The Blue Bell in Stockton-on-Tees

Went to Yarm fair yesterday and called in for lunch with a friend 2x parmo. The food was delicious, and service was great as always a lovely pub thank you x

Ages 86, 82,n68 and 41. Don't be deceived by the entrance and car park as the main part is at the other side. Large car park. Disabled entrance from car park to inside pub but 2 steps down to go outside. The back of the Bluebell has 3 small steps down with handrails to the covered veranda which has tables and chairs and furtur steps and seating areas going down to the riverside. River and viaduct can usually be seen from each level. Toilets are clean and odour free. We ordered Ham and egg with chips - 2 eggs lots of tender ham, plenty of chips. Chicken in mushroom sauce with chips. Food was delivered fairly quickly. Ham and eggs got a 5 One chicken got 4* One chicken got 3* The chicken had been fried until it was browning on the outside. This made the chicken very chewy on the outside, I've got my own teeth and couldn't chew some of it it was saved for the dog. It would have been nicer boiled or in foil in oven. Likewise some of the chip bits were so hard it was like eating a boiled sweet. 3 pints Pepsi Max and 1 tea Total cost £46.15 Would I go back ? Yes I would. Last time here everything was great.

Best pint of Guiness I've had in a long while. You've got it perfect. We called for our Sunday Lunch, very very nice. We'll definitely come again

Great Classic British pub, northern style! Just simplify the parking rules...

My friend took here for my birthday lunch the food was excellent will be back.

Not as good as usual Asked waiter if chef had changed He said supplier of chips was new Chips were pale and not as good as usual Parmo was different and presentation of Peppercorn chicken poor Pile of rice no veg not enough sauce

I have visited the Blue Bell a few times in the past, the parmos are renowned and I have always had a good time, so I booked a table for 12 people for my birthday meal as I thought it would be in good hands. I was throughly disappointed with our experience. After insisting on a £5pp deposit for the large party, when we arrived the staff had not even arranged a table for us to sit together and had simply placed a few reserved signs on three separate (albeit close) tables, meaning we had to arrange these ourselves to make it so no one was sitting apart. There was literally no one else sitting around so cannot understand why. The music was on very low and there was no one else sitting inside so the atmosphere was depressing and we had to ask for the music to be turned up a little. There were minimal staff who seemed inexperienced on the bar meaning the queue was ridiculously long to order food or a drink, despite the bar being far from busy. The toilets were blocked and dirty in both the ladies and I am told the males. The food was ok, but one party member received the wrong order and two others ordered a sharing platter which consisted of two items each and was inadequate for two. I don’t know how this place has gone so down hill, but staff made little effort to make this a fun or pleasant experience for me, and it put a dampener on my birthday celebrations. Luckily afterwards in other bars made up for it. It is clear that on a Saturday there needed to be more staff on with experience or better training. I will not be booking food here again and will probably avoid for the foreseeable.

Attended on a saturday 6pm for a birthday meal with a group of 10 others. We had to arrange tables ourselves as staff hadn’t sorted the booking, the atmosphere was more like a wake rather than a birthday party we actually had to ask for some music to be put on, the staff were so unhelpful with a distinct lack of social skills, ordered a Texas Ranger parmesan to be brought out the wrong parmesan after waiting an hour (there were around 20 people in the whole building). Overall absolutely shocking and definitely will not be attending again.

Beautiful location, happy friendly staff good selection of drinks.

Great pub on the riverside at Yarm we had 2 meals for £16 super value and delicious I had lasagna and my granddaughter had Cajun chicken seasa

Really nice pub with a good selection of beers, largers and wines . Good service and pleasant staff worth a visit

An hour to wait for food but they don’t tell you when you order your drinks. The place is practically empty too. I don’t know how they stay open

Lovely location. Spoilt by lacklustre and rude staff. More signs that are acceptable . To the owner, more staff training needed. Very or experience indeed

Visiting relatives and was shocked by the dirty furniture, poor quality food.and questionable bill. We arrived late, and family had already ordered for the children so we continued with the meal.. Last summer when visiting relatives we always sat outside and enjoyed lovely meals. This year was a totally different story Chairs were filthy. Portion size - tiny and poor quality Add ons when not requested. Only discovered when meals arrived. The staff don’t understand that the majority of customers go for a meal for enjoyment not to leave disappointed and deflated.

We (three of us) called in last night at 9.30pm for a drink. It wasn't busy but there were a few customers in. We had just ordered a bottle of wine and sat down when they announced they were closing at 10pm. Not a great introduction for my brother in law who has just moved into the area. The wine was also not very good quality.

Great pub, terraces overlooking the River Tees at Yarm.

