Hinnies Restaurant in Whitley Bay

Finally, we got to visit Hinnies after being defeated by COVID and changes to opening hours on our previous forays north. The menu has a good choice of dishes very reasonably priced at £31 per head for three courses. For starters, I had the black pudding scotch egg which came with nice a runny yolk although I would have preferred more than a smear of the rhubarb ketchup. The good lady was very satisfied with her cod fritter. For mains she had the steak and chips served with a fantastically rich bordelaise sauce. I went for the pan haggerty which was elegantly served with poached egg, mustard sauce and seasonal greens. The sauce was a little lacking in substance not helped by the residual water leaking from the overcooked egg. For desert the wife had the singing hinnies. While I chose the steamed ginger pudding with marmalade ice cream. The sponge was not warm which made it rather dense. The marmalade ice cream was actually ice cream with a (generous amount) of marmalade sauce. While the issues over food quality were all pretty minor we did feel that the dishes did the bare minimum and lacked a wow factor. The service was quite perfunctory. At no point during the meal were we asked if everything was OK. The waiter also had a habit of leaning across the diner when serving. The experience overall left us feeling a little flat. However I will point out that the restaurant was very busy on a Wednesday evening and everyone we spoke to prior to our visit highly recommended Hinnies. Maybe we caught them on a bad night?

Sadly after a great experience with the girls, I took my husband for his birthday and it was total opposite. We had the 2 course lunch, my started was the cod fritter which was claggy on top of a dry corn bread it was impossible to eat without a drink, needs a sauce to make it easier to eat. The black pudding scotch egg had by my husband was nice but stone cold. We then waited an hour for our mains whilst the kitchen focused on preparing meals for their social media posts. We saw 4 dishes come out of the kitchen, including the fish of day which my husband had ordered, all go sailing past us to the member of staff at the front of the restaurant to take photos of in different settings! Eventually our mains came out, my chicken was ok a little lacking of seasoning, the potatoes were delish. My husband's cod of the day was however raw halfway through and totally translucent. The hand cooked chips looked like the scraps out of the bottom of a bag of frozen chips, however they were hot! The waiter kindly comped my husband's meal, but I can't stop feeling that if the chefs and the marketing staff member had paid as much care and attention to their actual customers, rather than their social media content then we would have had a much better experience. On that basis we will not be back.

Delicious food every time. Has a Sunday lunch menu that’s not on website. Advertised GF options. Never disappoints!

A regular visitor to Blackfriars and Dobson and Parnel , wanted to visit Hinnies a sister restaurant for a while and was not disappointed , dishes very well presented , great staff and overall relaxed atmosphere , fine dining but in an unfussy relaxed environment , particular compliments to Amy and Marnie who looked after us well , thanks for a great night

A great Whitley Bay restaurant for good food. Always great choices. Friendly and helpful staff, knowledgeable of the menu. My house Chardonnay type house wine was a little disappointing. Hubby said could have done with a little more black pudding+ seasoning in his 'Black Pudding and Tattie' starter. Doesn't put us off. We mentioned it - they were courteous - we'll still return. Dessert - oops nearly forgot to take photo it was so scrummy. A well run, well organised, comfortable space to enjoy great food. Fabulously priced set menu.