Lemon Tree Softplay Cafe — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

I'll start with the positives, it's nice to see a new softplay with new equipment that isn't run down, lovely colour palette and clean.

Unfortunately the baby area, isn't really a play area at all it's a tiny section with just a mushroom shape and a circle shape and a couple things on the wall that's actually too difficult to do for babies anyway so there's literally nothing for them to do. I prefer other soft plays where the baby area has a small slide, a small ball pit, rockers, building blocks, sensory toys. There are other soft plays in Newcastle that offer this and are cheaper. For this reason I've never wanted to return as I know there's nothing there for my little one to do.

The larger frame is also incredibly simplistic with a slide and that's almost it. Again, other soft plays at around the same price offer much more. For example, just take a short trip to Acorn & Oak, Hopscotch, Ace Playce, Round the Twist, instead. Similar pricing but much much more of offer.

It's a real shame as I do think Great Park really needed a play cafe or soft play. This place had so much potential but the soft play frames themselves are just far too plain and boring for kids. It would be great if the layout and items included could be reviewed to add more life and interest into the the softplay, I really think this would attract more people, as it seems quite empty a lot...

A brilliant soft play for our toddler who is starting to find her independence to play on her own or play with others. The space is so well thought out so that this can be encouraged while parents are close by, enjoying delicious treats, on hand to help little ones if they need anything.

We were lucky enough during one of our visits to enter and win a price draw for a birthday party for the venues one year anniversary. The staff were amazing pulling out all the stops to make sure we could have this for my daughters 2nd birthday which was soon after and we all had a brilliant time at the party. We had a mixture of ages from very little enjoying the baby area to 5-6 year olds who created games to enjoy or helped the little ones to get around the space. The picnic lunches were perfect for all and adults enjoyed hot drinks, refreshments and also some meals all with fantastic and timely service in amongst our party and other customers.

Thank you so much to the Lemon Tree team we will...

We had such a lovely time at Lemon Tree soft play Cafe!

Our daughter is 2 years old and the soft play itself was perfect for her - not too overwhelming but plenty of room to explore, good for both toddlers and bigger children too.

The food was lovely - And I think for the quality and portion sizes quite reasonably priced. We had the creamy avocado pasta and our daughter had the vegan sausage roll, chips and beans (served in a fun mini shopping basket which she loved!) And all our plates were cleared. The coffee was delicious, and we also had a biscoff chocolate cake which was super nice.

But to the best bit - the service, one of the owners was so lovely to us. When she saw I’d ordered oat milk in my coffee she immediately came over to check whether I needed anything else made vegan. She was so accommodating and happy to help which is not something I’m very used to with vegan options!

Overall we had a lovely day out and will be back again, really...