we had a pretty dismal experience here this past weekend.  i have been to valentino in santa monica and have loved it- so i had high expectations for this place.  the expectations were not met!  our server was nice- but harried.  i think they had more tables than the kitchen could accommodate and as such all the dishes were taking forever to cook and deliver.  we arrived at 7:30pm for our reservation and by 9:00pm we had only received our first appetizer.  the tables all around me were complaining of the same issue- food taking forever to come out.  i don't think it was the server's fault- i think that the kitchen was backed up.  they should only seat the amount of tables that their kitchen and chef can accommodate.  if you want to seat more tables- build a bigger kitchen and get more kitchen staff.\n\nwe ended up canceling our entrees and only ate the fritto misto appetizer and the garden salad.  the fritto misto tasted great but my stomach got upset later that night and i threw up!  the only thing i had eaten was the fritto misto and salad greens- so i can't imagine what else upset my stomach.  the garden salad was nothing to write home about- and certainly not worth $15!\n\nour wine was great and we finally got out of there by 10:30pm.  after we cancelled our entrees it took the server about 20 minutes to bring us our check!  \n\ndefinitely bummed out by our experience.  not going back to the vegas valentino ever!  hopefully the management will read this review and make some necessary changes.  i think the only way people end up there is by expecting the reputation of the santa monica restaurant.  i doubt they have many repeat customers.