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Category: Tapas Bars [Edit]
Neighborhood: Washington Square WestAte at Valanni two years ago for Mothers day Brunch. Loved the entire experience. In particularly the decor of the restaurant, food, and the cocktails. Don't remember what I had to eat but do remember what a great time my mother my sister and I had.
Great place to take mom
6 letters that I'm not seeing praised in enough reviews for Valanni: B-R-U-N-C-H. To be fair, they were name-checked in Philly Magazine's 50 Best Brunch Spots as a good place for boozing at brunch. But the food was outstanding. I had the poached eggs, which come with lump crab meat, sauteed spinach, tomato and a horseradish cream sauce on top of herbed focaccia bread. Plus home fries. It was beyond delicious. In fact, I started to watch the servers dropping off plates to other tables, and almost every single table got an order of poached eggs. I'm not normally a plate-cleaner but I was able to tackle it all except for a few home fries.
The other options looked amazing as well, especially knowing how well they do eggs. I tried the bacon from my dining partner's "Hangover" platter and it was cooked to perfection. You don't need to be hungover to order that one (we checked) but it would probably help. Now, back to the drinks. They deserved their acclaim. My brunch-rita was essentially a mimosa with more alcohol, which has the same effect as putting bacon or cheese on a burger: it only gets better. The Brazilian Pop was light and fruity without being emasculating. They offer coffee served from a French Press, but with so many brunch cocktails, who needs coffee?* Valanni is well worth checking out on a weekend from 11AM-3PM.
* I do. I need coffee. I went shopping for a magazine rack afterward but would have rather curled up for an afternoon nap. I ended up at Cafe Loftus within a few hours. Next time, I'll see if I can balance the brunch-ritas with more caffeine.
Never in my life, until Valanni's Sunday brunch, have I been conquered by a breakfast dish. The portions here are insanely generous! Not to mention deelish - my pear and cheddar omelette was divine, served with perfectly-seasoned potatoes and caramelized onions. The poached eggs with crab looked like a winner as well, and my boy loved his gigantic BLT.
The atmosphere is great, and I loved brunching at the bar with a line of snarky gays chatting it up beside me - ahh... feels like home.
My main reason for the 3 (rather than 4) star review comes down to service -- a holier-than-thou hostess, paired with a bartender (and I use that term loosely) who served up possibly the hands-down worst Bloody Mary that my companion had ever tasted. Also, here's a tip, darlin' -- NEVER ask your customer how to make the drink they just ordered unless they invented the recipe themselves...
A word about the Brazilian Pop - the taste was great, but I kinda wish I had known that I was paying $8 for a drink served in a test tube before I had ordered it. My pomegranate martini that followed was ordinary, but clearly a bit more impressive in size.
To be fair, we've also been there in the evening and had a very personable and knowledgeable bartender, who really hooked it up for us drink-wise, and I'd love to see her again. But this other chick was just plain inexcusable.
Work on your staff, Valanni, and you'll have my repeat business for as long as you care to.
1.5 hour wait at Mercato, so came to Valanni for drinks - and, based on the other yelpers, were thinking we'd just eat here too. Idunno, but I was really put off by the vibe of this place - it feels like it might have been cool & sleek 10 years ago - but, now, it feels cold and forced. The bad techno was enough to make me want to leave somewhere in the 20 minutes it took to get our first drinks at the bar. Seriously the worst cocktails I've had in town. Only good news is that it took so long for our drinks & took us so long to suffer through them, that by the time we were done, our table at Mercato was almost ready!
I live in Denver and miss Valanni. I used to live 1 block from Valanni and went a lot, I mean a lot. I just loved when they expanded the seating to allow more people to enjoy the food, drinks, atmosphere and patrons. Always a good selection on the menu and the wine list as well. Price wise, I disagree that it is over-priced, the quality of the ingredients are high, the portions are not tiny, and it's DELICIOUS!!
Valanni is one of those places I bring people from out of town, because it's generally a great meal. Brought friends from all over there, and my family for the Mother's day Brunch last year, and everyone loves it. I live down the street so it's super convenient.