It's a model of a castle stuck on the gatepost of a house

Went to Yarm yesterday 19th may 2024 for a foreigners journey back playing at the princess alexander auditorium. Decided to go to the blue bell for a drink. my husband joined an extremely large queue waiting to be served . he had to stand exactly 15mins as there was only person serving and 1 other person taking food orders and cleaning tables. this carried on throughout the day .then after 2 hrs he joined the queue again to order our lunch again it took 15mins to get served and was informed that our lunch was going to take a further 1 and a half hours . we eventually got our lunch after an hour it was nice but not worth waiting all that time wont be going again .they need to sort out priorities such as having staff serving drinks and another solely on the food. really disappointing

Great place stops servicing food at 730 though

We have been here a few times for meals, especially in the summer months when it's warmer(hopefully 😁) and have never been disappointed. On this occasion we both had the steak and mushroom pie with home made chips and peas and we both agreed that this was probably our best meal yet. 👏👏 And even better was that it was served to us after a very short wait, which was just as well because we were starving, lol 😁 The barman/staff was exceedingly helpful and cheery.

Lovely food. Outside dining area has wonderful views over the river. Went again tonight ( 13th Feb 24). Had steak pie and chips and cheesecake. Food was lovely staff friendly. Had a lovely night there

Very quiet when we went, food is nice at a good price, drinks were expensive, staff spot on, just make sure you put your car Reg in the tablet/pad inside or you will get a £100 parking fine like I did, althought the staff are going to cancel the charge with parking eye.

Sunday lunch here was excellent,good service, and really good value,didn't have long to wait for the meals to arrive,would certainly return.

Booked a table for 6.45, arrived and they said an hour and a half wait for food which we decided was fine, got a drink sat down and picked what we wanted, went to go and order at 7ish, 5 of us deciding we all wanted various parmos, they had ran out of chicken and where closing the kitchen I don’t know if this is a good thing they’ve sold out or incompetent ordering, 7pm on a Friday night lol I imagine one of there busiest money making nights, we won’t be returning, shambles, went to Peking gardens 10mins away instead

My son and I popped in here for some lunch. Upon ordering our meal I was told by the bar staff we had to take our own sauces and cutlery to the table which I did. Our food arrived, and when I was about to add a little salt I realised I hadn’t picked up the salt and pepper as my hands were full of other things. I politely asked the waitress who delivered our food if she wouldn’t mind bringing us the salt and pepper? At this her response was “your meant to do that yourself “ which I found to be poor hospitality, rude , undignifying and un welcoming I could understand if they were busy and staff were rushed if their feet, but actually 3 staff were stood at the bar chatting and there was me my son and 1 other couple in the whole pub. I waited 10mins and I’d still not received any salt and pepper so I went to go see what had happened and to fetch the salt myself as my food was getting cold. At this as I walked in, I saw the waitress stood at the bar chatting to her colleagues As you could imagine, this made me furious so I’d asked to speak to the manager. The manager came out to see me. I explained the above situation and apologised for not taking all my condiments to my table, however it was not going to break anyone’s back to offer some good customer service and good courtesy in grabbing a little salt. The manager then said, the waitress had been to see him, and at that the decision she made as to not bring a bit of salt was with her manager’s blessing. When I think about it, it’s such a shame that people lack so my human compassion and that they would out of stubborn behaviour treat a customer in such a way. I will NEVER return to that place. I don’t think I’ve ever been disrespected and treat like such a dumbo in all my 44years of life.

Went in today for a classic, however really disappointed with how thin the chicken was on the parmo, which is a shame as I know if it was thicker it would have been loverly.

Parmo cost me £15 and it came and it was pink so disappointed in it staff wouldn’t give me a refund coz I had a few bites won’t. Be returning back at all it’s a disappointment

We had a lovely 3 course meal last night 🤗

We went for a Christmas meal here on the 6th December. The food was excellent. You couldn’t fault it . Piping hot too ! Well done all and Thankyou for a great evening.

We visited on 23rd Nov, table for 3. Lovely mixed grill, chips were amazing, tomatoes were cooked very well done as requested, so really soft which is perfect for me. Looking at the photo I think they forgot my egg but there was one my colleagues plate, so never mind. Would defo go back again. Only downside is the pub shuts at 9pm, so it was really quiet in there, except the birthday party table that gave us free chocolate birthday cake before our meal 🤣

3 courses for £15 and the food was superb 👌 will definitely be back 😋

couldn’t recommend more lovely food, had classic parmo and biscoff sundae dessert. great prices with a 3 course deal and nice staff 🙂

It was a Sunday lunchtime. Arrived at 12.20 had booked in advance. Pub almost empty,but barely any staff. Ordered by 12.40 and food finally arrived at 1.50…no warning of any delay. We had a three year old with us, so that was great ! They advised when we ordered they had no sausage, no pigs in blankets. One of us wanted a mixed meat Sunday lunch, just half and half. Advised it would be £4.50 more. They had no large Parma’s and the regular ones were tiny. Food finally arrived. The fellas Sunday lunches were served like this ….. a plate with the meat and a spoonful of mash on came first…. A 10 minute delay then the veg, advised then the roasties would be another 10 mins as were in the oven ! Brought out 4 roasties and we asked where are the rest. We were advised there are two each…. By this point I started to laugh. The roasties were obviously aunt Bessie’s…. Absolute joke… will never go back

Very poor we walked in and my daughter had the last bit of Fanta and was told she couldn't drink it, although we were buying a round of drinks , we were told where to sit but what really appalled us was a Mum and her small daughter asked to use the toilet and she was told NO we were shocked! Very very poor and must certainly will not visit again!

