Blackfriars Restaurant — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

We had our wedding ceremony and daytime at Blackfriars this summer and I’d absolutely recommend them to anyone.

Throughout the whole process Laura has been excellent, super organised and helpful whenever we had questions or anything like that. She really took a lot of stress off our plate and knowing she was only ever a quick email or phone call away was great.

On the day itself the master of ceremony, Daniel, was a delight. Our day didn’t exactly go to plan, we ended up starting way later and the times getting thrown off thanks to the taxi leaving without the bride and a replacement never being sent leading to a march through Newcastle, but they handled this well and happily shuffled everything without complaint.

On their part, the day was run so smoothly, food was all brought out in good time (which was delicious and we’ve had so many positive comments about the meal since, especially the vegan option), people’s wine glasses were always getting topped up (particularly the bride and groom’s by Dan), and bar service was fast. Other members of staff quietly handled little issues that came up, for example, Hayley helped one guest who’d misplaced the grooms cufflinks find them quietly. The office staff were also great, another guest commented how helpful Lauren was when they were trying to sort something. Basically, the whole venue was professional and treated us very well. If you have visited the venue at all you know how nice it is already, but the photographs we have look amazing and that’s in no small part due to the venue looking as great as it does!

We didn’t have our evening at Blackfriars as we needed somewhere with a lot more capacity and the contrast between the two venues cannot be understated. The professionalism and ease of service at Blackfriars was in a different league and it became even clearer how well versed these staff are at putting on an amazing wedding.

The two of us had also been here for other things, including whisky tasting, wine tasting, wreath making and some meals; how much we enjoyed those events led us to picking it as our wedding venue. I’m more than happy to recommend Blackfriars no matter if it’s for a wedding or something smaller, we’ve always had a...

Despite the drinks and ambiance initially drawing me to Blackfriars Restaurant, my experiences there were ultimately disappointing, leading me to visit twice in hopes of a better outcome. Unfortunately, the service was consistently subpar, making both visits unpleasant.

On my first visit, I was told the restaurant was fully booked for the entire night. This seemed odd, so I checked online and found that there were still seats available. It felt like they didn't want to serve us, but we decided to book a table for later that same day. When I returned and presented my booking, we were seated, but the experience left a bitter taste.

Determined to give them another chance, I booked in advance for my second visit. Though I was assigned an indoor seat, which was acceptable, I noticed several garden seats becoming available and requested a move. We were reluctantly placed at the only garden table without a parasol, despite the unpredictable, rainy weather. When it began to rain again, we asked to move to a nearby table with a parasol. The waitress appeared visibly annoyed and responded with a poor attitude.

As if this weren't enough, when we asked for the bill after finishing our drinks, the waiter who brought it over unceremoniously threw it on the table before leaving without a word. This level of rudeness was astonishing and completely uncalled for.

While Blackfriars boasts commendable drinks and a pleasant ambiance, the service leaves much to be desired. Both visits were marred by unprofessional behavior and a lack of basic courtesy, which overshadowed the potential of what could have been enjoyable dining experiences. I cannot recommend this restaurant until they address and improve their...

The restaurant itself was very beautiful, we arrived on time and were taken straight to our table. I loved the decor!

Unfortunately, the service was very poor. The order itself was taken relatively quickly, however, it didn’t go through the first time and wasn’t picked up until we had been waiting 30 minutes. The waiter took our order again and the food came within 10 minutes. Thankfully we weren’t too hungry. I ordered a gin with soda water from the drinks menu however I couldn’t taste any gin. I appreciate this is very difficult to prove as a customer. It’s an easy mistake to make In a busy restaurant! However, the bottled water is filtered tap water in Blackfriars’s refillable glass bottles. I appreciate we are in difficult times but please don’t charge £3.5 per bottle of water. It’s very insulting to your customers.

Starter - I had goat's cheese, walnut and beetroot which was tasty but appeared very basic. I love food but that did look and taste like well-presented packaged food. My partner had soup which was very nice with potato bhaji.

Main- Sunday dinner was very beautiful I have no faults here, very tasty.

Pudding - The treacle tart was not to my taste. There was no mention of it containing orange on the menu. If you love marmalade you would enjoy this desert. My partner had the Dark chocolate delicé with salt caramel ice cream which appeared very well presented.

When it came to paying, it was around closing at but 2 members of staff walked past my partner when he was trying to pay, this is not acceptable no matter the time of day!

Overall we were both very disappointed, I will not be trying the winter al la carte menu or recommending this restaurant to my...