Darlings — Restaurant in Ontario

I came here with my two kids at 5pm on a Thursday (made reso). The restaurant is cool looking with a sweet patio. The service was second to none. Very attentive. They made sure my kids had juice boxes and always replaced plates after we used them which is important cuz you don't want the bottom of your slice to sit on salad dressing. As for my order and food review, here we go:

Started with chopped green salad - next level. Can't think of a salad I would swap over this one almost ever. It was also massive. Didn't know if I should have eaten or climbed it. Definitely good for 4 but my wife and I demolished it (10/10) which may have affected our pizza review... To follow

Second was the arancini. Again, not sure if I could get a better one in the city. Generous portions, delicious sauce and cooked perfectly 10/10

Third was the chicken parm - holy k c u f. If this is how good specials are, im never not ordering a special ever. By the hand of God this is not only the best chicken parm I ever had but quite possibly best chicken dish... With the exception of Swiss chalet (jk.... But am I ;)). Seriously though, the portions were huge and if I ever have a better chicken parm, please pinch my arm. They charged $22 for it and if they charged $52 I would not have batted an eyelash. I should have packed it in after this demigod of a meal. 13/10

Last and definitely least was the pizza. I ate a tonne before this so was admittedly not hungry by the time the pie came out but overall the pizza was just ok. I come from the home of North of Brooklyn and Badiali so this was a tough hill to climb. For me the crust needs a bit of work. It's not gooey like Napoli style nor is it crocante like Roman style. Somewhere inbetween. I prefer one or the other (shout out Vaccaro). It's a no man's land zaa. If I were from Kingston, this pizza would be great but I'm from the land of ice and snow... and pizza and it was just ok. To me it was a really good " bar pizza" but not a really good "pizza place pizza" and this is coming from a guy that likes calzones, Detroit, Chicago, New York, pizza pops, whatever. 6.5/10 - side note, I reheated in the oven the next day and it was almost better, really good so we go to a 7/10

All in all this restaurant was absolutely dynamite. 3 of the 4 things I ordered were better or as good as anything I could get in the city which pretty much gets you in the hall of fame. Service was top cheese and prices were fair.

Thanks Duncan and the team. Sorry I didn't love the zaa but I feel like my honesty really legitimizes my Zeppelin review of your other three other dishes, specifically the chicken parm... Hot take - why eat veal Parm if you can eat chicken parm? Veal is so overrated!

Piping Hot...

We had many wonderful dining experiences during our week in PEC. It was easy find restaurants with excellent food, incredible hospitality, and wonderful atmospheres. Unfortunately our experience at Darlings had none of these things.

My party arrives for our reservation. The restaurant has just opened and less than 50% of the tables are occupied. It’s 29 degrees, there’s no AC, and the water for the table is served warm. We order drinks and a caesar salad for the table; I order pasta for myself, and a vodka pizza for my parents and the kids - critically, the waitress does not say anything about how long this will take.

The salad arrives within 15 mins of ordering. (We’ve been enjoying our drinks so this timing is perfectly fine.) It’s a $23 caesar with large rock-hard croutons and a single anchovy on top. My ten-year-old loves croutons, so I give her one the size of an ice cube. It’s so hard she can’t bite into it. Her grandfather suggests breaking it I half with a knife. She tries, but she’s not strong enough. He tries, but he’s not strong enough either. They abandon it on the plate. We finish the salad and wait. The $28 pasta special takes another 30 mins to arrive. When it does, our server drops it off at the table and promptly leaves without asking how we are doing, offering pepper, or saying anything about the timing of the pizza. The pasta is cooked to a “cafeteria soft” consistency in a watery ragu with green peas that are oddly undercooked and crunchy in the middle. Time passes. We watch in dismay as the two-top (who ordered after us) gets a pizza. More time passes. My parents watch other people eating pizza and wonder aloud if everyone else called their orders in ahead of time. The $37 vodka pizza with half pepperoni arrives almost 90 minutes into the meal. At this point, we are expecting a masterpiece; the Sistine Chapel of pizzas - years in the making, but a work of genius wrought in tomato sauce and cheese. Instead, it looks and tastes like a normal wood oven pizza; the kind that takes 90 seconds to stretch, 90 seconds to dress, and 90 seconds to cook at 500 degrees. My kids and parents are so hungry they just panic-eat it so we can...

Wow wow wow! My wife thoroughly enjoyed her meal with her friend last night! So why am I writing this review? Because she came home with PLENTY of leftovers!

The wood fired mushroom pizza was cooked perfectly! To those people that complained in their reviews about the “burnt” crust, clearly you have no idea about wood fired pizza. This is EXACTLY how it should be! Just Google wood fired pizza and click on images. I’ll wait…

See? They all have some black burnt bits on the crust and where it bubbles! That’s how it’s supposed to be!

My wife also brought home the hot honey to drizzle on the slices I had. Do not pass on this!

The rigatoni in vodka sauce reminded me of my childhood best friend’s Italian grandmother’s home cooked sauce. Excellent. Pasta was perfect and the sauce was as well. (We kinda fought over those leftovers)

The chopped salad is one of the best salads I’ve had in a while. They certainly don’t scrimp on the dressing! Even though it was about two hours after it was served at the restaurant, it was still very tasty!

The gnocchi was superb. My wife is a little bit of a gnocchi snob, and this was the best she’s had. That’s saying a lot!

Now, I went through some of the reviews and am quite shocked about the implied racism. My wife’s friend and her husband frequent Darlings and they are both brown. In fact, her husband is a very dark brown gentleman! They have returned multiple times and will again! So those negative reviews are a little suspect.

Anyway, I can’t wait to go with my wife! (With my dark complexion due my East Asian/Greek dna I’ll be sure to note how I am...