One complaint, though, and it's something i've dealt with like 4 times this summer. On weekends, i guess, they close for a few hours between the lunch/brunch service and the dinner service at 5. A number of times my friends and I have decided on Valanni, wandered over there and realized we missed brunch entirely. Other places have a food menu available all day, and still others might say "have a seat and here's a limited menu until dinner starts," and they'd say it POLITELY and with regret. No, at Valanni, Jen the redhead who hosts Kinky Quizzo is SUPER rude about it. I have felt more than annoyed and offended a bunch of times by the way she has told us there would be no food service. Everytime, we took our business to Mixto instead.
I hope the Valanni owners get to see this and realize that they're missing out on a lot of business every single weekend, and maybe teach their staff some manners...
Ok, so my wife and I went here for our first restaurant week experience and I found it to be...interesting. We arrived on time for our 7:30 reservation and were directed to have a seat at the bar until our table was ready which was odd since there were plenty of open tables. No problem though because we're easy going. The wife grabs a water and I a Corona. Five minutes later our table is ready. So the host guides us to our table and boom. Probably the best seat in the house. The two top table inside looking outside.
Not to long afterwards our server approaches with our menus never mentioning his name and no smile. Completely robotic. So he asks us if we're here for restaurant week and we reply yes. He goes over the menu and leaves. No problem. Comes back and takes our order. I order the calamari (which was horrible). When the robot asked how it was I lied and said it was delicious. The problem was it was cooked in the same oil as probably 10 other dishes and took on their flavor giving it a distinct taste that I had to chase with my water. I knew I should have tried the spicy chicken empanadas. Of course our server asked how everything was going with the same robotic expression.
Next dish I had was the 8 oz fillet. Medium well of course. Let me say this was probably the best steak I have ever eaten.(the secret is the butter on top)
Next dish I had was the deep fried oreos. I thought they were delicious but would have rather 89'ed the oreos. Our robot came over again and checked on us.
I must say even though he came over and was attentive there was something lacking like a smile as my wife put it. I felt like he wasn't happy serving us because we were not gay as Shazz M stated in her review and a few others mentioned. I would have given this a 5 star review in the staff was friendlier and made us feel more welcomed. I tipped our robot 20% still just because I'm a nice guy I guess. Keep in mind if you plan on visiting that this place maybe not hetero friendly depending on your server. I find this to be a shame because that steak was delicious but I know when and where I'm not welcomed.
I prefer Valanni over its more popular sister, Mercato. Eaten here twice and loved it both times. Excellent food with a real downtown chic vibe, aka the Opposite of Steven Starr...
You can eat outside in the summer or dine with the restaurant's lovely clientle at the bar.
When my gf desperately had to go to the bathroom after our night's first happy hour (girls can't pee in bushes as inconspicuously as guys), Valanni was the first place we saw. And whaddya know?! We made it in time for their happy hour too!
After perusing the menu which includes half off a full page of drinks and tapas, I noticed we were minutes away from 7pm - the end of Valanni's happy hour, dun dun DUN! I'm not ashamed of my thriftiness, so I asked Mr. Bartender, "Excuse me, am I allowed to order 2 drinks at a time?! It's almost 7pm!" He explained, "Sorry, no. Otherwise guys would be able to come in here and order 4 drinks at once and drink for hours on $20." Hmm.. your logic makes sense but wasn't the answer I was looking for. He continues, "But.. if you throw the first drink back you could definitely get another one stat." Aha! Now you're thinking!
So in 10 minutes I was able to have two well mixed $5 cocktails and a $5 plate of emapanadas. We exited Valanni to continue on to dinner already "happy" and it was still light outside. Yesssssss.
