Brizzolari’s — Restaurant in Gateshead

Under new management and recently refurbished, this gem sparkled from day one, and has continued to do so for each of my 3 visits, either of which would have been worthy of 5 stars without hesitation.

First visit, king prawns in garlic and chilli butter, Fillet steak, swapping out the chips for truffle fries, peppercorn sauce.

Everything beautifully cooked, service and atmosphere to match, 5 stars.

Second visit, meatball starter, chicken Kiev, I can’t get passed the truffle fries, I think they’ll be a feature every time I visit.

Again, 5 stars for the reasons given earlier, I’d add more stars were it possible, as one of our group cleaned his plate, unheard of.

Third visit, Mushroom and tarragon soup, a pizza from the ‘specials’ offering, sausage meat, Mascarpone, and jalapeños.

The last time I tasted mushroom soup this good was from a starred restaurant as part of a lockdown set menu, and I paid a lot more for it.

The pizza too is worthy of further discussion, as the sausage meat was home made, well seasoned and flavoured with fennel.

Whether you want coffee and cake, a quick bite to eat, or a full on feast, this restaurant offers it all.

You could (as we do) even discuss at length how the dishes could be replicated at home, good luck with that though, as if I live to 100 my mushroom soup will never taste as good.

Other things to note:

Assistance dogs welcomed; Great choice of wine at reasonable prices, even by the glass, the Sicilian red is outstanding; There’s beer for the beer lover; Fabulous desserts, try the gelato; Proper coffee.

All round quality for a fair price, roll on visit number 4 and those...

Our family visited to celebrate our daughter's birthday on 10th May. We were the first to arrive but the restaurant soon filled up. We were greeted by a charming waiter who asked us about allergies and seated us straight away. There was a special chair for our 16 month old grandson. His 3 yr old brother was given a choice of colouring books to keep him busy. There was a good choice of food on the menu. My husband & I had the frutti di mare pizza which was delicious and piping hot. Our grandsons had spaghetti bolognese which was eaten very quickly. Our daughter had a pasta dish whilst our son in law had pizza. We were checked by the waitress to make sure everything was OK. We couldn't fault anything from staff to food. Very satisfied diners who will be back when we travel from Morecambe to visit our family....

If I were to leave just a few words, these would be: cosy, charming, delicious.

Past Wednesday was our first experience at Brizzolari's, and I was nervous. We were regulars in Saltimbocca, and I loved the soul and heart owners were putting in every detail. I wasn't disappointed at all! First class service, attentive, kind, warm. Food incredible, my risotto was perfect 👌 my husband's pizza was slightly burned from the bottom, but still delicious. Tiramisu was delicious; I'm not the best person to evaluate the dessert as I love them all 😊. Knowing the heart and soul are still there, we can't wait to go again! A bit of warning - we will be...