Scalinis Gosforth Review

Scalini’s Gosforth Review

The last time we visited Scalini’s, Gosforth we had an… entertaining experience! As a result, it’s taken us nearly 2 years to return to give it another go. It’s a shame as it is literally 10 minutes walk from our house.

I’ll explain our previous visit after our review

Scalini’s Gosforth Review

As part of our New Year mission to visit all the restaurants in Gosforth. Looking for somewhere we’d not been to in a while we chose Scalini’s Gosforth at the Three Mile Inn. It was also a treat for my mother as she loves eating out and spending time with the family. But it was also a thank you to my Father in Law too. They’d spent the past 2 weekends painting my house (while I was doing other home improvement projects).

Judith Hooper

The interior is bright, with a modern rustic style. I love the wood and brick framing on the walls. Our seating was in a raised section (up two steps), which gave us a good view of the restaurant. Being January, the restaurant wasn’t overly busy.

Scalini’s Kids Menu

Scalini’s offers a really good value Kids Menu. A main course and an ice-cream fro £4.95. The choice is basic but covers most of the popular options that kids choose.

Scalini's Kids Menu

Everyone was happy with their choices until I decided to have a potato skins starter. All of a sudden Imogen wanted potato skins. Followed by Abigail. A potato skin starter off the main menu was the same price as the kid’s meal. It felt pricy in comparison, but we rolled with it.

Abigail Hooper

Scalinis Gosforth Menu

So off the main menu, we had potato skins with garlic mayonnaise. Potato skins are potato skins, I can’t really elaborate much on that one I’m afraid!

Scalini Gosforth Starters

I changed my mind and went with breaded mozzarella with an avocado, pepper and spring onion salsa dip. The presentation was lovely and it hit the spot. I’m a huge fan of cooked cheese. I could eat mozzarella in any form. The other pulling item was avocado. Hands up for being a fully paid-up supporter of Team Avocado. It’s one of those food items that aren’t always in the cupboard.Scalini Gosforth Starters

With the starters finished the plates were cleared away and we started to just chill. My Mam was chatting with Nana Betty and with a little musical chairs the kids were entertaining themselves. The waiting staff were milling around and seemed busy. I was in no rush, but my Mam started to get a little impatient. We waited around 30 minutes before the main courses came out. Which frustrated my Mam as she hadn’t had a starter.

Scalini Gosforth mains

Scalini’s Main Courses

The kid’s meals arrived. Abigail had chosen bolognese with Penne pasta. Imogen had created a ham and pineapple pizza. Although basic looking they were both tasty and they enjoyed their meals.

Scalini Gosforth Mains

Feeling absolutely exhausted from the DIY project I’m working on I thought I’d treat myself. Steak with Diane Sauce. I ordered Sirloin but was informed a little later that there was none, but I could order fillet or a different meal.

What the heck lets go Fillet Steak with Wilted Spinach. And if that wasn’t enough for an extra £4 you can add 3 King Prawns. The Steak was cooked exactly as I like it (Medium) and was so tender. Of course, the kids wanted to try some of my steak, which I managed to cut nice thin slices for them. I couldn’t fault the meal at all. It was tasty and presented well. The green garnish on the side, I wasn’t sure what it was. It had a slight aniseed taste to it.
Scalini Gosforth Starters

Scalini’s Desserts Menu

With the kid’s meal including ice cream, I felt obliged to have a dessert too. In the summer I’d tried Limoncello for the first time and it was a lush refreshing drink. So the cheapest thing on teh menu drew me in.

Scalini's Dessert Menu

The Limoncello Cheesecake came with a scoop of sorbet, sat on top of a red berry sauce. IT was refreshing, but not as sharp as I’d thought it would be.Limoncello Cheesecake

Overall the food was impressive and I couldn’t fault any of it. However, we felt that the service was a little slow and not attentive enough. The restaurant wasn’t busy, but we had to do some serious waving to catch a waitresses eye to order more drinks. This was during the extended wait between courses too. I was glad we’d revisited this place as the food seems to have improved from the last visit.

Our Previous Experience

As I mentioned at the beginning, we had an entertaining experience on our last time here. It had been Imogen’s 8th Birthday party. She’d decided to take 10 friends out for a meal as her party. Italian food is usually great for kids as it can be nice and simple. Most of the guests had ordered a glass of coke to drink. As the waiter brought them over (8 glasses of coke on a tray), he carefully balances the tray on one hand and placed the drinks on the table one by one. Unfortunately, his balance wasn’t great, but the cascade of coke and glasses across the table was impressive.

The drinks and kids were carefully and rapidly mopped up. Back to the bar to fetch more glasses of coke. As the waiter brought them over (8 glasses of coke on a tray), he carefully balances the tray on one hand and placed the drinks on the table one by one. Unfortunately, his balance wasn’t great, but the cascade of coke and glasses across the table was impressive. No this wasn’t a copy and paste mistake, it actually happened twice. At least I can always remember what we did for Imogen’s 8th Birthday Party. As compensation for drenching the party guests, we got a 50% discount. If there was a silver lining, it was that the meal out was super cheap and I didn’t get a lapful of coke.


Comments

3 responses to “Scalini’s Gosforth Review”

  1. OMG at the cokes! That’s hilarious! At least that didn’t happen this time!

    I’ve never been to Scalinis, never really fancied it as I’ve heard very mixed things!

  2. It’s a mixed bag for us as well – we had an excellent time there during a blogging review and then again when we hired their function room for a family dinner – couldn’t fault it! But our last visit was terrible. There was no atmosphere, the place was filthy (it was lunch time and there was food on the floor from god knows when), our cutlery was dirty and the windows we were sat next to were filled with spiderwebs! Plus the service was painfully slow and we were the only ones in the restaurant at the time. So annoying as this place used to be a go-to restaurant for us. Our last visit really put me off visiting again and it would take a huge shake-up for me to do so I think.

  3. I took my team out for a team celebration / Christmas lunch before Christmas. There was 12 of us and it cost about £325 in total. The service was good (no-one got soaked in coke) but the food was poor. I got the lamb and it was very dry. The steaks by all accounts were average at best. Perhaps it was because it was close to Christmas and we were a large group (we’d booked in advance and given our orders in advance however) but for the price I had expected more. Not sure we’ll be returning.

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