’ll be back!

I really enjoyed the food and and service was great, UNTILL I saw the waiter he was fired from the DPA for stealing, and also from a Auto rental Co for the same thing, it was a good thing that I had cash on me to pay my bill, seeing Sam made me realize the need for the identity protection program,

This place had a nice atmosphere. Sam was a good server and very knowledgeable, memorized all the specials. The pizza was delicious, and the food was good. Nice and cozy place will definitely return. You get two servers as well which is handy when you want to refill on water. Price is reasonable as well.

They don’t even deserve one star. All I can say is UNPROFESSIONAL. The person who’s supposed to be «in charge» (not sure if it was manager or owner with his awful fake accent) was the absolute worst. He doesn’t handle problems or questions, he pawns them off to other workers because apparently he’s «too busy» the only experience I’ve had, was enough to make me never want to go back. No customer service skills, and they do not by any means know the first thing about running a business.

I came here on a whim because The Industry was packed for Quizzo. I wish I would’ve planned, because this place was a lot fancier than I thought and my family and I were in tee shirts and jeans. Regardless, it wasn’t stuffy or uptight and the staff was super friendly.
The dinner menu is pretty limited: pastas, chicken dishes, and seafood, and everything is pretty pricy. They had several specials of the day, one of which I opted for (the branzino seasoned lightly in olive oil and other herbs and filleted tableside). It was FANTASTIC. The fish was super meaty and tender and cooked to perfection and our table and the adjacent tables watched wide-​eyed as our server expertly filleted it. He was kind enough to ask if there were bones in it, since nobody’s perfect. I only found 1 or 2, but it didn’t ruin my experience cause the fish was just that good.
My mom got a flatbread pizza, which I thought was only okay, and the other diners got the chicken parm and the shrimp and clam fra-​diavolo, which was spicy and flavorful.
Overall, I was pleased with my meal and the ambience, but the whole place smelled like the brick pizza oven, almost chemical, and it started to get to us towards the end. I would definitely come back and try a hearty pasta dish and bring a bottle of wine.

A wonderful BYOB that has some of the best Italian food I had in south Philly. We had the pizza Margherita for appetizer. It was on par with the pizza we had in Napoli. Our group shared three main courses: shrimp gnocchi wroth vodka sauce, stuffed manicottiand chicken marsala. They were all delicious, especially the gnocchi.
The service was excellent and the prices reasonable. We will certainly go back.

I feel as though I’d like to say that a lot of my reviews have been very good as of late but it really is because high quality experiences. Last night I revisited Caffe Valentino after a very long time. I had been here in the first month they opened and nothing about the meal was remarkable. However, I was in a conundrum and had to go out to dinner at 4PM on a Tuesday and it had to be a place somewhat near home. I chose this restaurant expecting the standard South Philly BYOB experience, however, I felt this was a step above.
We started with eggplant rollantini, grilled vegetable antipasto (which is the only thing I was able to get a picture of before we descended upon it), and burrata with arugula and cherry tomatoes. Every single appetizer was impressive. The eggplant was sliced so thin and more importantly wasn’t over breaded. Now I know you’re thinking, how hard could it be to grill vegetables? Well, I assure you I have had over seasoned, over cooked vegetables that are cooked in such a way to hide their lack of freshness. On the contrary, Caffe Valentino’s grilled vegetable plate was perfection. It was so good, we actually ordered a second plate to go. Lastly, the burrata was also very high quality and worked very nicely with the fresh arugula, cherry tomatoes and balsamic reduction that accompanied it.
As for the entrees, I was making an effort to cut back on my carbs and ordered the griglata mista which was grilled chicken, pork and sausage. My dish was only underwhelming because it was a bad order. It was good for what it was but I should have gone for something more interesting. Another entrée that was ordered was the chicken pizzaiolo which was also exceptional. The flavor and richness of the sauce was very balanced. I would also recommend the chicken Valentino. It was spinach, roasted peppers and Gorgonzola cheese… Need I say more? A note worth mentioning is that I actually found the side dishes that were served with the entrees were also very good which I find to be a rarity in BYOBs. Usually you find a side of burnt starch and over-​oiled green, but here even the string beans kept a nice crunch without being ruined by the chef.
We didn’t get dessert because we were stuffed but I’m thinking we will save room next time.