Really disappointed I've came here for years but has just gone downhill over time, to the point the parmesan now no longer has breadcrumbs on it along with poor quality potatoes used for the homemade chips, instead it's a thin film of batter which I could only compare to as a frozen battered piece of chicken? it used to have a good atmosphere, seems like there's no thrive in the place anymore and they're willing to let such a beautiful pub/restaurant go to waste, such a shame won't be returning.

Delicious food at a very reasonable price for a lunch time meal. Whenever l'm in Yarm this is where I choose to eat

Been here several times, always great service

MUSHY LASAGNE/GAMMON WAS FAR TOO SALTY . VERY POOR FOOD THE PUB COULD DO WITH A DEEP CLEAN AS IT LOOKED VERY DUSTY.

The meal was fantastic, and the service was great. Staff were very helpful, free car park remember to put reg in the console inside 👍🏻

One of the best pizzas I've ever had!!!

Beautiful location on the river and plenty of space but sadly the food was not good at all.

Lovely meal whilst sat on the verandah. Such a beautiful view over the river to Yarm.

Nice Pint, Great Parmo, Understaffed though.

Excellent food good service food piping hot friendly staff

Great staff, good food well priced :)

Lovely outdoor area, but took ages to be served at the bar the whole time we were there so left.

We were a party of 14 and there was also another group in but sadly there weren't enough staff on. Waiting time to get served wasn't good. Whilst the food was nice there were at least 3 items on the menu that weren't available. Spoilt the birthday celebration a wee bit. Will still go again though.

Lovely grub but very busy at Sunday carvery...

Nice setting but £15 for a wine and a larger I found Very steep , and not nice wine. Went as a family and one group orded right after the other and one set of meals came and we finished before the next set of meals came . Nothing any different than you can get anywhere .

Visited at lunch time for a quick meal. Ordered the classic burger, service was quick and food tasted great. Homemade chips are a massive selling point and I asked for my fries to be swapped which they did no problem. Portion size was great and excellent value for money.

Nicely appointed large pub with lovely views and outdoor space.

Lovely place, fast friendly service, great pint, nice atmosphere, beer garden, recommended.

Excellent service,lovely little pub,good grub

We went on a busy Saturday.... unfortunately there was a long wait in the queue to be served...40 minutes...

The food is very nice and good service

Good local pub, came up for a work trip. Tried one of their Parmos, wasn't disappointed👍

5pm on a bank holiday. The bar man has just told me “we have ran out of everything food wise and have now decided to stop serving all food”. Waste of time.

Came here today, staff were nice, however our food wasn't what was advised, we ordered the vegetarian lasagnas and kids pizzas, the lasagnes should have all come with chips but they didn't and we're really just cheese and pasta, the kids pizza was very burnt. Due to the staff been very rushed of there feet we didn't bother asking as this would have only delayed them further. Other than that the pub was loverly

My husband and I called in tonight at 6.45pm for a meal tonight. We ordered a pint and a cup of tea and 2 meals. After 10 minutes we went to ask where my cup of tea was. They apologised. It arrived when my husband went back to the bar - 20 minutes after ordering it. Our meal finally arrived after 50 minutes. The homemade chunky chips that are advertised were actually frozen chips. We asked about this and were told - yes they are frozen, that's as good as we have today. We were totally disgusted. We will NOT be returning 😒

Booked table for 6.30 nothing left so had to make do with what they had, then couldn't order sweets as the kitchen had shut 6.45.Staff couldn't give a stuff never use again.

Tried the bottomless brunch for the first time and the food was amazing and drinks flowed aplenty and the bar staff were very friendly and highly recommended

Delicious and very polite staff definitely recommend it, especially with those proper made chips 😜😜

The food was excellent and really nice staff

Brilliant meal last week for my birthday family lunch! Amazing parmos!!! Service a little slow and the man on til not very helpful and sure we were over charged. Would return, thank you

Loved it ere great friendly staff lush food n reasonable prices

Honest Review. Sunday lunch is really not good anymore after a 45min wait it arrived only to disappoint, the Yorkshire pudding was on the verge of burnt, peas, carrots and cabbage slapped in a bowl. The meat was like out of a packet and bland. Roasties from the freezer. I'd of thought from the price, it would be Fresh cooked, but No. It a shame This is Honest review.

