Review Valentines Mt Eden - Auckland Central

Three of us and we all enjoyed ourselves. Service Nice ambience. The food was varied and well prepared from soup to main to dessert. For 30+dollor with oyster it was excellent value form now .Highly recommended. Will come back

We haven't been here in a few years, but were pleasantly surprised. Food was better then we expected, everything clean and staff lovely. Just need to top up hot food more regularly. Otherwise, we will return. Thank you

Six of us went today, 28/11/14 and we all enjoyed ourselves. Clean and the service was polite. Nice ambience. The food was varied and well prepared from soup to main to dessert. For $14.95 it was excellent value. Highly recommended.

Much better quality of food to my previous visit. Pork a wee bit dry, but the ham was really nice. Disappointing no oysters available, but top marks for the courteous staff over that, and in general.

The food is fresh and well prepared, although not very varied. It doesn't have any hot meals. The desserts are also nice but again, not super varied. All in all, a nice family place for buffet food.

went tonight for a surprise Birthday tea. I cant understand why this restaurant has had a few bad reports because we found everything lovely, nicely presented, with very attentive professional staff. My only regret is that I didnt have room to try all the yummy things.

been to valentines mt eden because valentines Henderson was closing down, i haven been here before. BUT!!!now i think this is the better one,everything lovely ,nice service. for $26.95 dinner it was excellent value for salad hot food and dessert . recommended!!!!

been to valentines mt eden because valentines Henderson was closing down, i haven been here before. BUT!!!now i think this is the better one,everything lovely ,nice service. for $26.95 dinner it was excellent value for salad hot food and dessert . recommended!!!!

Reasonable price for a buffet with oyster. Come here for my buddy’s birthday, still get free though it was one day difference with the real brith date. Nice!

This place is just right for family's to relax with there kids and enjoy time together，been to friends wedding party is great price and nice service to stay. Quite like the fresh cook prawn and fish.Four star form my opinion.

This place was so good back in the day (over 10 years ago), food has gone to 💩, staff are rude and look like they would rather be some place else, hot food is cold, fish bites taste horrid, some of the food looked old and dried up. Only gave 2 stars for the dessert which was not too bad and the prawns which were fine. Will never go back again. AVOID<br/>

Over priced and under staffed. I went for a family members birthday and was extremely disappointed with the quality of food and service. I won’t be back.

I have been there 3 times this year, for my birthday , a 1st birthday and for a 80th birthday<br/><br/>On all three occasions we had a great experience, the food was great, lots of salad selections, lots of oysters/fresh! good variety of hot selections, great desert's, great tea/coffee/cheese/crackers selection, awesome variety of Lollies available for the kids.<br/><br/>Friendly staff, great service, child friendly, parking free, ample time allocated for your meal.<br/><br/>Highly recommended, well worth for your money, right price, not expensive.

Hi I’m wanting to know after reading more bad reviews than good has this place upgraded to better service? I’ve booked this place for next week for our family lunch and don’t want to be disappointed.

Had been to this Valentines quite a few times, the quality of food has been consistently good. Seafood is fresh and cooked to order. Food is refilled in time. I love the variety of desserts and fruits in particular, as well as my favourite Mocca！ Definitely recommend it to anyone.

Staffs are really nice. Food is with plenty of variety considering the good price. Will definitely come back again with friends.  <br/>I love the dessert range there and now they provide ice cream in cone!

Three of us and we all enjoyed ourselves. Service Nice ambience. The food was varied and well prepared from soup to main to dessert. For 30+dollor with oyster it was excellent value form now .Highly recommended. Will come back.<br/>

We enjoyed the meal. This was a good eating place ，staff was nice and helpful .rushing dinner will come back if invited or a birthday party.

Ok. Had I wanted to eat in a death stained , dried food buffet with frozen oysters in shell, I would have visited hell- it would have been cheaper. <br/><br/>Despite my attempt to remain positive in a restaurant that smells like Granny Smiths backside, I did genuinely enjoy my raspberry and lemonade. <br/><br/>My generous score goes out to the 3 staff who served, cooked and cleaned simultaneously- your work load made me realise why the food looked like vomit and tasted even worse. <br/><br/>Word of the wise- stay away from this place. You’ll thank me later. <br/>

Myself and husband visited on 19th September 2017 and I was absolutely stunned at the place. It is by far the best valentines I have visited in Auckland to date!! Because of this amazing experience we returned on 3 November 2017 to feast as a reception for our wedding with our close family members! They too enjoyed the experience! We again returned before we flew out of NZ on 12 November 2017 and again, it was an amazing experience, although our last visit it was quite busy, I believe this is because it was the weekend which is to be expected! Each visit was pleasurable, the atmosphere was amazing, the cleanliness was great and the food selections were average but delicious and filling. I ready did enjoy each visit and I look forward to returning when I return home. THE BEST VALENTINES IN AUCKLAND HANDS DOWN!!!

Been there for the night buffet. There is not much variety of food choices. All were greasy and buried in oil. Not much flavor as too much oil practically kills both flavours and appetite. Highly disappointing.

Never going there again, wouldn't even recommend to friends or family. Not much variety, food options were served on cracked plastic plates, just felt like we were dinning in at a chinese fish & chip takeaways.

