Marco Polo, Newcastle

...would book a table at Marco Polo in Newcastle for Saturday night.

== Where is it? ==

Marco Polo is an Italian restaurant located on Dean Street in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is near to the metro station and taxi's can be found outside. According to their website it's the place to be in Newcastle.

My auntie and uncle have been before but they said it has been refurbished since they were last there. It looks ...
...too.

Marco Polo doesn't have the same kind of atmosphere as the little traditional Italian restaurants nor does it have the same sort of character - nothing in the restaurant looked particularly Italian, but it was still a nice place to eat.

== Overall ==

Although, I enjoyed my night out and the food was good, I'm in no hurry to go back as it was noisy and quite expensive (especially compared to traditional ... more

It was my cousins 17th birthday last week and my auntie and uncle asked my parents and I if we wanted to go out for a meal to celebrate. When we agreed they said they would book a table at Marco Polo in Newcastle for Saturday night.

Where is it?

Marco Polo is an Italian restaurant located on Dean Street in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is near to the metro station and taxi's can be found outside. According to their website it's the place to be in Newcastle.

My auntie and uncle have been before but they said it has been refurbished since they were last there. It looks really nice and it's clean.

The Menu

When we went in, they showed us to our table and gave us some menus. The menus were quite unusual. They were tall and thin and they opened out like a fan. The dishes are named in Italian but are described in English (thank goodness as my Italian is virtually non-existent!)

The menu had quite a large selection of food.

Starters

Starters include; soup of the day (mushroom when we were there), Italian meats, Fried potato skins, muscles or chicken livers. We ordered four portions of fried potato skins, which were served with garlic mayonnaise and a chilli dip. They were cooked just right and the dips were tasty. The portion was a bit on the large side and my cousins shared a portion between them. I struggled to eat them! My dad ordered a portion of garlic mushrooms, which he said was nice.

The starters are priced between £3.95 (soup of the day) to £6.85 (Italian meats, cheese and fruit) but most of them are around £5.

Pasta

Usually when I go to an Italian restaurant I would have spaghetti Bolognese. I was surprised to find that this wasn't on the menu. They do serve a large selection of pasta dishes though. They serve lasagne, carbonara and cannelloni as well as some unusual pasta dishes. The pasta dishes all sounded quite fancy and I couldn't decide if I would like them so I decided against having a pasta dish.

My mam ordered the "Pappardelle al ragu" - Shin of beef, fresh tomato & red wine stew and I tasted it and it was absolutely delicious. It was a bit like a tomato based beef stew. The pasta was quite wide (wider than tagliatelle) and it went really well with the beef and the sauce. I didn't think it would be something I would like but I was pleasantly surprised.

There is one vegetarian pasta dish, which is Sundried tomato, basil, chilli & garlic.

The pasta dishes are priced between £7.65 (Wild mushroom & mascarpone risotto) and £9.95 (King prawns, fresh tomato, brandy, basil & cream) Most of the pasta dishes are around £8.

Pizza

There are 12 different pizzas but I just opted for the cheese and tomato one. My cousins both had a pizza with different toppings and they seemed to enjoy them. The pizzas were large and I only managed to eat half of it but it was delicious. The base was quite thin and there was a good amount of cheese and tomato puree on it. My cousins ate much more of their pizzas than I did but I was also eating some of my mam's pasta.

The pizzas are priced between £6.65 (Margarita) and £8.95 (Mussels, clams, king prawns, cod, squid, lemon & parsley)

Fish

None of us had a fish dish but there is a good selection on the menu. There are 5 fish dishes, ranging from sea bass to swordfish. The prices range from £10.95 (Grilled swordfish, tomato, mint & white crab linguine) to £15.95 (Scallops, king prawns & monkfish skewers with tomato & bread salad). The Whole roast dover sole, brown shrimps & roast garlic butter with tender stem broccoli, is subject to market price.

Meat

There are 8 meat dishes to choose from. My dad and my uncle both had a meat dish. Their steak was huge, filling the plate and they both enjoyed them. My dad also ordered a portion of chips as a side order.

The meat dishes are priced between £10.95 (Chicken breast stuffed with sage & buffalo mozzarella, wrapped in proscuitto with dried tomato & rocket salad) and £18.95 (Pan fried fillet of beef, truffled mash, wild mushrooms & barolo jus)

Deserts

There is a good selection of deserts but I just fancied plain ice cream so that's what I ordered (it wasn't listed on the menu but they had no problems in doing this for me). My dad and one of my cousins had sticky toffee pudding with ice cream (£4.95). They looked really nice and they both enjoyed them. My other cousin (the birthday girl!) had white chocolate and poached rhubarb brulee (also £4.95). This also looked delicious and my cousin enjoyed it.

Service

The service was good and all our orders were correct. We did ask for one drink twice as they didn't bring it the first time with the other drinks but I think this was probably because they didn't hear. When we asked the second time it came quite quickly. As it was so busy, there was quite a long wait between our starters and main courses but this gave us time to chat and for our starters to digest. The service was quite slow but there were lots of people serving and I didn't mind too much as they did come to us quickly once we caught their eye.

Price

Altogether it cost about £180 for 7 of us, which works out at approximately £25 per head. We had 5 starters, 7 main courses and 4 deserts as well as at least 2 drinks per person (alcoholic and soft).

There is a 10% service charge for parties of over 6 people.

Atmosphere

The restaurant was busy all the time we were there so the atmosphere was great. It started to quieten towards the end of our stay but the atmosphere was still really good. There was music playing, but I thought this was a bit too loud, as we nearly had to shout to allow the members of our party who were sitting across the table to hear. I think I was sitting next to a speaker too.

Marco Polo doesn't have the same kind of atmosphere as the little traditional Italian restaurants nor does it have the same sort of character - nothing in the restaurant looked particularly Italian, but it was still a nice place to eat.

Overall

Although, I enjoyed my night out and the food was good, I'm in no hurry to go back as it was noisy and quite expensive (especially compared to traditional Italian restaurants). However, if I were asked to go back here I wouldn't say no, it just wouldn't be my first choice of places to eat. 

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