Oh My Darling — Restaurant in City of Syracuse

I don’t know where to begin… the experience at this restaurant was not good at all. I was excited to visit because I’ve passed through many times but… lots went wrong. Not sure whether it was the fact that I found a long brown hair intertwined in the chicken breading of the hot honey dipped chicken dish, the fact that my server assumed I wanted to eat grits and chicken (he misspoke because the dish is called grits and shrimp) as my replacement dish, or the fact that I was still charged for my more expensive replacement dish on the bill?

The restaurant is clean and aesthetically pleasing but that is the ONLY good thing about this establishment. The food is incredibly bland, dry, and not worth the amount they are charging for it. I got the hot honey breaded chicken - that was the only good thing I had, but of course was ruined by whoever was in the kitchen. Just because coronavirus restrictions have eased, does not mean that restaurant staff should stop wearing hair nets when cooking. Mac and cheese tasted powdery and was really thick (not in a good way) and the Brussel sprouts were drenched in vinaigrette- but tasted like the sauce was expired. I got a side of Parmesan truffle fries and those were dry too - you could barely taste the truffle oil. My cousin got the burger with the gluten bread and she said she didn’t like the way it tasted either, she ordered a medium and said the burger was cooked to the point where it was harder for her to chew. My mother ordered the wedge salad with chicken - my server brought out a barbecue flatbread, but never came with extra chicken. Chicken was a 15 minute wait which the salad was done by the time it had came out. My mother stated the chicken was also very dry, sort of tough to eat as well.

I got a maple glazed salmon dish to take home after my server assumed I would have wanted the grits meal without giving me a menus (my party were the only black guests in the restaurant) so I’ll leave that there. Noticing the slip up he had made, he went to go and get a menu for me to look at again. Needs no further explanation. I really didn’t want to get anything to take home because I knew I probably wouldn’t have liked it because the other dishes were bad, but I wanted to be optimistic. Manager on duty, Sarah, had apologized for the inconvenience, told me the chicken meal was off of my tab, but I was still charged the $7 or so dollars more for the maple bourbon glazed salmon meal which I believe was unacceptable. I believe I shouldn’t have been charged for that plate of food. I still tipped my server 18% which is customary for me.

I really would not recommend this place to any of my friends or...

TL;DR I recommend the NOURISHING BOWL, BREAD & BUTTER FRIED PICKLES, and drinks. Do not recommend THE CRISPY CHICK and VEGGIE BURGER. The wait staff seems fabulous; OMD may want to encourage a bit more hospitality from higher-ups.

COMPLETE REVIEW I've visited Oh My Darling twice since I began venturing out more during the pandemic. The first time was wonderful with phenomenal wait staff, a delicious NOURISHING BOWL, and good cocktails. We initially visited OMD as I could easily modify dishes to fit my pescatarian, lactose & gluten-free eating habits. We visited the second time following a brief stint at The Taste of Syracuse.

We ordered the BREAD & BUTTER FRIED PICKLES to share during this most recent visit. They were delicious! We were excited for THE VEGGIE BURGER and THE CRISPY CHICK. Ultimately, we sent both dishes back as THE CRISPY CHICK was dry with thick breading; the mushy nature of the veggie burger (think 1 inch of mashed beans) was an unenjoyable texture, and the steamed (or boiled) brussel sprouts had an oddly flavored honey balsamic dressing. (I now see the negative reviews about the brussel sprouts, I should've checked before.) We politely shared this with James, our fabulous server who was beyond apologetic, as he called over his manager to assist him. His manager listened to what he said and our quiet answers to his questions yet said nothing to us. It was rather odd as I find it customary that the manager speaks to the customer to encourage future support of the restaurant. James did this instead, and because of him, I may venture to return, yet did not feel the hospitality from the manager. We strove to share with James the positive attributes of this and the previous visit while asking for the check. We paid for the drinks and starter before leaving. We also found ourselves curious about the gentleman at the neighboring table and his reaction to THE CRISPY CHICK. Sadly, we did not get that answer as I finished my water glass before stepping back...

This was my first time making it into oh my darling!, I have tried to go for brunch a couple of times but the way it was longer than we had to wait. I also ordered takeout quite a while ago and was not too impressed, but wanted to get a real dine in experience. The place is very cute on the inside, I really like the decor, we were seated quickly during a pretty busy lunch time. I ordered the upstate rum punch, it was a little strong but I managed lol. For appetizer, we wanted to get the smashed potato poutine but they were out, they did not tell us they were out until we went to order it which was unfortunate. We ended up getting the spinach artichoke dip, it was pretty good, nothing to rave about or complain about, they do give you very little chips which is odd. For entrees we got the chicken sandwich, the person I was with got the beef stew over egg noodles, and we ordered a side of honey Dijon roasted brussel sprouts. Both meals were pretty mediocre and under seasoned, in my opinion. The chicken sandwich had a nice texture and was cooked nice, but very bland . The beef stew over egg noodles was cooked pretty good, most of the meat was pretty tender but again, lacking seasoning. Again, the meal wasn't horrible, just not worth the price in my opinion. Chick-fil-A's chicken sandwiches have more flavor. The brussel sprouts were cooked very good, just wish there was more flavor, I didn't really get any of the honey Dijon notes. When were done I wanted to order a chicken salad sandwich to go and was informed they were out of that as well, again, very disappointing to be told after the fact. We ended up getting lee lees chicken sandwich, the person who had that said it was pretty good, probably the best thing out of the whole order. All in all, I don't think I would go back. There are many choices to go for lunch in Syracuse and the flavor is just weren't hitting for me. Maybe I'll try brunch sometime and...