The Blackbird Inn

Lovely food served by lovely efficient and attentive staff. The Minstrel's Gallery is a particularly nice comfortable room, although the stairs could be tricky for people with limited mobility.

excellent food, very good service in a nice setting. the pub was very busy and added to the atmosphere as the rugby was on at the same time.

My three sisters and I came to the Blackbird on recommendation. We have never had such a bad meal. The prawn cocktail was almost all lettuce and at £6.95 was very poor. Three of us had the burger they were so hard and overlooked we could not cut them, the only redeeming factor was the chips. We left a tip for the young waitress Who was very pleasant. We will not be eating again at the Blackbird and could not recommend it to anyone. Mrs Elsie Clark

Restaurant was busy when we arrived which meant we were a bit delayed in sitting down. Food was outstanding and service really good. Overall a great experience

Tuesday evening with my wife, very relaxing meal in the restaurant, great food and a fantastic head waiter. Would recommend Great choice of wines, beers and especially Gin, bit of a bad head Wednesday Morning

Today myself, husband and daughter visited the blackbird for Sunday lunch. Firstly all the staff were extremely polite and friendly. We were given a table with high stools and after seeing it might not be suitable for my daughter they moved us to a table near the fireplace. The service was great, very efficient. The food was delicious, myself and husband had a roast dinner and my daughter had chicken nuggets. I would definitely return and would recommend to others.

Our reserved table in the bar was well positioned for the needs of the children and adults in the party. The staff were very helpful and served us all at the table without questioning. The food was lovely and everything was eaten readily. We were made to feel very welcome and nothing seemed any bother to the staff. A really nice friendly visit with lovely staff and surroundings. Thank you.

The usual good food and service, quieter than on previous occasions. First occasion to have the hamburger - good but not as good as the haddock.

A very disappointing start to the evening when we were brusquely ushered downstairs despite being booked upstairs! Downstairs is too crowded and the tables so close together I could not physically get both legs under the table. A much more caring waitress spotted our plight and offered us a table upstairs. This is a proper dining room and a delightful space which was not being used, however there was a lovely log fire burning and we were given a table in front of it. Excellent. The waitresses and service were fantastic as was the food. What a wasted room this is, they cram people in downstairs probaby unlikely to return (for that reason) when they could have a superb dining experience upstairs. I really can't understand the management's reasoning! Full marks to the waitress who saved our evening, turning it from a potential disaster to a thoroughly enjoyable occasion. Not so many marks though to the gentleman who showed us to our table when we arrived.

Surroundings fab, atmosphere great, menus varied Allowed to mix and match from menus no problem...food was really good. Service was good...m y friend and I have nothing bad to say about our night. Lovely to see Blackbird 'buzzing' again.

Very nice meal, good service. Busy for a thursday evening so a lovely atmosphere if a little noisy. Excellent value for money. Worth a visit.

Hard to see how the haddock or the steak and ale pie could be improved. Excellent food. Noise still a slight problem.

Lovely food, atmosphere and staff. Will be going back soon

Service was slow but in their defence it was a Monday night and reasonably busy (Newcastle match on TV). The Food was good and we enjoyed our evening.

always a great experience at the BlackBird Ponteland, my favourite local Ponteland pub. Great beers and good food with excellent service! Serve local ales and all the usual ones with a few extra! Great Gin selection and staff are great.

Great care has been taken to create a relaxed and inviting atmosphere. The Food was excellent value and quality. Would recommend. Thank you Sue and Stuart and all your staff. Regards

It was the first time we have visited the Blackbird since its refurbishment. I remember it from previous years as an olde world type pub with small linking rooms. The refurbishment has opened up the inside. While loosing some of its old world charm it is more fit for purpose now as a gastro pub. We had a Sunday lunch menu, which was all that was offered on a Sunday. It was a very limited choice for mains but all that was ordered was good. A good choice of vegetables was provided making the main choice quite substantial. There was a better choice for starters and desserts. All six of us thoroughly enjoyed our meal, my favourite being the homemade panettone pudding which was yummy. The waiting staff work very hard and were friendly making the whole experience an enjoyable trip out. Will definitely be back, very impressed. Look forward to trying the everyday menus. Thanks.

Amazing service amazing food! Could not fault at all. We went for Valentine's Day and the set menu was beautiful and definitely worth the price! The waitress was excellent. Best steak I've had and will definitely be returning

Great food and friendly staff. Had a lovely Sunday lunch with in-laws and children. Good choice for both adults and children alike. Would thoroughly recommend.

The decor is gorgeous. Warm and comfortable atmosphere. The staff were lovely and provided great service. To top it off the Sunday lunch was delicious. Will definitely be back!

From ordering food it took 40 minutes for it to be served. Food was nice but then had to wait another 20 minutes for plates to be taken away and to ask for dessert menu. No serving staff in the restaurant downstairs at all for over 15 minutes to ask for the bill so had to get the attention of a bar maid working on the bar in order for us to pay our bill and leave.

