Readers of ChronicleLive have had their say and chosen the best Italian restaurant in the North East
21:36, 06 Sep 2025Updated 22:02, 06 Sep 2025
Outside Michaelangelo’s in Gateshead(Image: Michaelangelo’s)
After loads of votes came flooding in across Friday and Saturday, readers of ChronicleLive have chosen their best Italian restaurant in the North East. And the winner is a family run business in Gateshead that ‘feels like you’re on holiday’ and had a slice of TV fame a few years ago.
Earlier this year, hundreds of you had your say in the run up to Easter, when we asked you to nominate your best places in the North East for fish and chips. Based on your picks, we then whittled things down to a top 10, with the vote then opening for you to pick a winner, as V.Gormans in Ashington came out on top.
Other cuisines like fish and chips and Indian get plenty of recognition at various national award ceremonies but, after feeling that the many great Italians in the region are often overlooked when it comes to accolades, we decided to launch a contest of our own. A few days ago, we asked you to nominate your favourites and then, just like we did with fish and chips, we used them to make a top 10, before readers then had the opportunity to vote for one of the shortlist in our winners poll.
Well now, after hundreds more votes were cast we can now reveal the identity of your champion and the placed that took first place, with a whopping 50% of the final vote when we tallied them on Saturday night was Michelangelo’s in Ryton. A few years after it had not one, but two visits from The Hotel Inspector herself, Alex Polizzi, the restaurant, which also has accomodation for guests to stay overnight, has emerged victorious, finishing way ahead of every other place in the top 10.
A long way behind in second on 17% was Little Nino’s in Spital Tongues, with Lui’s on Newcastle Quayside in third on 15% and Newcastle city centre favourite Pani’s in fourth, having got 9% of the vote. The other restaurants in the top 10 were Zuccini Pasta Bar, Puccini, Portofino’s, Liozi’s, Mascalzone and Vito’s Osteria.
Food at Michelangelo’s in Gateshead(Image: Michelangelo’s)
If you’ve ever been to Michelangelo’s, you’ll know its a place that has the wow factor from the moment you drive in, with its building, surrounded by trees and palms, looking like somewhere that has been picked up from the Italian countryside and transported to Gateshead. On their website, Michaelangelo’s say they pride themselves on ‘providing a first-class experience’ whether that be in the restaurant or in their 10 bedrooms, housed in a separate annexe.
Promising ‘true Mediterranean hospitality,’ moving onto the food side of things, the online description of your number one venue, adds: ‘Our restaurant specialises in fine, traditional Mediterranean dishes that have been tried, tested and enjoyed for years as well as offering those holiday inspired classics and daily specials board.’
Michaelangelo’s has some very favourable reviews on Google, with a recent one seeing a customer enthuse: ‘What a find this place is!’ as another wrote: ‘Great experience and can’t believe we haven’t tried it sooner.’
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Dining and Cooking