Di Meo's Riverside Ouseburn in Newcastle upon Tyne

I frequently visit this establishment, usually two to three times a month, often bringing my children along. On my latest visit, we enjoyed three ice creams, a jar of jam, and a cup of coffee, totaling around £16. When I requested a glass of tap water to accompany my coffee, I was surprised to be informed that I would need to pay for a plastic cup, as they are not returnable. I mentioned that in Italy, it’s customary to serve water with coffee, but unfortunately, my request was not accommodated. I was told that the need to charge was due to the VAT on the cup. As a regular customer, I believe it's important for businesses to consider reasonable service requests, especially when the profit margin on a £16 sale could easily absorb the cost of a glass of water. Your shop is positioned as a premium establishment, which naturally creates an expectation for service that aligns with that reputation. By not fulfilling such a simple request, I feel you may be overlooking the potential long-term value of regular customers like myself. This experience has led me to reconsider my future visits and the spending habits of my friends and family. Thank you for taking the time to consider my feedback.

Best ice cream I’ve had outside of Italy but super slow service! One person working on ice cream queue and others seemingly floating around not doing much

Good ice cream. Would happily pay the high price of £3.20 for one scoop however they charged me 10p for a tiny plastic spoon on the card machine after my 1 year old accidentally dropped his.

This is a good location for ice cream and Italian snacks. They have a decent range of unique (banoffee, mint choc oreo etc.) and common ice cream flavours with friendly service. £3.20 single scoop, £5.10 double. If they could improve anything it would be extra staff to ease with the queuing, especially on a sunny weekend!

Nice ice cream but service absolutely abysmal. Queue out of the door and round the corner with one person serving and another two members of staff spectating.

Wonderful coffee, cannoli, sfoglio, pizzas, bruschetta etc - my wife declared the cannoli the best ever and we've been to Sicily! Pistachio the most traditional filling I'm sure and was superb. Also tried some gelato including a battenburg cake special that was delicious. Worth a detour or stop-off if passing.

Nice place, good coffee but never open when they say they are, always shutting early, quite annoying really, just update your opening times!

A little gem in Ouseburn. Di Meo's award-winning icecream plus great sandwiches and coffee. The sandwiches are absolutely delicious and, like the the coffee, are hot and made to order. No fancy trimmings, but if you want to try one of the range of sandwiches, go hungry and don't plan on eating a big dinner! A very popular place, absolutely buzzing on a Sunday afternoon. Indooor seating is limited to about 14 inside, but there are tables outside and of course you can simp;y take away. Staff are courteous, but extremely busy, so don't expect lengthy conversations. Owner 'Fredo wants to see them serving customers, not debating the issues of the day!! It is also a great place to buy small Italian delicacies for gifts, Highly recommended for any season.

Poor customer service, which has put us off from visiting again. The young lady serving ice cream was miserable and extremely rude. She was touching her face then touching the cones and wafers. The gentlemen who made our hot chocolate was no better. Extremely sad as the ice cream is great. I think Di Meo really need to train their staff on simple manners and how to smile!

The lady serving did not have a clue what the vegan ice cream contained and seemed to be guessing. Eventually she decided to ask someone. The man serving totally freaked out about my son's 11 allergies. Once he realised he was allergic to nuts he refused to serve us and was quite rude. I did try to explain that he is fine with cross contamination and not anaphylactic to nuts but he refused to listen. Do not visit if you have allergies.

Best paninis ever! Will definitely be back. We had the Alfredo and Annalisa fillings and both were delicious. The Panini roll was excellent.

The best ice cream you could ask for. Beautiful flavours. I had chocolate Orange and Biscoff. Mmmmmmm so good. Sit outside in the sun and enjoy.

Stunning day, a walk through the Ouseburn wasn't planned but glad me and my 12 year old did, he was hungry and he loves a pizza, so called in, the place was rammed, mostly people wanting ice creams as it was a glorious day, I order a pepperoni, lovely crust, good sauce, well worth the 8 quid, typically he wanted an ice cream afterwards but nee chance I was going to stand in the queue again, (around 15 mins wait) Maybe next time

Been to the mi meos in Whitley bay but this was the first time I’d tried Ouseburn. I got pizza and ice cream obviously. The pizzas were delicious. And the ice cream … let’s face it. It’s the best about

Fab little ice cream and coffee cafe. Wonderful cannolis. Downside No Customer Toilets and American sounding female server bit miserable and not at all welcoming. However gentleman who came behind counter was smiley and very friendly.

Great ice cream, definitely the best in the toon. Flavours are lush. Coffee on the other hand is pretty poor and the service could be improved - a smile wouldn’t hurt!

Di Meo's was a great cafe my twin brother Stephen and I visited while heading to The Tyne Bar on a roasting hot afternoon. A lovely cafe ,neat and tidy, lots on offer and the most mouth watering selection of ice creams on offer. We ordered a large ice cream each, my brother went for vanilla, I chose strawberry, absolutely amazing, so tasty ,proper ice cream, its hardly surprising that when we visited this place was packed with ice creams this good,its easy to locate along Riverside Walk in Ouseburn, most definitely well worth checking out if you're in the area.

