The Lock — Restaurant in North Tyneside

We were looking forward to visiting here today after my partner was there with friends a few months ago. The location and views across the marina are beautiful! Sadly the food wasn’t… We were provided with a small specials menu on a crumpled A5 piece of paper and a nicely presented larger menu. After being seated in a hot corner in full sun we decided on what we wanted and placed the order. A few minutes later the waitress came back saying they didn’t have any sea bass. Second attempt was smoked salmon and king prawn skewers. Same again, they didn’t have any of those either. My partner settled for a southern fried chicken burger.

When our meals arrived we started to eat however, the southern fried chicken in both my pizza wrap and the burger was over cooked, the burger bun was stale!

My partner brought this up to the waitress when we decided to pay and leave. She was given 10% discount but I’m afraid other than returning for a coffee, maybe… we will not be returning for food.

This is a prime location however the food does not reflect this! The staff appeared under pressure and when we left one of the staff was wandering around the outdoor seating with two salads shouting out names. Come on the lock!! Open some windows and doors, offer outdoor seating when booking, especially on hot days, get a chef that can spot a stale bread bun and organise the staffing levels to ensure happier staff and suit/cater for warmer days and...

Such a shame, lovely placed ruined by ignorant staff. Upon entering the restaurant it took us a while to be seated, even though they were only at around 50% capacity and there were lots of free tables. I wouldn't normally mind having to wait a few extra minutes but staff did not even acknowledge us. Continuing with the slow theme, it took ages for a server to take our order (a fellow customer recommended we threw something to get their attention, so it's clearly an ongoing issue). Food arrived and it was delicious, definitely made with good quality ingredients which is what saved the experience. There seemed to be zero organisation in the whole place, we asked a waitress if we had to go to the bar to settle our bill, to which she said yes. 2 staff members were at the bar preparing drinks and neither of them thought to acknowledge us, we were blatantly ignored to realise that we weren't supposed to pay at the bar. Finally paid the bill (I think I've been overcharged but with the disregard for customer service displayed by front of house staff, I cant be bothered to return to resolve the additional £5 I seem to have been charged). Overall, good food, beautiful location, just spoiled by staff who couldn't...

This used to be our go to place for breakfast on a regular basis Visited 9/11/23 stood at door for 5minutes no one to seat us. Eventually guy came over to assisting but not very welcoming. Obviously there has been a change of hands within this business. He asked if we were having breakfast, we enquired about scones and coffee to which he pulled a face ? Fruit scone fell apart when cutting and the butter rock hard it was not spreadable Not once did a member of staff ask if everything was ok at our table. Nothing was cleared off our table I had to ask and had to go to the counter to pay and was then asked if I would like to order ? I'd been there 2 hours already? What happened to the smiling customer service that was always a pleasure to assist customers at this restaurant? Quite clearly management and staff need a lesson in friendly customer service. Nothing should be too much at the end of the day! a happy customer will be a returning customer. We will not be returning sadly. The views of the marina from this restaurant are just amazing but sadly that's all. Bring back the smiles and...