3.5 stars. Valanni boasts decent food and a great crowd, but it is probably my least favorite of the restaurants in the Evan Turney empire. The pulled chicken empanadas were crispy and stuffed with tender pieces of meat. I thought they were delicious. On the other hand, the short rib flatbread was a tad bland, and the jalapeno poppers were no different than ones you can buy in your grocer's freezer for an Eagles game. The meat and seafood paella for two was a beast (how two people could ever finish it is beyond me). It was flavorful, and had a few sizeable pieces of lobster and shrimp, but the scallops, calamari, chorizo, and chicken seem to get lost in the rice. The dish should highlight the seafood and meat pieces and lighten up on the rice. The service was fine, although I haven't been carded at the table of a restaurant in about ten years, so that was interesting. My wife enjoyed a few of the cocktails. I note that the pomegranate pleasure was served in perhaps the skinniest glass I have ever seen. A good drink and a good chuckle.
This was our work happy hour spot but one by one people seem to be finding new places. The happy hour prices are spot on and they have some interesting (and tasty) drink options. BUT, and this is a big but, people have been getting sick off of their drinks recently. Whether it is just the overly sweet ingredients or if the muddled fruits have a tendency to sit out for too long I'm not sure, but after having a similar experience myself I'm forced to find alternate places to go for the after work crowd.
That being said. If you do go, the caparinha's are really good as is the royal mojito (muddled strawberry and champagne mixed into a normal mojito) and the mac and cheese is great. Beware though and don't bring a group - there really isn't a lot of room to saddle up to the bar.
Half of my closest friends are gay men. Don't get me confused though, I'm no "fag-hag;" I'm not that high maintenance and I'm also not very catty. Anyway, I always find we're flocking to Valanni. I love the diversity. When you look around the bar, you'll find gay men, lesbians, business professionals, cougars, UArts students - it's a true slice of Philadelphia life (minus the Mummers).
The martinis are fruity and creative and they even feature a list of mojitos and house sangrias. I'm a fan of the X-Boyfriend cocktail.
It's a lively scene at the bar and one of the only places in Philly that successfully caters to all walks of life. Oh and Kinky Jen hosts Kinky Quizzo on Tuesday nights. Winners take home a pot of erotic goods! Can't beat that. (ew)
Third review for today - maybe I'm just in a good mood but I'm only reviewing my awesome finds recently. That being said, awesome place to eat!
Valanni, although pricey, was well worth our trip. I'm huge into pairing good beers with good meals. Our server nailed it with my appetizer and entreé. I opted for the potato and bacon soup (smoked bacon - amazing) and it was paired with a nut brown type of beer, I forget the name. Then for the entreé, I had a seafood payaya that was paired with an Ephemere Unibroue (white ale with slight green apple aftertaste, but not cidery). Before I knew it, I was scrapping the bottom of the dish with a shovel trying to get that last bit before I had to surrender the plate - I flat out ate the glass the beer was served in.
Swanky decor and nice but efficient service. This restaurant will do well - unless it's been around for a while and I've just stumbled acrossed it.
Turns out that Happy Hour at Valanni is a jam, huh?
The girl and I walked in around 6 and went up to the extremely crowded bar, where we discovered the great specials--$5 drinks and half-price appetizers. Since I was with a girl at the time, I felt secure enough in my masculinity to order a mango mojito at this bargain price. It was pretty awesome, served with rock candy and mango juice so fresh I could feel a hint of the texture from the pulp. The girl ordered a sangarita, which also tasted pretty good. I would definitely come back here for cocktails on some future Happy Hour.
As for the appetizers, we didn't try any. However, I was standing next to where the kitchen was dropping them off for bar patrons and I saw an endless stream of the friend calamari, which looked excellent. I will be needing to try that. I glanced at the rest of the menu and it all seems very promising.
I really wanted to hate Valanni. From the outside, it seems like the kind of place where Dude With Tight Buttondowns and Girls Who Wear Funky Hats hang out, having conversations which, even when they talk about other people, are really about themselves. Basically, I expected it to be a narcissistic douchebag black hole. But it wasn't! Sure, my character types made an appearance, but it wasn't exclusively them making up the crowd. Overall, good mix of people and great Happy Hour specials.
A 1.5 hour wait for Mercato and a 45 minute wait for Mixto led us to Valanni. I'm ashamed to admit that before tonight's happenstance, I'd never heard of Valanni - my bad.
