The Open Jar in Hartlepool

Old Review - found in drafts Disappointingly this place is now permanently closed. First time in today, despite living a ten minute walk away. Food was absolutely excellent, being delicious and also well priced. Service was fabulous, the young lady who welcomed and served us was very friendly and helpful in a very welcoming manner. Nice to see such excellent customer service. It was very quiet, but it is a Tuesday afternoon so not really disappointed by that as it was mostly expected. Would have been a definite and easy five stars for me except it was lacking in any choice of beers or ale. Had to settle for John Smith's, but would have been amazing if there were a few bottled or canned beers to tempt me. Overall though it was a great experience and I will definitely be returning very soon. Highlight had to be the potato skins ... Delicious.

Says its open drove down its shut

The most amazing parmo. Lots of options for toppings. Parking right outside. Quirky interior spray painted deco and industrial style seating.

The first time we visited was just after there move and we walked away because it was dark and dingy We have been a 4 or 5 times since then as the lighting as improved 10% so can see what you are eating We visited on Saturday night and every other restaurant in town was very busy and we were one of 3 couples in the place So The staff were great Food was excellent The restaurant as to be the darkness and most uninviting place I've ever eaten in It really is time that the management improved the lighting 90%

Staff friendly . Food looked lovely . We just had drinks .

The only vegetarian parmo I know of in Hartlepool. Really gorgeous when they put the effort in but we’ve had more than a handful of poor ones too. Sometimes they aren’t constructed well with béchamel - cheese and sometimes the chips are stale and have had fresh salad out of date / left out then served to us (smelling rancid) more than a few times. Big shame, small details being focused on and consistency is needed. Staff are always lovely though and my household is very appreciative of the vegetarian options but bad food experiences put us off big time.

Absolutely amazing food and service. Well worth a visit!

Me and the girls went for bottomless brunch , I would highly recommend, throughly enjoyed every minute , lovely food and endless drinks and the service was top notch ! Would definitely go again .

Didn't feel very welcome when arrived & had never been before. Menu quite basic & food took a very long time & wasn't nicely presented either as if the chef didn't really enjoy cooking. My friend asked for some vinegar & 3 sachets were just thrown onto the table. The staff are very young & could do with some customer service training. All in all I think we were a little too old. The decor looked like a teenager had been let loose & he loved chimpanzees it was more like a garage rave. But we won't be returning anyway , wish the business lots of luck though.

Lovely place by the seaside, good food and service.

First time there will be back ,excellent in everyway.

Lovely welcoming place, beautiful food, great service, even the background music was good. Highly recommend it.

Lovely food nice view out to sea were I was sitting good service form waitress

I've been here a few times for the mocktails they are delicious and the Service is so helpful and friendly. I wanted a tropical daiquiri which wasn't on the menu so the lovely girl very enthusiastically made a delicious exotic concoction 😀.

Great location. Food was fine. Not amazing.

Just dropped in a drink, can't comment on everything else

Lovely place Food lovely Really good value and service

I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.

We enjoyed an amazing bottomless brunch at the open jar seaton the food was absolutely gorgeous! There was a great choice of drinks and the staff were really friendly and the service was great! I would highly recommend!!!

I booked a bottomless brunch here for a group of friends to celebrate some of our birthdays, following a recommendation I’d been given. After hearing good things, I was extremely disappointed on the day to say the least. Service was at a glacial pace, the brunch commenced 40 minutes late (they did honour the two hour slot however) our first drinks took about 15/20 minutes to come and they tasted like fizzy water and were not consumable (aperol spritz) so had to be sent back. We decided to stick to Prosecco, to be told 30 minutes into the brunch they had ran out of Prosecco. This was at 4pm on a Saturday. The food was described by some of my group as ‘inedible’. The only saving grace is that the young ladies serving us were very pleasant and tried their best for our group. We were extremely disappointed, especially with it being for a special occasion. After experiencing many other brunches in the town, we won’t be returning to this one.

