Sonny's Italia, Tynemouth

Mar 16 2008 by Eddy Eats, Sunday Sun

LET’S face it, an Italian restaurant and Sunday lunch is not something that you would ever dream of putting together.

Thoughts of pastas, pizzas and meatballs just don’t sit well with the idea of roast beef and Yorkshire pud.

That is, until now.

I’ve never made a secret of how difficult it can be sampling Sunday lunch week in, week out and finding somewhere new that we haven’t visited before.

Usually, we just jump in the Eatsmobile and drive until we stumble upon somewhere, but every now and again we will spot a place on our travels and make a mental note to go back.

Which is exactly what happened last week. Myself and the delectable Mrs Eats had been in Tynemouth to take in an art gallery during the week — oh, yes, we’re a cultured pair at times — when she stopped to look at the menu of an Italian restaurant. Noticing a Sunday lunch menu that looked very much of the traditional English sort, she stamped her feet until I promised we would return.

Which is how we ended up heading to Sonny’s Italia last Sunday afternoon.

The restaurant is located above The Percy Arms on Front Street and accessible through a side door and up some stairs.

It is decked out as more of a classic modern eaterie than your average Italian place, and a number of fellow scranners were already seated and tucking in to big platefuls.

A friendly waiter handed us our menus, and we ordered a nice bottle of house red while we made our decision on what to eat.

Both of us were pretty adamant about what we were having.

We both wanted to start with the sweet potato soup, before moving on to roast beef with all of the trimmings.

As we gave our orders, we were informed that, unfortunately, the sweet potato soup wasn’t available, and instead were offered another choice.

As She Who Must Be Fed muttered under her breath that it would have been nice to have been informed of such before we’d perused, we decided to try their home-made minestrone instead.

The waiter, however, did redeem himself when we ordered our main course, by asking how we liked our beef. "Would you like it pink, or more well done?", he enquired.

As two diners who like a bit of pink in our meat, we were impressed.

Normally, you get what you’re given, and a lot of the time it is overcooked, but we knew there would be no such problem today.

As the soup arrived, we were handed a basket with three pieces of crusty bread, which was tasty enough but Mrs Eats asked for more, saying two into three didn’t work. The waiter quickly returned with more and an apology, and we tucked in.

It may not have been our first choice, but the soup was delicious. It tasted fantastic and was jam-packed with lovely chunks of fresh vegetables.

As our bowls were cleared, it wasn’t very long until the mains arrived.

The plates were piled with three lovely thick slices of pink beef — just how we wanted it — a lovely big homemade Yorkshire pud and a mound of mashed potato.

We were both given our own bowls of seasonal veg, which included cabbage, carrots, cauliflower and new potatoes, as well as individual jugs of thick, meaty gravy.

And it tasted as good as it looked. The meat was beautifully cooked, the vegetables were perfect and I particularly loved the mash. In fact, there was so much on the plate that Mrs Eats even left a bit of potato, and we both turned down the idea of a sweet, even though they looked fantastic.

Sunday lunch on its own costs £7.90, it is £10.90 for two courses, as we had, and £13.99 if you want all three courses.

The normal a la carte menu is also available, as well as the happy hour menu.

:: Sonny’s Italia is on Front Street, the main street in Tynemouth. If you head into Tynemouth, about halfway down the high street you will spot a left turn, with The Percy Arms on the corner. The restaurant is just upstairs, and you can either park out the front at the ticket bays or take your chances on finding a spot up one of the side streets nearby.

15/20

Character - 4
Quality – 4
Service -3
Value – 4.
Telephone – 0191 2960755
Food served 12noon-9.30pm
Drinks – Pint of lager £3.30, Pint of bitter £3.30, Gin and Tonic £3.30 and freshly squeezed orange £2.30.
Car Park – no
Kids allowed – yes
Real ale on tap – no
Wine by the bottle – yes
Credit cards – yes
Vegetarain food – yes
Disabled toilets – no.