The Drinks: The coconut mojito and X-boyfriend cocktail were both equally fun and delicious. I think the drink menu is a little like the clientele: trendy and a little quirky but always tastey!
The Food: Giddy from finally finding a restaurant without any sizable wait, we decided to be adventurous and ordered the entire medi-latin tapas menu (a bargain at $75 total). We had the serrano ham croquettes (delicious!), jalapeno poppers (spicy!), steamed baby clams, salmon & goat cheese agnolotti (a bit too much salmon for our taste), grilled beef kabobs (the meat was tender and delicious with a nice smoky/peppery taste), spicy pulled chicken empanadas (some of the best empanadas our group has had in philly), crispy chickpeas & chorizo (interesting combination - also comes with pine nuts....absolutely lip-smacking), crispy shiitake polenta (favorite dish with roasted tomatoes, feta, pine nuts and an amazing polenta), pita bread with different dips, and finally fried calamari. Honestly, i don't know why anyone orders the calamari when there's so much else to try! For dessert we split an order of the oreo beignets.
My only complaint is that too much of the food was deep-fried. Of course, this is probably more a result of ordering only tapas and no main courses but the different dishes started to blend together as many had aioli sauce or a breaded deep-fried coating.
The Math: A group of 4 ordered a few drinks and split the medi-latin tapas menu for less than $35 a person (not including tip)....
Thanks Mercato/Mixto for giving us this opportunity to discover another great restaurant!
WOOT. Happy hour. Awesome food, awesome experience, awesome company. But the drinks left me with some more to desire. The appetizers that we shared, empanadas (oh, succulent, succulent chicken meat) and calamari (oh, chewy, crispy goodness) were very good. My friend ordered a burger, which was good, but I'm not a fan of blue cheese. (I consumed a large part of the accompanying fries, though. Tee hee.)
I ordered the Brazilian pop, which was small and tasted like Robitussin. $10 for alcoholic medicine. MAJOR BUMMER. For my dying wallet. However, my friend's Sangarita was amazing--it tastes exactly as it sounds and, not to mention, strong. ;D The watermelon sangria was disappointing; the alcohol was wallowing in the water of the watermelon. Bleh. Ordered some Blue Moon (i heart beer, especially good beer, like BM), which made up for all the other drinks, left me tipsy and content.
As for ambiance, we had outdoor seating, which made for some nice tanning. But, lo and behold (!), on my way to the potty, it was beautifully decorated inside. Definitely sitting inside next time!
The Happy Hour special has been my salvation this week - I had stumbled upon this place a few months ago, but had dinner reservations planned for Vetri so the boy and I just grabbed drinks at Valanni and the made a mental note to go back later.
So, later was this week. Met a friend for Happy Hour, which might be the deal of the city. 5-7, lager is $3 and all other drinks are $5, and then there's a whole slew of apps for 1/2 price.
And besides everything being delicious (we had the four spreads and pitas, and the lamb meatballs that have a fancier name that I don't remember), the vibe at the bar is awesome, and the lights are dim and the decor is beautiful.
My kind of place for traveling and dining!
Decor was cool and suave, reminded me of one of the swanky Manhattan restaurants, with menus presented on a metal slab with a single piece a paper nestled between black ropes. This gorgeous Italian Business man treated me and another woman to dinner here, and he ordered food and drinks for us until we begged him to stop. We dropped in on a Wednesday night, had no trouble being seated, and enjoyed!
WATERMELON SALAD $9
arugula, sunflower seeds, warm caramelized shallot goat cheese, extra virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar
GRILLED 8oz FILET 29
caramelized cipollini onions, blue cheese-chive-fleur de sel butter
asparagus, red wine reduction
MEDI-LATIN PLATE 25
hummus and pita, feta and olives, beef kabobs, empanadas, tuna-caper escabeche on toasted crostini, eggplant gratin, pan seared jumbo lump crab cakes with shallot aioli
GRILLED BEEF KABOBS 7
chocolate-peanut mole, balsamic glaze
SHRIMP RAVIOLLI - the chef's special of the night - creme sauce, perfectly tender shrimp, fresh basil, and heirloom tomatoes. Amazing!
