Valentien's - Bakersfield

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Bakersfield. It is upscale dining experience perfect for a night out or a special occasion. The entrée menu can be limited in my opinion but you can pretty much count on what is there to be excellent. I have been twice and each time ordered both a steak tartar and seared scallops with black bean appetizer. The grilled bread toasts and quail egg served with the tartar is delish and the seared scallops were like butter. Over the summer they served an excellent heirloom tomato caprese salad with balsamic reduction to die for. The quality of the food and presentation compares with some of the finer dining experiences I have had in big cities (I lived in Seattle and San Francisco before this beautiful place). In comparison, I think the portions and prices are a steal! I do agree with other reviewers that the restaurant environment itself is lacking but I have to say the culinary experience is worth coming in for.

I 've kept trying because I long for a fine dining experience. Nice atmosphere food quality is good, but portions are ridiculously small (7 mussels as a dinner entrée for $15...please and service is always spotty. Money 's not a problem for me when it comes to food, but I want to walk away satisfied. Two lunches and one dinner is enough. I 'm calling it quits! (The prior owner 's food was better! .

A Bistro style gourmet dining experience not like any other in Bakersfield.

My wife and I ate at this restaurant based on a newspaper review that rated it the most romantic in Bakersfield. While it was excellent, the atmosphere did not live up to that billing. The lights were too bright and the service was spotty. However, the food was excellent except that the crispy quail wasn 't crispy at all. Even there, the taste was great as was the presentation. The wine list is very good, but our server didn 't seem to know squat about wine service. She didn 't offer me a taste of the first bottle we bought before filling our glasses. Valentien 's has a very good selection of wines in the 1/2 bottle. We love this. I know we spent more for 2 of the1/2 bottles than we would for a single bottle, and we were able to better pair the wines with the food. Kudos to Valentien 's for doing this. The service issues were that the salad took forever to appear and with one had she took away the salad as we finished and with the other hand delivered the main course. Also, we had the Flat Iron Steak and she never asked how we wanted it cooked. Luckily it came medium rare just as we wanted. We will go back again for sure. I hope the next visit finds the lights dimmed a bit and the service improved. Nonetheless, we would still recommend it for a great night out.

Excellent. Finally, fine dining in Bakersfield. All other Bakersfield restaurants, this is the mark now. Compares to restaurants in New York and San Francisco. Excellent wine list as well.