Okay, last two weeks I had a privilege of visiting this venue nearly every other day. Tried all…read moreburritos, parmos and variety of other meals that guys prepare with such an attention to details there... Food is in general very affordable and portions are great, can't go wrong to go on with lads for some serious bite... not to mention desserts on the way out . Dangerous place I'll give you that

We went to Man vs Food a couple nights ago. The service was pretty good. It was very good. The…read moreshareable dinners can definitely serve 2 or more and are worth it to try all the meats. The food was good overall however I thought the Beef was a little dry.

After nine eight days walking Hadrian's Wall we wanted to celebrate with a steak dinner. Sadly it…read morewas an expensive "meh". First, they sent me and our party to an address with our confirmation which took us to an abandoned area half a mile from the restaurant. Comically the restaurant wad three minutes from our hotel. Not ideal after walking 14 miles earlier that day. When I tried to call you cannot get a human being. All AI. No way to share our now late arrival. When we did get there the person greeting us was staring at a computer screen and barely acknowledged our existence). Upon entry I needed the WC. The stairs to the toilet smelled like a sports stadium urinal and the men's toilet looked like one from a bar at closing. Filthy and urine everywhere. Not an impressive entry. Our waitress Amelia, however was the highlight. Charming, attentive and one of the best I've ever experienced. Truly world class. She was a delight. The food however not so much. Starting with the burrata, it was a mostly satisfying start with decent tomatoes this time of year and a cheese that was delicious. Sadly however their famous aged ribeye was tough and had limited favor and no crust. It was unseasoned, and essentially without depth or nuance. My side, mashed potatoes with Camembert, was creamy and delicious but my dessert, crème brûlée, was a boring stale recipe. Very pedestrian. Wine choices excellent but only drank one glass. It was an expensive, not worth it, won't recommend experience and frankly a disappointment saved only by our extraordinary server. Place needs a hard top to bottom executive chef reboot.

First visit here as couldn't get in at Marco Pierre Whites decided to try elsewhere, superb move!…read moreThe service was friendly efficient and helpful, ordered the sirloin with surf and turf, the streak was cooked to perfection, melted in my mouth with full delicious flavour, the lobster thermidor and pawn side complimented it beautifully and they have peroni on draft! I'll be visiting again!

What a fantastic night, ten of us went here for a friends birthday meal and we were not…read moredisappointed. The food was amazing, the portions were big, the staff were friendly, nothing was too much trouble for them. We all agreed we would be back in the very near future! Thank you for an excellent night!

Foid excellent, service excellent, we go Sunday lunch, always great, staff wonderful, need to try…read morea steak one night.

Possibly the best steak in the North East?…read more They cook their steaks on a super heated stone at your table to perfection. While the chef does that he talks to you and that is half the fun. If you love your steak, this place is a must.

We are regular customers at The Rat because it is such a great place with great food…read more Last night's visit was for my wife's birthday and except for one minor thing it was as good as usual. The Rat is the very definition of an English country pub. Open fires and a cosy atmosphere are exactly what you want from a pub, add in the great food and it is hard to beat. We shared a starter of smoked haddock fritters which was delicious if a little parsimonious for £7. Main courses were superb; slow cooked belly pork and 3 cuts of lamb; delicious, deep savoury flavours that are so hard to accomplish at home. My wife's warm gingerbread dessert wasn't warm which was a disappointment in an otherwise delicious meal.

Love, love, love this place! Have taken four or five different groups of friends or family there…read morefor dinner and Sunday lunch, not one person has come away disappointed or feeling hungry! This is a real gem of a pub, tucked away up the hill just a few miles from Hexham. Have heard this is walkable from Hexham on a nice day but most will need a car - one thing to bear in mind is parking can be a bit limited and a bit of a free-for-all at busiest times, but you should usually get a space somewhere. Alternatively, taking a taxi is a good option, should only cost about £6-£8 from the centre of Hexham itself. First of all, the location and setting is simply stunning. If you park across the road, the views over the Tyne Valley are fantastic. You then go into the pub itself via a lovely garden area with a pergola. Inside is a proper Northumbrian country pub, great traditional decor, roaring fires, with some unusual wall and ceiling decorations (will leave that for you to discover!) Each time we've visited to eat, we've been welcomed by the friendly staff who offer the right level of service, i.e. keeping your table clear, everything in check without being overly attentive. The bar offers a good range of real ales, usually with a local brewery on offer, all of which are very well kept. They have an excellent range of wines and spirits as well, so you could easily go here for a relaxing drink, although the bar area is relatively small. However, if you are here, you really must try the food. Honestly, the Rat Inn has served up some of the best food I've ever eaten, nothing fussy or complicated, just locally sourced ingredients cooked to perfection. What is encouraging is that there are no menus on the tables, instead you'll find the day's menu on a chalkboard, which indicates freshness and illustrates how much they care about what ends up on your plate. In fact, you can find out where the meats and veg have come from as the suppliers are also chalked up on the wall. As the menu changes fairly regularly, it is not really worth recommending any particular dish on here for fear of it not being on next time, but the Sunday roast dinners are superb and the Sticky Toffee Pudding is top notch! Bear in mind you do get hearty Northumbrian-sized portions here, it is difficult to leave here without feeling a tad on the full side... As this place features in the top 50 UK gastropubs, it can get popular and they don't have an abundance of space, which adds to its charm but is also a slight disadvantage - definitely worth booking in advance to avoid missing out. In summary, the Rat Inn really is a wonderful place and one to which I can't wait to have an opportunity to go back soon.