Visiting Philadelphia and this restaurant was suggested for good Italian food. Had dinner and truly enjoyed the experience. Very comfortable surroundings. Clean and pleasant atmosphere. Service was great all around.
We had veal, a shrimp/​scallop pasta special and three meat platter. All food was well prepared and served hot. Each entrée was very good. Sauce is also top notch (considering that I usually only like my mom’s sauce).
This experience added to my visit to Philadelphia. I recommend it to all and hope to return someday.

Went here more recently for my youngest sister’s 8^th grade graduation. We were seated downstairs this time. Food was great as expected and the dining room was actually comfortable, though, it was also a little cooler than the last time I went. I got fried calamari for an app and a salmon special for my meal which was served with asparagus. I still am noticing issues with the service, though. They can take a little longer than expected when getting things (I.e. the beer I brought in and paid for) and be rushy, still. It’s not too much of an issue, but, can be annoying.

I’ve always been a fan of this neighborhood (very close to our home) byob — my one complaint had always been that it was not really a place we would bring our kids because of the menu choices/​price of entrees… that is all different now that they are serving brick oven pizza! Awesome for the kids and reasonably priced!
My go-​to dish is the gnocchi with shrimp: GET IT — YUM! It’s nice to bring a bottle of wine and eat some good home-​cooked Italian and enjoy the service which is attentive without being overbearing. It can get a little pricey if all 4 of us go to dinner and get dessert (the cannoli: GET IT — YUM!) over $ 100 after tip which is kinda pricey for the hood, but once in awhile it’s so nice to walk to a neighborhood spot and have a lovely family dinner.

Great restaurant! The food was fresh and delicious. They had great appetizers and entrees. The service was great and the staff was very friendly.
I’m looking forward to going back for a great meal.

I have lived around the corner from Caffe Valentino for a year and a half and somehow never made it here. Maybe because it doesn’t have the buzz of alot of other city BYOB restaurants. Because of the lack of buzz and the fact that I hadn’t even heard my neighbors talking about it I guess I had low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised when my wife and I decided to stop by.
We sat outside with our dog and brought a bottle of wine. The service was attentive but not overbearing. We received a basket of bread with olive oil upon arrival. The bread was good and fresh. The olive oil was fine, but I prefer to have a seasoned dipping oil rather than straight olive oil.
For entrees, I got the eggplant lasagna my wife got the caprese salad and lobster ravioli. The caprese salad was good. The tomatoes were fresh and thick cut. The mozzarella was very good as well. Sometimes I find fresh mozzarella to be flavorless, this however was a nice mild cheese which I enjoyed. The salad also had greens and proscuitto.
The eggplant lasagna was very good, easy on the ricotta but very good. The sauce and noodles were very good. My wifes lobster ravioli was very good. It was spinach ravioli and my wife was a big fan of the dish.
Price wise the entrees were reasonable. $ 13 for the salad, $ 16 for the lasagna, and $ 22 for the lobster ravioli.
I can’t say its my favorite restaurant but I did enjoy the food and my experience and while it may not be the the sexy new byo in philly, it was a good experience and I’m sure I’ll be back.

I was at Caffe Valentino for my bachelorette party this past weekend. The food was delicious, and it was very classy. The menu is easy to understand. Definitely a reasonable price, portions are a tiny bit small but it was still tasty and satisfying. I’d like to add that the servers were very kind.
However, it really took forever. We were there at 8 PM and didn’t leave until 11 PM. The food just took so long to come out– I’m sure that’s because we were a party of about 15, but perhaps consider this before coming with a huge group if you have a time crunch.

This is a great spot for your go-​to Italian meal.
It’s exactly what I want when I’m looking for the true Italian meal we’ve all grown up with.
No bells no whistles no menu items that are a paragraph long to read with words you mumble when ordering because you’re not sure how to pronounce.
Clean, friendly, priced accordingly.