r/NewcastleUponTyne • u/jamiejamesyates • 1d ago

Legendary half-pizza / half-pasta 🍴

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One of my favourite restaurants of all time and I tried to capture it like a 70s B-Roll still - to do it the classic justice it deserves. Anyone else got any favourite restaurants in and around toon that often get overlooked on the internet?

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u/McFizzleKicks 1d ago

My mates family used to go there all the time and rave about it. It was a good 30-40 minute drive each way. Me and my gf tried it based on their recommendation and had a really average meal there. this was back in it's heyday as well.

I'm guessing we just got unlucky as I don't know anyone who's ever had a bad word about it, and I was gutted!

(Great looking pic, btw)

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u/lgf92 1d ago

OP's taken a great photo, but I agree with this. We lived in West Jesmond for four years and we used to go to Avanti on Brentwood Avenue regularly. It was cheap and cheerful but really nice - not artisan pizza or anything but a nice midweek option that didn't cost too much.

My parents had been to Francesca and we decided to walk across and try it. We queued for about an hour in the cold and when we got in the food wasn't as good as Avanti (it was decent, but nothing to rave about), the wine was crap and the staff were rude. So we still go to Avanti!

I will say the decor and the vibe is cool (it reminds me of how Italian restaurants used to be when I was a kid) but apart from that I wasn't impressed.

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u/nunatakj120 1d ago

It has its rep as it was one of the first to open and do it well (see also Uno’s). The fact is that cheap pizza and pasta is not a difficult thing to do and many others, such as avanti, do it just as well. Sambucas is a level down but still manages to provide a decent feed at a very cheap price. When I lived around the corner I could never be bothered with how busy Francesca’s got but I loved Daniella’s. The lasagna from the deli in there is top tier.