This place is a sensational luxurious place to have a wonderful meal. When You arrive at Valentines you do not have to wait you just go to the front of house and then you enter into the one of a kind Valentines.<br/><br/>I love their food and their buffet because they have a variety of different delicious scrumptious types of food at Valentines. Their dining area is a 5\5 star rating. Everything is in place and there are lots of amazing inspiring photos to come and look at. At the front desk there are fresh mints for you to secretly eat.<br/><br/>There are lots of types of desserts to choose from like hot yogurt, Mcdonalds vanilla ice cream, chocolate fountain and much much more.The type of desserts they have are baked desserts cold desserts and fresh fruit and trust me there are lots of them.<br/><br/>By Kathrine, Laylah, Vuka

Never again I will try another Valentines in my life! Holly shit! What can I say? We're can I start? lol. If you look at the photos you will all be very disappointed........<br/>The elevator is very run down almost feels like it's going to break. The light is so dim u can't see what your eating! The furniture is old, the carpet is awful. Oh my gosh! There is a broken window! And the worst the food...... food sitting in juice/water does not look appetising the food looking dry, old and tasteless the portions were very little only a few oysters out at a time, very little cream in the brandy snaps and food not topped up regularly. What an embarrassment. Don't waste your money and time here! Go book somewhere else. This management at this place needs a change. Felt like I was eating at a place featured on Hell's Kitchen!

Very run down. 2 adults and 5 children - 1 adult and 1 child celebrating a birthday each. No refillable glasses available. Jugs of lemonade/coke were $10 for a $2 bottle. Service not very attentive. The best food was not replenished (raw fish was an example) and one of the desserts (a creme brulee type thing) was sour and I assume 'off' when compared to another that tasted as I expected. Careless and stand offish staff. Not welcoming at all.

I have sampled only the finest foods in all of Auckland and this has got to be the finest cuisine my tongue has ever laid taste buds upon. If Jesus was to return and he were to ask me for a recommendation of where to have his Last Supper 2.0 with his pals i would not waste the smallest measurable increment of time to strongly suggest he go to Valentine's Mt Eden. <br/>DO NOT MISS OUT ON THIS INTERNATIONAL FOOD BANQUET.

I went to this Valentines sat nite  and we found the food is great. Salads and Seafood are good except you have to wait for the oyster. Hot food are good selection and desert are nice.  Overall it is value to dine.

This place was absolutely disappointing. The service was okay, but the food was disgusting.<br/><br/>For instance, the first batch of custard was burnt, when I complained they agreed it was burnt, and the chef told me it was prepared the night before, and then frozen, so it wasn't even fresh. They proceed to make a fresh batch which was tasteless and lumpy, full of raw powder. The ceaser salad was just lettuces, tomato and little dressing, the broccoli and bacon salad had no bacon, the creamy egg potato salad had very little egg. Very disappointing, even the bread rolls were getting stale.

right from walking in i wished we turned around and walked out,  the restaurant looked rundown,,  the buffet was a big disappointment,  basically the food was tasteless and tasted old.. the hot sliced meat was reheated meat, my biggest complaint is i got food poisoning,  3 of the 5 people in my party got sick. i will never go there again

The place seems a little run down. Very dim, like the life has been sucked out of the place. It also sort of seemed like there was a party the night before and someone decided to just shove all the decorations by the bar, before opening up again.<br/><br/>Very disappointing buffet. Food was lukewarm and everything was very tasteless or seemed stale.<br/><br/>It's a very large dining space, pity the food isn't as good.

been there for a family dinner 2adult and a child ，my son love the place with fresh hot chips and fish.we do really love the salads and the fish name baked creamy fish. staff were very halpful and friendly.anyway will come back again <br/>

Wish I cud rate it a 0 poor food hygiene my family were very sick after eating dinner here my daughter bit into a ginger snap and th cream was off. Th food tasted like yesterdays left overs that have been microwaved. The customer service was appauling they didn't like th fact we complained so th waitress was very rude and accused us of not paying the right price yelling at us right to th carpark. Not good at all won't be going to valentines again!!

I have been to the Valentines buffet couple of times now. Each time has been great! My most recent visit was three weeks ago when I took my daughter for a lunch for her birthday. She was very excited and loves rich choice of food very much. The place is by far a above average (good) buffet restaurant. very easy location and affordable for a variety of choice. I mean come on it's only around $30 for a fine dinner.

Overall, great service, nice food with fear price. Go there regularly with mates. I enjoy the desserts very much. The price we paid for the buffet is worth while. And sometimes they offer special deal, even better😃

Had dinner with my colledgue last Friday. overall it was great, especially the seafood and the service quality. quite a lot choice for reasonable price. 🙃

Come Valentines every year with my sons birthday. Still love these place. very good service. I am so surprise they make lamb shank, good job guys. I will come back next year.

my partner and I came at 6pm when it opens - dinner food was not ready for another 20minutes when the waitress said it would take 2minutes - she should have just told us to come back in 20minutes so we ate some dessert first which was pretty gross packaged food that seemed like it had been sitting there for days - finally the dinner side was ready - the pork belly was way over cooked and so was the lasagna and the beef was over cooked on the outside and raw on the inside - everything was saturated in oil and the cheese on the cheese platter was hard so i didn't have any like I wanted because everything else was so low quality and cooked so badly. I left with an empty stomach and $32 out of pocket no wonder the place was empty with only one front of house staff on. She said thank you when we left but i couldn't bring myself to say it back.

