Valenca Restaurant
“the prices were friendly, too-two filet mignons for $25, we shared and still ended up wrapping up the plate.”
“We came across Valenca on Yelp as my friend and I were looking for a nice place to eat close to the Newark Airport….”
“Do not dress to impress, because you will oil stain your clothes ( a little) but its well worth it!!!!”
Valenca Restaurant
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Started out rocky with an awkward check in situation. When you walk in the front door, you have no clue what to do since there is no hostess to greet you or acknowledge that you've arrived (unless they called out last night). The sign says "Please wait to be seated" but an acknowledgement that they knew we were waiting would've been nice. That's the only complaint I have tho. The rest of the night was great! Their sangria is phenomenal, their chorizo appetizer comes served on fire which visually was a nice touch, the shrimp in garlic sauce was a very small serving but delicious nevertheless, and the calamari was exactly what you would expect. We moved on to the entrees and most of us got the grilled surf and turf. Prepared perfectly to your liking, the meal was fantastic and a good portion size. They are known for their hot stone dishes which at first thought seems awesome but realize you are served basically raw food that you cook yourself on the hot stone. It gets smokey in there when more than one person gets it at the same time and that stream is all in your face lol. Looked like lots of work so we passed on the option. For dessert, the nutella crepe was terrific! Definitely would return!
I came here on the advice of Yelpers
A layover at Newark Airport and hungry for dinner.
I cannot express enough how excellent our dinner was!!
My Man had the Filet and Shrimp cooked on a hot stone and I ordered the Ahi Tuna cooked on a hot stone.
First the server brought a nice salad and bread to the table, and we ordered the obligatory pitcher of red sangria. Excellent, and I learned something new tonight
If you keep chunks of apples in your sangria the ice does not melt so quickly!!!
Next came the magic of the hot stone to your table
My Ahi Tuna was melt in the mouth delicious, cook it to your desired doneness. Accompanied by fresh broccoli and carrots, served with wasabi mayonnaise and soy sauce, and served with lemon wedges and garlic butter.
The garlic butter is delectable and serves the excellent purpose of seasoning both the hot stone and flavoring your choice of entree.
Be sure to request extra and slather it generously!!
My Man had the filet mignon and shrimp cooked on a hot stone.
Unfortunately the shrimp was tough, but his order came with rice and Spanish potatoes (chips)(really good, fresh cut, fresh fried chips)
Altogether an incredibly filling and delicious meal and a wonderful and romantic evening.
The food is good but not the greatest Portuguese out there. The food portions are huge and the sangria is pretty good. Tried the Paella and the filet and lobster on the rock.
The reason I really give this place 3 stars instead of 4 or 5 is for a couple of reasons. The parking is horrendous here. If you try to valet good luck because the lot always gets packed and the street is just as bad. You can make a reservation and still have to wait for 20 min.
I still think it is a good restaurant but I was disappointed as I had high expectations. Try it out for yourselves and maybe you will have a different perspective.
I wish there was an option for 2.5 stars because that's where I feel I would land. Food here is good, but not mind blowing. You certainly get enough food because they offer complimentary bread and salad with every meal.
To start we shared the shrimp in garlic sauce and clams with crabmeat and bacon. Both were good and plenty for two people to share.
For dinner, I had the skirt steak with a side of string beans and carrots and rice. The sides were definitely forgettable. Veggies were completely bland even after I added S&P, and the rice was just okay. The steak was cooked to my liking and had a nice sear on it although some parts of the steak seems slightly saltier than others. Perhaps it was not seasoned evenly. it didn't ruin it for me though. My husband had the picadinho with pork which was pretty tasty. He was happy with it because he left satisfied (pretty big portion) and there was enough leftover for him to take for lunch the next day.
We had coffee and tres leeches for dessert which rounded out our meal well.
Total for everything came out to about $88 before tip. I've paid more for worse.
Be prepared though to smell like food when you leave especially if someone near you orders something on the hot stone. It smokes up the place. We had to throw our clothes right in the wash when we got home. I don't get the hot stone thing. If I go out to eat, I don't want to cook my own food. Ammiright?
Everything here is incredibly delicious. You can come here for lunch, dinner or even if you wanna just grab a glass of sangria. The sangria by the way is phenomenal.
My fireman and I always order the calamari and steak and tuna on a stone – with Spanish rice and Spanish chips. Delicious!!!!!
I love this place, never had a bad meal here so I do enjoy coming here as often as we can. You really can't go wrong.
Came here last night for a friends birthday without knowing anything about this place.
The parking situation isn't great. They offer valet but it's on a busy street so if the valet is busy parking another car, you feel like you're holding up traffic. I ended up driving around the blocks until I found a spot on the street.
The menu was huge. There were 13 of us so we started with a few pitchers of sangria and they brought out bread and salads. The most popular item on their menu is the steak on a stone (you could also do tuna or other meat). About half of our party went with hot stone dishes. They all raved about their food and it looked like a lot of fun. They serve the dish with garlic butter on the side so you can add as much or as little flavor as you want. I ordered the seafood paella which was amazing. The rice was crazy moist and had so much seafood in it. The portion was enough for 3 people!
It gets pretty smoky in there when there are so many hot stones going at once but they have quite a few vents in the ceiling which did help. Ladies, I advise you not to bother washing your hair before you come here. It's going to smell.
Service was good and the prices were really reasonable for the amount of food you get. I definitely want to come back to try some tuna on a stone in the future.
This is the best Portuguese restaurant in the area. Many people go to Algarve, but in my opinion the food is much better here. I normally order takeout, and my food is always fresh. I also feel like the prices are cheaper than some of the competition in the area. They also give you a lot of food for the price. I have also dined in before, and the experience was pleasant. The only issue is that parking in the area is horrendous. Especially when it's a packed house, which is more often than not. Other than that, I have no complaints about the food, or the economically friendly prices. 🙂
I had a good experience visiting this restaurant from out of town. There was no wait on a Tuesday night. The service was pretty good, no complaints. There was tons of food! You definitely will NOT leave hungry. I got a pasta dish and there was more than enough. Delicious flavors as well. I also tried paella for the first time and it was so surprisingly delish!! I would get it again next time, or maybe try something new. I'm sure there is not much to disappoint.