House of Tides — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

#food The first course served at the table came in three parts, all put in the centre (three of each). The first I tried was a small ice-cream cone containing liver parfait and sultanas, with a lovely mild curry flavour; the second a tiny macaron, described on the menu as, Carrot meringue, carrot curd, fennel pollen; the third a fresh oyster from the Holy Island of Lindisfarne with cucumber, ginger and ‘caviar’. All were lovely and exceptionally fresh tasting but I discovered for myself, that the order in which you eat them is important. I really wish I’d started with the oyster (the mildest of the three elements), then the parfait, finishing with the macaron.

Mackerel is a simple yet lovely fish, especially when served with something a little sour to cut through the oiliness of the fish itself. In this case the menu promised, Mackerel, artichoke, blackberry. Ok, so a tart blackberry should be a good foil to the oily mackerel but I was half way through before I realised there was nothing resembling a blackberry on my plate. Adam, who hadn’t served this course to us, explained that there had been a menu substitution consequently we had mackerel, apple and pickled radish before us. The pickled radish might’ve offered that sourness I was looking for but sadly, in reality, it didn’t. The tiny pieces of fish though were very yummy.

A little bit here about the service. I can’t abide an overly obsequious waiting style. It makes me feel guilty about the fact that someone is waiting on me. It’s opposite vice, indifference to the needs or wants of the diner, is equally abhorrent. The staff at House of Tides get it right in my view. They are attentive (wine glass always unobtrusively topped up), interested to know how we found the food and (apparently) keen to receive constructive criticism. ‘Our’ Adam in particular was invisible until we needed him, then unfailingly polite and scrupulously professional. He deserves to go far in his career.

Back to the food! Next up was the first of two meat courses; in this case, Venison tartare, beetroot, blueberries and kale. It was a suitably tiny portion, presented in a ‘pile’ on a dark plate. I was intrigued. Two flavours dominated – blueberry and deep fried kale. The kale was reminiscent of that so-called ‘seaweed’ you get from Chinese take-aways, which is deep fried shredded cabbage sprinkled with powdered scallops. I love it. For the life of me though, once I’d put that morsel of flavour into my mouth and a blueberry, I couldn’t distinguish the taste of the venison at all, nor indeed of the beetroot, which in my view should have provided an earthy flavour. I’m not sure what the solution to this is, but I hope my feedback makes them think again about this particular combination.

The lamb dish, which followed, did not have the same issues at all. The testimony to how much I loved this dish is that I didn’t stop eating it long enough to take a photograph! The menus told us it would be, Lamb, broccoli, tomato, radish, and so it was, but that’s only the start!!! The lamb was rump, tongue and sweetbreads. The rump was beautifully cooked, a vibrant reddish-pink colour and very flavoursome, however, the offal stole the day. Last time I had (veal) sweetbreads I really didn’t enjoy them and although I love eating cold pressed ox and pork tongue I’d never before eaten lamb tongue. The sweetbreads were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, with just enough firmness to allow you to bite into it before it started to dissolve. And so to the puddings. We next tucked into, Raspberry, lemon, pine nuts, which was in fact a light, sharp and delicious lemon posset with a pine nut crumble and raspberry sorbet on top. Heaven! The Pear, almond, ginger second pudding was equally delicious and light but by now the over-enthusiastic heating in the dining room was making us tired and longing for some...

Me and my friend went here to celebrate our birthdays chose our 7 course menu and ordered a bottle

The place stank of paint it was actually giving us a headache which we did mention to the waitress who then moved us to another table away from the freshly painted wall and over to a table right next to the waitress station where the waitresses were back and forth and practically stood over us whilst dining which made it an uncomfortable dining experience as you can imagine.

It then became worse when I was eating my starter of trout as I became aware that there was a massive long blonde hair in my food which I was disgusted at and horrified as the length of it I then told the waitress and she just looked at me and sheepishly and reluctantly took my plate from me and then brought back the same dish which as u can imagine I had been put off on finding this hair so I said I didn’t want a new one so she took it back. No one came over to check anything from then no apology was made which I found completely bizarre as a Michelin star restaurant should really pride themselves on customer service.