Family of 10 went Valentines Dominion Road last Sunday. Didn't expect fine food here. However family get together, kids had fun, we enjoyed dinner. Good family buffet restaurant. <br/>Service: 3.5/5<br/><br/>Wait time: 4/5<br/><br/>Environment: 3/5<br/><br/>Food Quality: 3/5<br/><br/>Food Quantity: 5/5<br/><br/>Price:4/5<br/><br/>Overall: 22.5/30

The food wasn't that great.  The prawns were not fresh.  They only put 8 oysters in the bowl each time.  You have to tell them to fill up every time and they don't seem very happy on that request.  Makes you feel they don't want  you to have too much oysters.  Oysters are not fresh and very lousy.  Pumpkin soup was horrible.  Some dishes were ok but nothing special.  Dessert ok.  The rest of the food are lousy.  Staff are unfriendly and hardly anyone there.  I wonder with that turn out, how long before they close shop. For a price of $32.90, its not worth it.  That would be the last time I would go to this restaurant.  Quality is none existence and the attitude towards the business is really bad.  I won't even waste my time scoring them.  Worst of all.

been to valentines mt eden for my friends birthday.  As always,  is a good deal for a birthday person lol.the seafood and  BBQ was the highlight of the menu also salad is very fresh and considering that the restaurant was relatively busy, the waiting time for a BBQ wasn't so bad. The chocolate mousse  is also a nice addition.<br/>And on to the lowlights of the night. Foodwise a lot of the dishes really empty and take time to refill  - some  seafood didn't seem to be fresh (some of the mussels had a bit of a funny smell)  . staff is friendly and helpful but should wear same uniform at lease. <br/><br/>Service: 3/5<br/>Environment: 3/5<br/>Food Quality: 3/5<br/>Food Quantity: 4/5<br/>Price range: $30+ pp (dinner)

The price is reasonable as you have a variety of food to choose. The seafood chowder is nice and the chocolate log is quite tasty. The menu for Christmas is nice and hopefully the normal menu can be improved.

I have been this place many time, the service is also good. The desserts are so beautiful. The only problem is when I come after 8 clock, the food are nearly empty. I understand it is very hard to add more food when the restaurant is close soon. In the end, I am so happy the front manager gave me some discount for there are not too much food. also suggest me come earlier next time. Very nice service.

I thought this place would be okay however the selection of food is not that great. Everything is oily and fatty apart for the seafod and salad bar. The raw fish with coconut is nice but that's about it. The desserts selection is quite nice however only a couple items that are okay. The rests are not that great. For that value, I would rather go to other buffet place where I know the food is fresh and less oily or fatty.

This does not deserve a 1.0 score...at all. ALERT: Dont even think of going there.$32 for dinner ×12 people is a complete waste of money. Thoroughly enjoyed a good meal there in 2013. But its was acomplete 360 turn around (what happen). I am so surprize that they even scored an A grade. Service was great...hands down. Friendly host exception the guy managing the grill. Gave you that (who farted) look and end up mixing up my seafood with another customers food. Seafood and Raw Meat section was absolutely bad. I manage to grill a few smoke salmon fillet...end up with a stinky fishy smell on my plate. Its was not a pleasant taste at all. The smell the sour funny taste..NO. The prawns were so bad ...taste like plastic. Food station and salad bar is filled with pickle veges (really) ...no fresh salads at all. Apart from steam veges and grill pumpkin n kumara most probably leftovers. Its was not a good dining experience. I think we got a fair idea of what was happening since there were only 3 families dinning at the place from 6pm till 8.15pm...considering 2 years ago where it was usuallt backed and hard to get a booking 😨 Even the coke drinks we order does not even taste normal...tastes like em cheap drinks from warehouse which is extra sweet with a funny coke flavouring taste. Last visit for me...and dont think of hosting a party at Valentines Mt Eden. Your better off with a nice family home cook meal at home. $32 is alot for pickle and left over microwave meal. Think about it. And dont be full by the so call "all you can eat seafood " they kept most of the Oysters (not fresh) but frozen and defrosted for you at the back kitchen they dont refill there seafood section. You have to chase and ask one of the waiters to get you some Oysters ...or Frozen Oysters I should say...😴😴😴.

Funny place in the heart of Mt Eden Quarter. They've been in business for a long time, but to be quite frank the quality was never really too good, not to mention the price!<br/><br/>Food: 5.5/10<br/>Service: 3/5 <br/>Ambience: 2.5/5<br/>Value: 2/5<br/>Overall: 13/25

I would score it a -zero if i could. <br/>I would never come to this place again we came here for a family members birthday dinner, there were 15 of us 5 being kids and we all got food poisening. The cream in the moose and brandy snap was off (it was curdled and smelled disgusting) the meat station where you get yr steak cooked was unattended. The battered fish tasted like it was from yesterday and had been mirowaved. Nothing tasted fresh. Not at all impressed and have been put off valentines for life!

There really are no words. Took my five year old to have lunch one Sunday afternoon. She is not a picky eater, but even she couldn't find anything appealing. She <br/>oranges, and she even found rotten pieces of orange in the cut up fruit on the tray. It was pretty bad, the bar tender had his sport shorts on and slippers, like you would wear at home. It was really disappointing. Would never go back, the same would go for any of the Valentine restaurants. Takapuna was the same. The Valentine of old is no longer.

had a fathers day lunch here today 6/9/15, it was the worse lunch ever. the food was shit and over cooked and dry. the desserts was gross and hard. what ever happened to the food there. back in the year 2003 there was great food great service great everything. now the whole place has gone to shitttttt. why was one of the waiters wearing short shorts and the others didn't have uniforms on just casual clothes. the whole place need a whole new renovation the place is to old.

My family went for dinner here last night. It was by far the worst valentines. The food was not fresh, it was left overs from the night before. My husband had raw fish which he said it was off and had a strange smell. For $32.90 not worth it. Had to wait for the chef to come out from the back to cook our raw meats, who kept disappearing. Also saw a cockroach on the oven. I would not recommend this place to anyone.

