Puccini Restaurant — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

I have given the 3 star rating as an average from a 5 star for food and 1 star for service.

I visited with my 7 year old daughter, we were shown to our table and handed two adult menus, we had to ask for the kids menu, the whole time the waiter struggled to even crack a smile. Then our order was taken by an even less friendly woman, no pleasantries exchanged, barely even acknowledged the order being given, just took the order and left. Then she came over and roughly removed the starter plates and cutlery without a word or even a smile. The waiter who originally served us brought the food and while not as rude as the other waitress, still made no effort to talk to us in any way. No one asked of the food was ok or anything like that. We just felt we were wanted in and out as quick as possible with minimum fuss.

One other man who we hadnt met said a few pleasantries on our way out but that was the only non formal communication with us the whole time and the first time someone smiled at us since we arrived.

It is a shame because the food was excellent, but the atmosphere was less than welcoming and left us deciding against staying for desert.

If this is a family run place I would suggest to the owners they take a good look at some of the staff they had front of house as they will spoil the reputation and stop people...

When we visited for most of our meal we where the only customers there. The restruant it's self is an ecelptic mix of random pictures, dated decore and bazzaire tartan carpet. Needs updating is an understatement. The food was ok nothing particularly amazing. The portionsizes of our pasta dishes where comparable to the amount you'd make for a family of 4...which sounds great but a large platter of average pasta is an overwhelming task. The waitress was highly unprofessional and lacks appropriate politeness and manner - quite blunt. The matredee was more pleasant however a little overbaring as we where the only customers and I felt we where being very much watched. One positive however was the affordablility of the place. We a party of 2 had two courses and non alcoholic drinks and the bill was just under £30.

On using the 'facilties' they where exceptionally unclean. This summed up...

Visited here for the first time this evening, as me and my partner were craving Italian food and it was close by, and what an excellent decision that was.

For starters, we shared a single portion of potato skins with dip, which was definitely big enough for two, nevermind one.

For mains, we had the maramantti with penne, and the di mare with tagliatelle, and both were excellent.

Usually, we choose to not have dessert and go elsewhere, but today we just couldn't resist after seeing the menu, as we opted for the chocolate orange cake and brownie sundae, which both hit the spot.

Overall, this was a more than pleasant visit to an excellent Italian restaurant with a very friendly, family vibe, as well as excellent service to top it off. (A special mention must go to whoever was in charge of the music too, as both me and my partner thoroughly enjoyed.)

We will both be visiting again...