City Tavern — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

Chose here with 2 older teens as we've been before and enjoyed the food. Was handy for a gig at Northumbria. Very disappointed. Booked a table over the automated phone service for 6.45 and there was nothing to indicate that was the last session. When we arrived there was no visible 'wait here to be seated' sort of thing so we approached the bar. Had to wait to be served to ask about our table. Busy Saturday night and not fun jostling with drunk women going to an 80s disco at the City Hall. Was asked to order drinks to keep us at the bar while a table became free. We just wanted to be at our table and not stood at the bar. Eventually seated and informed kitchen closed at 7 so to be quick ordering! And then given a list of things not available! When the waitress left the couple at the table next to us said 'heads up there's also no...' and complained they'd not had the dessert they wanted either. We ordered and the wait was not too long but food was distinctly average. Burger looked ok but fish and chips deep fried to destruction. We did try to order a dessert. Just an ice cream sundae figuring we'd booked a table within their time window but were told nope kitchen closed can't get anything. Also in the ladies loos at least 2 cubicles had no lock on the door and they were busy so lasses were being walked in on. How hard is it to have working locks? I understand that this is an 'on the way to an event' pub but if you have a table open at 6.45 you should have the kitchen open long enough for that table to enjoy a full meal. Also would have been nice to sit upstairs where it seemed more civilised for a meal than in the scrum downstairs. Won't be back. Especially...

Me and my partner decided to try eating at this place as the building looked lovely. We went in and there were a few people seating at tables. We looked at the menu and went to the bar area to see how we would go about ordering food etc. Waited about ten minutes, walking up stairs and down stairs to find a staff member. Couldn’t find any so, we left. We can can back another day as we had a bit more time. This was after a long day at work so we were both really hungry. Walked to the bar area where there was a staff member who was doing his best to ignore us. We managed to catch the attention of a staff member passing by and asked him how to order. He said that if they had time we could get some table service, if not, order at the bar. We asked the bar staff who said he was busy at the moment, and would come to our table. We walked upstairs and got a table. Both members of staff passed our table three times ignoring us. After 20 minutes the bar staff member passed us and said ‘you might want to come to the bar if you want to order food, as I am busy’ His attitude was like he was doing us a favour. We put our coats on, and as we walked out, the bar staff member was busy chatting to a table of people with his arms folded, and he quickly avoided eye contact as we walked out. It is a real shame, as the place looks amazing, but you cannot treat customers like that and expect your business to thrive. You should be ashamed....

Where to start for a nightmare review... Well, if £5.25 for a pint of Cider wasn't enough for you, how about you try £5 for a simple pint of lager and lemondade shandy... And that's with the CHEAPEST lager, when asked which I wanted. Then we were told "as it was late in the day (it was 7pm on a Saturday evening!!) they couldn't hand out the full menus" so it was the nibbles table mini-chalk board bar bites only. Aside from the fact that such a tiny range meant there was nothing I liked, the portions (my wife picked large) wouldn't feed an infant. Oh, and werr far from cheap too! Then, as an aside, but still in relation to service nevertheless, the mobile signal was patchy, so I tried to log in to their WiFi so I could let other friends know we were the first to arrive (we had a friend visiting from Germany). The named WiFi network supplied couldn't even be SEEN by my phone though, and when I asked, was told "ah yes, the WiFi is very patchy this part of the bar, and doesn't reach... " Well please take the wifi code slips off our particular tables then, if it doesn't work in this part of the bar!

Overall, I'd give it a zero, but the lowest I can choose is a single star. It's a good job the night wasn't totally ruined, by at least seeing old friends, not seen in a long time, to salvage something from it.

Though all of the above absolutely rained on our special reunion night. I'll not be back...