Jamie’s Italian opened in Newcastle two years ago and over those two years I’ve been there a whole two times (I tried to go on Easter weekend this year but there was a 45 minute wait so we went to Byron instead, my friend’s husband was too hungry to wait!).

The people at Jamie’s kindly invited me down to review the new Evening Meal Deal which is valid Monday-Thursday after 6pm. The deal sounded pretty good to me – any starter, main and dessert for £20. It doesn’t include The Ultimate Plank starter, pizza (much to my friend’s dismay) or seabass and there’s a £5 supplement on the 35-day dry aged sirloin steak and rib-eye.  I don’t know why they don’t include pizzas in the deal but there’s still plenty to choose from on the menu. I’m not joking when I say I looked at this menu A LOT in the run-up to my visit. I seem to really enjoy looking at the food options I can choose from.

I’d forgotten how massive it was – it’s huge! There’s a bar and casual seating area as soon as you walk in, then some booths towards the back. Then there’s another huge dining area upstairs.

We were seated upstairs, as soon as we’d sat down I was asked if I had a Gold Club card. I got one when Jamie’s first opened here but I haven’t seen or used it since. The waitress took my name and postcode and called up to see what was on my card. I had no idea what this meant but apparently you get a monthly ‘treat’ – this month we could’ve had a glass of wine each/orange spritzer and a taster. We went with the orange spritzer as we’d both driven in, and the taster was breaded mushrooms and garlic mayo. Delicious! We must have been pretty hungry because we got through these crispy little things rather quickly. N.B. Garlic mayo is always better than regular mayo.

I chose the Italian Nachos (crispy fried ravioli stuffed with mozzarella, ricotta & Bella Lodi, served with spicy Sicilian tomato sauce) for my starter and Turkey Milanese (complete with egg!) and fries for my main. My friend picked the Pea & Mint Arancini (fried pea, mint & mozzarella risotto balls with herby cheese fonduta) and Jamie’s Italian Burger with Spiced Fries for her main.

I enjoyed the Italian Nachos, the sauce was lovely but it wasn’t spicy in the slightest. The ravioli were crispy and cheesy, I can’t complain about them because I really did like this starter but with a tiny bit of spice in the sauce, this would have been perfect.  My friend loved her Arancini and melted cheese dip, I could tell she enjoyed it as she was really savouring each mouthful.

The clincher for me ordering the Turkey Milanese was the egg that came with it. Imagine my disappointment to find the yolk was completely hard and not runny at all. I was looking forward to the yolk spilling all over the turkey and dipping my fries in the yolky deliciousness. Egg disappointment aside, I was surprised by the size of the piece of turkey, it was huge. It was stuffed with prosciuttu and topped with black truffle and it was tasty. I liked it, but I had my eyes on dessert so decided to leave some of my main. I ended up leaving about a third and I honestly felt like I’d been eating it for AGES.

My friend enjoyed her burger, we chatted about the burger craze that’s been sweeping Newcastle for quite a while and doesn’t look like it’s going to end anytime soon (Fat Hippo, Byron and Five Guys I’m looking at you!). The spiced fries looked great and had a nice chilli kick to them. One tiny grumble about the burger was that the fried onions were sandwiched in between the burger and bottom half of the bun which resulted in a bit of sogginess  but overall, still a good burger.

We both chose non-alcoholic drinks, I had the Refresher (fresh lemon juice, elderflower cordial & cranberry juice, topped with lemonade) and Sarah had the Homemade Lemonade with pomegranate and raspberry. A change from my usual sparkling water! For dessert, I settled on the Molten Chocolate Praline and Sarah had the Epic Brownie. We weren’t disappointed and I think we ate them in record time, bearing in mind we were pretty stuffed before dessert arrived, ha ha! We both loved our dessert choices. I think you can probably understand why… LOOK AT THEM!

The Evening Meal Deal is a great deal, three courses for £20, really good value for money and the service was honestly brilliant. Our waitress was attentive and friendly but not over-bearing. I overheard her serving at the tables around us and she was fab with all of the diners. People obviously love it at Jamie’s because it’s always rammed when I walk past and this visit was no difference. I loved the informal feel the restaurant had, it was a really relaxed couple of hours we spent just chatting and eating (and taking photos).

I’m sure the Evening Meal Deal will be a huge hit with the Geordie masses! Have you been to Jamie’s? What are your favourites from the menu?

* Our meal was complimentary for review purposes, my review is 100% honest as always!