Darling & Co — Restaurant in Brisbane City

FOOD & DRINK We started with a schooner of my fav White Rabbit dark ale and a glass of sparkling white wine, not cheap, at $10 each. For our entree we ordered the chorizo and cheese croquettes. There were three decent-sized pieces to the serve. They had a soft, creamy filling and a warm, crispy coating: the perfect way to start the meal. For mains, we chose the char grilled striploin, the roasted cauliflower with tabouli and tahini, and a bowl of sweet potato chips with chipotle mayonnaise. All the meals were fresh, tasty and delicious. My wagyu striploin was cut into small, manageable slices. It was well cooked to perfection, just the way I like it, but still tender and full of flavour. To accompany the meat, there were roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and something called “chimichurri” a tangy South American style sauce. My wife's roasted cauliflower dish was huge, with two chunky pieces of fresh, tasty cauliflower, with couscous, tahini and tabouli. It was so big that we took half of it home and had it for dinner the next night!

AMBIENCE On the Thurs night that we dined, in late Aug, there were only a handful of other guests, but that didn’t bother us, and we enjoyed the casual, laid back and unhurried ambience. The decor features wooden floors, heavy wooden panelling and fairy lights, all reminiscent of the 1980s. It's clearly in need of a makeover to modernise and brighten it up. I guess closing off some parts that are never used, might also help to improve the atmosphere by making it more intimate. As it stands, it is a bit soulless and dreary, which is a pity because the deals make it worthwhile visiting, and I'm sure that we will be back.

SERVICE We had no complaints about the service. There were a number of staff on duty, more than probably was required, but we found them all to be friendly, helpful and polite. One does one’s own ordering with the app, so staff’s role is limited to bringing out the food and clearing plates from the table, all of which they did quickly and efficiently. Drinks and food came out in the correct order, although there was a slight wait of about 15 minutes between the entrees and the main courses.

COMFORT We chose to sit in the bar area, on high chairs, which was quite comfortable, and suited us nicely. We were easily able to converse, as the noise levels were low, given the paucity of other diners, but this could potentially be a loud venue, when it’s full or even half full, with so much wood and glass, and no noise absorbers. I did find it a tad cold, and the dim lighting made it hard to read the menu. There was nowhere to hang our coats or jackets, but luckily we had a table for four, so the two empty bar stools provided ideal space for that.

TOILETS Toilets are a little tricky to find behind the function centre, but they’re clean, well stocked, and equipped with a modern hand-dryer. There are ample male and female cubicles.

PARKING Parking is easy in any one of a number of nearby sidestreets. I found a spot just behind the “Paddo” in Campbell Street, but you could also find spaces in Alexandra, Castlemaine or Dowse Streets. If there are restrictions, they still allow for two hours parking and tend to end at 7.00pm

COST We paid $70 (after a 50% discount deal on food which has now ended) for two drinks, a starter and two mains. Full price would have been something like $123, so the moral of the story is that you should come here when they have deals or offers, otherwise it’s too expensive.

MEMO The Darling is part of the “Australian Venue Co” group, which owns a number of other restaurants and pubs around Brisbane, including the famous Regatta Hotel in Toowong. You can join their rewards program and receive points for every dollar spent, which you can eventually turn into savings off your bill.

SUMMARY We had a pleasant evening at the Darling on a quiet Thursday night, and everything ran smoothly. Although the place was fairly empty, the ambience was relaxed and casual. Food was first class and service was efficient and polite. We’ll be back next time they...

My partner and I hosted our combined 30th birthday party at Darling & Co in The Garden function room, and we can honestly say that we had the best night!

One of the main reasons that we chose to go with Darling & Co in the first instance was because the correspondence with Summer (Head of Venue) was friendly, informative and she was very quick to respond. We also needed a venue that was wheelchair accessible for guests, and were pleased that the venue and function spaces were all fully accessible, and had car parking available on site. The car parking for our guests was validated by the bar staff on arrival.

Ang (Functions and Events Manager) was very accommodating of all our requests. She hosted us about a month out from the event for a venue walk through. We were able to put our faith in her to set up the room (cocktail style) which put our minds at ease. We loved the lighting and the vines throughout the roof of The Garden, matched with the white linens on the tables, made for a fun and light atmosphere. Our florist from Wildplay Flora was able to access the venue one hour to event start to set up two beautiful arrangements against the white curtains. This became our backdrop for photos.

Her recommendations on the amount of food per person was also spot on. Our guests commented that they were very well fed, and our guests with dietary requirements also appreciated being catered for on separate plates.

It has always been a dream of mine to be able to provide guests with a cocktail on arrival, and the bar staff made this a reality with a choice of a margarita or a ginsecco for 70 guests! Our guests also appreciated having access to a private cash bar within The Garden for the remainder of the night.

The audiovisuals provided by the venue also contributed to our special night, with a slideshow of photos playing throughout the night, our own Spotify playlist playing throughout the room, and access to a microphone for speeches to announce our engagement! We only needed to provide our own laptop but all other adaptors were provided by the venue.

After our function room hire had come to a close, we spilled out in to the main bar and enjoyed the rest of the night there until close.

We will always have the best memory of our night at...

Booked here last minute for a party of 13 so appreciate they could squeeze us in. However we had the worst experience here and I wasn’t very impressed. First of all, there was no one helpful at that restaurant at all to accomodate us especially being a big booking for a birthday dinner. We walked in with no help on where to go and had to scramble around to look for someone to get our table. Second of all we didn’t get told it was a game day menu for the whole night as we were told the regular menu could possibly come out at some point but was never given a certain yes or no. When asking a waiter if we could have the regular menu at all as I had some people with allergies and couldn’t eat off the menu the staff were really rude about it and said that I basically wasn’t given a yes so I won’t be getting the regular menu at all. Second of all service was very very slow. It was game day yes, however the restaurant was quiet and it was almost Impossible to get any of the staffs attention. Food was average, cocktails overpriced I was so shocked at the size of the glass it was tiny for $20! They tasted awful and I think the bar needs to teach there staff how to make drinks I’m sorry. To top it all off we each individually paid our orders and got told there was till over $100 owing for the bill. They didn’t tally what we were up to and none of us received a receipt for who paid for what. I was there for 20 minutes with the waiter who had no clue what he was doing and I was beginning to get quite frustrated and upset with the lack of help and knowledge. I will never ever be coming...