I and my girlfriend are all like the restaurant . The service and foods. I like their seafood salad and BBQ, my girlfriend like the dessert. We will back again.

My family and I went to Valentines Dominion Road on Mother's Day. We felt lucky  we had made reservation  beforehand.  The restaurant was heavily packed on the dinner session.  <br/><br/>However the family members and I were very satisfied with service and food. The waitresses are very polite with nice smile.s They acted and collected very fast once the plates were finished. Cooks in the hot food replenished food very fast. <br/><br/>All the food is professional presented. The seafood chowder was thick and flavored. The best soup I ever had before. The oysters are so fresh even I only had three of them. They have gone very fast once get topped up. Steak was beautifully cooked and very tender.  Just medium rare. Fried dumplings and lasagne were my favourite dishes on that night. There was huge variety of dessert could be chosen such as brandy snaps, panacotta?, cheesecake, jelly and lots of extras.  Here is the best value for your money. <br/><br/>Recommended to everyone. We will be back in a very short time.

Use to come here for lunch on weekends after church. Great value for money, I mean.....its a buffet..come on. Lots of selections of food. ESPECIALLY the baked and raw fish. The staffs arevreally helpful. I bumped a lot of friends here, so Valentines must be doing some right. fantastic place to take your family.

Great variety, great service.<br/>Went there for a birthday.<br/>There are lots of bad reviews regarding it, but what I saw, I believe that the comments arent fair.<br/><br/>People are obviously comparing the food to a more expensive restaurant... thats like comparing Rainbows End to Disneyland. There is nothing wrong with Rainbows end. For the money, it is very well priced. Many of the reviews are form people who probably go to restaurants and pay $30 for one plate of food. ... but thats all you get.. one plate. <br/>Friendly attentive staff, great selection. Would go there again

I was a bit wary of going to Valentines on Valentine's Day but I was pleasantly suprised with their buffet. They had a wide variety from the seafood chowder, pumpkin soup, salad and seafood bar choices to hot food including lasagne, curries, roast meats and fried dumpling. Their desserts range from chocolate log, fudge, brandy snaps to trifle, ice cream and cheesecake. You get a lot of variety for your money.

Great value place to take the whole family. We have eaten there with small and fairly large groups and always find the food to be very good. Highly recommended to family.

<br/> <br/><br/>Dec 25, 2014<br/><br/>The best buffet I've ever had. There are so many choices and the extrême good taste of different cuisines and desert buffet. In spite of the long waiting time to get in the restaurant, it's worth it to eat there. Very good quality of food and personnel is helpful and quick. We'll definitely come back there.<br/><br/>

We've always dined at Valentine's North Shore so we thought, why not try another Valentine's to have our New Year's dinner? Looked online and saw that Valentine's Mt Eden had the lowest price so we dined there.<br/>Unfortunately, it was a very disappointing experience especially when we have been used to the great service, ambiance and food at North Shore. <br/><br/>1. Staff are not in uniform and are just wearing very casual clothes with apron. The person who welcomed us (maybe the owner/manager?) was even just wearing shorts, t-shirt and steel toe boots. We expect restaurant staff members to be dressed more appropriately.<br/>2. Staff looked unhappy to serve. No smiles, no friendly greeting. In fact, one lady staff was a bit rude when I asked for assistance regarding their defective toy arcade game. 3. Food was not great and looked/tasted tired if that makes sense. We could have gone to a takeaway shop and would have probably have the same or even better quality food.<br/>4. Dessert selection was a let down. Not much options; presentation was poor; ice cream was not refilled and the scooper was submerged in yucky water. I lost my appetite for ice cream when I saw that. <br/>5. There was a big cockroach crawling beside the hot drinks machine. <br/><br/>I really wish I could give a higher rating but it was really a disappointing dining experience. Felt ripped off. That was our hard earned $86 that we could have spent somewhere else.

I was there again last sunday, argh BUILDUPS worst valentines ever, the food is disgusting, not worth your money! TRUST ME. ive been thea a few times and it just gets worse everytime for me. it sucks that the worst valentines is the closest one to us.

A disappointing evening. Initial impressions not good with stairs dirty, broken furniture at reception. Food looked tired and picked over. Not being replenished. Certainly not the great range of dishes advertised that "catered for all tastes."<br/>Desserts mainly small pieces of cake. Ice-cream had run out. Not replenished. At $25 a head and with three of us, this was a costly and negative experience.

We came to Valentines Mt Eden to celebrate our son's birthday on Sunday lunch. Although the restaurant was extremely packed, the service was fast, the food was absolutely fantastic. There is a huge range of selection of food.  We love seafood chowder, roasted lamb, roasted ham, baked fish... yummy all the desserts are just great. homemade cheesecake and chocolate cake is my favourite...superb. Also raw food station is a brilliant idea in the buffet. Everyone enjoyed lunch. We will definitely go back in future.

Absolutley disgusting . As we walked in to sit at our seats the floors are dirty like no one had vacuumed in years , we sat at a window seat and there was someones chipped nail sitting there along with a thick layer of dust. The food was horrid, it was cold, there were 3 long strands of hair in the serving trays where you collect your food , I saw cockroaches running across in the kitchen and the service was simply appalling. Disappointed with what use to be a good restaurant. Would rate a ZERO if possible.

