Hop and Cleaver

If there’s one thing which is a necessity during a heady day of drinking many beers, it’s an eventual stop for some food to make sure that you can carry on drinking many more beers. After a couple of misses with other venues which were unable to accommodate us, we tried the Hop and Cleaver and miraculously were able to snag a table for four on the condition we cleared the table by a set time.
I would say «Challenge accepted!», except they gave us plenty of time to eat and my name isn’t Barney.
After much deliberation of the menu, all of which looked amazing, we decided that rather than pick individual things why not just get the sharing platters. Between us, we ordered three sharers: BBQ beef brisket, long ribs, and pulled pork. Each of these came with a selection of sides, such as fries, garlic bread, mac & cheese etc. I think we must’ve got one of every side except maybe for beans.
Everything was absolutely stunning, and I’m not just saying that because I was half cut. The beef brisket and the pulled pork was moist, tender and coated in the perfect amount of sauce. The ribs were a good size and meaty. The fries were hot, crisp and well salted. I could go on, but suffice to say there wasn’t anything which didn’t hit the spot.
Everything got washed down with a bottle of Blind Pig cider, which I’ve only recently discovered and which is essentially apple cider spiked with other flavours — such as bourbon, in the case of the one I ordered. There’s a good range of ales and other drinks too, as you’d expect from a good pub.
The layout can be a little confusing to navigate, though, as I think the space joins on to and shares some outdoor areas with the nearby Redhouse a couple of doors down.
Definitely somewhere I’d be happy to revisit.

In need of food to soak up what we’d already drank and make sure we could continue drinking, we were incredibly lucky to get the only available table in Hop & Cleaver.
We are big fans of sharing platters and the like so we ordered three crates to share between four of us, on recommendation from our waiter. This was the perfect amount of food to fill us up without leaving us too full to enjoy the rest of our day.
The crates we shared were beef brisket, pulled pork, and ribs. We basically went for all the sides except corn and beans, which left us with mac and cheese, fries, sweet potato fries, cornbread, slaw, and garlic bread.
All of the meat was delicious, very tender and juicy. I enjoyed all of the sides but in particular the mac and cheese was awesome, spiked with green chilli to lift it out of bland territory.
I enjoyed a bottle of Camden Wit during the meal and then a half of Neck Oil afterwards. They do their own brews, which you can see when you go on the merry adventure to the toilets (just keep walking, you’ll find it eventually). I didn’t opt for any of these though as I wasn’t very inspired and it was all a bit confusing.
Overall, a good (though incredibly busy) spot to get a few beers and to fill your stomach.

We went here recently for a feed during a day out drinking in Newcastle. We arrived with no booking but got seated straight away, on the condition they could have the table back by 6.30. It being around 4.30 at the time this wasn’t really an issue.
We decided to share a few sharing dishes including pulled pork, brisket and one other i can’t remember (we had been drinking…) We had these with various sides including corn bread, slaw, fries, mac and cheese and a couple of others (again…drinking). I also had a blind pig cider which was tasty (although I don’t like cider normally… not sure what that says for people who do, maybe they wouldn’t like this?)
The food was all pretty nice, the atmosphere was decent, the staff were friendly and efficient. I don’t really have anything to put down but at the same time I’m not raving about it.

One of my favourite places to eat in Newcastle, the crates are a food delight, if you like either slow coked brisket or puled pork you’re in for a treat, and if you go for a crate you get two sides to go with your main, I do like anywhere that offers mac and cheese as a side, and the skin on fries were fantastic, others had the sweet potato fries and said they were rather good as well.
Ye olde surroundings are the result of the place being built in a very old building so it can be a bit cold in the summer even, back in the depths of the building, but with a micro brewery and fantastic staff it’s a rather splendid place to have a meal.

Love this place. Friendly staff. Amazing food. Good drinks. Top beer. Not too expensive. Great place for all occasions. Nice and interesting layout. Good atmosphere, lighting and music.

Had a great meal at Hop and Cleaver recommend the Tomahawk although expensive £59.95 for 2 person the rib steak (with whole rib still attached) was fantastic. A wonderful selection of quality independent ales, Beavertown a personal fav, was on offer. Fantastic venue with friendly staff.