We had bottomless brunch and totally recommend. Our waitress Laura was totally on the ball had a great night and got free shots for my birthday. £35 for two hours lots of choice of cocktails

Popped in for an impromptu lunch. Their lunch menu is great value at 2 courses for a tenner. (Though today we both got a parmo - definitely one of the best in the area!) Service was friendly and efficient. I have an onion allergy and when my side salad was brought over, the server also informed me they'd not included peppers as they'd been cut with the same knife as the onions. It's great to feel this 'safe' when you're enjoying a meal out with allergies to consider.

Really good quality food at a very good price and friendly staff. Pleasant surprised that the kids meal was freshly cooked too and not just frozen fries and fish fingers. 100% recommend and would be coming back regularly if we were local!

Called in for Sunday lunch with the family the food was delicious and the portion sizes were outstanding. Staff were friendly but could maybe pay a little more attention to customers needs rather than standing behind bar on their phone. It was a little difficult to hear ourselves talk or any music/ ambience due to the industrial space heater making a right racket.

Really nice coffee staff friendly

Very highly recommended. We visited and had their Bottomless Brunch. Great choice of food and drinks. Lovely cocktails and the choice again was really good. Fantastic service, and really great value for money! Gracie was our host and couldn't do enough for us! We were never left with an empty glass! She was amazing and so friendly!!! Catered for gluten free with no problems too. We absolutely loved it!! Thank you all!!

Friendly service, great location, lovely food

Good food, but if you go with more than one family, take an accountant, Never been so confused in my life working what different people from different families ordered then work out, from an overall bill, even though I asked at start of meal to get separate bills for each family, wow like I said good food but was spoilt at end trying for 30 minutes trying to work bill out, 4 family’s still working it out now with fall outs.

Bottomless Brunch….excellent service. Lovely food. Drinks prompt. Service from Tia was lovely and friendly. Great experience. Well worth money. Thank you. We enjoyed xx

Booked a table for a large party for mother's day. We knew it would be busy due to the holiday so were pretty patient, but considering we had to give our food orders in advance the day before, I would have expected the staff to have known what was ordered. I can understand understaffing and full restaurants leading to mistakes, so wasn't too bothered by the fact some of our food was forgotten and left in the kitchen to go cold when waiting for starters. But when it came to desserts, we had been waiting 2 hours in total and they still weren't coming out. Staff came to the table frequently to request drink orders and promised the desserts would be out soon, only for another half hour to pass each time. Eventually a member of our table went up to the bar to ask, and was told they'd be right out. Twenty minutes later when they still weren't there we left and paid for what we had actually eaten. The food that actually arrived was very nice though

I recently discovered Parmo’s whilst being in the North East, and I’m a little bit obsessed with them. However, The Open Jar do the best one by far! No comparison!

I came here for bottomless brunch on a Tuesday afternoon and it was completely worth my money. Our waitress was so polite and checked in consistently to refill our drinks and make sure we were enjoying our food. The strawberry daquiri and pina coladas were so lovely and the food was great too. Really great experience and service, something that I would fully recommend to anyone!

Just visited this afternoon for bottomless brunch - well worth the money. Special shout out to Sophie who made sure we were topped up throughout. She was fantastic! X

We visited here from Leeds a couple of days ago during our visit to see family. The food was freezing cold and definitely not worth the high price! And our waitress (I think her name was Sarah or Sophie?) was quite ignorant when the cold food concerns were brought to her attention. We will not be returning

Food was ace. Bar person was very pleasant even if her ponytail was hypnotically swaying 🤣🤣. Good atmosphere

Plenty of free parking. You have to register your number plate in the restaurant. Bigger than it first appears, plenty of seating. Varied menu with lots of choice. Good views of the sea and bay from the window seats. Good food, good value for money. Gannon was large and thick, sausage and mash looked good with gravy and burger was tasty. Will visit again

Lovely surroundings and atmosphere, nice booths allowing a more ‘private’ dining experience. Food very nice, large portions. Everything we selected was cooked perfectly. We were overcharged but otherwise the service was attentive and efficient. Will definitely return.