Unfortunately the only positive thing I can say is that the service was ok.  We decided to go to Mount Eden Valentines buffet on our holiday in Auckland.  We were reminiscing about the old Valentines in Christchurch and thoughts were of having a  smorgasbord of great food.  This was quickly quashed.  All the food was served Luke warm.  The salads were coated with dressing and looked limp.  The boiled eggs were overcooked. I tried numerous options from the seafood to the fatty ham and Hungarian goulash, roast vegetables sitting in oil, and found them all tasteless and seeming as though they had been put out from last evenings session.  On trying desert I glanced at the sliced kiwi fruit segments and that said it all.  They looked like they had been in the fridge for a week.<br/>Hence to say, we were stung on holiday with this choice.  It was at the cheaper end being $60 for 2 adults and a seven year old, but we hardly ate anything.  It would have been nice if they could have turned on the lighting above our table and the heating as it wasn't warm inside.

I was shocked by reading the past reviews. We went to Valentines Mt Eden on Sat. night for the ABs game. This is our first time to Mt Eden branch. The restaurant is nice and warm. We have been led to a nice window table. Staffs there are super friendly. After ordering the drinks, we started to have our meal. Wow, fresh salad and seafood, huge selection of main course, fantastic desserts. Everything has been well prepared and decorated . The fish in BBQ section was beautifully cooked seasoned by lemon and pepper. This buffet is the best value for the money. Recommend to all of you.

Why it is only three star for this business?? some people judge the business with their single half an hour experience. We been there for buffet and they deserve more than three stars. Great value for your money. Buffet restaurant so we did not expected fine dining experience for what we paying. Service was fair for the busy restaurant. Of course, we noticed hard work done by the staffs from the preparation to plate on table. The food was great and fresh. Great selection. Get what you pay so happy to recommend all. Cheers..

Valentines restaurant in Mt Eden is to be avoided. Service is slow and the food is dreadful. I took 3 friends there recently and was very embarrassed. Food was tasteless, oily and in some instances stale. I have complained to the restaurant 3 times but they never respond. It is as if they don't care. The carpet going into the kitchen was black and slimy - a sure health hazard. This restaurant has put me off Valentines restaurants forever. Believe me, avoid this restaurant.

I was shocked when I read some of the bad reviews. However I had fantastic evening with my girl friend in Valentines day here. Am living in Australia, my girl friend booked about 7pm. The restaurant was pretty packed. it was a nice touch as they prepared a little gift for us. Salad and seafood were fresh. Huge selection of the hot food, beautiful cooked, nice presented. We found BBQ was the best section even the waiting queue was so long there. I don't eat dessert, but they looked pretty impressed. Service was good and fast. I would definitely come back if I am in Auckland again. BTW, its much cheaper to eat here than Mel.

Have been to Valentines a few times and often it has been a good experience. Had booked for a number of people, as it was my husband's birthday celebration and due to some people dropping out at the last minute, our numbers were much less. The lady at reception was so rude, as I explained not the full amount of people had turned up. She explained they had prepared enough food to cover the numbers we had booked for?? She huffed as she went off to show us our table. The food was fine for what we paid. Some improvement of their customer service may help their ratings???

Terribe experience at Valentines Mt Eden. Nobody should ever dine there.<br/>Very limited variety of food. Its obvious the food is not fresh, looks like its been sitting there for the past couple of weeks. Staff are not friendly especially the chefs. Very slow at replenishing food, there was nobody behind the buffet so there was a long wait to ask them to top up the oysters, hot chips, pizza etc. It looked like staff didnt want to be there either. At around 9pm lights when out even though some of us were still grabbing dessert. Staff turned away a couple of customers at 8pm because 'they were closing ' Very unprofessional i must say.<br/>I am suprised as to why this place is still open. It was close to empty when i was there.

Went to Valentines Mt Eden last night for a family dinner to celebrate grandchild's birthday. A dreadful experience, food was tasteless, mostly inedible, fish was bassa (Vietnamese), carvery pork and ham slices swimming in fatty water , salads not fresh. Restaurant was almost empty for a Saturday night so maybe the word is out. Service ok but food well below average.

Good place for family gathering. You can dine in for free when it's on your birthday. We had small birthday party last month. The restaurant was packed. Dinner is much more worthy than the lunch. <br/><br/>Service: 4/5<br/>Wait time: 4/5<br/>Environment: 3/5<br/>Food Quality: 3/5<br/>Food Quantity: 5/5

Valentines is definitely not a place to take your VALENTINES DATE!<br/><br/>That being said the food is edible. Not great. But edible.<br/><br/>If I was camping for a week in the woods and went to Valentines it would taste great!<br/><br/>But frankly, for the price and quality they offer, I prefer to go to McDonalds.<br/><br/>Service: 3/5<br/>Wait time: 4/5<br/>Environment: 3/5<br/>Food Quality: 2/5<br/>Food Quantity: 5/5<br/>Price range: $30+ pp

One of the best valentines for quality. The seasonings that they use are awesome and the crab and garlic prawns cooked fresh

Unfortunately once a year I have to go to Valentines because my friends just live that they can eat as much as they want for $21.90. Last year was bad, this year was even worse. The potato salad had half-cooked potatoes in them, the fresh fish that was prepared to order was cooked to rubber after 20 min, one of the hot desert had indefinable ingredients, the other had a top that tasted of milk that had gone sour - similar to the milk that was offered to have with your coffee. We ate at 1pm -the restaurant was not very busy- and most of the serving bowls were empty, stuff struggling ti fill them up. The staff is friendly though but that is the only plus of this restaurant