WATERMELON SANGRIA - OH MY OH MY!!!! We had at least 3 or 4 glasses each and it was delicious and refreshing.
Our waiter was attentive, the restaurant had open windows looking out onto the street, and this was a little slice of heaven. Plus, excelling company and conversation.
This restaurant is the type of place that makes business travel worth it!!!
Valanni, you little devil! When did you go getting all chic to die?! I mean, I knew you had a facelift since the last time I dined with you but I didn't know you had a full body restoration. You look fabulous!
While we only stopped in for a drink after dinner, I was impressed. The decor is stylish, the music was great and my mojito was delish. Best of all, it had a rock candy garnish!!!! I tend to get crazy excited over the little pleasures in life and this was no exception. My girlfriends had sangria and said it was excellent. Can't wait to come back and try the eats as well!
Came here once during Restaurant Week. I thought the food and service were decent. One downside was that the space is very tight and felt very cramped. We had to move our table so that the party next to us could get into their table. The menu seems to have changed quite a bit since I went there back in February 2008 but here are some of my comments:
Red Mussels - good size portion, red sauce was very good and had a nice garlicky flavor.
The risotto that came with my salmon dish was much too cheesy tasting.
Porcini Scallops - my wife seemed to enjoy this dish and I preferred it to my salmon.
Carmelized Rum Bananas - good, a little too sweet for me, also a little small on the portion size
I'd give it 3 1/2 stars if I could but I'd put it a level below most of the places that I've given 4's.
I went here for last year's Beer Dinner - 5 beers + 5 beers for $55. While not restaurant-week-cheap, I would definitely recommend this dinner event to anyone with a little money to spare, a hungry hungry belly, and a taste for beer. All the food we had was amazing - particularly the braised short ribs. The beers were paired nicely with the food, and that's saying something because I'm not one to really notice or care about that kind of thing. If there was a floating cartoon bubble over my head over a night out, it might say this: "This is my beer. This is my food. Drink, eat, drink, eat, drink, drink, drink."
Unlike a previous reviewer's comment, our table didn't have a problem with service that night, and we were all straight women.
All in all, I would definitely go to this place again sometime. They seem to hold a few special dinner events throughout the year.
We dropped in after a concert Wednesday night and were promptly seated in the sleek dining room; we showed up around 8:45 wanting to sit outside but they weren't seating any more...bummer.
Menus, mounted on a sheet of metal, were broken down into entree, cheese & charcuterie, and Mediterranean style tapas.
We started with the standard measure...calamari. It was well cooked and crispy, sprinkled with a few cashews chips. Not great, not bad. One great touch...a bit of red pepper mixed into the batter gave the squid some heat.
The pulled chicken empanadas were crispy and flaky, good dough. Chicken and manchego filling was savory and smooth. One pet peeve...the empanadas were served with the same aioli as the calamari...not very original.
Second round we had the Albondigas, lamb meatballs served in a saffron-almond cream sauce. Not as good as Amada's (the best I've ever had), a little too well done and not rare enough in the center, but if I'd never tried Amada's version of albondigas, I'd be very happy.
The chocolate-mole beef skewers were spicy and aromatic, tender enough.
The wine selection was across the board; we tried an Italian chardonnay (yeah, not a usual grape) and another grape I've only recently heard of, Monastrell...a rich red, reminds me of a tamer, more complex Malbec.
Good beer selection too...I bellied up to the bar after dinner for a glass of the Sly Fox Saison.
I had to give it three stars though because I felt like the food was overpriced for the level of execution & creativity. Plus, I'm trying to re-calibrate my ratings scale...3 star is the new 4 star and so on...imagine an extra half-a-star on this one for ***1/2.
First, by way of disclosure, let me say that I am a Valanni regular.
It's hands down the most consistently strong kitchen in the city for the price and it's a fun place on top of that. I have sent dozens of friends and business associates here and I have never heard anything but RAVES from them.
