Reviews in County Durham

1st visit special deal of 2 course. 2 people. main dishes looked fine, meals where warm, plates cold,vegetables of green beans lovely colour,very raw,roast pots/chips as should be but skimpy. mushroom/spinach pie, very average. local roast sirloin served, no heat in it at all, sweets tasty but very small ,could improve presentation. decor fading inside and outside. thank you for listening

well this restaurant is a joke! the way Helen and Lloyd treat there staff is ridiculous! first off they fire the manager for no reason! then they fire me to which carl the head chef decides to start punching me in the back corridor while the owner helen stands back and watches. they opened the restaurant with no idea of how to run a restaurant! i stepped in to run the place after firing the main manager to which i then went on a holiday for a week when it should of been 2 to come back and then be made redundant and have someone take my job which is illegal. so i hope the place dies of death and they flall on there backsides

The menu is always varied, cheap and very individual both in style and stock. The owners take an active role in the place and clearly really love what they do :) Overall good atmosphere, great food and a really fun place that wont break the bank. Love love love it :D

lovely meals cooked by Wendy the chef and served by lovely Maureen the longest serving barmaid

Visited with another female friend after seeing good reviews on other websites. never again! Food only average, service terrible but worst of all was the creepy owner who would not leave us alone. He thinks he is God's gift to women and made us feel extremely uncomfortable.

A nice modern atmosphere, very clean and different deco compared with typical Indian restaurant. Food is very nice and highly recommendable

we took our son there for his 16th birthday and were not disappointed, the service was excellent, the food was outstanding. A very pleasant evening had by all especially my son, they made a fuss of him for his birthday which was lovely. I would highly recommend this restaurant to anyone who is visiting Hartlepool or even Seaton Carew, so nice to have a lovely restaurant with freshly made food in walking distance from my house. thanks very much

This place is amazing!! the food is high quality the service is good and the amount you get is plenty id go there again and again and again!

Date of visit: Sunday 6/feb/2011 Party of 10 people As part of a works night out it was arranged to go Italian at La Spanhettata. Overall - I would have rather gone hungry. You should get the message by climbing the stairs above the betting shop, in a urine smelling underground subway staircase to which you daren't touch anything on the way up in case it either fell apart or you caught something from it. The good news is I ate the food. BUT, that's all. I have visited and reviewed a lot of restaurants and this takes the award for the worst. Bad customer service on arrival - made to feel like we'd interrupted his evening and he made us know it. Pointed to out table and assigned a student on his first night of work in his life. Hurried to make a menu choice as he had "other customers waiting". Made to feel inferior/stupid as we asked questions about the menu. Our food arrived and was dropped/thrown onto the table as they were "really busy". Understandable as when you made your way to the salad bar, you had to ask people to squeeze in to get through. As a professional, I did notice NO smoke alarms, fire procedure, a locked fire exit, no alarm system, only one exit from a three storey building and grossly overcrowded with obstructed passage to the only exit. But at least if you needed to vent your anger you could on the unprotacted / sneeze at will salad bar. Which I was told was "bought in pre packed" - No frills range. In short - Sub standard, pre packed food, at low cost, student frindly, very noisey and overcrowded, ignorant service and definately not recommend unless you're drunk before you enter. Upon exit, don't forget to visit the bathroom facilities. Smally, small crowd of drunk students waiting outside the door but you do get to dry your hands on an unconscious guy lying on the floor because the hand dryer only works for 6 seconds. In short - Shut this place down and buy a £1 pizza from your local supermarket and you'll be much happier tham spending 10 X that amount on a disasterous night from hell.

After reading the recommendation and a Seatonian we decided to give Red Grill Bar a try last night and I am delighted to say I totally agree with the above recommendation. As we opened the door the atmosphere hit us, busy, vibrant and welcoming. We were shown to our table by a charming waitress and asked if the table was suitable (never had that before)! We had studied the menu in the window the previous day so we had a good idea what we wanted and we weren't disappointed. We didn't have a starter and I had a New Yorker Burger and my wife settled for an extremely large Pizza! The burger came with fresh salad and home made chips to die for! Although we felt quite full we had to have something from the dessert menus, wife had the special of the day - Bailey's Mousse which jokingly said ' no calories' and I had the Creme Brulee we swapped half way though and I must say it was hard to decide which was best. Drinks reasonable and best Latte I have tasted. Overall Red Grill Bar is an oasis in a very desolate desert. Such a welcome change to have freshly prepared food and not the usual 'delivery van, microwave and plate restaurant. Open Kitchen where we could see the staff working to prepare our food. This was our first but not our last visit. Thank you to all for a superb evening.

A bit strange that you have to go downstairs as soon as you walk in the door but otherwise lovely surroundings and riverside setting. Food and service were good, especially considering this is a chain restaurant. They usually run various deals as well if you check it out before you go.

This is where I like to go with my parents when they visit. The staff are always very friendly and accommodation and the food is delicious! The menu is small-ish but varied and the atmosphere and decor are stylish yet cosy. Definitely recommended.

My favourite Indian restaurant in the world! Fantastic service and wonderful food. First class all the way.....

Amazing quality, since finding the Voodoo Cafe about eight weeks ago my husband have been bar three times and everytime the menu is different and always the best I've tasted.

had the 3 course Sunday lunch and all three courses were very good. A good choice of meats and the desserts were especially good. highly recommended.

This is a really lovely quaint cafe on Elvet Bridge serving a wide menu of homemade food. Their homemade cheesecake was the best I've ever tasted!! Definitely worth a visit!!

best indian we have found , food and service excellent. unless away from home we go nowhere else. also great for take aways. have a pint in the bar watch sky sport while you wait ; .

We had this recommended but went expecting to find it "ok". Not so ! Seated immediately at our reservation time, polite happy staff and a great atmosphere. I'm more than adamant no matter what you order will be just perfect. We had three courses. Our main meals arrived together, got, on time and out of this world. Cooked so perfectly, colourful and delicious it left me speechless. Dessert came. Hand made with care, effort and attention to detail which made it taste out of this world. Thanks for the best dining experience I've encountered for a long time. Sum it up - Amazing on every level, try it. 10/10