Favourite dishes included the surimi salad, the battered fish, (hot, crispy and perfectly done) the bbq lamb, the thai beef salad (very tender beef), and the chocolate mousse. But in fact I really enjoyed everything I ate, (except just the baked fish was way way too salty - like inSANEly salty, and the texture of the chilled chicken-spaghetti pasta salad just wasn't my thing).<br/><br/>There was ample quantity of an enormous range of hot, cold, juicy and tasty things. Also nice green broccoli - fresh, hot and colourful, with a cheesy sauce on top.<br/><br/>Just the carpet and chairs are probably the only thing that lets the place down a bit. They definitely need renewing.<br/><br/>The serving guy was very good - meal-checking me twice, and being very welcoming and attentively clearing my plates away very quickly each time I left the table to get another serving of something, which I thought was very impressive! He seemed to have a certain enthusiasm and dedication to his role that quite shone :)

We went to Valentines Mt Eden on Sunday evening for my daughter's birthday. Wow what a terrible meal. There was very very little to choose from. What was there was horrible. So cold, tasteless &amp; minimal. I had to reach across and cut my own meat to try and find a piece that was reasonable. Hardly any seafood, no vegetables - oh yes, I did get the last piece of pumpkin but couldn't eat it as it was so cold. The desserts had no choices. My partner who always has dessert came back with nothing. When I booked for 7pm they did ask me to come in at 5.30pm but I didn't realize it was because they don't put fresh food out otherwise I would not have gone. I have been to dinner at many many places (including Valentines Mt Eden on several occasions previously) never have I had such a horrible meal. We did get 50% off and the manager did seem to agree with us but honestly it wasn't worth 50% discount. I would not recommend. At least go in and check out the choice/buffet before you commit to eating there. I also left a message for owner to phone me but they don't seem to care. (Must say Manager was concerned and tried to help but said it was out of his control?) Wish we had celebrated my daughter's birthday somewhere else.

Me and my partner decided to dine out on Monday and I had a great time..I loved the food. Plenty to choose from. We enjoyed out dinner and the staff were really friendly and welcoming. I loved every bit of the night and I recommend it to friends. And next week a group of me and friends will visit again. :)<br/><br/>Thank you so much

Went out to dinner with my mrs. Food was excellent, service was good. Both enjoyed our night out. Staff was very friendly and also recommended some very exquisite wines with our meal.

What a horrible experience ! I wish I had read the earlier comments. Food was dry, salad old and soggy. Nothing much can eat actually. This place need to be done something to improve ! Never come back again.

WOW and not in a good way.<br/>Saturday night at Valentines Mt Eden would have to have been the worst dinning experience ever! <br/>We should have walked out when seeing how grotty the staircase was.<br/>Since when was it a good idea to slice roast pork and put in hot water to serve?? <br/>My daughter loves butter chicken, however what they labelled butter chicken certainly wasn't. <br/>The only thing we thought was ok was the garlic bread!<br/>Will never ever go to Valentines again, and I can't believe that people actually write good reviews on bland, tasteless, dry horrible food, maybe it's the owners putting on their own feedback so more unsuspecting dinners will turn up.

My partner and I decided to take a drive to Mount Eden Valentines restaurant for dinner on Friday 17th May 2013. What a huge mistake this was!!! We wished we had read the other comments regarding this establishment as it turned out to be the worst we have visited, ever. I'm tempted to report this business to the Auckland City Council for the following reasons and concerns:<br/><br/>1) I lifted a clean plate from the pile only to find it had another stuck underneath by gravy, and grease - it was not washed and had missed the cleaning process altogether. Other plates also had traces of dried food on them.<br/><br/>2) The quality of food is nothing short of inedible. A dining establishment can only go so far in reducing costs to keep afloat, however Valentines Mt Eden have pushed it to its limits. When food quality is this low, foot traffic diminishes severelywhich is clearly evident here, at 7.20pm on a Friday evening. Most foods were dry, crusty, and desserts were practically shriveled up due to sitting on a warmer for extended periods of time. My partner felt the cream in the brandy snaps may have been off. <br/><br/>To charge full price for this level of quality is unbelievable and falls short of having this restaurant disestablished. <br/><br/>We will be advising head office of the above, and if no action is taken a follow up to the Council will take place.

We went to dine on the spur of the moment and hadn't made a booking. We were pleased that there were tables available for casual diners. There were two of us and we both enjoyed our meal very much. There were two celebrations happening and large crowds at both. So there was some queuing past the servery and some waiting for another batch of food to be cooked, but wait was only 10 mins. The kitchen staff did a very good job of keeping up with demand and the food was fresh and well presented. Well done Valentines.

We went here today with my mum to celebrate. We always go here, we were so surprised they put our favourite oyster and salmon. Live BBQ is always great, my kids love desserts. It was very busy today, we understand food was not the best today, but the staff tried their best. They were super friendly. We enjoyed very much, it is a nice place to get everyone together.

I went today with my family and my friends on my birthday it was really a great dining with this restaurant with many different types of food and awesome types of deserts, fresh and variety of salads. I even loved the BBQ specially the salmon and steak wonder full and yummy dinner and the price which I paid was really worth to me. Staff working there are really good they are professional in there service and I really love the decor of that restaurant and they suggested me good wine with my meal.. I really love it thanks to Valentines Mt Eden for making my day.

8 adults and 5 kids here for lunch to celebrate my dad and mum's 40th weeding anniversary last week. This is 3rd time we are here since mid of last year. <br/><br/>The salads are always fresh. There are huge of selection of hot food. The authentic butter chicken and rice with a bit spicy taste and sweet &amp; sour pork are my favourite dishes. All the kids enjoyed dessert very much. The best mud cake with fresh cream I ever had. The service was excellent. The staffs were really helpful and friendly. <br/><br/>We are very appreciated you gave us a moment to remember. We will expect to see valentines mt eden again.