I recently took two very picky associates for dinner there after we had bad experiences at both Parc and Continental Mid-Town. We were treated wonderfully, and had superbly done appetizers before dinner. I had an excellent grilled yellowfin with basmati rice, my female companion had an outstanding seafood paella and my very demanding male companion had a maple glazed duck he declared 'the best ever.'
That's pretty typical.
The bar is a good time, but I have to confess that i preferred the smaller, more intimate feeling before the expansion. The dizzying staff changes are also a bit discomfiting, but the service is always excellent.
If you're in the Gayborhood, stop in and tell them Chris sent you, you can't do much better!
We headed here by recommendation of the hotel concierge at Loews, and he was spot on! This place is beautiful and great for parties of 6 (like us) or an intimate date for two. While another reviewer states that it's a great neighborhood restaurant, I definitely wouldn't be stopping by weekly for din-din, as the prices are a little high for average fare - this is definitely a special occaison spot.
The tapas and entrees were all extremely creative, however the one thing I keep thinking about, and what everyone in our party of 6 raved about, was the white sangria - the addition of a stick of cinnamon was so delicious and aromatic, that it brought out a festive flair to the meal, which is a pretty good indication of the presentation of how the rest of the menu was prepared.
The menu mixed both tapas and entrees, so depending on how hungry you are or what you're in the mood for, you're going to find something you like!
I"ll definitely be back to Valanni on my next trip to Philly!
If you have not been to Kinky Quizzo at Valanni, change your Tuesday night plans! I went last with my friends and we formed a team, "The Try-Sexuals". We had a blast! The questions are not what you thnk. It's not all "Which porn start did what to who when?" There were a lot of tough questions about abortion, court cases and laws. It was interesting. We took third place and took home a prize of various toys and videos. It was so much fun! I'm a fan of Valanni!
Valanni is a great neighborhood restaurant. The renovations are HOT, HOT, HOT...you could totally uproot it and plop it in SoHo and you'd never know it was a Philly restaurant. We need places like Valanni in Philadelphia. The food is consistently awesome, the servers are friendly, the bartenders know you by name and know what your drink is. Valanni has a totally different vibe than Rittenhouse or Old City, which is exactly what the gayborhood needs. It's like our not-gay-bar gay-bar, if you get my drift. Anyway, in the evening, the atmosphere is totally chill and don't be too off-put if the people next to you strike up a conversation with you. And if they don't, you strike it up first. Valanni is one of the best places in Philly to meet new people and have some awesome, SEXY food!!!
For starters, my sister called the restaurant after we got back from her graduation on Sunday to ask last-minute if they could accommodate our large party of 8 (three sisters, two boyfriends, mom, dad and grandma). Fortunately, they didn't hesitate to take us, even though it was rather late.
The Excellent: the food! Oh my god, the food! Everything that I had was perfectly seasoned. Our table had the three spreads with pita, the grilled octopus (not rubbery, perfectly tender and seasoned), I shared a cheese plate with someone (REALLY good selections, good portions, accoutrements were AWESOME, especially the truffle honey and red onion marmalade), and the seared foie gras and scallop. All were FANTASTIC. My main course was the Pasta special: fettuccine with spinach, shittake mushrooms, grilled shrimp in a truffle sauce that was slightly creamy. So good! My sister and her boyfriend got the paella for two, and others' got either a mix of tapas and one person got the fish entree. Everything came out at the same time, and at the right temp. Desserts were sorbets (eh... nothing special, just sorbets), the quad of Creme Brulees, and the Oreo Beignets. In order of greatness to mediocrity: creme brulees were good. I say good and not great because the Vanilla Mint could have had more mint flavor, and most were a little undercooked (even for me, a pastry chef. And I hate overdone CBs, but if there is TOO much liquid center, it gets a little gross). The sorbets were standard, but good. There isn't really a whole lot you can do with sorbet. I was really disappointed about the beignets. They were overly greasy, and not really flavorful. They had a smoky aftertaste which hints that the oil used to fry them was old. Granted we dined at the end of the night, but that was a really shoddy job. Wine selection was great. I had a Vallani-Vixen, one of their "Frou-frou" drinks. It was incredible. All in all, good marks on food: flavor, temperature, consistency,
The only bad: the service. Granted, as a pastry cook who has worked for 4 years in good restaurants, I understand the business. The restaurant anticipated about 40-50 people on a rainy Sunday night. That sounds pretty standard. The manager told me they got nearly 140. That's a HUGE gap, but then again, they could not have really anticipated that. So service was slow. Our waitress definitely needed to be more present, but she definitely kept our wine glasses full, or drinks served as needed, and water poured consistently.
