The Captain Darling — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Had a really lovely Sunday roast here today, we were in the area and checked the booking system and saw that there were lots of times available so decided to walk-in and thankfully got the nicest seat, lots of little alcoves in the top seating area, super cozy but fresh and bright in atmosphere. The candle lit tables really add to the ambience even in the day time, such a small but effective touch to have.

Our food was tasty, I’m from the North East of England, grew up having amazing Sunday roasts every week but since moving to Edinburgh 7 years ago (!!!) I’ve probably max 6, all being a let down. The promotional images on Instagram do differ slightly to what’s given/presented, this may change depending on the chef and how they decide to plate up. Portions on the smaller side, minimal roasties and veg, smaller size yorkshire but my Partner and I felt satisfied by the end of it, lots of flavour thankfully! For my personal preference the beef could’ve been more on the rare/medium rare side, it was slightly over but i didn’t preference how i’d like it cooked so this ultimately didn’t bother me. We of course opted for the STP and the Chocolate Mousse to share for dessert, i’m a die hard STP fan and if it’s on the menu i’m absolutely getting it. Slightly let down by this one, it wasn’t warm in the middle, was more spongey than the classic datey-stickiness, sauce was cold and the scoop of ice cream was tiny, you need enough for every bite of pudding!!! The chocolate Mousse was tasty but on the more dense side rather than airy and light, maybe due to it being VG.

All in all we paid £73 (excluding the tip we added as there isn’t a tip included) for half Guinness, fevertree lemonade, 2 beef roasts and the 2 desserts listed above. The service was great especially by the taller gentleman with the longer hair.

We will definitely be back to see how this place evolves. Regardless of my opinions everything was really tasty, we left happy with no complaints and the setting...

I went to The Capt Darling for it's soft launch (I joined their newsletter and got the same day announcement with everyone else) and normally these "we're just practicing on you" days are awful. Reviews of restaurants and gastropubs even a week later tend to be way more flattering than a soft launch experience.

Here's the thing - I had a good experience at The Capt Darling's soft kissing launch. This bodes well! Stockbridge allows for no failure when it comes to hospitality and I think the Darling might make it.

I was struck at how clean and wisely designed the inside was when I entered. There is plenty of room between tables here and yet the experienced team have made good use of the space.

The bar looks good, great on spirits and perhaps a bit wetter weaker on beer. I'd prefer to see some local beers but if it's a brewery owned location then there's not much the current management of the Darling can do. I settled for Beaverton.

The food is great. I had a Guinness steak pie which was delicious. It came with nothing else and so I'm glad I ordered fries on the side. I don't want to start fights but by pie I mean, in this case, meat and gravy in a dish with a top.

I had the pie and decided to run my diet again for staying for desert. I had the lemon posset and it was worth it.

You'd expect management to be here for Day -1 and they were. In fact, the gents without the Capt Darling green t-shirts were the MVP during the opening moments as it was those guys who stepped up and made sure my order was taken, I had a seat and was okay. As first half hour of opening ticked over then the regular front of house seemed to grow in confidence, step up and step in. They did well.

I will revise my review in time but the opening heartbeats for The Capt Darling are very promising. I expect the kitchens will get quicker, quickly. I fully expect the great Stockbridge word of mouth engine to decide the Darling's status by the weekend but I intend on...

Really good food! Fantastic haggis croquettes, nice chicken schnitzel, quality steak, excellent chips, tasty broccoli and top wine. Lovely, attentive staff but the manager who was friendly enough was also extremely overbearing. The waiter took our order and while we were engaged in some sociable chat with him, we were made to feel awkward by the manager who came over and basically told us to get a move on because the kitchen was closing soon. This happened again at the “empty” bar area, while chatting to the barman for a couple of minutes as we were ordering another bottle of wine and paying the bill. We were basically “told off” for distracting the barman from his duties. It was a bit like being back at school again - chill out!! As we were getting ready to leave, the manager was so busy stressing about who was doing what and over managing everyone (including the customers) he presented us with the bill that we had already paid. We’ll definitely go back again but the manager...