I have never heard "va au" as in "Elle va au restaurant" pronounced "v-au before.

Bonjour Debbie ! I've listened to the sentence you're referring to, and it is pronounced [va au]", albeit pretty fast (French native way!), so I understand the confusion here. You are correct that we wouldn't say [v-au] in French :) I've therefore decided to update our audio file. Please let me know if it's better, or I will look into it again :) Merci et à bientôt !