Overall, this is definitely a dining experience to have. I would recommend reservations in advance, try a smaller group, and maybe go earlier in the evening on a slow day (try 530 on a Monday or Tuesday) to have the best experience possible (but that advice goes for all restaurants, really)
lots of food options here, somewhat high end but not too much so where one can't wander in for a cocktail or beer...just up the street from Tria so you could hit both like we did last night. croquettes and empanadas were decent. You could grab a table or belly up to the bar, 6 people at most.
The food and the atmosphere are worthy of four stars but the service @ brunch is really lacking. My egg white omelet w/ fontina cheese, spinach, and crabmeat was unbelievably delicious. Unfortunately the food runner brought my friend's meal out incorrectly and we had to wait for our waitress to check in on us 5m later to get this corrected. Another doozie on the part of Valanni is their apparent view of substitutions they either won't do them, or they charge you for them. My friend is allergic to shellfish and they wouldn't take the shrimp out of her dish so she had to order something entirely different, even though her palate was set on the poached egg dish. As for the upcharges, egg whites have a $2 upcharge and toast was another $2. C'mon on now, toast should come with an omelet....
While the food is fabulous, table service is inconsistent. Sometimes the service is outstanding, and other times I thought I was leper. I only sat at the bar once, and while the bartenders were friendly, they were a bit chatty with their coworkers.
Highlights of the menu include the Lobster and Crab Mac and Cheese and the Vegetarian Paella. The Mac and Cheese had enormous chunks of lobster meat covered in mascarpone and fontina cheese....yum. The Paella was so fresh and perfectly cooked. The vegetables actually tasted like vegetables; they weren't overcooked and soggy. There was crunch to the asparagus!
Overall, a delicious choice. I will continue to frequent to see what the chef has to offer.
This is a good place to drop by for a watermelon sangria after work, as they have a decent happy hour. Does Center City Sips on Weds. in summer. I had tappas there recently which were good. I haven't eaten dinner there in two years, so I can't say how it is now, but when I ate there two years ago it was great, probably 4 stars. Seasonal sangria choices which really make my day. I actually liked the place better before they apparently knocked down a wall and doubled the size. I came back this year and realized that the space was completely different. Its a has a lighter, more modern flair now, but to me it feels less like the neighborhood bistro it used to be.
Such a great restaurant, would highly recommend, coming from New York it is still one of the best meals I have had in a very long time. Most imaginative menu I have ever seen - love the "kobe hot dog" - great tapas for groups, and the interior is very cool, including outside seating (although it doesn't look like much from the outside). A bit pricey, but well worth it for the best meal in Philly...
too bad the chef is great, but the waiters hate women or straight people. If you're not gay you won't get service.
If you like good Belgium beer and great Entree's this is the place to go in Philly. We ate at this restaurant a few weeks ago and had yet another wonderful experience. We started out with the baked brie which was absolutely wonderful and then for an entree we both ordered the walnut crusted duck breast. The chef recommends this dish to be prepared medium rare. The duck breast was very flavorful and was very juicy. This has got to be one of our favorite dishes in the city. The staff is friendly and usually on top of their game.
Valanni is kind of place that you'll go, enjoy the decor and the food they have. I love the music that plays here. They strange and very undeniable melody that makes me ending up asking the server what the music playing but he didn't know (why oh why). But well, i love this place cuz it's not really a totally gay place in the gayberhood.
