The food was good. The service was bad, bordering on rude.

The choice of outlook and decor is confusing. The venue has floor to ceiling wraparound glass windows with a view of unsightly carparks, the table covers feature vinyl American-themed newspaper patterns with Abraham Lincoln, Gone With the Wind and the likes on them and the restaurant is more like a function room than a traditional ristorante, lacking ambience.

Four of us had to eat our first course with only one set of cutlery and one napkin between us and my youngest child's plate was taken away so she didn't even get that. We were stashed in the furthest reach of the room, feeling like a football field away from anyone who could bring us the cutlery we desired. When the mains were presented and we asked for cutlery and napkins, rather than apologise or just go and get them, the waitress seemed to not believe that we didn't have them to begin with. The dozens of empty seats around us were also lacking cutlery (otherwise I would have helped myself to it) so it didn't seem very unbelievable to me. She still didn't bring enough napkins nor was there an offer to clean my youngest's high chair tray (which she had to eat off since she wasn't allowed a plate) which now had water spilled on it along with goodness knows how many other kids germs.

Even though there must have been hundreds of empty seats in the massive restaurant (only two other tables were occupied), the staff were keen to clear our plates immediately whenever they could see some food had been finished. We felt like we were being shuffled out and to top it off, one of them took away my youngest's napkin while she was still eating. Just to remind you here that she didn't even get a napkin to begin with, we had to take it away from our other child because the two year old was always going to need it more.

After we finished our mains, a new group of people arrived and they were seated literally next to us (I mean their bodies were within centimetres of our own as their table joined ours. A mini barrier separated the tables but did not separate the people themselves!) despite the venue being large enough to host a basketball game. If the service and risk of eating without cutlery (since it had already been whisked away) was not enough to put us off dessert, this did it for us. We left and sought gelato elsewhere.

We tried a few pizza and pasta dishes between us. They were good but nothing extraordinary. Unfortunately the serves were not as generous as you will find at other Italian restaurants. I'd say the prices were slightly lower than what many others charge but the smaller servings explains this so I'd say the value is average.

As I said, the venue was near empty and I only noticed one person come it to collect a takeaway order and there seemed to be a problem with that, though it seemed more staff confusion rather than the order itself being actually mixed up.

Considering there must be dozens if not hundreds of similar restaurants between Camden and Penrith, the food alone is not worth me recommending Valentino's to anybody I know.