It took a while to serve the food, otherwise it was fine

A lovely venue, serving fresh, quality food (none of yer frozen junk here!). And all at great prices.

A little disappointing. Cobwebs on walls and windows and food a lot more bland than previous visits. The waitress, whilst pleasant, didn't write our order down and inevitably got it wrong.

We were quickly shown to a table. The waiting staff were prompt, friendly and attentive. The food was tasty. I had the Korean chicken burger, which had too much sauce on for my taste, but that's personal preference. The fries were delicious. The kids meals are a reasonable size (not oversized like in so many places). The kids pizza is more a cheese and tomato topped baguette, the kids still enjoyed it. We were in an out within an hour which was perfect when we had hungry kids in tow. They do a 15% discount for Independent Teesside card holders too.

The food was good, the atmosphere was pleasant and the staff were brilliant. A good experience and I loved the square tables , I would definitely go again

Decided to make a 20 mile sunday trip with wife and dog, and visit Seaton Carew, after seeing some good youtube reviews. Easy to find of seafront with big sign Free parking for customers, in big red letters, so parked up. Problem - no dogs allowed, fair enough well just order a takeaway. so waited outside while missus went in for order, and then 30+ minute wait for food. Couple of weeks later parking fine arrived thru letter box, mentioning a permit was required. Why on earth didn`t the staff at Open Jar have the decency to tell us this information. Happy to take our money then hammer us with this - just Nasty. Suffice to say, I`ll be keeping well clear of the area, and advising others likewise, shame on honest businesses who`ll lose potential trade due to fleecing customers.

Lovely cheesecake 😋, great service, just a bit noisy for me .

This is a beautiful qwerty little gem of a place based along Seaton Carew sea front. Used to be at the Marina in Hartlepool. The food is lovely good portions . Drinks are very reasonable.with good selection . Staff the young girls are really friendly amd you get excellent t service from them .

Went for sunday lunch, foid arrived within 10mins of ordering, presented well, i had the chicken, husband had the beef, (he said it was tough), plenty of veg including cauliflower cheese, unfortunately the food was only just to say warm, and seved on cold plates, and veg in cold dishes, at a cost of over £10 each it was a disappointment, warm plates would have made all the difference, unfortunately it has put us off going again,

Lovely food, service and staff fantastic. Well worth the money

visited today 23.10.22. food was beautiful couldn't fault it but found the glass of shandy at £5.30 really steep which was a dissapointment.

Heard loads of good reports, food & service was very average... Waited 20 minutes to get our desserts. Won't be rushing back

Staff extremely friendly and helpful and the parmo was delicious. Many thanks 👍

Finding this little Gem was a happy accident! Normally frequent the Norton location due to poor service and quality experience at the Hartlepool Marina location. Visited Seaton open jar on a Saturday afternoon, while location was quiet we were warmly greeted upon arrival, drinks and food came soon after. The quality of the meal was great and the colleague's attention was exceptional! Apologies Norton branch as Seaton location will now become our regular Branch 5* for food, location and service

Over visiting family and they decided to come here because of all the great reviews, I was very disappointed both by the service and the food, almost an hour waiting on the food, and two of us had gammon, which was swimming in grease as for the very soggy chips, sorry we won’t be back!!

Grace and Mia has been the most sympathetic and lovely waitresses helping us in our table, I am from Brazil and I can say these girls are really lovely

Fish and chips, bread and butter and tea or coffee £13.95 bargain. Proper chips, massive fish and amazing table service with a good sea view. If you park there they validate your free parking for the day.

Only popped in for a celebratory cocktail...and ended up staying for 3! Chilled-out vibe, friendly staff, enjoyable experience 🥂

Food and serving staff cant fault. The waiting time from the kitchen was atrocious

Nice food but it's gotten quite expensive!

Wow wow wow, the food is out of this world tatsy. The menu has something for everyone. Drinks are very expensive however very nice. Waitress was amazing and service was not the fastest but made worth the while with how tatsy the food was.

