Ernest Cafe Bar — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

TLDR

Have the kebab, get cocktails, skip the cheeseboard and men make sure to use accessible toilet.

Nice place,

Lovely service. Had the cheeseboard and some bread.

So, I see you Ernest, I see what you and a thousand other indipendant, hip, selfie friendly bars / restaurants are doing. The onis felt more on pretty food than it did on familiar food.

We ordered cheese and crackers to experience exactly that, what we got was a melody of unfamiliar tastes and slightly disjointed placements.

Ordered portion of bread, it was toast, it had a ramakin too small to dip with.

Just to get this straight, the food is good, the quality, the obvious "artisanal" nature of it all was lovely, but nothing you wouldn't expect from a hip place in the Ousborne.

Why did I get hardened seed thins rather than crackers? Why was there nuts in a pool of syrup too sticky to pick up and too small to get with a fork ? Why was there a "relish" that tasted about three steps from a burger sauce and ten away from some nice chutneys? Why was the hummus used as a frame for black sesame seeds ?

It all felt a little bit too focused on what it looks like for Instagram.

Again, not bad food by any stretch, but if you go, get the kebab and not the cheeseboard, it ain't what you want.

Mens toilets are a bit naff too, sinks so small you can't wash hands without touching the bottom of the sink in a room that smells like urine, lovely when you are eating finger food.

Cocktails were AMAZING.

Food 6/10 Drinks...

I was always a fan of Ernest before I found out i'm Coeliac as they're dog friendly and have good vegetarian options. However i wouldn't recommend them if you have allergies/dietary requirements as their staff definitely need better training in that. I called ahead before going there to ask if they can cater for coeliacs and was told that they can. When I got there I told them I'm coeliac and asked what I can order on the menu and was told most things can be made gluten free. I asked if I can order the vegan breakfast, the server checked with the kitchen and came back and said it's fine except the sausages. I double checked if the vegan bacon is ok as it's normally not, and also that everything is prepared separately from gluten containing food, and they said 'yes'. When the meal came i checked again with the server if it's gluten free and they said 'yes'. However, I recognised the brand of bacon and happen to know that I can't eat that one, and told them it has gluten in it. The server said it doesn't so I asked him to check the packaging again and he went to the kitchen and when he returned said that it has a 'may contain gluten' warning on it and asked 'how bad the allergy is'. He then also told me that they can't guarantee anything anyway as there's gluten in the kitchen. Unfortunately you can't tell coeliacs you can cater for them if you're not controlling for cross contamination in the kitchen. We left and ate elsewhere. They did at least apologise and didn't charge us...

Got an allergy? Don't bother

Came from breakfast, placed an order, let them know of my food allergy (just incase) the menu was 'tagged up' with allergy info and my dish had non of the allergen in it, so all good, or at least normally...

15 minutes later a member of staff came to ask more about my allergy, which turned into a 10 minute back and forth between myself and the chef, ultimately they refused to serve me any food, "just incase" despite my allergy not being high risk.

At this point they asked my partner if she would still like her meal - which of course wasn't going to happen at this point, I prefer eating to watching others eat!

As this was now about 25 minutes after the initial order we were halfway through our drinks, which they made us pay for and then we left... Half hearted apology.

While I understand them not wanting to take a risk, if they're that unconfident in their ability to prep a meal safely, why have allergens on your menu and ask for dietary info, they'd be better off saying "got an allergy? Don't come here".

I'm sure they feel they were being reasonable, but they don't know my allergy or the severity, but if everywhere played the "may contain" card to this extent, I'd never eat out the house.

Not the servers fault, but the kitchen/chef could have spoke to me face to face and maybe the situation would be different.

Assume this review will make little difference to how they conduct themselves in the future in this situation - but oh well, won't...