The food and drinks were amazing! The staff were polite also.
I rated this ⁴⁄₅ because I think the staff could be slightly more interactive with customers in the way of recommendations.
This was the best brisket that I have had yet!

We had such high hopes for barbecue in Newcastle. This was the first place we tried, and we recently came back again to give it another go, but sadly the end result is average.
The atmosphere is appealing, with lots of brick and stone and dim lights. It’s always very busy, and has a bustling bar feel in the front as well as a restaurant feel in the back.
My fiancé and I shared 2 «Crates» — one with smoked sausage and charred wings, and one with brisket. Sides of mac ‘n’ cheese, beans, slaw, and fries. It sounds like a very promising American-​style feast, but the food doesn’t hold a candle to what you can get in my home turf. The wings are downright bad — small, underseasoned, and somehow oddly textured — don’t like the way the skin pulls off the meat. The brisket and sausage were both fine, but forgettable and nothing near so good as they should be. I do like their beans a lot, and the fries are quite good as well. Slaw and mac ‘n’ cheese are fairly simple renditions of the classic sides, with nothing special going on. It’s always disappointing to get really ordinary sides, because when a little more care is put into them, they can be so good!
The salted peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake, however, is delicious and was probably the best thing we had all night.
The atmosphere is great, the service is friendly, and the dessert is delicious. With a few small exceptions, the food overall has the right idea, but is uninspired and nothing like the classic American versions that they aim to emulate. Sad to say, I think we won’t be returning. However — we are choosy about BBQ (me being Amurrrican and all). If you aren’t such a southern food snob, you might be quite happy — lots of people love it here! It just isn’t as good as we want it to be.

Beer & BBQ … What else do you want?
Fine!
Hop & Cleaver, located on Newcastle Quayside. Built into a very old and apparently haunted building. This place looks magical. Very nice design work!
They brew their own been on location and have so many great beers to choose from! I do highly recommend trying their house IPA! Very good stuff.
In the back section they have a eating quarters. The menu is BBQ style food. They often offer a featured item, I went once and it was a doughnut chicken burger! Two doughnuts as buns for a chicken burger GAME CHANGER!
This is what keeps me coming back. Always happy staff always something good to eat and drink!
They have WiFi cause there is zero reception for you check in on Unilocal

Good relaxed atmosphere — fairly busy and bustling on a Saturday night but shouldn’t be surprised about that considering the location!
First time I went we ordered margharita — sadly they were a bit of a let down — very small, not particulary well made and expensive at £7.95 each. To be fair to the bar maid I think it was her first time at making them as she kept asking a colleague for help but even so it put me off for a while.
My second visit was for a meal with friends and I stuck to G&T which was much better. The tables at the back of the pub had a great ‘canteen’ atmosphere with nice big tables and mismatched chairs.
The food was great — I was a bit put off by the menu initially as it was very ‘meaty’ and limited but ordered the ‘crate’ of brisket, with 2 sides — sweet potato fries and slaw. The mountain of food which arrived at out table was amazing — beautifully cooked and enough to feed a small army! Great presentation and even at £14.45 it was great value for money. Service was quick and cheerful — would definitely go back to try & work my way through the menu.

Hop&Cleaver is a great pub on the quayside adjoined to Redhouse that offers a relaxed atmosphere and is an ideal choice if you don’t fancy donning your best attire! Traditional interior with original build features and exposed brick and stonework make it quite cosy.
Drinks prices are standard but they have a good selection of beers/​lagers. The food is pretty good in my opinion… usual pub grub focused more on the carnivores out there! I really enjoyed the pulled pork and sweet potato fries but I’ve only eaten here once so I’d be keen to try something else. They have a separate dining room if there is a reasonable sized group of you wanting to dine.
My only criticisms would be that due to the lack of seating in the bar area, a lot of the tables can be reserved meaning your options are limited even when it’s quiet. It’s also quite chilly inside so I often keep my jumper or coat on but a couple of drinks can soon sort that out!