Marco Pierre White is a famous and well-known celebrity chef, who is rather big in countries such…read moreas the United Kingdom and Australia, this is one of his many restaurants, this one is part of the Steakhouse Bar & Grill chain. I have visited a large number of Marco's branches in the NY Italian and Wheeler's of St James' brands, and this is my second visit to one of his "Steakhouses", the last being in December last year for my birthday in Newcastle, where I had a great meal, sadly this meal was not so good. After arriving in Newcastle ahead of Manchester City's game against Newcastle United this evening, I wanted a decent meal after having an early start with the 2 and a half hour train journey to Newcastle, before going back to my hotel, just a few minutes walk away. This place, which I'm going to refer to as MPW Steakhouse for the majority of my review is in a decent central location inside Hotel Indigo and is within 2 or 3 minutes on foot from the Central Station. The menu choice is satisfactory but does not tend to include a great deal of food other than meats, for example, there wasn't a good selection of fish other than a salmon steak. I was told the gluten-free selection wasn't a menu necessarily but was just adaptions made to dishes. They seemed to have far too many staff working, for a restaurant which was so quiet, some of the staff seemed friendly, kind and patient and even helped me find this place after I was struggling after getting off my delayed train; others I found to be unfriendly and rude, such as my server. For my starter, I ordered the French Onion Soup with gluten-free bread, and it was a giant mess, kind of like Manchester United have been recently where they lost to the mighty Manchester City and drew with Leicester and Burnley. The gluten-free bread was like half a bread roll, but small, it was carelessly thrown into my soup and appeared to have some sort of melted cheese which I didn't ask for, a strong cheese it tasted disgusting. The soup as a whole was also poor, it had too many onions floating about and was just a giant mess, it felt like just a giant bowl of onions floating in boiled water, but if the bread and onions weren't there this place would look like a hot pile of diaherera. Moving on to my main course, I ordered the Marco Polo Pork Belly, the quality was okay, it was a little fatty and not as meaty as I would have liked at times, the crust on time did taste decent but with the combination of poor quality meat, it sort of ruined the dish which was a shame. I ordered the triple cooked chips with this having been told they were gluten-free, however, they just tasted like giant cut lumps of potato, they were barely seasoned and it lacked flavour other than potato. In my opinion, fresh chips should be great and flavoursome, perhaps adding something like garlic or rosemary or even cilantro would have made the dish better. I also had an issue with the staff member, when I asked what come with my dish they were rude in the sense she replied "what's on the menu", I didn't really understand what it was so I was upset she didn't seem willing to explain when I asked, which in my opinion is either down to rudeness or a lack of training where she didn't appear to know the menu that well herself. The overall feel inside the restaurant was okay, it didn't feel as nice or high end as other MPW restaurants I have visited such as Wheeler's of St James or MPW Steakhouse, both of which are in Liverpool. Poor food and service quality combined with a high-end price proves this place is deserving of a single one-star rating, having triggered my disappointment and aggravation.

My wife and I visited this restaurant today to celebrate our golden wedding anniversary which was…read morepostponed due to the recent virus. The restaurant itself was very inviting and comfortable and we were made to feel welcome with a Belini cocktail. We both chose a Duck Terrine for our starter, which was very nice indeed. For our main course we selected "Butchers Steak and Chips" with Onion Rings and a Green Salad. Unfortunately both our steaks were very tough and sinewy and considering a supplementary charge of £5 is made for the privelige of having a steak was very dissappointing. The Green Salad with Truffle was again not at all it should have been ( a few leaves of Rocket for £3.95) shocking. All in all, very dissappointing for what is supposed to be a "Classy Restaurant." As this is a restaurant that Marco Pierre White puts his name to, I think he would be well-advised to visit and see for himself the food that is served in his name.

Food is excellent I had half chicken with dripped beans and mac n cheese perfect but too much to…read morehandle The welcome is friendly and very attentive with very nice decor with very reasonable prices, can't ask for more than that Will be back soon keep up the excellent work

Started the night no table booking so was able to turn up and get seated. That was the only…read morepositive Drinks order was taken then like buses 3 servers checked if we had our drinks. Food came out. Part of the order was missing, steak was overcooked and the shrimp was raw. Tried to ask for help but was bypassed. When asked about ribs one of the servers just said 'oh' and just walked away. We finally got the ribs when we were half way through the meal and they had a taste like that had just been reheated and the sauce was grainy. A server then came over and asked can I take them away for you (the boards still were half full of food) whilst we was still eating. I am all for efficency but we could have at least finished our meal before coming to take our boardsway. No check back on how the meal was and no check back for extra drinks!!! I've been here before. And had take out and this is the worst I've experienced the service!!!

Great food, using fresh, simple ingredients, cooked exactly as required. Steak is an excellent…read morechoice.

Part of a hotel but open to everyone. I may have never had a steak so tender and juicy. I…read moreabsolutely recommend this restaurant. The restaurant is on the 2nd floor with a view over a square in Darlington City. Set in a beautiful old building the dining area looks expensive and beautiful. However, prices are very reasonable. Well, I don't know what prices around this part of England are but they seemed really reasonable to me. I had the Oven Roasted Lamb Rump. Do try it. It costs 12 pounds. The only thing on the menu they didn't have was the vegetarian burger. They serve fish too. There is no draft beer. I remember seeing bottles of Heineken and 'The old speckled hen'. An ale I never heard of before but that should really be tried.