Pinocchio Ristorante — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

After visiting at the start of 2022 and being impressed with the food and service, we decided to come back. That was the first mistake.

The second was attempting to use the extremely outdated and quite frankly scary toilets that were located down narrow stairs and required squeezing past the bar seats (uncomfortable for all involved).

The third mistake was ordering any kind of meat - my boyfriend ordered a type of pasta with sausage in it only to find that it was pink inside and looked like it had already been chewed up and spit back into the bowl. He chose to leave the rest of the meat and eat the pasta but even this in itself seemed like a bit of a risky move if it had in fact come into contact with undercooked meat.

The servers seemed to have no idea what they were doing, they had us repeat our order 5 times and different people kept coming over to ask if we'd ordered a comical amount of times so clearly not much communication going on there. Every interaction we had was painfully awkward and seemed like it was their first day on earth and they were just learning how to speak to a human being for the first time.

We were seated right next to the kitchen and could see right into it and the table where the servers were having breaks, watching their phones so loudly we could hear every word and giving us strange looks as we attempted to have a romantic meal - that was the fourth mistake, thinking that we could eat in an intimate and relaxing atmosphere. There were plenty of other tables we could have been seated at so I'm not sure why they prioritised the one where we were passed by every single server going to and from the kitchen or where we practically might as well have shared a meal with the staff on their break we were that close (I'd want somewhere a bit more private to relax on my few minutes off I would think).

The cherry on top of the cake (not literally as we weren't sticking around for desserts after the meal we had just experienced) was the server or chef (not sure of his job) who decided it was appropriate to walk around the entire restaurant with his trousers so low you could tell what brand of underwear he was wearing and what he ate for breakfast. As if our appetites weren't ruined enough already.

We are so disappointed as we loved it the first time but after this are pretty much guaranteed to...

Pinocchio’s is just perfect!

We discovered Pinocchio’s at the bottom of Westgate Road around 6 months ago and we’ve been returning almost weekly ever since! From the moment you walk in the door you are always greeted warmly and feel immediately at home in this lovely Italian restaurant. Everyone we have had the pleasure of dealing with there is so friendly and helpful and just adds to the wonderful experience.

Service is always excellent and every single thing we have eaten has been absolutely delicious. The menu is perfect; a great selection of hot and cold starters and garlic breads. The mains are a wonderful and comprehensive selection, with pasta, chicken dishes, fish dishes, steaks and the best selection of the most delicious pizzas!

For a starter I always struggle to deviate from the Polpette Al Sugo, which is beef meatballs served on toast in a truly delicious and deeply flavoursome, rich tomato sauce - just beautiful and so satisfying.

When it comes to mains, usually I can’t resist their beautiful, fresh pizzas! They truly are the best pizzas I’ve had anywhere and I’d definitely recommend their white base ones; the Gorgonzola based pizzas are particularly good and the Sfiziosa, which includes Parma ham and cherry tomatoes with just the right amount of Gorgonzola is fantastic. My absolute favourite is the Americana though. The tomato sauce base is perfect, so rich and flavourful and if you like a bit of spice you will love it. It’s topped with the nicest pepperoni, onions, peppers and jalapeños. All the toppings are fresh and clearly top quality but where Pinocchio’s really excels in their pizzas are the bases! The pizzas are all freshly cooked from scratch and the dough is amazing - so fresh, light and flavoursome. Just perfect. They also do a beautiful garlic bread with cheese which is absolutely delicious. You really can’t go wrong with anything in Pinocchio’s though, the food is outstanding.

Every meal we’ve had has been perfect. The atmosphere is always relaxed and the restaurant is comfortable and welcoming.

Perfect food, perfect service, perfect restaurant. I can’t recommend it highly enough, by far and away the best Italian restaurant in Newcastle, and actually, my favourite...

We visited here on a Wednesday evening for the first time following a recommendation from a family member.

We were due to watch a comedian at the Tyne Theatre nearby at 8pm so booked a table for 6:45. The restaurant itself is lovely inside and bigger than we expected with plenty of comfortable seating arrangements. On our arrival, it was quite busy but we were able to order our drinks which arrived quickly, following by ordering our food at 6:55.

Come 7:30, our starters hadn’t arrived, and 2 other couples who ordered before us were yet to receive their food, so we were conscious we’d struggle to make the theatre on time. We politely asked if the pizzas could be cancelled and we’d just have our starters.

It was at this point we unfortunately got our backs up… as we were first told ‘if they’re not in the oven, yes we can cancel’ and off she went to check (which was unlikely considering our starters hadn’t arrived yet). She then returned to say ‘the pizzas are coming I’m sorry’. Now at this point, both my husband and I said ‘but how? We haven’t even had our starters yet?!’ So I’m assuming it was an attempt to get us to stay and pay? Very odd.

It was at this point when she realised we hadn’t received our starters, she returned and apologised, saying we could cancel completely and as an apology, we didn’t have to pay for our drinks, even though we were more than happy to. We were grateful for the apology and the GOGW with the drinks - it’s just such a shame the meal didn’t go as planned.

I don’t know whether this was due to an unexpected busier than normal Wednesday or staffing issues. Either way, we of course left disappointed and hungry but enjoyed our evening none the less at the theatre with a takeaway on...