Mascalzone — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

What a find! We were stuck running errands around Newcastle and it came to lunch time. We searched for decent places to eat that would be open and Mazcalzone came up. We ended up driving longer to it than we expected and the area is notorious for its lack of parking opportunity but we got lucky.

Mazcalzone is a Sardinian cafe. The name is amusing cos it means scoundrel. The menu consists of Italian classics but some have a Sardinian twist, such as typical Sardinian pasta shapes or Sardinian cured meat etc. The vibe of the place is relaxed and fairly trendy. The staff (front of house) are Italian and very welcoming and friendly. Not the overwhelming veneer of charm you get in many Italian restaurants but genuine hospitality and pleasant demeanour.

Onto the food: Don't expect to be magically transported to Cagliari but the food is cooked nicely and my girls (5 and 2) cleaning it up is a testament to this. Pasta cooked well with very nice versions of popular sauces. Other people's pizzas looked fantastic. The hot drinks were of high quality too. I also had the hot chocolate which is proper. Not a lilac watery drink but dark, oozy, shiny chocolate as it should be. We did have puddings but I had to concede to my daughters' choices although I was eyeing the cannolini and bocconcini al amarena which sadly I did not partake.

I am unfortunately not in the area often enough to know when I will be back but I would recommend it to...

Not only the bread was old, and the food is was very poor, but we actually got food poisoning from the scallops and prawn tortellini from the specials menu. We know it was this dish as we were a group of 4 guest and only the 2 who ate this tortellini got sick. We rang the restaurant to inform about this and the guy on the phone said that after speaking to the owner, he said that the way go forward with this, would be to go to a doctor and get blood samples to prove it was from their restaurant. And that was their response to our call. After knowing that we had dinner on Saturday and the restaurant closes on Sundays and Mondays, so couldn't speak to them until Tuesday. Also by accident (bless the girl who was lovely) they dropped a glass of wine over one of us, and management didn't even take that glass of wine...

I've fancied trying Mascalzone for a while, based on the great reviews. The food we had was overall very nice and the portions were huge. The olives, bread and cheese starter was certainly enough for two and the pasta with pancetta was an enormous serving. I was slightly disappointed with my cannelloni which was a little dry and stodgy. On the night we visited, which was a random rainy Tuesday night, it was packed so booking would be essential. We found that the service was a little slow at times - I saw another diner trying to catch a server's attention for quite a while to pay, and we had to approach the counter to ask for additional drinks. However, food was great value and I would go back, as long as I can park without the risk of a parking ticket as all the nearby streets are permit...