Valley Kitchen & Bar

What a treat to find Valley. I never thought I'd see a place like this in Valpo. Don't get me wrong, there are now a lot of great places in the downtown area but as someone who went to college here, I still think of it as a town where King Gyros was a gourmet night! Digressing, Valley is a a fairly large space but it seems intimate, which is nice. We arrived shortly before the opening time of 4, to find them already open for a pub crawl. The staff was extra nice and seated us by the front window and fireplace for our drinks. The crawlers left about 10 minutes later and we were able to enjoy a nice dinner for four. Everything we ordered was superb- bursting with flavors and freshness. My only complaint, if I had to make one, would be that the menu is pretty short. They don't have a lot of selections and of course, it's mostly local and seasonal. Our server was a trainee who seemed very unsure of herself. She didn't get anything wrong because she was under the close supervision of either the manager or some other capable guy, but she didn't have much of a personality and did not offer many opinions or suggestions when asked. That said, the whole experience was really pleasant. The place was rocking with people by the time we left. We probably spent close to two hours there. I had the walleye, which was outstanding. Others in my party tried the chicken, the pork chops and a salad. When they offer to put chicken on your salad, it is an entire Amish breast! For dessert, we had scoops of one of my favorite ice creams, Valpo Velvet. I'm so glad so many local businesses are now carrying it. It's the perfect topper to a delicious meal. Our server didn't even offer dessert, though. We had to ask. I'm not sure what else they had. I will also say that the bar selections here are really well done and I even noticed a special martini list. Didn't try it this time, but we'll definitely be back. One suggestion- I'd love to see a bread basket. Maybe some sort of locally sourced bakery would make it five stars for me! I wanted to buy a cool t-shirt but they were out of them, the hostess said. You don't pay your server, which is interesting. You pay the host. Kudos to Valley for bringing local/organic to Valpo!

My wife and I went here and shared the Chicken Skewers appetizer which we liked very much! The mushroom soup was very flavorful also. I had the Rib eye Steak and she had the Cowboy Pork Chop and we both enjoyed our meals and our Salad was also very good and everything was
In good portions but we sat across from one another and had a hard time hearing each other however we both said we will go back!

Goddddddd, I really wanted to like this place. I really did.

Was in Portage for work and found Valley on yelp. The farm to fork concept got me and I drove out for dinner. I sat at the bar. Bartender was friendly and attentive throughout. They have a good selection of martinis and specialty draft beers.

I ordered the truffle fries and the chicken 3 ways. I opted for the spinach salad with apples, cheese and nuts for $4 extra instead of the house salad.

The Salad came out quick. It was really good, the only thing was the dressing was a little too tart for me, however I still managed to devour the whole thing.

As other Yelpers have suggested, the rest of my meal did take a while to come out. I say about a good 30-40
minutes. The couple next to me at the bar actually ordered 5 minutes after me and received their dishes first. Not sure of the process there. Also there were 4 cooks in the kitchen and at times 3 of them were sitting around.  I kept looking over my shoulder every time a waiter walked by hoping it was my food! After doing this for a good 35 minutes my plate arrived.

Chicken three way came with rice and carrots. The dish was just blah. It was good but wasn't great and not as good as it should be for a 30 minute wait.

The truffle fries never came. The bartender told me she forgot to put it in.

If I lived here, I may give it another shot, but since I only come and go for business there's better places for me to go.