La Cucina Lounge.Deli — Restaurant in Gateshead

Needs a better eat-in setup

The food was great but while we were sat eating we had people all around us queuing and waiting for collection so felt like animals in a zoo really...

I had the Al Capone burger which was nicely assembled and cooked well. The pulled brisket was more like pastrami though. The chicken tenders were good but could have been crispier. I was disappointed that I had to pay extra for a dip and not only that, I paid for 2 because the server misheard me changing my choice... No other sauces are offered (e.g. ketchup, mayo, BBQ) and I had to ask for napkins.

Definitely somewhere I'll try again due to the vast menu but I'll try to pick a quieter time.

Next visit: Great food but still not met my high expectations...

To my word I visited during a quieter time than the last time so had a much better eating experience. The chicken tenders were much more enjoyable this time around too. They were proper strips rather than large breast pieces. Super crispy and tasty and went nicely with the brisket gravy dip which was quite salty but that's not a bad thing in my opinion! It did seem like basic granulated stuff though and I expected some sort of brisket remnants.

I went for the 'What a Whoppa' burger this time which was cooked nicely and assembled with care too. Great flavour from the patties but it felt like a higher quality big mac really. The bun was good quality but needed toasting and buttering because it was quite dry and plain. Some bacon might have elevated the burger a bit.

I'll visit try again in the future I'm sure, and hopefully experience a burger that is a pleasing to eat as it looks on...

Rang up on Friday to order for work end of term for 9 people. Asked for collection for 11.30 and was told that was fine. When colleague went to collect they were told it hadn’t started being cooked and they knew nothing about the order. Colleague waiting for 30 minutes and asked it if was nearly ready and was told ‘it’ll be a few minutes we are busy.’ Food was finally ready for 12.20 and handed her with ‘there you go’ no apology for waiting. I rang up to find out what had happened with order and their attitude was shocking. Lady answered the phone and couldn’t understand why I was annoyed she said ‘well the girl who collected would have got an apology when yous got your food’ to which I told her she didn’t. She then very loudly said to her work colleague ‘I’ve got someone on the phone complaining that there food wasn’t ready she’s being horrible someone else can speak to her.’ I’m assuming the manageress took over phone call and asked what happened I started by telling her I’d heard everything that lady had said and as a business they need to accept criticism or complaints and she said she wasn’t talking about me…she was. She did apologise and explained it was busy with Christmas rush and people had been rude to staff etc but attitude was very much ‘well you got your food’ yes I got my food but due to arranging lunches some of us got it 2 hours after we ordered and it was cold. Food -...

My husband and I visited here at the end of June after several recommendations.

The business is split between two halves- one is the deli/restaurant side, the other is cake dedicated.

We made our way to the deli at around 11.30 which was good timing as 10 minutes later there was a queue out of the door.

I went for chicken tenders- you'll never change me- at £6 for 3 tenders plus £3.50 for fries. The tenders were gorgeous, wonderfully seasoned and battered. The fries were a let down, really over salty and over paprika-ed which made them genuinely inedible. I did think maybe it was because I was feeling rubbish after my wrist injections so took them away, air fried them and still couldn't stand them so they went in the bin :-(

More positively- husband had the Grilled Shawama and said it was beautiful and perfectly cooked. The service was absolutely fantastic as well.

We popped into the dessert shop to take some stuff back home. They were definitely on the "Dubai Chocolate" theme- even things that looked like pure chocolate had pistachio within. The brownies we took away were incredible but at £5 a pop felt a bit overpriced. I've probably been spoilt by my local desserts being £3-3.50 mind!

I think this is somewhere we would revisit if we were already nearby, but not somewhere we'd go out of our way to choose over...