The Treehouse Restaurant — Restaurant in Alnwick

My second time visiting this restaurant and what a dramatic change... not in a good way either.

Upon arriving we were ten minutes late after a 40 mile trip to this place, we apologised but were met with a rude staff member telling us we were actually 30 mins late and our table had been cancelled. I had to show her my email to prove in fact I was only 10 minutes late... she booked our table back in but her attitude was really shocking and didn't set the mood very well for our night. First impressions were not great.

Now the food... was so disappointing. The 'sourdough' bread with the soup was not sourdough at all. Ths scotch egg starter was not runny and was overcooked. I had the duck, which was very chewy (could have done with a steak knife) and with juniper sauce which just didn't compliment it. My partner had the Tomahawk steak with 'twice cooked' chips, May I add the chips were undercooked and obviously frozen. The steak came with a couple of mushrooms and tomatoes... if you went to a Tomahawk restaurant you could pay the same price and get a lot better!! Seemed to us like the chef was lazy and didn't care. For the price you pay you'd expect a lot more attention to detail. Seemed very half arsed.

Even the drinks... old fashioned cocktail on menu said it comes with 'burnt twist of orange peel' quite laughable when it came with just an orange slice. Minimal effort.

The service... wasn't actually slow as other reviews say but it was a quiet night. We had about 4 different waiters/waitresses which just didn't work as they were tripping on each others toes. No steak knife given, and small details were just not picked up on. Lots of empty drinks on the table throughout our meal, staff seemed very nervous and unattentive as if they weren't sure what they were doing. It didn't feel like anybody paticularly cared either as if you were an inconvenience being there and they just wanted to go home.

The setting for this place is beautiful but it's a shame they seem to be relying on that. In terms of restaurants it is expensive and needs to live up to expectations. You do not get what you pay for.

The first time I came here 2 / 3 years ago I never thought I'd be writing such things!! What's changed? If there is a new chef as previous reviews state, he should alter the menu to his expertise making it his own. As people say... everyone through the door should be treat as if they were a food critic. God help this place if that ever...

I am so disappointed to be writing this. I have wanted to visit the tree house for so long. My birthday was in June and my partner said he would take me but i specifically wanted to go at Xmas time hence last weekend. I was so excited and the walk through the gardens to the tree house did not disappoint at this time of year it is especially beautiful. We had a lovely surprise when we arrived as my brother had a bottle of red wine sent to the table. The evening at this point was perfect. The staff where very attentive and we chose our food......OMG The night took a turn for the worst to say the least..... Starters: My partner ordered Prawn cocktail, it was served in a cereal bowl with chopped apple and it was literally 'find the prawn', in among a runny sauce. I ordered the terrine, it was served accompanied with a sad excuse for salad and was like a piece of rubber with no taste whatsoever. Main: How can anyone get a Xmas Dinner so wrong - one piece of broccoli (no other vegetables) a piece of dry turkey which actually looked like a pork chop, two pieces of stuffing, a few overcooked roast potatoes and two small under cooked parsnips - disgusting. My partner ordered the burger (not one for dinners) but it was supposed to be a speciality burger - All I can say is after looking at his face and sampling a piece of the burger we both came to the conclusion there was definately nothing special - dry and tasteless and served on a cheap bread bun with very little garnish. However, he did say the chips where ok but no better than what we would have got from a take-away. We were so overwhelmed by the situation that we sent for the Manager who was so apologetic and spent the next 20 minutes or so apologising to us. We stressed that we could not eat this food as it was unacceptable and we where not looking for a discount but felt we needed to make it clear that the food was simply awful on every level. We were however offered a 25% discount as that was all she was 'authorised' to give us ( made me wonder how often this happened) All in all an awful experience and it totally spoiled...

Went for a late lunch with my partner, staff were either lovely in every way (thank you to the woman dealing with our table, you truly were the most redeeming feature of the restaurant) or didn't want to be there. We arrived a few minutes early to our 2:30 lunch, were seated quickly and told water would be with us soon... Ten minutes later, as we ordered our food we also requested some water, the waitress was more than happy to bring us some in about 30 seconds upon the request. We ordered a main and dessert each, part of the set two course lunch. Then we waited. And waited. And watched the table that arrived after us get served. And waited. My partner spent most of the waiting period being put off by the visitors peering through the small glass to see what was inside. It was a little bit intrusive. And then we asked if they knew how long the order would take as it had been 50 minutes. Head of house came over to apologise, was interrupted by the arrival of food, but dealt with the issue superbly and apologised. I ordered the mussels and we had to bring a menu up online as the Chips and salad had been forgotten. I again had to ask the waitress where my food was, she was lovely, apologised although it probably wasn't her fault, and brought the rest of my food quickly. Food was good but not great. Then we ordered dessert. I put a timer on as a joke and it took 11 minutes for the desserts from ordering. We were so late there was a couple organising their wedding as we left the restaurant gone 4. We were in the restaurant for over an hour and a half, most other we saw ordering two courses were there a much more appropriate time; about an hour if that.

The restaurant is gorgeous, quirky and has a lovely atmosphere. The chairs are uncomfortable, the staff are either great or dire, the mains were nice but desserts were better. The front of house are clearly use to slow production of food as they dealt with it well. It only stays open as most customers are one time tourists. Service wouldn't be tolerated in a local establishment feeding...