The Staiths Cafe — Restaurant in Gateshead

The cafe has great views if you manage to grab a table in outdoor area but overall quite overrated. Service was chaos when I visited, which understandably happens at times. So I (along with half dozen other customers) waited patiently for our drinks (after queuing close to 10mins to order) while the staff simultaneously tried to sort out kitchen backlogs and front of the house issues with little success. After 12 mins of waiting in front of the drinks counter (you have to pick up your drinks separately) I received a barely lukewarm coffee with atleast 8 people still queued after me. I chose not to return the coffee as I had run out of patience by then.

I then waited at my table for a further 20 mins for the food. The food was good, fresh ingredients and served warm. However it took another 5 mins to source the salt and pepper as staff had eyes for no one but their own back of the kitchen issues. Frankly I was relieved in the end to have finished my meal and walked out of there. I wanted to try their cakes on display (they looked lush) but decided not to push my luck. I wasn't ready for another round of endless queuing with repeatedly being told 'it's a busy...

Having heard many great things about this place and never having visited despite it being on my doorstep for a few years, finally got round to visiting for breakfast on a Sunday morning.

Had not realised it was so popular that almost every table was pre-reserved, but managed to find a small space upstairs for our group of 4 (plus a child)

It was very busy, but service was quick, efficient and friendly. Coffee was pretty good, as was the homemade granola and yoghurt I had, topped with apple. Wouldn't say it was the greatest, but it was pleasant enough. There's a good selection of freshly made cakes and treats on the counter and having been designated to place the order, it was impossible to resist once I saw those! The blueberry muffin was delicious!

Overall, we thought it was pretty good, though maybe on the expensive side for what you get, so a bit of a mixed bag. We'll likely come back again and try the offering at a different time of day before making our minds up.

Note that the parking isn't great if you're driving, as it is in a...

Just paid £30+ for a cold full English, cold eggy sourdough covered in burnt bits off the griddle with a side of rotten avocado and rock hard bacon. The same server passed us with our food 3 times even though our table number was clearly on show and I actually told her it was probably ours the first time she passed. When we finally got our food we then had to wait for sauces (pre ordered with our food) and cutlery - this took two trips for some reason. The tables are also filthy, like the type of dirt that's sticky because its been there a while.

Give your griddle and tables a good clean daily/inbetween service and when customers are ordering ask which area they're sitting, for example upstairs, downstairs or on the terrace and have a cutlery/sauce station for customers to get what they need after they order. Oh and don't serve rotten food.

I know a Saturday morning will be very busy for you guys but there is absolutely no excuse for how bad our experience was today. It's also not the first time we've been left disappointed after visiting....