Off on a weekend trip, Peter Barron weighs up the eating out options at Newcastle International Airport

THE plan was simple. We were heading to Dublin for the weekend so the idea was to get up to Newcastle Airport fairly early and have something to eat before catching the Friday evening flight.

It was all going nicely to plan. My wife and I both managed to get out of work at a reasonable time, collected our son who'd applied for a place at a Dublin music college, and drove up the A1 from Darlington without any traffic hitches.

The park and fly arrangements were spot on. With friendly, efficient service, the car was safely parked and we were at the airport with plenty of time to spare.

Check-in and security procedures were just as easy and, with our Ryanair service to Dublin scheduled for 9pm, we were ready for our meal before 7.30pm. Perfect.

The Cabin Bar in the departure lounge seemed enticing enough. The sign outside read: "The romantic side of the runway. Mouth-watering British tapas. Small and large plates, local products, elegant cocktails and craft beers to sip and wine to enjoy. Go on. Make a meal of it."

A chance would have been a fine thing. "Sorry, we're not serving food anymore – just drinks," we were told after settling at a table with seats that were too low.

The departure lounge was pretty busy, it was a Friday evening, and yet the upper end of the airport's catering offering wasn't serving food at 7.30pm.

Disappointed, we weighed up our other options: Burger King, The Beer House, or the Flying Hippo.

Burger King was never going to be an option, so that left The Beer House and the Flying Hippo. With my wife and our son both non meat-eaters, the Flying Hippo was limited to say the least. Margherita pizza or veggie burger were the only choices.

So, by process of elimination, we headed to The Beer House where we joined, among others, members of a hen party, who were already high as kites in their emerald green deely boppers.

I ignored the cheeky invitation emblazoned on their shiny sashes – "Show us yer shamrock" – and ordered "no-meat nachos" for my wife and son and chicken barbecue nachos for me.

The couple of Peronis and coke I'd also ordered got forgotten in the scrum and had to be queued for all over again when they didn't appear.

The nachos were probably what you'd expect – pretty average fare. A bag of nachos with stripes of sour cream, salsa and guacamole across the top and, eventually, some fairly tasteless melted cheese in the bottom of the dish.

In my case, a few chunks of chicken had been added.

The bill came to £31.55 which we thought to be on the high side of the runway.

Okay, I fully accept that it's probably par for the course for an airport catering for the masses. But it might have been a more positive story if the "romantic side of the runway" hadn't given up the ghost so early.

I'd certainly recommend Newcastle Airport for everything else: convenience (even from the southern end of the region), ease of parking, friendly service, efficient, stress-free transfers etc.

But we were left with the impression that catering isn't a particularly high priority and, next time, we'd find somewhere to eat out on the way.

FOOD FACTS

Newcastle Airport, Woolsington, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE13 8BZ

Customer Information: 0871-882-1121

Food: 1/5

Ambience: 2/5

Value for money: 1/5

Service: 2/5