The Tynemouth Castle Inn — Hotel in North Tyneside

Average at best, nice food but lukewarm.

We visited for a birthday celebration, first shock was that you are unable to book tables unless you are a party of 8 or above. This is all fine when you are young but when you are dining with elderly grandparents who require a low seat, it isn't the best. I also find that this place has struggled to figure out what it is...is it a pub? restaurant? Boutique hotel? a gorgeous venue decorated lovely, but bar service for ordering meals and drinks is very lo market, and when meals are averaging £18/£19 I would expect table service.

Food came in good time (probably because there was only 10 people in) some things on menu not available which was understandable. Taste of the food was amazing, good portions and value for money. An upgrade from pub grub, but don't think they have a chef on-site as no alterations to the menu can be made.

The worst part of our visit, and the one thing that would stop me returning is the staff. A cold welcome to the place, with 5 staff stood doing nothing staring at us, one girl was nice who got us a table, but hen ordering drinks we were treat as if we were an inconvenience. everyone was rolling their eyes, and it was obvious that they didn't care. At one point when ordering a round of drinks our server stopped turned and had a conversation to his colleague in front of us about an annoying customer, and then once finished went "is that it?" to us, and none of the order was correct. We had to ask for our plates to be cleared, no one asked us if the food was okay, and when we asked for 6 small plates for birthday cake we had 10 saucers thrown on the end of the table.

There did appear to be management but obviously lacking any hospitality skills, and such a shame a nice venue will b run down by rude staff who lack an ounce of common sense and manners. Apart from this, there was enough staff to sink a ship standing around talking and we felt neglected and unwanted from start to finish.

If you want to charge £19 a meal, serve people at the table, and make sure there's someone sensible working there to do it with a smile, manners...

Went here for a family meal. Food was lovely but one person's meal did not arrive. Obviously you think it will be coming so you wait a little while, of course everyone else's meals begin to cool. No-one was around from catering staff to check or for us to notify, so I went to the bar. As previously noted, rather uncaring staff. I had to interrupt two members of staff helping one man with a menu to ask for any attention to report the missing meal as politely as possible, mentioning that everyone else's meals had already arrived. "I'm busy with this first" was the careless response received. By now a good 15-20 minutes had passed. We waited another 5-10 minutes. No meal arrived but two catering staff attended another customer and I explained that I had reported the missing meal and still it hadn't arrived. After another 5 minutes, the pizza arrived via the waitress without any apology or acknowledgement of the oversight on their part. "Can I just ask what the problem was?" I ventured. "Oh it was left in the other oven!" was the response, again without any concerns at the fact that my family member had had to wait over 25 minutes later than everyone else, just to get the food. There was no sense of recompense from the waitress, obviously paying up front means that errors made by staff are paid for by the customer. Further to this, when I visited the bathroom later, I was blanked by the waitress as though I had been an awkward customer. I am sure the management of this establishment cannot support this extremely shoddy and quite frankly, rude response. The staff genuinely did not care a jot for their customers and went further to present as extremely rude. No-one was there to say goodbye or wish you well or thank you for your custom on what was a very quiet evening for staff. The quality of food was very good although a bit pricey (£16 for fish and chips.) Just a small apology was needed to set things right but the fact this was lacking left a bitter taste that often leads to people voting with their feet. Christmas decor was lovely, by the way, both...

A beautifully refurbished hotel. Back in 1990 this was our local, known as Parkers, so we had memories of it. We opted for a sea view room; not particularly cheap at £170 (breakfast incl.) Our room (141) was spotless, lots of room and very well equipped for a longer stay - we did one night, as we can drive to Tynemouth in 20-30 minutes. Sea view, if abroad, would have been more fairly described as a side-sea view, not what we were expecting; so this disappointed, somewhat. The weekend was beautiful, so we spent very little time in it. There were rooms on the other side of the hotel (think of the hotel configuration as a u-shape, with the open end facing inland) with balconies and much better outlooks. Everything else about the room was a delight. Someone was locked out, next door, so two bouts of very heavy knocking at 1:30 - 2:30 in the morning - no sign of security to intercede, which is odd in quite a large hotel. This needs thought by the management, as midway through I advised the guys to find security for a pass key, no joy, so back to continue banging. The hotel was mobbed during the day with a big function, but dead after 10pm, so a chilled nightcap after an evening in Tynemouth which was also mobbed. A great meal at Lola's Jeans (book!) And live music in various pubs. We popped over for an afternoon walk around Cullercoats (we are not fond of Whitley Bay, although okay if you have bairns), we had a drink and snack at the Queens Head - food drink, service, all excellent! Breakfast at the Tynemouth Castle Inn was like the Curates Egg, good in parts, not so in others. Excellent selection of quality produce, but it all needed cooking better and it was barely warm, some items were cold. We had to mix and match to achieve something to eat. This was a disappointment, as it left a poor taste in the mouth (sorry) after enjoying so much about the new hotel. Would we return? Yes, but we would be more selective over room and breakfast choice, the only two disappointments. The staff and general service were...