Me and my partner visited the open jar 2 time with our stay here and both times the food was amazing there was a little waiting the 2nd time but that’s to be aspected when there busy as it was if we’re come back to Hartlepool we will 100% be back there for a meal

Great location. Sat in the beer garden looking out to the sea. Good range of drinks, reasonably priced. Friendly staff.

Friendly welcoming staff. Only had 1 drink but will go back for food & drinks. Well worth a visit

Food was absolutely amazing and staff couldn't be any more helpful and friendly we will definitely be returning

Didnt have any of the food we wanted from the menu. Parmo was basic at best.

Upon arrival first impressions were good, greeted by friendly waitresses and shown to our seat of choice, nice views of the seaside. Firstly the starters took 40 minutes to come out which were tasty, then a further 20 for mains to come thereafter. Chicken cajun was nice but chips were a lil undercooked. Smashed burger wasn't great, it wasn't a smashed burger infact, coleslaw was nice. Compliments to the front of house staff but food average overall.

Absolutely beautiful food. Had the enchiladas which were lovely and the chips were very tasty. Lovely cocktails and staff really friendly

We’ve been coming to The Open Jar for a couple of years as my wife loves their gluten free Parmo. Unfortunately the past two occasions we’ve been, they said they could not make it. The last occasion they could not provide any gluten free food at all, even though it’s still listed all over the menu. It’s hugely disappointing as the food is good, and we specifically started coming for the gluten free options. However we won’t be able to dine here again.

Great place for food and staff were excellent and service for a family reunion for 44 people Was amazing

Unfortunately we ordered grilled chicken and chips which took 45minutes to arrive and was cold. The service was poor, especially for a Tuesday night, we had to go to the bar to pay and leave. Will not return.

Fab place, fab food, fab cocktails & fab staff, very friendly!!

disappointing. was the only couple in there and still took half an hour for food to come out. parmo was close to being the worst id had from a restaurant. chicken tasted fishy, far to much bechamel which made it sickly. paid £4 extra for jalapenos and chillis and theyd just dumped a cold, raw handful on top.

First time visit for food. Great menu with a variety of dishes. Delicious desserts and cocktails, brilliant staff with quick and friendly service.

Food is good but waited ages for it to arrive even though it wasn't busy. Another long wait to get dessert menu and then to order. 10 minutes after ordering informed they had run out of my choice. I gave up then. I did complain before I left, waitress did apologise and gave some discount. Unlikely I will return, although I will continue to visit Norton, where the whole experience is much better.

First visit , and first time out for a meal in 2 years , staff welcoming and friendly, clean toilets, food excellent. Will be going back hopefully soon .

Don't waste your hard earned cash on this place. They'd run out of baguettes, they'd run out of terriaki beef, they'd run out of half what we asked them for, another waitress told us 'they hadn't been able to order anything since Friday'....it was a BANK HOLIDAY!!!!! And miserable weather at that, God help them had the place been busy! Partner ordered a shawarma dish but was worried about it being spicy, so specifically asked waitress about it.... waitress assured her it was something she ordered herself and was in no way spicy, when it arrived the sauce all over the food burned her tongue and her daughter's ( who likes spicy so tried it to see what the fuss was about). Waitress who called herself a supervisor appeared to be pushing customers onto certain dishes, had gift of gab, she didn't tell us half the stuff was unavailable when we arrived, only when we ordered. We then felt pressured to try and find alternatives, waitress suggested other meals. Verging on sharp practise I'd say. Her tunic was filthy too. We won't be back. As business people we noticed owners had obviously invested a ton of money on the facility. Waitresses saying chef hadn't ordered as he should have. Ultimately the owner responsible surely?Interestingly we saw the owner pontificating in the Daily Mirror, about Mums phoning up asking him for jobs for their kids, he'd be better off spending his time sorting this place out with his hand on the tiller IMAO instead of playing politics & trying to gather cheap publicity. Disgusted.