Staff rude ! First time we have visited in a while ! Tried to play pool . Asked for cash back to play pool as we only carried cards. Which to be fair she did . However after receiving this she then stated that it was 5 pound for the deposit of cues. We wouldn't have had an issue with this if she had just charged it when we asked for cash back to play pool. But then she also didn't give us the cues as this was her error . Both myself and partner are from the area . Dressed smart not I'll spoken and as we are both 50 I don't think we would do a runner with a pool cue. No wonder it's now always empty and gone down hill from a few years ago when we couldn't get seated and was quite a nice pub. More training needed with staff on how do deal and speak to customers as individuals and not just a number when the had few people in ! In the first place. Now losing another 2 customers and our kids who are adults will probably not visit.

Amazing food great scenery and staff go above and beyond to help

Good food, amazing setting, the staff are really kind and just overall really good.

Hats off to the bar staff and the Manager ! Lovely evening down by the river, but group of lairy, loud, obnoxious guys ruining it. Quick word, and they were dispatched, driving I might add. Well done guys! Lovely pub and outdoor areas, food looked great and arrived fast. We will be regulars from Egglescliffe 😀

We went here and had a lovely Sunday lunch we went for the three courses for £15 the food was very nice. It was very large portion. The service was really good

Got a taxi here from Stockton on Tees where the hotel was. Lovely location, on a summers evening it would be sensational. Me and two colleagues had the Parmo’s, opted for the Hot One which was sensational. Best not to ask about the calories!! Highly recommended.

Great place, great food. Kirsty has been very helpful with sorting breakfast for an early start!

Don't visit egg ham chip,eggs burnt had to be redone, ham off, chips average

Horrible staff, the staff look at you as if you are from a lower class, the place also needs a good clean and lick of paint

Nice pub by the river short walk to the centre

Decent food good price , lovely veiws

Good friendly pub great prices nice staff

Das Essen war wirklich sehr lecker und die Portierung war ziemlich groß. Ebenso war der Service sehr nett und zuvorkommend. Wir haben uns sehr wohl gefühlt und freuen uns schon auf den nächsten Besuch.

No better place for a chat and a drink very very friendly service 😀 👌 😊

They had a lovely (very mild, coconutty) vegan penang curry on specials! Plenty of free tables and friendly staff.

Food was delicious but the drinks are quiet pricey

I came here with my son on the 2nd of February 2023 the service was impeccable very friendly and accommodating the food was delicious we shall be back

Food was loverly pork sunday dinner was amazing

Staff very friendly at the bar. Had food on the evening and was wonderful as well as service. Room clean and very comfortable. Very pleased with my stay, overall would absolutley recommend. Harry in particular on bar was very helpful.

We started our Xmas party here with food and a pint we all had a parmo n9body could complain about the food and service we received. Staff very friendly they kept our glasses topped up. Great pub good food, beer and staff thanks.

Lovely meal and good customer service. The only small complaint I have is, it wasn't very warm in the pub.

Very nice food and really nice staff. Excellent

Lovely food great venue. Classic full parmo was lush.

Food okay service slow and staff uninterested in customers. Such a shame could be a lovely spot, shame the staff let it down

Lovely food & staff recommend the breakfast parmo

Tried the Mexican parmo today. Never tried anything like that before and was amazing. Partner had the breakfast parmo and he really enjoyed that too. Had a dessert but feel like there’s not that many good options but the dessert I got was good enough. Amazing service however poor lass was by herself on the bar on a Saturday evening. Was waiting a short while and When she asked for help he came 5 minutes later just when the last Customer needed serving. Then same thing happened again when I went back up to the bar again. Would definitely come again though, food was so good an amazing price for the quality of the food

Very enjoyable great for parking

Great atmosphere, delicious food

Myself & my mam went for lunch on Monday afternoon. The young lady who served us was very friendly, nice greeting, very good customer service. Great food too. The coffee was excellent too. (Anne Llewellyn) 🤗

Absolutely beautiful seating areas sorrounding outside view of the river perfect for those warm summer nights. very friendly staff 3 course meals Mon-Fri £12.75 didn't dissapoint done to perfection very tasty and satisfying very good value well worth the visit is a must Get yourselves their you won't be disappointed.

brought my parents for an early evening meal .. food was really nice ..good portion sizes ..pleasant staff .nice atmosphere ..

Food ok, basic but plenty of choice. Never enough staff for service, Be prepared to wait. Register your car on arrival or pay £100 fine

Lovely view and clearly popular - a queue to get in for the Sunday roast

Parmo was really bad and took an hour and a half to come. Shocking bait. Service was incredibly bad as well.