Aveika — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

A sushi "restaurant" inspired by the NBA and MTV. Very rarely do I feel unsettled enough not to tip but I only tipped here out of pitty for the waiting staff. Without the unbearably loud music, I would have half expected Michael Jordan himself, to make an appearance as the waiters squeaked around the restaurant slamdunking orders left right and centre (perhaps some slight hyperbole with that last reference). They appeared rushed off their feet and this is perhaps why after waiting so long, I poured my personal waterbottle into a glass so as not to feel awkward. Went here in Restaurant Week after having not visited for years.I thought it was just that I had a headache after a long day, but the music was so loud and only made it worse. Despite this, there was a darkness to tne restaurant and the red stage lights gave off a nostalgic feeling of returning to the womb - not sure if this is what they were going for. The restaurant had a strange mix of guests: families with strollers and young people dressed in what I will respectfully refer to as "nightclub wear" - perhaps this just isn't the "restaurant" for me anymore.

The table was against a wall and in a walkway where if myself or anyone else leaned back in their seat, guests were walking into us on their way in/out. Food was okay as is any food, and I am grateful that I am of the small percentage in the developing world that can complain. When Aveika first opened however, it felt like an authentic Japanese restaurant that served delicious food. This felt like fast food sushi served in what I can only imagine was the closest thing to a nightclub. I asked for chopsticks and the waitress gave me disposable ones in a plastic packet to replace the fork she had given me to eat my sushi and salmon. Both dishes were small and my main course was dry and cold. The jasmine rice was as expected but the whole dish was no better than what a university friend could whip together in her student kitchen (no offense to her but she did admit that she was new to cooking at the time). Perhaps she should open a "restaurant" or "Pan Asian sit down night club". I am not usually one to complain but have done so in the hope that people do not waste their money. I did not order dessert to avoid further...

We might as well have been invisible the service was so poor, took ages to take orders, even longer for drinks to arrive and it felt like we were an inconvenience for the staff. Food seemed to take an age to come and the crackers that were suggested to us to keep us going till the food arrived, arrived with the food! Food wasn't bad in terms of flavours however some were tepid as though it had been left out for a while and portion sizes for some dishes not great considering the price. It was a bizarre setting, felt more like we were in a nightclub at the end of the night, not many dining, loud music from the bar was all we could hear, aircon on full blast meant we kept jackets on throughout the meal. Toilets in a very poor state. Someone who appeared to be a supervisor or perhaps manager eventually came with the bill (when he found time between conversations with others in the bar/restaurant) and didn't ask us how our food/experience was. We all paid separately and opted not to pay the huge service charge put on our bill, but later that night got an email to say we'd were short and they'd taken more from the card used to book. It left a bitter taste as we would never knowingly under pay and every one of us had handed a card to him to take payment - perhaps if he'd been paying more attention instead of breaking off to talk to people in the bar he would have realised his error. Instead he walked off without further acknowledgement and we were left none the wiser that 1 card had not been charged (until we checked bank accounts following the email). All in all, not one of our group will be back and would recommend no one else does either. For reference, we've been meeting as a group for weekends away all over the country for over 10 years and of the many meals we've booked, we've never had such a terrible...

I’ve never been so disappointed in a restaurant in my life. My friend and I visited yesterday- Sunday, February 9th, late afternoon and we were literally the only customers in the entire restaurant. The waitress, a young oriental/asian woman took our order. Every exciting sushi roll had meat or seafood in it, so I asked if they could leave out the prawn in one of them or substitute it with a vegetable or tofu, etc.. She didn’t even bother asking the sushi chef who was within short walking distance from our table and simply said no. The only roll she offered me was one with asparagus and carrots. I was shocked since every single sushi restaurant I’ve been to before would easily leave out or substitute ingredients in a roll to accommodate their customers. The fact that she didn’t even bother asking the sushi chef and was cold and abrupt with me when I requested one small thing, showed me how much she cared about customers. I was left eating an asparagus and carrot roll which I could have made at home. The rolls were also expensive for the portions and ingredients compared to other sushi restaurants. The sushi chef was very nice, so I wish I spoke with him directly and just avoided the unhelpful waitress. I only left a tip for the sushi chef. Please, if you want to keep customers, hire staff that want to accommodate them and put sushi rolls on your menu that are exciting for all of your customers including vegans and vegetarians. You used to have roasted aubergine sushi rolls but removed them from your menu for some reason. Is it that difficult to put a sweet potato tempura and avocado roll on your menu? Please make your restaurant more vegetarian or vegan friendly when it comes to...