The Havelock - Sunderland

Called today far a late lunch. Menu poor.. Ordered hot beef tcottie and chips. Chips were obviously cooked in advance and very soggy.. overall a poor experience although staff were lovely. And so was the wine

The Havelock is described as ‘friendly’ in their description but from my experience it was quite the opposite. Upon arrival we were asked abruptly, “do you have a booking?!!” by a female member of staff using crutches. When we indicated we were meeting friends orders...were barked at us from the same member of staff. “You need a seat mind, you have to be sat down”. I can only assume that the reason behind this was in line with Covid regulations and had they been politely explained to us we would have been more than happy to adhere to the measures in place (measures that are no longer in place in many other similar establishments hence the reason we were caught off guard). After finding seats from a different area of the bar and after asking bar staff if we could use them, (to which they said yes) the same female member of staff shouted across, over other punters who were trying to enjoy their food, “you can’t take them from the bar!!!”. So feeling rather uncomfortable my friend and I skulked back to return the unused seats. This resulted in us having to leave our friends who we’d only just met and who had full drinks to find somewhere else to go. Maybe the story would have been different if only we’d have known to book in advance. The atmosphere was unpleasant and unwelcoming so unfortunately I could not sample their ‘good food and wide range of drinks’.

We visited on the 29th of December as a party of 5 including a child aged 4 who can be quite particular. We were seated and asked if we would like drinks really promptly. Despite being very busy, the service was very quick. We were...served by Lisa and she was fantastic. She did everything she could to make sure our meal was as we liked, particularly with the wee one who wanted his sauce separate from his pasta etc. Lisa is a credit to the restaurant and was very warm and friendly. Delicious meal and a great atmosphere. We look forward to visiting again when we return to England. Thank you!

I used to visit the havelock regularly before Covid. I was meeting a few friends for drinks. When we arrived the girl told us there was no table for us even though one of our friends was sat at a table waiting for us to...arrive. As more friends joined us we needed chairs. One of my friends took a chair from another table and the waitress stormed over to say the table was booked. The entire time we were there the table and chair didn’t get used. I understand tables are booked but a polite you can use the chair until the other party arrive would have worked we had several people sharing a seat. Staff were quite happy taking our money and our drinks order but weren’t friendly when it came to service. Really disappointed by the Havelock.

Was down for steakstone with family as heard from them. now it was amazing, had also blue cheese burger and cajun huhn burger. all eating was fantastic