Prima Restaurant - Newcastle upon Tyne

Cool dining room with high ceilings. helpful staff. the food was nice.

Had a table of 5 booked on Saturday night. the table was not big enough to care for 5. at a point must have been 20 glasses on the table. brotkörbe took forever to come. there was not enough space to place the 3 starters we ordered. we had 3 waiters at a point that was confusing. my main course was terrible. calzone. very dry. no sauce. only a dry folded pizza on a dish. no garnish or something. we had no clean cutlery for the main course when we asked for a waiter who was about. 15 sets on the edge of the table, which then all fell on the floor, then he took them up, gave them back to us. we were then offered a terrible bottle of champagne to compensate, but we drank Merlot Prosecco, so that went to waste. the strawberry gurkentonic cocktail was delicious, although there was a whole ice cup in it.

I ordered 2 kind of pizza. Margherita and Quattro formaggi. Quattro formaggi is different from that I think. Because I thought it wasn't use tomato sources. Both was delicious.

I've visited Prima on several occasions as a party of 2 and party of 35, during happy hour and for sunday lunch so its safe to say I continue going back to this restaurant for the great value, friendly staff and most importantly the excellent quality food. Can't fault the location on Newcastle Quayside and unusually this restaurant has rooms within the stone arch leg of the old high level bridge so you feel like you're outside except for the fact that you're toasty and warm from the flowing food and drink! If you miss out on these rooms and are seated at the front of the restaurant you can at least see the kitchen in front of you which is a nice touch. Happy hour means you can afford to eat out on a budget with some pizzas and pastas priced at £6. Headed here for sunday lunch once too....reluctantly as surely this would be better at a British pub over an Italian restaurant?? Well I was surprised at how amazing this was...the meat was cooked perfectly although overall the portion was a bit on the small side.

Prima is a real gem of a restaurant, a stone's throw from both the Quayside and from the centre of town, so definitely a convenient location but it can get busy, especially of a weekend. I was there recently on a works night out, in a party of at least 25 people, seated upstairs along with two or three others parties of over 25 people too. There was a great atmosphere, a real buzz about the place, and the staff really were enjoying themselves, which was great to see! I did think that with so many large parties eating all at once, the food would either take some time to come out or be rushed and of inferior quality. Wrong and wrong! All our orders came out around the same time (as best could be done with such a large group and the food was excellent. There's lots to choose from, as a guide my starter was scallops with black pudding, parma ham and salad the scallops were cooked perfectly, my only teeny complaint was that the black pud was a bit overdone! Main was a Pizza Lucifero (nice'n'spicy had to be done , and that was also cooked perfectly, the thin base cooked through but not overdone, the right amount of toppings, really tasty. Lots of clean plates and happy people at the end (I would've had a dessert, but everyone else was feeling full and I didn't want to be the lone greedy guts... All prices seem very reasonable from the menu, although cannot really comment as this one went on the company tab. However, I would definitely come back here given the prices. So, if you're looking for somewhere in Newcastle with great food, excellent atmosphere and superb staff, you'll not be disappointed should you opt to come here.