The Red House

Rated: 1 / 5

My husband and I went for lunch on Saturday - thinking it looked nice and clean and modern. Good start, local produce on the menu etc. Sat down, took 10 mins for someone to take a drinks order and another 10 for them to arrive, it took 3 staff to open one bottle of wine... Eventually we ordered, the houmous was dreadful and didn't come with enough toast, the king prawns in the prawn cocktail were significant in their absence - only about 10 small prawns instead for £6!!! Main course burger was greasy and overseasoned, my lasagne had no bechamel sauce, no cheese and very little mince in it - it was hot on the inside and cold on the outside (i.e. nuked in a microwave) and was simply disgusting. I sent it back via an apologetic but hugely ineffectual waiter and had it removed from the bill. All in all the bill (without what we sent back) was nearly £40 - for that kind of money we could have gone somewhere decent and I wish we had. Just as we left the lady on the next table also sent her lasagne back - says it all really.... My advice - stay well clear!!!

Posted by: Helen Shallcross

Rated: 1 / 5

Visited Red House on Friday 11th December 2009, first impressions were favourable the place was busy, clean but that all changed when we were shown to our table for two. The waiter took us to a table that was at the front in full view of the passing crowd, my wife asked if we could sit inside the waiter seemed annoyed at this and told us the table was fine for us, we again asked to be sat inside and were. Our order was taken very quickly and the starters arrived, Prawn Cocktail for my wife, soup for me, the Prawn Cocktail £6 was a disgrace, tiny prawns very little sauce which tasted like it was out of a jar...not good, the soup was ok and that's all i can say about it. The main course, we both ordered a rump steak medium cooked one with pepercorn sauce, one with hollandaise sauce both with chips.....5 chips in a tiny bowl to be precise a small mushroom and a grotty looking tomato. The steak was over cooked for medium they had ran out of hollandaise sauce!!! so i was brought peppercorn sauce instead, i told the waitress i didn,t want it but she walked away and said she would leave it incase i changed my mind!!!!!!! The peppercorn sauce had the consistency of water and was tasteless, then the bill including two drinks came to £46 which included my peppercorn sauce, when i queried this the waiter it was taken of the bill. Profile Description in Metro Centre website "The Red House is about modern British food, prepared by highly qualified chefs and with only fresh ingredients. These dishes are dishes that everybody will recognise - and they are prepared with real quality and style and a bit of a sense of fun" If this is modern British food in the North East pity us all. I am sure it isn,t, so if you venture into the Upper QUBE, Metro Centre, give the Red House a wide berth and stay well clear.

Posted by: Fraser Nicol

Rated: 1 / 5

We visited the Red House on 23rd January (a Saturday), for lunch. The menu looked quite appealing and the food that was coming out of the kitchen looked appetising enough. We waited to be seated behind another group who left after about a minute of waiting, this was to be a sign of things to come. We spent about 5 minutes being ignored by various members of staff as they wandered past. I was slightly concerned by the number of tables that were strewn with dirty plates – the place was by no means busy for a Saturday afternoon. By this point I was ready to leave as we had a hungry 18-month old who was very vocally expressing his desire to be fed. At the last minute a waitress came and seated us, we asked for a highchair and she said she would go and get one – and proceeded to serve other customers. Another 5 minutes passed and again we asked for a highchair, again we were assured she would get one and yes…she went and served someone else. By this time a combination of hunger, irritation and a crying baby were manifesting themselves. We finally asked whether they do actually have any highchairs to be told ‘We do but we’ve only got 2 and they’re both in use, will he be okay in his buggy?’. Err, no. 2 highchairs in a restaurant split over 2 floors in the middle of one of the most family-centric of places – a shopping centre. Genius. At this point my annoyance got the better of me and we went to Café Rouge where we were seated straight away (with a highchair) and fed quickly and to a high standard. Will I be repeating the experience at the Red House? What do you think?

Posted by: John Edwards