I had previously heard good things about this Valentines Restaurant so decided to go with my family for my dad's birthday. Service was horrible with grouchy workers and the waitress who assigned our seats, told us we had to eat within the hour and leave because it was getting too full and they needed seating for other customers. Food was ok, the chef at the grilling station was the only friendly worker. The same grumpy waitress kept in trying to clear the table while we were still eating and when I asked her to wait she just mumbled and walked off !! Extremely disappointing never ever going again.

I took a close friend of mine to Valentines last Thursday, and she had never been there. I have been there several times and each time have thoroughly enjoyed the food, the promt attention to customers and clearing the tables. The selection of food is great for lunch and always being refilled. The seafood dishes are just great, meat is always hot and sliced, and you are able to help yourself as much as you want. The hot and cold desserts are amazing, fresh cream and not mock cream, choices of ice cream, too much to mention them all. As far as getting great value for money, it is certainly great value, and I will return again soon

I have been here before with friends for lunch and once again found the staff to be friendly and helpful. The food was fresh and plentiful with a good variety to choose from. The desserts were also good. Overall I found it to be a very good choice of restaurant for lunch and would not hesitate to go back.<br/>Trish

What a pity! We came here for lunch late last year and were quite impressed on what was on offer as it was a bit different to what we get served on the North Shore. Some of the flavours were great and there was plenty of choice avail. <br/>However we went again early Feb (admittedly it was a Mon or Tues and they weren't very busy) but the quality of the food was way down on last time. It looked like it had been there a while and a lot of it was tough and a bit dried out. The prawns and crab (at least there were some so that was a bonus), were a bit disappointing. The crab was dry and watery and the prawns were mushy, such a shame as they were great last time.<br/>Staff were pleasant enough but spent most of the lunch service talking amongst themselves.<br/>It must be very hard to get the balance right. I do understand that you wouldn't want to cook too much food just for it to be uneaten but I do strongly feel things need to be looked at here if it is going to stay open.<br/>A good tidy up of dated decor, take down the Xmas decorations (unless they had been left up for the Chinese New Year, then I apologise), brighten the place up a bit and maybe a good promotion would help bring the locals back in.<br/>Being upstairs may also be a hindrance to encourage 'walk ins' as although Valentines is written on the building you do have to look a bit for the entrance.<br/>We had come with a voucher this time so were OK with what we paid for what we got. We didn't leave hungry but I wouldn't have been happy paying full price for what was on offer that day. I am sorry. A do hope you can make the best of things and go forward with new enthusiasm.

We had dinner with the kiwi friends in Valentines Mt Eden a couple of days ago. The buffet food is much much better than lots of cuisine in my city. The salads are fresh, I like the shrimp cocktail. BBQ idea is great, the beef steak is so tender. Roast ham, beef and lamb were best part of the entire meal. There are huge selection of desserts. The chocolate mousse is my favourite. The staffs are super friendly. If there is another chance to visit this city, I will be back here for sure.

Visited Valentines Mt Eden today with my partner for my birthday, left very disappointed. <br/><br/>Firstly Food was cold and tasteless, the fish was not only cold but contained more batter than actual fish and looked like it had been sitting there for a while. The deserts were slightly better though the ice-cream chiller must be broken as it was fairly soft and melted. I must say this place is not up to standard and needs a serious look at the quality of their food.<br/><br/>Secondly the lack of staffing is obvious, one person was on in the restaurant/reception and as a result the overall service suffered greatly. The only good thing I can say about dining here however was that the service she did manage to give was great. <br/><br/>Overall I would not return here nor would I recommend this place to anybody, it is simply not worth the $65.70 price tag.

We have been to Valentine's many times and are always very impressed.<br/>The food is amazing, always fresh<br/>I’m pretty sure you could not find a quality buffet meal with 3 courses. Plus the unique BBQ station is such a great idea.<br/>I don't get why there aren't many positive reviews here. But for us it has been five stars every time.<br/>What impresses me the most the the variety of food available<br/>Food is great, staff are friendly and helpful and you will have an awesome time.

We are visitors to this city from Australia. We were told to go here by kiwi friends. Worst mistake of our life! The food was all cold as their heaters were broken!! They kept putting them in to reheat even the meats! Several of us were sick and we walked out without paying to a manager who refused to address us and sent her waitress instead.<br/><br/>Avoid at all costs!!!!!

This would have to be right up there with some of the worst dining experiences we've had! We reluctantly decided to try Valentines Mt Eden hoping that it would prove us wrong but just as expected the food and staff were horrendous, there was hardly any hot food left to choose from and what was left had been sitting under the lamps for goodness knows how long, the meat was dry and hard and the rice was no better with the butter chicken or what was left of it dry and crusty. Chocolate log garnished with parsley and yellow whipped cream, even the custard had a crust. One word sums it up - avoid.

My son and I went to Valentines Dominion Road and it was terrible. Sub standard food.The appearance of the food uninviting past its use by date My son came home straight to a glass of Eno. Salads were old soggy wilted, not nice and past use by date . The sweet and sour pork didn't even taste like sweet and sour it was dry and inedible.Nothing tasted like it should. Food was like it had been rehashed and reused. It was a very disappointing yuk unpleasant experience.

