Valentina Closing in Buda, Texas

[Purc]

Troubled Texas barbecue smokehouse may be closed for good (chron.com)

A sad note for a former 2021 Texas Monthly Top 50 BBQ Joint.

[Oak Smoke]

I think we were there when they hit rock bottom. I’ll never forget the gross guy at the cash register with the dried foam in the corners of his mouth.

[texastweeter]

Dude was so high I don't think he knew he was a guy.

[Panhead John]

Did you ask him his pronouns?

[Jerod Broussard]

Were they a top 50 as a restaurant or a food truck?

[texastweeter]

Truck

[Panhead John]

When they made the top 50, they were a food truck. Sorry to see them go but, those wounds were self inflicted. That’s what happens when you’re an A-hole.

[LA Pork Butt]

It can be a familiar story. Sometimes people forget to keep dancing with the gal that got them there. A number of years ago when I still lived in Louisiana a poplar restaurant was infeatured Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. They raised prices, expanded, changed locations and went out of business in a couple of years. They blamed their demise on lack of community support. Valentina’s changed dance partners when they went from Food Truck to Brick and Mortar.

[Mosca]

This still ticks me off, in a lot of ways, most importantly because of what a waste it was for us as a group. We had a finite amount of time to enjoy each others’ company, and a finite amount of digestive space to fill, and they screwed us out of both: the time was spent complaining about the experience, and the food was barely edible.

There’s only one way for me personally to turn it into a positive experience, and that is to go back to Texas and fill in the lost time and empty stomach space. Until that happens, this will continue to bug me. I’m dead serious. When I need to complete something I really need to do it.

[Mosca]

Sid P is da man.

[Sid P]

Well said, Tom, and the more I read, the more it pisses me off. I read a bunch of Google reviews, and what we experienced has gone on for months. Instead of admitting they were in over their heads they preferred to keep on screwing customers and teenage employees out of their cash and time. Despicable.

[Sid P]

Mosca No, just one of them 😉.

[Finster]

Damn.
some of y'all sure know how to hold a grudge.
that shit will eat a hole in your heart.

[Mosca]

For me, it’s more like a missing hole in my experience than it is animosity toward the people, although I do hold some disgust for what looks to me like their total scorn and disregard for their customers.

But that could be for any number of human failings, and I believe in forgiveness and the possibility of redemption. I may not ever eat at one of their restaurants ever again, but I want the people to evolve from it. Life is long, and all of it needs to be lived in.

[Panhead John]

We’re old, we bitch….😉
Mosca made some good points above. For anyone traveling a great distance and spending a good bit of $ to get there and then experiencing what we did….well, I don’t blame them a bit for complaining. We’re venting, not holding a grudge.