Then we were continuing our meal which I’m sorry but was below average I know fine dining is supposed to be small portions as have dined in many over the years but this was actually ridiculous but we carried on anyway in the hope the portions and food were to get better as the taste was quite bland and below standard.

Then the bill came the FULL bill with the added service charge added to it so we asked the waitesss to come over to explain we weren’t going to pay for my starter that had a hair in it and was quite shocked to be honest that we hadn’t been offered anything complimentary as compensation for the hair found, the waitress went and got the manager a woman and she said she’s sorry but all she can do is take the service charge off she then went on to say that no one in the kitchen has long hair the chefs I replied yes but the waitresses do it doesn’t matter then she said that the hair colour was auburn after putting it to a white paper which it definitely was not auburn she then tried to argue again saying it was my hair she then went on to say say we can argue about this all day but I’m sure you don’t want to make a scene then eventually said best I can do is knock ten pounds off the bill. The way she spoke to me incinuated she thought I had deliberately put the hair in myself which is absolutely absurd. She was condescending and patronising and made me feel so small with her tone of voice which really did ruin what was supposed to be a lovely evening at apparently one of Newcastle’s top restaurants.

On reflection me and my friend decided to ring up the next day and was told we would get a phone call back no one rang so we emailed again still nothing...?! The next week we got a phone call to say they would have to charge our card as we had not turned up for a reservation this was becoming a joke we explained we had already dined with them and they’ve even got the bookings mixed up! We were told again we would get a phone call back but instead we rang them and managed to speak to a kenny who I believe to be the owner the way he spoke to my friend was absolutely UNBELIVEABLE ! Saying young girls come in and try and put hairs in their food to get out of paying and it was not his staffs hair judging us on our appearance and stereotyping young women going there to dine he said that we should apologise to him aswell I couldn’t catch my breath at his responses all in all one of the WORST dining experiences of my life! Disgusted isn’t even a word to describe this place and it’s managers anyone who is planning on going I wouldn’t waste your money it’s over priced and doesn’t deserve the Mitchellin...

I have been looking forward to coming here for years. Having worked hospitality and eaten at a lot Michelin restaurants around the world, I had great expectations.

You go to restaurants like this for the experience - it’s about the ‘theatre’ - the attention to detail of the wait staff/service, the menu/food/flavours and of course the ambience.

While the food was lovely and the staff were friendly - I felt the restaurant doesn’t know what it is. I left feeling that it was a nice dinner - but not to the level that it sells itself as.

Service - there was a lack of attention to detail. For instance, we had to top our own water up, we had to ask what the dishes were that we were being served and no one thought about giving us our coats at the end of the night - we had to ask several staff. The prices paid at a restaurant like this, you just can’t switch off - which sadly happened on this Saturday night. Any other restaurant I wouldn’t care - but a Michelin restaurant I expect more.

Food - was lovely and very tasty. There were no flavours or combinations that I thought were life changing. There was no amuse-bouche - but the cod and beef were nice. The flavours of the cabbage side with the beef was the most memorable.

The wine list was fine - however it is served to you on an iPad which did kind of ruin the ambience of the dinner to look and scroll on an iPad.

Ambience - lovely old building - but again I felt there were simple wins that were missed. Staff didn’t split the tables up, so while the restaurant was only half full, they sat us all next to each other and left half of it empty which was odd. The music was also random. Billy Joel, modern pop and not what I would call background music.

Lastly, these restaurants tend to be for special occasion destinations. For us it was our 11 year anniversary. When you tell staff they usually make a fuss, or plate your desert with happy anniversary written in chocolate or something random. While it may feel naff - it is important to remember that restaurants like this specialise in ‘special occasion’ dinning. Again, even while knowing it was our anniversary I couldn’t help feeling a bit unloved because nothing was done to make us feel special at all. Not a big deal, but again this is not a normal restaurant, which is reflected in its price.

And then the bill came out with a £59 tip automatically put on it (15%). A bit excessive - I wouldn’t normally mind paying it if the service was great - but it was ordinary. I paid it anyway - but I did leave the night with a bad taste in my mouth.

So yeah all in all disappointing. If this was a restaurant like 21 - I wouldn’t haven’t have felt the same way - however I wouldn’t have just blowing £450 on a...