Not nice . Manager seems abrupt and food wasn't great to be honest

Good value for money and cooked to perfection. Will definitely use it again.

Lovely staff got this lovely ice-cream

Got delivered Friday chips were horrendous old ones looked had been fried again flat bread was horrible scraggly thin bits of tasteless chicken burger was dry and bun was squashed in restaurant prices but not the quality

Beautifully presented restaurant, clean, tidy, friendly staff and absolutely superb food. Loaded fries, chicken parmo, coleslaw and onion rings. Excellent menu choices besides, including vegetarian options but as a visitor to the area I was taken to experience the 'legendary' chicken dish, and I was not disappointed! Worth the 400 mile drive! Would definitely visit again.

The food was adequate though it is a limited menu the service is excellent the alcohol is quite pricey and the decor could do with a brush up

Cracking place. Really good vibes really good food.

Tasty food with good views. Friendly attentive staff. Best parmos in town!

Food took a while, but it was delicious.

Was a gd night with the girls . Food was great , drinks 🍸 pricey though .

Staff exceptional, both the Grace's looked after us the two days we visited. Food is lovely and the cocktails even better! Highly recommend.

Good, friendly service and good food. Cocktails were well made too. Stopped by while walking down the sea front. It will be nice on a sunny day and looking forward to the outside seating they've got planned 👍

Lovely friendly place staff are amazing food is amazing and very filling too complements to the chef xx

Lovely staff , a bit of a wait as they were busy. Food tasty. A half Parmo is way big enough. Perhaps a quarter Parmo would be good .

The chicken parmo was like rubber, tough and not chewable, 40 quid wasted, we all woke up feeling sick this morning.

1st time visit. Impressed by the quality of the food and service. Great views from the seaside location. Will definitely return.

Lovely food. Friendly staff with a big shout out to chrissy who goes the extra mile and always happy

Good atmosphere good food large portions excellent staff any issues dealt with courteously and professionally

Great food. Far to pricey for a basic menu. Staff came to take our orders as soon as our bums touched the seats. Asked for 5 minutes to look at the menu. They returned about 3miniutes later Nd we asked for more time, she then didn't return for about 30 minutes until I called them over as all staff just kept walking past. I'd of understud if they where busy but this was a Wednesday night and Mr and my party of 4 where the only people there, food took around 45mins to arrive from ordering. Carmt stress enough the food was great, no complaints there. The staff definitely need improvement and I think the prices could be far more competitive with the area. Oh and the decor, ut looks my 5 year old was in the planning party.

Superb food, and fantastic service.

Great night, really good sized portions. The service was fantastic and food tasted delicious. My new favourite place to be.!

Food was amazing and the staff well the bar man was absolutely lovely person

Enjoyed a quick lunch here before a brisk walk along a windy Seaton seafront. Delicious food, served by friendly staff.

Pricey but nice. Friendly dtaff. Cocktails were amazing

Food is good, Artwork on walls Fabulous, staff very nice and helpful, could do with a few more staff, not sure if it was because we were a large group, we had quite a wait, for our meals and staff rushed off their feet. (22 & 1 staff member allocated for us and other customers) she did well, bless her. The reason I gave it three stars, is because we and other customers sat with coats on as it was very cold in there. Our men, even said it was cold! So need to wear a jumper and long sleeves as tables stainless steel. Of which the underside edges are quite rough, not very good for young kids heads. If you want a Sunday lunch you need to go to the Norton one, Seaton one doesn't do them, only main menu! However, I will go back to try the parmo's as they looked very nice indeed.

Unfortunately not lived up to previous experiences here at this restaurant. Service was extremely slow waited well over an hour from ordering to service , not the fault of the waitresses or the chef but the business seems to be focusing on deliveroo orders at the expense of restraunters. Basically giving the chef too much work... I suggest more help in the kitchen in the future . On tonight's performance 2 stars is being very very generous. I don't think I'll be back anytime soon.... very very disappointing 😞