The best tapas restaurant I've ever been!!! Still think about the Chorizo and Chickpeas and the Vegetarian Antipasti. Also loved the overall ambiance. Great date place.
Went here for a few happy hours with the work crew. My review might be biased since one of the girls in our group knows the manager and bartenders. So we had excellent service. We didn't even have to ask for drinks...they were offered (not for free, FYI), special concoctions were mixed up, recommendations were given. And it didn't seem like anyone else in the bar was having bad service, either. The manager was super nice, too.
Over the trips we've made there, we had the lobster & crab mac and cheese, trio of spreads, medi-latin plate, cheese tasting plate, cured meat tasting plate and the calamari. The lobster & crab mac and cheese is so good...it's a really big dish for an appetizer, and they load it up with lobster and crab.
The medi-latin plate is another big appetizer...there was five of us, and we barely finished it. It has hummus, beef kabobs, pork ribs, feta with olives, empanadas and tuna. The standouts were the beef kabobs and the empanadas. The empanadas were gone first...everyone was fighting for them.
And both the tasting plates were bad ass. Especially the cheese. All the food here is good, but these tasting plates were something special. I really recommend them for groups looking to snack during happy hour.
A couple of the times, they had liquor promotions or contests of some sort. It seemed like the entire bar immediately became friends, where we'd help each other out with answers, take the free shots together, get group photos, etc. We seriously had so much fun whenever we went there.
It's not like the Irish Pub or anything...it's a totally different vibe. Kinda fancy, and I'm not sure that I would have ever ventured there without my co-worker, but I'm glad I went. I would give them 5 stars, but I spent so much (we stayed past happy hour), that I have a hard time justifying the cost. Yeah, the food was good and the atmosphere was fun, but I walked away feeling like I almost, but not quite, got my money's worth.
Well to start, my fiancee and I decided to come to this restaurant because of the paella (she loves paella). We were unsure of the details, such as type of crowd and popularity, so we made a reservation. The restaurant wasn't hard to find and the crowd ranged from business casual to real casual (the guy next to us wore holed jeans, a regular T-shirt and a hat). When we entered, the maitre d' seated us in the back, near the entrance of the kitchen and the restroom area. Not exactly prime location, especially with a reservation but "what the heck?" right? There were other tables and patrons next to ours so it wasn't a huge issue. After our order was placed, it took over half an hour for even our tapas to show, with nothing to satiate us in between like bread or something. Just wine. Not to say the least, we did get annoyed at the poor service. However, the night was still young and without us even saying a word regarding the lack of service, redemption took place. Our waiter came over and profusely apologized to us about the slow service and offered to provide additional glasses of wine for both of us on the house. We were happy to say the least. So we dined on the ribs and abondigas. The ribs were falling off the bone but still a little dry, though there was no lack in flavor. The abondigas were a different taste. The sauce had a nice kick and definitely surprised my taste buds. The meat itself was a little tougher in the center than I'm use to but good all the same. The paella came out next. They also brought out a garlic butter which we could incorporate into the paella and provided an extra smooth taste. There was seafood aplenty and included lobster, which I don't see often in other paellas I have had. The paella itself was very good, with fluffy rice. The topper for the night was the fried oreos, complementary of the waiter, and again showing to us that this restaurant really knows the meaning of service and knows how to treat their patrons. I loved this place and next time in Philadelphia will find it again.
even though the food here is tasty, i'm a fan of valanni purely for the drinks. the cocktails are creative, delicious, and strong. also, they get brownie points since last time i was there the bartender didn't have the ingredients handy to make my drink, i would have ordered something else but he said no problem, he just had to run downstairs and get some things. it took a little bit, but when he came back and made me my outrageously yummy drink he wouldn't even let me pay for it! how nice was that?
Not a big fan of this place at all. Bartenders who would rather talk to their buds then deal with paying customers. There are so many better places in the city then this place. Miss it.
Neighborhood: Olde City
Category: Mediterranean
Neighborhood: Olde City
Category: American (New)
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
Category: Spanish
Neighborhood: Avenue of the Arts South
Category: Italian
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
Category: Tapas Bars
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