Fratelli - Carta

Haveli

➤ 3-5 Broadway Darras HallNorthumberland NE20 9PW, Ponteland, United Kingdom

Carta • Pizza • Asian • European • Fast Food

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"This is our local Indian restaurant which has a reputation for high end asian food. We have frequented it since it opened but now we feel it has dropped its ' standards largely through lack of staff training. I tried to book a table for 2 but the website wasn 't working. I rang at 10 a.m. The call was taken by a rather unprofessional individual who simply said Hello? It sounded as if I 'd woken him up! When we arrived at the restaurant we were shown to our table but no attempt was made to pull out my wife 's chair for her, so I did it whilst the waiter looked on. The table was sticky, indicative of not having been cleaned properly. Later in the evening we saw first hand that by way of cleaning, the tables were simply scraped with a crumb scraper rather than being disinfected. Cutlery was placed directly on the table nonetheless. We were handed very grubby menus. My wife 's was annotated in pen. We suspect it was for staff use. We ordered drinks immediately so that we could have a drink whilst we read the menus and made our choices. They did not arrive until the starters arrived more on the starters anon . My wife ordered a Bombay Sapphire gin and Fevertree Mediterranean Tonic. The drink finally arrived with all the tonic already added so we never saw the bottle, it could have been anything, and in any event my wife would normally only use half the tonic to avoid making the drink too diluted. For starters we ordered popadoms for one and some onion bhaji bites to share between us. We stipulated that we wanted them served at the same time for that purpose. 60 seconds later the waiter reappeared with the popadoms entreating us to be careful as the bowl was hot. I suggested that the bowl would be much cooler by the time the bhajis were ready and asked that he take them away and serve fresh popadoms with the bhajis as originally requested. The starters finally arrived together. The dips for the popadoms were very thin. Of the 3 bhaji bites 2 were undercooked and the third so undercooked as to be almost raw inside. I couldn 't eat it and asked for it to be taken away. The waiter returned to say that the chef had apologised so that 's alright then! . I suggested that a more meaningful gesture would be for us not be charged for the bhajis and indeed we were not. For her main course, my wife had the Goan Prawns. Whilst tasty, they were served in a vast sea of sauce which necessitated a trawl of the bowl to get the prawns out. I had Chicken Tikka Madras. Again, very tasty but to my mind the chicken had had only a brief relationship with the appropriate marinade and an even briefer flirtation with a tandoor. Nonetheless this variant attracted an additional charge. Throughout the meal there were no signs of attentiveness from the staff. Unused and empty glasses were not taken away without prompting and apart from the usual irritating is everything ok? , waiters and front of house staff walked by without ever casting a glance at our table to see if there was anything they could do to help. Finally, throughout the evening the waiter and the manager would refer to us as you guys . After this happened for the umpteenth time I collared the manager and told him that referring to diners in this manner might be appropriate in MacDonalds, but we didn 't care for it in a Bib Gourmand restaurant with high end pretensions. Quite incredibly, the manager had no idea what that accreditation meant, nor that the restaurant he was working in had one! Taken in isolation, you might think that our grumbles were minor. However, taken together in an establishment that used to pride itself in not being just another curry house, they are disappointing to say the least. On previous visits we have commented on the fact that asian people obviously rated the place and attended in numbers. Not so this time, there were only 16 diners in the restaurant at its peak which is not impressive on a Friday night. When we pay £75 for one and a half starters, two main courses and a couple of drinks each, we expect better."

The Last Days Of The Raj

➤ Main Road, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

Carta • Fish • Vegan • Indian • Vegetarian

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"The food is the best thing about the Raj-delicious. A good choice of the usual fayre, with a few Raj specials but not the widest choice I’ve seen. Delicious grub though, cooked and served up quickly and efficiently. Nice decor and a good pint of Cobra. What lets the place down though is a small, confusing “car park”, and the service that goes with the meal. When I parked at the end of the front of the building, right next to a sign declaring that the space was “For Restaurant customers only”, a man in a small red car beeped at me and suggested I park on the roadside at the side of the building. I mentioned the sign, to be told that parking there would block the thoroughfare for traffic (delivery drivers? and when I questioned the burgundy Jaguar FPace parked adjacent to me in not the most caring of manners, I was told that that car, although occupying a large amount of space in the car park that was “for Restaurant customers only” actually belonged to seemingly the proprietor of the adjoining convenience store. That was ok though…….."

Number9

➤ 9 Broadway, NE20 9PW, Northumberland, United Kingdom

Carta • Thai • Cakes • British • Breakfast

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"Today I went for breakfast with my mum. I ordered the halloumi eggs. The poached egg was completely undercooked, as if it had been dipped in the hot water and taken straight out. The waitress agreed that it was disgusting and took it to the chef who also agreed and apologised. Because of this, they took off the price of the egg, a grand total of £3. After this the food didn’t have the same appeal and was left. I found the removal of the cost of one egg very poor customer service and rather insulting. I will not be attending again."

The Blackbird

➤ North Road, NE20 9UH, Northumberland, United Kingdom

Carta • Steak • Cakes • British • European

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"Things didn't start off well as when the website was checked for the Sunday Lunch Menu it wasn't what was available at the Blackbird if you read all the way to the bottom of the listing it was for their sister pub miles away. Parking not a problem but just remember to input your car registration into the screen at the bar. We were seated immediately but on a small table just next to the entrance which normally wouldn't have been a problem except there were a number of dogs sat next to the table and I am allergic to dogs. We mentioned this to the person greeting diners and on request they moved us into the restaurant. I had a quick chat to the greeter to say thank you for moving us and to explain the reason why we needed to move and he said we should have mentioned the allergy over the phone when we booked. We had booked online and there was no indication that an allergy to dogs should be mentioned alongside food allergies. Our friendly server gave us menus which were completely different to the online menu both in choices and price and then took our/ drinks order. Our drinks came promptly and our meal choices were taken (1 Roast Lamb and 1 Roast Beef) we didn't want starters. The mains arrived quickly along with the separate bowls with the mixed vegetables and swede. The main plate had a good portion of meat, some very impressive Yorkshire Puds and some roast/mashed potato. However, we found the bowls of vegetables were luke warm, the swede was a brown colour with no taste, the main plates weren't hot and the Yorkshire puddings had no real taste the chefs really need to concentrate on seasonings. The pub has a very friendly local atmosphere and a really interesting history and is very dog friendly which I applaud (perhaps they can amend their website to give extended advice for allergy suffers wanting to eat in the restaurant)."

Ponteland Tandoori

➤ 11a Main Street, Northumberland, United Kingdom

Carta • Wine • Curry • Asian • Balti

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"I don't get up to Pont that much, yet alone eat a sit-in curry! I've nailed the grub here a few times now: never after a billion Stella, more often than not due to the outright need to get the grub in after a few beers. It's never let me down overall. Of course you get heavily stung wallet wise for beers. Standard. Prices apart from that are fine and the quality is absolutely so. Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: £20–30 Food: 4 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 4"