Valentinos, Loughborough

UPDATE: THIS PLACE HAS NOW SHUT DOWN 

My first restaurant review. Chosen restaurant was Valentino’s on Nottingham Road in Loughborough.

Our table was booked for 8pm and we arrived to see just 1 other person there and he left shortly after we arrived. The restaurant itself is quite small with about 20 seats in total but beautifully decorated to a high standard. Music was playing which also helped create an ambiance despite us being the only table in (for most of the night).

Valentino’s is an Italian/Mediterranean restaurant with heavy Greek influences.

Before you sit there judging, I will openly admit that we had 3 starters between 2 of us. As my first review I wanted to make sure we get a good overview! So, garlic doughballs, meat balls in tomato sauce and grilled halloumi arrived quickly to the table. All homemade and very reasonably priced at between £3.50 – £4.00.

Grilled Halloumi – photographed on the sly!

For my main I had Chicken Souvlaki which was grilled chicken kebabs served with greek salad, home made chips and a twist on tzaziki. Dave had their ‘Roman meat feast’ which consisted of the Chicken Souvlaki, Marinated Lamb Cutlets and a Lamb kebab, also served with chips and a side salad. The lamb kebab was a little on the chewy side but the cutlets and chicken were beautifully marinaded and very tasty (obviously I helped myself to some of Daves!).

Chicken Souvlaki

Roman Meat Feast.

The Lamb Cutlets were the nights winners..

For pudding Dave had a vanilla cheesecake, again homemade and very tasty –  it was also a massive portion which suited Mr fatty fine (only joking gorgeous!)….

As previously indicated, the restaurant was very quiet tonight but the service was quite slow. There was a wait to pay whilst they sorted the other table out but the bill was very reasonable at just over £42 for 3 starters, 2 beers, a bottle of house wine, 2 mains and 1 pudding. We used a Gourmet Society card which gave us a 25% discount so the bill should have been around £56.

The one thing that let the whole evening down was the Glacier Fox mints left on the bill plate. I popped mine straight into my mouth and then watched Dave in slow motion open his wrapper to reveal 2 ants stuck to the mint. 2 hours later, I’m still wondering if I ate one.. .or two… well I guess its all protein!

Overall here are my scores:

Would we return? Probably not, although I feel quite sad about that. I wanted it to be great – this is a small local business which has the potential to be amazing but small attention to detail points let it down.