ABOVE — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

Without a doubt a truly unique venue, beautiful decor and the panoramic vistas of Newcastle are stunning, having been here a few times now, i can honestly say on an evening this venue comes into it's own, the lighting and views are just stunning. Sadly that's where the good points of thos review ends. This is definately a place for a one off visit, cant see anyone who is even vaguely discerning about service, wanting to return here again and again!! The reception girl and blonde bouncer on the ground floor, made our arrival the most unwelcoming I've had from any venue, seeming more into each other on our arrival than in acknowledging and welcoming any guests. It was a Monday night and I was celebrating my 50th birthday, with another couple, i was holding balloons. No hello, no politeness, no happy birthday, no smile just an utterly dead pan personalityless "have you booked?" To which I replied no " do we need to on a Monday night?" The bouncers attitude was obnoxious and judgemental, ((he rather indignantly judged and refused my daughters bf for his choice of trousers. So they had to leave my 50th bday and wait for us elsewhere- After checking the dress code, what can you expect from a bar that allows "designer baseball caps and trainers (like the ballenciaga they show in their website) but doesnt allow sportswear. I'm all for smart but cmon! )) Upstairs, the venue was empty except for a table of 10 and 2 couples. With 4 staff inside, no one greeted or welcomed us as we stepped out, we stood awhile, they had seen us, but noone approached so we just wandered over to the balcony ourselves, as I Passing a staff member on the way, I had to ask, is it waiter service? Once out we sat for ages before a staff member came again to ask us again "have you booked, then asked our name?" (wed given it to the very unwelcoming receptionist downstairs) we finally had our order taken, No one came near us again for over 40 minutes, then when they did we asked for the bill. A further 15minutes passed, we didnt gey the bill , we couldnt wait any longer so we approached the bar ourselves where 3 members of staff were grouped and talking. Service is a venues biggest and most unique point, theres only so long you can trade off a view, especially with mediocre cocktails at £13.50 each, if a bar cant give good service at 9pm on a monday night, when you're empty, to 4 50 yr olds, you're stuffed! The only saving grace was the small dark haired waitress, (canadian/usa accent?) Who saw my balloons and wished me a happy birthday. We came to Above to finish the night off after 7 of us ate at Aveika their sister restaurant. Whilst Aveika food was a delight, the service wasnt any better. a dire experience saved only by the views. I do hope the Gainford group use the mandatory 12.5% service charge they added to our Above bill (part of the T&Cs) and the £340 we spent between Above & Aveika to invest in training for these young hospitality robots. Rock star prices, def not rock...

Went for afternoon tea booked on line after a lot of research and paid in full. This was booked well in advance for my sisters birthday. On arival you walk in to an empty building past an empty welcome destination and let yourself in to a lift marked only by a door mat all other doors are locked. Rather creepy set up. I'm not a fan of lifts and lack of signs or staffed welcome desk made this feel worse. Arrive to a rather trippy fairground magic mirrors type room. So many mirrors and reflective surfaces make it hard to see where you are going. Tried to explain afternoon tea was pre booked but not sure if staff knew this and weren't clear or didn't have a clue we were just told to pick a table which we did. Views are nice but no atmosphere some background music or something would be good. Service at this point did kmprove slightly with a lady advising we could add a prosecco or cocktail to our afternoon tea for a small surcharge, lovely. I pointed out dietary requirements on the afternoon tea as had been noted on the booking form. After a rather long wait it turned out this had been forgotten so further delays on service. The worst was yet to come. After finishing I requested the bill. Expecting aprox £11 for the one mock tail and one glass of prosecco we had added. The bill arrived at £44 this was the full advertised cost of afternoon tea plus drinks. I explained I had already paid on booking at which point I was told this is a deposit. The website has very well hidden small print you'd never seen on booking stating this. I asked to speak to the manager and showed her the screen I'd booked on. She told me I should have booked on a computer and laughed it off. Not wanting to ruin my sisters birthday I paid kicking myself fir using a mobile and left. When I got home I checked the booking on the computer this also hides the small print. I've asked multiple friends to check the prices at Above and every single one has come to the same conclusion I did that its £15 pp. I emailed Above to explain this and was dismissed made to feel like an idiot. This is illegal false advertising and absolutely disgusting behaviour. They are scaming customers by hiding important information. The venue really is nothing special and a sandwich with the crust cut off and a scone is not worth best part of £40 scammers...

Posting this on google as a review as I received no response when I contacted the venue directly!

Recently I have twice attempted to come to Above for some drinks with friends and I have been turned away both times. On the website it states that they are open all week, but despite this we were informed by door staff on a Thursday that they were ‘closed’ upon our arrival (approximately 10pm), even though we could clearly see two young girls and couple of lads waiting in front of us past the bouncers who had been deemed ‘acceptable’ to be allowed in. Upon questioning why the venue was closed so early I was told the same again and that we would have to go somewhere else. Additionally on the following Saturday I made another attempt to visit Above and we were met with a similar attitude from the door staff, only this time asking us if we had a booking and that we could not go in without one - even though it clearly states on their website that this is merely advice and not a condition of entry.

On both of these occasions when approaching the entrance to the venue, the door staff gave off a very hostile energy, like we were doing something wrong in attempting to enter the venue. I hate to pull this card, but based upon my interactions with the door staff I genuinely feel that their attitude was due to us being a clearly gay group. The way we were dismissed and the fact we could see people who looked more ‘straight’ being allowed in, is to me disgusting and the idea that this kind of intolerance exists in 2022 is unacceptable.

I don’t plan on returning to Above for a third attempt at entry as I have too much self respect to grant their door staff another opportunity to exercise their bigotry and reduce us to nothing more than outdated stereotypes - however I have decided to write this review as a means of enlightening the public on what to expect if...