Turtle Bay Newcastle — Restaurant in Newcastle upon Tyne

Me and my friends have been to the Turtle Bay in Durham a few times for a catch up over bottomless brunch and it has been so great. I’m closer to Newcastle so suggest we try it for my birthday. We made a reservation and went last Thursday, and I was so sad that it ended up being a disappointment. I feel like I wasted my time, money and effort - we rarely get to all meet up and it was such a shame.

The cocktails are great as they always are - its the reason we choose turtle bay! We were very lucky to have went on a day the new brunch menu launched and its 100 times better in terms of the food options and the burgers now come with chips rather than paying extra.

The major issue was the service. It took a long time for someone to come over and take our drink’s order, and it was the same with our food - we had been there for 40 minutes and had just been given our second drink and had our food order taken. If theres a two hour limit I don’t think its fair when paying for bottomless that we wait that long. It was really difficult trying to get the waiters attention and it seemed like they just didn’t want to serve us. We weren’t too loud or rowdy but were met with bad vibes as soon as we went in. There was a male server in particular who seemed really unhappy to be serving us, and when he served our drinks he was quickly getting them onto the table and was spilling cocktails on two of my friends when he was reaching over. I would understand if it was once but it happened multiple times and he didn’t seem bothered at all. My friends jacket was covered in cocktails.

I understand it can be difficult serving a large group of people for bottomless, but we were really accommodating in terms of being polite, making sure we weren’t too loud, and trying to order the same cocktails as each other to make it easier for the staff and were just met with rudeness for no reason. It didn’t take long from sitting down for us to feel uncomfortable. The majority of us work in the sector and are not quick to judge hospitality staff because we know how difficult it is, but I was really disappointed. We decide that we didn’t want to come back which is such a shame as Newcastle is much more convenient for me with my disability but we will be sticking to Durham.

I will say as a positive there was a lad who came on shift for the last 20 minutes or so of us being there and he was very nice and kind! Definitely a little breath of fresh air after spending almost 2 hours holding our breath when wanting to order. For that reason I gave the service a two star instead of one.

I’m very quick to leave a good review and very hesitant to leave a bad one (this is the second one I have ever written) but it was just a bad...

Cards on the table, I'm West Indian by heritage and as such I have fairly high expectations of any restaurant selling Caribbean food, especially when most Caribbean food in the UK is termed "Caribbean" but is actually Jamaican almost entirely.

As a London native I'd never heard of Turtle Bay before (as the branches in London are a bit out of the centre) but the menu was nicely eclectic and representative of all of the islands, and so I went along to try it out. Good decision to say the least.

First, good service. We didn't book. No trouble at all. Seated immediately, and 2-4-1 cocktails.

I made a point to choose food I know based on where I'm from and I have to say, it wasn't half bad, the food was flavoured well, and cooked properly (i.e. potato in a curry per certain islands traditional way of cooking). I mean there's not zero negatives, the 'Trinidad' Chicken Curry. Hardly. But not bad for a chain restaurant.

I also liked the ambience and layout, the music was from all over the West Indies, and the decor too, a Carib fridge (Trinidad & Tobago), a Wray & Nephew sign above the second bar (Jamaica) and I saw signage and influences from Barbados, Antigua and even St. Vincent.

I have to say, I can't recommend this place more highly. Good staff, hard working and attentive. Servers plating food for example. Good food. And good prices.

If you're in Newcastle. Definitely visit...

Visited last night for a meal with my husband. We’ve been before and each time the food has been delicious. We’ve tried something different each time and have never been disappointed. Everything is cooked beautifully, the kitchen staff are superb. I’ve attached the one photo of the food I took (inhaled the rest before the thought of a photo crossed my mind) which was my sweetcorn fritter starter. But it, and my main of Trini prawn curry, was cooked to perfection. My husband had the Run BBQ ribs and the meat fell off the bone. Our server last night was Will, food brought out quickly to us and he checked up with us to make sure everything was good, which it was. Mocktails and cocktails were lovely as well as the food, so big thanks to the bar staff also. The restaurant is always clean and tidy, even though it’s often busy. Even when it’s pretty full the staff are friendly and attentive. Niall is great and although he’s constantly doing jobs across the restaurant, made time to chat at the end of our meal. Overall, another brilliant experience dining here and will...