Vespa Italian Bar & Steakhouse — Restaurant in South Tyneside

Booked to eat Sunday lunch. Food was okay; meat was really tasty and soft (we both had trio of lamb, pork and beef), Yorkshire pudding was nice, 2 roast potatoes was a bit of an eyebrow raiser, but still they were nice. The vegetables that came with the meal weren't anything to write home about but the honey glazed carrots I ordered as an extra were tasty.

What let you down was the service; you have no organisation between your front of house staff and it shows by a mile. We had 3 different servers, all asking the same questions, one even brought drinks that weren't for us so we had to send her back. Took a while to ask if we were finished eating and clear our plates away, even though the same 3 servers were in and out (we were sat in the conservatory bit on the right hand side) with other tables, again asking them all the same questions at the previous person had. We asked for the dessert menus, were given them then never asked if we'd decided to order anything. We ended up stopping someone to ask for the bill and paid at the bar as didn't fancy waiting any longer to be seen to pay at the table.

It really brought the experience down for us, it's simple planning that could prevent all of this. Allocate a member of staff to a section, one in the conservatory, one in the bit between the conservatory and the bar, one on the other side round where the kitchen is, two on the bar at all times, one meeting and greeting.

We spent more time trying to get someone's attention than we did enjoying our meal. We like the food, we just don't want to go through the same experience every time we dine with you. Hopefully these comments are taken on board and you can figure out a better way to manage your staff and the tables...

Went here last week and I have to say it was simply brilliant. Expectations were not high with the restaurants location however and price band but it was one of the best quality, value meals I've had in South Tyneside for quite some time. The service was cheerful, unobtrusive and extremely prompt. The waitresses were all smiling, polite and attentive without being overwhelming with their attention. Just as great service should be. The food was simply delicious. Portions were certainly not scrimped upon and the quality of the seafood sizzler, steak and seafood pasta were all of an equal level to some of the higher priced fine dining restaurants I've been to in Newcastle and other North East areas. I have been a chef for 25 yrs and I know how much work is involved in producing such good standards, particularly at this price band. Myself and daughter will be attending again very soon and I just hope continuity and consistency is evident at our next visit. Thank you for a brilliant local experience and see you again this week.

The only reason I have dropped a star is the limited choice of Ale on offer. However if you are a lager drinker that extra star would most definitely be forthcoming.

Amazing local place and well worth a visit from near or far to be...

Vespa Sunday lunch first visit- first impressions:

Asked for a seat in the beer garden on a scorching day and was refused. They tried several excuses and finally landed on "it's health and safety". Amazing creativity.

Ordered a vegetarian Sunday lunch and the waiter laughed at this. It's actually that funny if you like Sunday lunches but you don't eat meat.

Ordered a drink which I had to remind them twice to bring.

Yorkshire and roasties quite good.

I was asked if I wanted beef gravy with my vegetarian lunch. Probably could have guessed the answer to that one.

Lunch did not include the promised veg although came with broccoli, cauli, cabbage and carrots. Cauli had black mould spots. All the veg intensely bland, almost raw and very watery. When I complained the manager said, "it's veg, what do you expect? Use the gravy". Nice tip. Also apparently I was wrong about the black mould spots. He said all cauli is like that.

Staff are mostly young and very inexperienced and so easily confused. Can't vouch for the Italian dishes but I came away very disappointed. Since posting this review I've had no response and there were no apologies on the day. The manager is a joke and it reflects badly on the whole...