Good food,efficient & welcoming staff. Critique ! The car park requires a higher level of illumination. We will certainly return to this restaurant in the near future.

Delicious food as usual and a very busy nice atmosphere. Unfortunately today the service was very slow we waited quite a while for our two courses so a 5 mark instead of 6. But will certainly be back again.

Fabulous Sunday lunch with great service from Fran. There was a bit of a delay between our first course and our main course but at the end of our meal the manager came over to apologise for our delay and gave us a discount. We were very impressed by the quality of the food and the excellent service we will definitely be returning.

Good service, good food, nice environment. Will deffinatly be back. I would recommend dinning in the upstairs gallery if you wAnt to have a romantic meal for 2,

Lovely food, service and atmosphere. The staff were brilliant and made us feel very welcome. The food was delicious and the chicken dish with mushrooms was sublime.

The food was very good quality. The service was quick and efficient and the waitress provided a very friendly and polite service. Prices were on the expensive side but for the food quality were reasonable.

The usual good food and good service but much quieter than previously, probably due to the fact that the Christmas/new year season is over.

What can I say. It was the best meal I've had in a long time. Would to recommend everyone. Staff friendly and very helpful. Thankyou

A building with enormous character and history provides excellent surroundings and excellent food. Yorkshire puddings are spectacular for the Sunday roast. Have always enjoyed my visits.

it is always busy at the blackbird, everybody enyoying themselves including us. The food is always worth the wait as it is freshly made, the fish and chips is always a hit.

Had the haddock which was excellent. Service was equally good. The only downside was the noise from the adjacent bar, which was open to the restaurant area.

Excellent food as usual. Attentive service and rather quieter than previously.

Lovely food and location. Waitress friendly and helpful. Enjoyed Christmas menu. Good quality food. Had prawm cocktail then braised beef with parsley mash and apple crumble. All delicious. Only negative is not a lot of leg room with dining tables if you are tall.

Visited on Thursday night -pub and restaurant extremely busy but with good atmosphere. Service friendly if a little slow but this was due to them being so busy. 4 of us wanted to order the fish cakes but unfortunately these were finished -disappointing . We ordered the burgers which were delicious although none of us liked the oddly shaped wooden plates -made the food difficult to eat. Overall though a very pleasant night and will return.

Been to the Blackbird a few times now and we are never disappointed. Lovely, friendly and welcoming staff, great atmosphere, great place and amazing food. They are also very accommodating when it comes to our Greyhound and treat him like one of the customers. Love this place.

Tasty and well presented food without being spectacular. At £20 for 2 courses we thought it was a little on the expensive side especially as we both left still feeling slightly hungry. Service was slow which was perhaps understandable as both the pub and restaurant were full with diners.

The entire meal for four was wonderful, a creative menu with ample portions of tasty food enjoyed by all. Staff are friendly and the service is great.

Our table was in the bar which I didn't realise. Took an hour for our meal to arrive. However it was very nice when it arrived. I was unable to have a dessert as our table was booked for 7pm and my lift was arranged fir 9pm and they had not arrived at this stage!

Efficient booking system , nice place . Good menu for adults and children , nice food , reasonably priced but have to say pretty poor service . Staff seemed pleasant enough but on another planet . Had to ask numerous times for things , seemed to wait an eternity for everything , I don't like feeling rushed but I felt as though I had to chase them for service ( apart from when they tried to take our plates away when we were still eating ) but then never returned for about half an hour .

Excellent food and first class service in pleasant surroundings. I had the beer-battered haddock and my wife had stake and ale pie. Will be visiting again.

Lovely and original menu, beautifully executed. Warm and welcoming staff and a really perfect dining area, quietly tucked away from the much louder and boisterous main bar area. The dining room was plastered and shaped like some of the nicest restaurant "caves" we have had nice meals in while visiting France. So grateful we had such a nice experience on our first visit, and while meeting up with family from all over.

Excellent food, very nice staff. It would have been a six if we hadn't had to wait slightly over an hour for the meal. It was just before Christmas though. A very pleasant experience, I have been before and will go again.

Lovely building, tastefully decorated to create an ancient but cosy atmosphere. Food is high quality pub food and there are some good wines to be sampled too

Food good, decent size portions and nicely presented. Service friendly and efficient. Would certainly go back again and would recommend it to others. Not posh dining more pub bistro style.

Lovely meal cooked just as we asked, great service, a favourite place of ours. Ponteland is lucky to have such a great pub right in the village

Quality of food very good. More like some top restaurants than a pub. Tunnel room is an intimate relatively quiet space. Service was attentive and friendly staff.

Food was excellent. But it was really noisy because the bar is next to the restaurant. So it didn't exactly make for the quiet intimate evening we were hoping for

A lovely pub/restaurant with great character and attentive staff. The menu was varied, interesting and well priced for the extremely well executed dishes. We were a group of 4 people visiting the area and everyone enjoyed their experience at The Blackbird.

We were a mixed bunch aged from four up to eighty six, each and everyone of us enjoyed a lovely lunch with a happy professional service. Our family will return to The Blackbird.