Barluga — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

Dreadful and disappointing. We are frequent customers bringing both business colleagues , employees and family for networking and celebrations. On this occasion it was to celebrate my wife's birthday together with our 2 children ( in their 30s) and we do this every year this week. Last year we were allocated the most ridiculous small round table only suitable for 2 diners. I made my feelings known however this fell on deaf ears by the tall bald manager who didn't seem to care. So this year I specifically booked over 4 weeks ago and requested to have a larger table on the upper floor. We always make a special day of it having a bottle of Lauren perrier and a dozen oysters to start, a 3 courcs meal, wine and cocktails so the postage stamp of a table is impossible. Anyway satisfied that I had booked a proper and suitable table on this occasion we were looking forward to the day. However on arrival the very same tall bald fella began to show us to the VERY SAME tiny table we had last time!!, on telling him what I had booked and expected he just shrugged his shoulders and told me we could not go upstairs and that is all they had. I expressed my dissatisfaction politely and was then offered a bigger table however this was in the middle of the bar area and right next to the entrance door. Subsequently we had to concede to have the tiny 2 seater table for the 4 of us and make the best of a bad job. This is where the fun began as we had to completely clear the table putting condiments, bottles etc on the floor so we could fit plates of food on the table ( inc our champagne bucket which subsequently got knocked over spilling a quarter of a bottle over the carpet). Madness!!!. The food was generally OK, however EVERY one of the oysters had grit and bits of shell in them. We did not bother with desert as we were all so deflated at this point. We paid the bill(gave our server a generous cash tip as she did her very best to cheer us up) and left for more drinks elsewhere. We will never be returning in any capacity. BAR LUGA sort yourself out otherwise you will be losing many more customers in these...

Visited on 12/6/21 for 15th wedding anniversary, booking was made on 14/4/21, 2 months in advance.

I arrived promptly for my booking and was sat at possibly the worst table that Barluga have, under the stairs and there were staff constantly walking past us. I requested to be moved to another table & explained that I had requested a nice table due to it being a special occasion, which was stated at the time of the booking. I was told by the greeter he would see what he could do. I wasn’t entirely convinced he was going to try, due to his lack of customer service skills when he spoke to us. After a while had past we spoke to the waiter and he very kindly moved us to a better table. We ordered more drinks & when my Prosecco arrived it was warm. At that point we made the decision to leave.

I have spent many a night at Bar Luga but feel after my recent experience I would be unlikely to return. I booked the table 2 months in advance & I’m assuming that it could not have been the last table available. What is the point of asking if it is a special occasion if these notes aren’t considered when allocating...

Went with 2 friends today/ one vegan and she ordered vegan pie, I ordered chicken pie and other friend ordered fish. She got my pie and I got vegan. I chose not to have line replaced as I had already lost appetite and didn’t want to wait any longer to eat .the fish was good, the replaced vegan pie was good, I did without anything. If it had been busy, mistakes happen and are easily explained. When it’s quiet, no real excuses especially when really with vegan meals. My friends had come from Huddersfield and I’d said how nice it was so after the mistake I felt like an idiot for vouching for the place. Everything was dealt with quickly but I felt there wasn’t exactly a decent apology for the error. It’s put me off going back or referring which is a shame as I’ve been using the place for 15 years plus. Mistakes happen but shouldn’t when dealing with vegan meals but when they do, at least apologies enough to be sincere. Such a shame to get such a lack of care after a long term user of...