Gino D'Acampo Newcastle is in a fantastic location at INNSiDE by Meliá Newcastle alongside the river. The outdoor seating area has views of the River Tyne and Tyne Bridge.
You enter through the main hotel entrance, pass through the lobby, and then you'll be in the restaurant area. The restaurant is very attractive with comfortable blue seats, and round tables, it feels modern, fancy and welcoming. It also has an open kitchen which I like.
I visited here for a late dinner during my September 2024 trip to the North East, I was delighted to be able to get a table as most other nearby restaurants had either closed or stopped serving food after 9 pm. The restaurant generally accepts dinner reservations until 22:30 daily on OpenTable.
The staff were very friendly, my table was split across two servers who both seemed knowledgeable and friendly, including a man from Barcelona, and a lady who had excellent knowledge of the wine list and offered a small taster before we purchased a glass.
The gluten-free menu is good and includes both pizza and pasta. I decided to go for the gluten-free Carbonara. The pasta tasted very good, the Guanciale was of excellent quality and cooked well, the sauce was well seasoned and the pasta tasted great and you almost couldn't tell that it was gluten-free!
I wasn't a fan of the garlic bread, I did order a gluten-free garlic bread and cheese to go with my pasta, it was a little hard and didn't have much flavour at all. I wouldn't order this again.
Prices are a little high, but nothing too out of the ordinary, you're paying for the quality, being inside a hotel and Gino's name. There is a service charge, I normally hate the idea of this as I feel you should be able to decide whether or not to tip and how much you'd like to add, but the staff did deserve it on this occasion and I'd have felt mean taking it off.
PRO TIP: Sign up for the Gino Rewards App, you can get money back to use on a future visit on your card and as of September 2024, there is a sign-up offer where you'll get £10 worth of points added onto your account which you can use on your first visit.
A very strong four-star, and probably the best meal I had during my trip. read more