The Waggon Inn
After a bracing and very enjoyable few hours spent at belsay hall, castle and Gardens, we were hungry and ready for lunch. It being a Sunday we travelled the road back to Newcastle and very quickly came to this pub, situated on the side of the road but set back behind a car ... Read review
Advantages: hearty food Disadvantages: Slow service
The Waggon Inn
After a bracing and very enjoyable few hours spent at belsay hall, castle and Gardens, we were hungry and ready for lunch. It being a Sunday we travelled the road back to Newcastle and very quickly came to this pub, situated on the side of the road but set back behind a car park (there is also a car park at the side)
The Waggon Inn describes itself as an “Olde English Country Pub' with local ales, fine ... .../>
CONTACT DETAILS
The Waggon Inn, Higham Dykes, Milbourne, Ponteland, Newcastle upon Tyne. NE20 0DH.
Telephone 01661 881872.
E-mail - thewaggon@btconnect.com
Website - www.waggoninn.co.uk
Verdict...
The meal was hearty, well presented and filling with the vegetables being crisp rather than soggy, and the gravy tasting like “proper” gravy. The whole place is clean and well set out with ... more
The Waggon Inn
After a bracing and very enjoyable few hours spent at belsay hall, castle and Gardens, we were hungry and ready for lunch. It being a Sunday we travelled the road back to Newcastle and very quickly came to this pub, situated on the side of the road but set back behind a car park (there is also a car park at the side)
The Waggon Inn describes itself as an “Olde English Country Pub' with local ales, fine wines - - and an excellent restaurant menu serving fresh locally sourced food.” On first seeing the place it does indeed look like an olde worlde pub, having a white façade and looking as though it would have real fires and oak beams on the inside.
We parked the car and when we entered, were not disappointed. The pub has two rooms, one predominantly the bar with tables around for drinkers and diners, and the second room being more formally set out as a dining room. The tables and chairs are an assortment of styles and whilst the dining room area was more formal, the bar area had little alcoves, benches and stools.
We chose to eat in the dining area for no reason other than the fact that the bar area was very quickly filling up with Sunday drinkers (not rowdy) and Little Miss decided on the dining room.
Our menu was brought quickly, and whilst the specials were shown on the board, the menu itself seems to offer a choice of dishes which is pretty consistent. There is a wide range of starters including King prawn & crayfish cocktail with dressed salad & Marie Rose sauce £5.95;Fresh mussels in a white wine & garlic sauce with crusty bread £5.50;Craster kipper pate with toast, £4.95and breaded goats cheese with homemade chilli jam, costing £5.50 We opted to go straight for the main course because we all knew we wanted a Sunday dinner. For a traditional Sunday dinner there was a choice of beef, lamb and pork and our dishes of beef were brought very quickly to the table (a half size dish for Little Miss was thankfully on offer).
With hearty dishes on offer such as: Slow cooked lamb shank served on mash with a mint & red wine sauce £9.95, Steak & ale pie topped with a puff pastry lid served with hand cut chips & roasted vegetables £8.95 and Northumbrian pork & leek sausages served with mash and a rich onion gravy £8.95 there is plenty of choice for those wanting something other than a Sunday roast. I had a look at the other meals being served and they were all nicely presented and were good sized portions.
Back to our food! Because it was only 12 noon and we were the first diners, the food was brought in record time and consisted of somelarge slices of beef (real!!) and huge Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and gravy. The vegetables came in a separate dish- mashed swede, new potatoes, carrots, broccoli and cabbage. Plenty for all of us to tuck into.
By this stage the place was filling up quickly and whilst the staff were consistently pleasant to diners, it seemed as though the important bit was to take more orders. We sat for about half an hour with our finished plates in front of us and they were taken away only when we asked to see the dessert menu. Little Miss got a delicious chocolate fudge cake and ice cream and himself got an apple crumble, but we gave up on my coffee which was ordered at the same time but never materialised. Given that the others had finished we decided to just pay up and get a coffee at home.
The meal in total for the 3 of us cost around £35 and given that this included a really hearty portion of Sunday roast, tasty vegetables, desserts and drinks, this was quite good value
The meal was hearty, well presented and filling with the vegetables being crisp rather than soggy, and the gravy tasting like “proper” gravy. The whole place is clean and well set out with plenty of space between the tables, and I would say it’s a good place to visit for anyone who has been to a local attraction.
The only thing which let it down was the speed of service. I didn’t grumble, but whilst this would have got 4 stars, i felt that the staff were pleasant but there just weren’t enough of them to efficiently serve a restaurant full of Sunday lunch diners.