Amazing ice cream - vile staff So, after reading some of the reviews I think we may just just came across the same dreaded male member of staff on the till - wish I had the courage to throw my ice cream off of him! The people in front ordered ice cream and the toddler in front dropped his on the floor - to be fair it was dripping and not solid! The lady in front asked for a replacement and could see she was willing to pay but this diva behind the counter was VILE! When she tried to hand back the cone he said “I can’t touch it - have you heard of corona”. This man has zero customer service skills - he even after giving the lady the replacement tipped the cone upside down and said “don’t drip it this time”. My ice cream was lovely - cherry - but my other half’s was like the young child’s not frozen and leaking over the edge of the cone in seconds. Sort out this customer service!

Love this place. Me and my family are always made welcome and we love sitting outside watching the world go by. Whether it's their delcious pizza or home made ice cream these are the same family as the one in Whitley Bay and frankly its the best thing to open in Ouseburn in decades. Sometimes it does get busy but the staff always give efficient service. As for anyone complaining about his place because they wanted freebie water, those types should get a life. I would bar people like that if this was my place. Really. Some members of the public are just plain nasty. If you don't like somewhere don't go back but don't come on here talking rubbish about water bottles if you work nearby - just fill it at work !!! As for Di Mios, 100% great place, keep up the good work.

The rudeness of the staff is a running joke in our company. We love the ice cream but dread interacting with the staff. Yesterday was worst customer service ever. I asked if the man behind the counter could fill up my water bottle (after I'd ordered a £4 ice cream) and he said no, because he could catch Nora virus (??!!) by touching it. Think it might actually be a legal obligation to fill up a customer's water bottle. It was also 27 degrees outside. Wish I could avoid the place but the ice cream is too good.

A great selection of ice cream and cannolis. A member of our group was extremely pleased with the cake in their ice cream. Rated four stars because the location was not too great, there was a lot of litter outside when we went to sit there. Other than that it was pleasant.

After waiting in a long queue (of mainly students) I ordered two ice cream tubs for my grandsons and two Americano coffees for myself and my son. The boys enjoyed their ice creams and my son didn't open his coffee - wanting to take it...

The pizza base was rock hard, the tomato 'sauce' was just cheap tinned tomatoes. Just disgusting! Service was slow and the pizza was not cheap, it was thrown in the bin.

Called in today while out for a walk on the quayside, my daughter and I had lemon drizzle cake ice cream. Absolutely Devine, I have no idea why the bad reviews.

We called in for sweet treats after walking from Ouseburn to the staithes and back. The strawberry gelato was good. I wasn’t as impressed with the other flavours and was disappointed there was no pistachio or cherry. Others ordered pizza and waffles which both looked...

Terrible coffee, staff lack barista skills. Had a few coffees from here the last couple of weeks and all to a varying degree of success. It was having to complain about a decaf flat white that was scalding hot and lacking any coffee taste that...

Went on a rainy Monday. Food was lovely, but the staff were rude, we had to wait 30 minutes for our order, and they forgot our drinks, so had to wait another 10 minutes

Called today and had one of your paninis, went for the chicken and green pesto.. wowsers, absolutely bloody fantastic, so so so tasty. The girl that brought it out was super friendly and I’m sure smiley behind her mask, she made a huge loving fuss...

I love coming here to sit outside for a coffee, I've never had the ice cream but have had the Whitley Bay branch's which is just belissimo! I did try a panini with honey, cheese and meat in it the last time i went, i...

In the afternoon sun ... facing West ...on the river .. Italian radio ... gooey ice cream to pig ... coffee to sip. Bella.

Perfect place to go if you want to wait in a queue for 20 - 30mins (There was only 4 people in front of us) only to be told they have no spoons and ran out of various flavours. 100% would not recommend or go...

A local business which opened just before the covid lockdown. Well worth stopping for a coffee , pizza or ice cream. Great customer service.

Was meeting a friend for a walk and much needed exercise so delighted to find this place to buy ice cream to put the calories back on! Great to find proper ice cream locally - I wasn't aware this branch of Di Meo's had opened....

We visited last week and unfortunately the prices are very high for what you get. We received 2 scoops in a very small tub of of ice cream & 2 small pizzas! Unfortunately I wouldn't recommend.

Firstly. My favourite ice cream is from Di Meo’s in Whitley Bay so what’s even better is they have a cafe closer to home. I called in here on my day off on a Friday morning during my morning walk whilst my little boy slept...

Lovely place for freshly made pizza, the best ice cream ever! Coffee's, panini's, cakes and snacks. Really nice people behind the counter, even delivered locally to our business on request. Can't fault it.

Popped in here as was down the Ouseburn. Ordered drinks, coffees, cakes, pizzas, ice-cream - basically a full selection of what they had. The coffee was ok - nothing special. The ice-cream was obviously good. Di Meo's make great ice cream! The cakes and pizza...