Val's Italian Restaurant & Pizza

Val's is a little surprising for being such a nice place in such a small town, but then again, I think Canton's population increases by a factor of ten once a month with the First Monday Trade Days -- apparently the largest flea market in the known universe -- so that is bound to help support good eateries. This was our first visit to Canton so Val's is the first place we have eaten. More to come...

The sausage and sauteed peppers over spaghetti was very tasty, probably because most of the oil in which the peppers were sauteed stayed with the final product -- something which some people might not appreciate, but personally, I liked it.

My wife had a dish of chicken and artichoke hearts in an Alfredo sauce over fettuccine -- we both forgot the name of the dish -- but her comment was that it was very buttery, and otherwise a fairly typical Alfredo preparation.

Would have gone 4 stars here but there were a few problems: our waiter wasn't very welcoming or engaging -- did his job okay but really seemed more interested in the episode of The Mentalist that was running silently on the TV, than in his customers. Then when I walked up to the cash register to pay a $24.76 bill with two $20 bills, the hostess opened her cash drawer and there was nothing but twenties and ones in it ... so I had to stuff 15 one-dollar bills in my wallet.

The food was good but overall the experience wasn't great -- we were reminded of so many restaurants in towns where tourism is the main industry, and many people in service occupations couldn't care less from one tourist to another. That said, we would go back for the food.

If you're going to Val's, be advised the front door of the place faces the town square. Our GPS took us one block east, where we parked, walked up to the "Val's" sign over what we thought was the front door, then read a sign that instructed us to walk all the way around the block to enter the restaurant.

Outstanding food. The chicken parm sandwich and bread were wonderful. My son had the fettuccine Alfredo and loved it. Will go again.

Excellent Italian!!  Best lasagna and also chicken cardovichie!   We will be back.