My family went to Valentines Dominion Road on Sunday. I would say we had an appalling experience. Food was not high-quality, the BBQ idea is good but prawn is not fresh and squid is smelly. All meat is dry; ham and beef seem like stay in the buffet for hours and not fresh. Some food is tasteless. Have no idea why dessert needs to put on the cheap fake grass. Much worse than the last time I visited. No worth for me, sorry guys. 2-stars is for friendly staffs.

Would be no star !!!<br/>I dine in Valentines Mt Eden sometimes but this time is the worse ever. Food is either dry, burnt or bland, tasteless. Staffs are unfriendly and can not even guide me the food name !!! Bad service. Valentines brand is tarnishing, will not come back again.

Without a doubt the worse Valentines that I have ever been to.<br/>Biggest complaint is the unsanitary positioning of the raw food that has to be carried over to a hot plate.<br/>Kids have to be closely supervised to stop them putting raw food onto plate by mistake.<br/>Not enough serving utensils to stop cross contamination.<br/>Management refused opportunity to respond to concerns.<br/>As always the bottomless soft drinks are a rip off.

Just can't believe how awful the food was. Had a voucher, went on Wednesday night. The steak they cooked on request, what I assumed to be fresh was salted and the waitress took the half uneaten steak and I didn't even bother to ask her to leave it. I even felt sorry for people who were having a birthday party here on next table. Would not go back and would never recommend this place.

WOW... But not in a good way !! The worst dining experience I have had in a long time. Purchased a voucher and thought we'd give it a crack. Mistake indeed.<br/>Poor selection of food. Greasy, under cooked, and tasteless. Dirty drinking glasses and very sticky floor. <br/>If I am made to go to Mt Eden Valentines again in my lifetime it will be too soon !! Avoid !!

we went there 27th July 2012 for dinner...yum yum yum food and desserts...and the staff were nice:) only downer was having to leave to go to our movie...hahaha...

I went to Valentines Mt Eden on Tuesday 13, July. I had not been here for a year because of my last bad experience, however, this time i was very pleased. It has been changed a lot. I love the BBQ idea. Keep up the good work.

I went to Valentines Mt Eden with my family on mothers day. My family really enjoyed the food there. Especially the BBQ! We had 4 beef steaks and some prawns. My kids also love the desserts and ice cream. We come there to celebrate mothers day every year. I think they improve a lot. Good job! Wish next time they will give me more surprise.

I came here a couple of months ago for a special occasion during lunch time and I was disappointed with the food they offered for the lunch buffet. The desserts were great and there was a wide variety of sweet treats to choose from. However, the lunch dishes did not seem to be carefully selected and did not taste that great or that fresh.<br/><br/>Hence, I was a bit apprehensive about going there again for a Birthday dinner. But I was pleasantly surprised. The dinner buffet was excellent (29/3/12), there were a wide variety of dishes to choose from and it was a dream come true for meat lovers like myself. The roast pork was really nice and tender, the salads were great and so were the other dishes we had. But the best part of the buffet had to be the live barbecue. The steak prepared by the chef to your liking was amazing and so were the garlic prawns and fish. I really loved the whole live barbecue idea! The dessert too was awesome, especially the chocolate cheesecake and here again there was lots to choose from. All in all, it was a great dinner.<br/><br/>The buffet was well worth the $30 and I would rather spend the $10 extra and have dinner there instead of lunch as there are so many more meat and seafood dishes to choose from. With regards to their lunch menu, I think they need to improve it a bit or have a option where you can just have the coffee and desserts for a set price.<br/><br/>Judging by some of the other reviews here, I am wondering if I happened to go there on a good night. I am really hoping the next time I go, I will have the same great experience, as I am really looking forward to going again sometime, especially if they are still doing the live barbecue.<br/>

Valentines Dominion Rd, Mt Eden, certainly failed to deliver, this is certainly not an experience I hope others will not have to go thru!!!! Where do I start: seafood chowder only had surimi meat no other seafood and the soup mix looked like glue!! Mussels were frozen, still in the shell with the beard attached to it, meatballs sauce FOUL, hot ham slices soaking in water, no longer HOT &amp; tasted water log!!, cheese board not even a cheese board, only 1 choice as the others were slices wrapped in plastic and u could buy a packet of 12 at foodtown for $2.46!! only crackers were salada that u break into 4, other choice short bread!! broccoli mushy, cheese sauce another foul dish .. pool tables also shared the same space felt like you were in a games room and not a restaurant!! and finally for the 3 hours were were there with a party of 6 the same music played twice obviously on repeat!! i will NOT recommend this venue to even my pets thats how disappointed we were..what did we eat your probably wondering after sitting there for so long...ICE CREAM and it wasnt tip top either!!!

I usually like all you can eat restaurants but this one was a little bit dirty for me! I love the desserts!

Quite nice family restaurant~~We have been there last Sunday lunch after church for the birthday part. Service was nice, food was all good except pizza was a bit dry. $21.90 is a good value!

went there for family birthday party last week. quite a lot change from last year. good salad selection, very fresh. bit disappointed there was no oyster in seafood part. nice butter chicken and baked fish in hotline. kids enjoyed desserts and ice cream. worth to go. recommended!

Took my young family here for a birthday dinner on June 7th. A lot of the food was dry and Italian meatballs don't really go with Chinese noodles. Put some casserole chicken on my plate only to discover that it was actually fish that didn't taste very fresh. Kids enjoyed the desserts though.<br/>Won't be going back.

went there for dinner yesterday. Nice place to go. good selection. very good steak ect. very friendly service. kids love desserts. worth it. recon to all. will go back again.