Darlings Pasta Club — Restaurant in Northern Territory

Reply to Owner:

Hi Brigid, Unfortunately, none of the staff members offered an apology. Instead, we were met with a sarcastic tone — something along the lines of “What do you want? Do you want another one?” It came across as quite arrogant and condescending.

That said, we did pay for the prawn tagliatelle, which was as good as always.

Thank you, and all the best

I had visited this restaurant before and really enjoyed the carbonara and prawn pasta, so after a long workday, I was looking forward to coming back. Unfortunately, this visit was deeply disappointing.

There were three staff working. The one with a ponytail was the one who received us. After we said “table for two,” her attitude was cold and dismissive—no greeting, no smile. She simply pointed at two tables near the counter and said, “sit anywhere.” It felt like we were an inconvenience rather than guests.

Ordering required real effort just to get her attention. Every time my husband said “thank you,” there was no response—ever. It didn’t feel “cool,” just incredibly rude. When the food was served, there was no explanation of the dish, just a silent drop-and-go. Meanwhile, we saw her chatting and laughing with another table nearby, which made the contrast even more uncomfortable.

Then came the biggest letdown: the food. I ordered the carbonara again, and it was nothing like what I had before. The pasta was watery, bland, and under-seasoned. The speck was tossed on in large pieces with no care—it felt like they had just boiled the pasta, thrown on some cream, cheese, and meat, and sent it out. It didn’t taste like anything made with pride or intention.

I shared my feedback, and another staff member casually replied, “I don’t think there’s anything wrong.” The manager’s response made it feel like I was being unreasonable. I came back to support a local business I had previously liked—but this experience made me feel like we were treated unfairly. It’s hard to ignore the possibility of racial bias, especially after reading similar reviews from other Asian diners.

With this level of unwelcoming service and lazy cooking, I genuinely don’t see how this place can sustain a loyal customer base. Very...

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

We had such a beautiful dinner here! We ordered the bugs, the ricotta dip, the kangaroo pasta, the prawn pasta with a leafy salad, and finished off with the tiramisu – everything was absolutely delicious.

The restaurant setting and ambience are spot-on, and the food was brilliant – fresh, tasty, and full of flavour. The staff were equally wonderful. Our server, a lovely lady originally from America (with Filipino and Italian background (she told us)), really made the night special. She mentioned she’s travelling in Australia, and although we didn’t catch her name, her warmth and energy stood out.

The only disappointment was that we couldn’t leave a tip- apparently, they don’t allow them or something – it felt well deserved for the whole team, especially our server.

All in all, Darlings Pasta Club is a gem in Darwin. Highly recommend giving it a crack – you won’t be...

Overall not great, overpriced and NOT home made pasta. I ate here in a group of 5 on a busy Saturday night. Atmosphere was perfect, very pretty, good decor/lighting. Service was fine, we waited an hour for our food but it was very busy. The food is $32-40 per main and it is seriously over priced. We ordered tortellini, penne carbonara, and tagliatelle. The tortellini was excellent and did taste home made, would recommend this dish. However, the penne and tagliatelle did not taste home made as it lists on their menu. The tagliatelle was actually curly fettuccini so maybe they ran out and purchased some from the shop that night. Sauces tasted pretty average. A very expensive experience for pasta cooked...