Darleys

9.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  9     

The overall dining experience is outstanding. Lovely modern australian cuisine served with the most delicate and classic touches that are not at all contemporary, befitting a wonderful, romantic and beautiful setting. The service was good, the degustation menu with matching wines are a must, especially the regional selections on the list.

Overall, fresh, creative, polished and delivers on its reputation as the best regional restaurant.

Aug 25, 2011 

10 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  10     

Fantastic meal at the weekend. We thoroughly enjoyed the Tasting menu and matching wines. The menu starts off with very delicate and subtle flavours with Salmon, Gnocchi and Tuna to start. Then big bold flavours in the following 2 courses of Rabbit and Partridge.

The dessert course sounded quite unappealing but how wrong we were. It was delicious and perfectly compliment the meal. Definitely hold Darley's in very high regard and we have eaten in many fine restaurants around the globe. Expensive at $500 but in our opinion, it was worth every penny!

May 24, 2011 

6.8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  4      Value  6     

Dined here for our 6th Wedding Anniversary and the food was great. From the Oysters to the Duck, I could not fault. The strange Chocolate Soup for dessert was probably the worst tasting item on the menu (looking around the dining room, many also agreed). The most disappointing thing would be the service. It started out well, but seem to have a change half way through the evening. We were not impressed that our Mains plates were not cleared for some 15 minutes after we had finished. We also had to ask for the dessert menu after another 10 minutes wait.

Overall, it is a nice restaurant with nice food but at about $320 (no wine, just a few beers) for two people I expect better service.

Mar 10, 2011 

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  5      Value  7     

Dined at Darley's for the first time on my 40th birthday, wow! The degustation was simply superb, clean and fresh flavours, beautiful in its simplicity! After a degustation, one expects to feel like one has over eaten but the sensation was nicely satiated and very pleased with such a great meal.

Having had the privilege of dining at several hatted restaurants in the last month, I found Darley's well worth the 2 Hats. Service left much to be desired but the Chef's skill more than made up for this shortfall. Will recommend and return!

Nov 30, 2010 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  9      Value  6     

Our dinner at Darley's was one of the highlights of the fifth wedding anniversary trip that my husband and I made to the Blue Mountains last year. This year, my parents are visiting us from overseas, so we took them to Darley's last night for dinner. While the setting was as spectacular as ever (we had the corner table with views of the sunset over the Jamison Valley), the food and service was not quite up to 2009 standards.

We began with a prawn and scallop ravioli that was similar to the entrees we had enjoyed at Silk's Brasserie in Leura two nights prior. The flavours of the ravioli could have been enhanced with some sort of Japanese-style vinegar-based dressing, but were instead almost obliterated with a very pungent roast chicken consomme. For the main course, two of us had the veal tenderloin and two had the lamb. The lamb was reportedly excellent. The veal medallions were of top quality and was served atop a bed of braised lentils.

A lovely combination of flavours, but a potato dish on the side might have been a better choice than the brisket that accompanied the veal. I did not have dessert, but my tablemates enjoyed the rum savarin, the blueberry tart, and the panna cotta. The wines were eye-poppingly expensive; I'm not a wine drinker myself, but even I could recognise that the prices were far and above what they would be at a comparable establishment. Ironically, the drinkers in our party commented that the wines they chose were not as good as those we'd had at Silk's earlier in the week, although they were twice the price.

Service was reasonably good, although our server inexplicably put my bottle of sparkling mineral water in an ice bucket adjacent to another table, which necessitated my getting up and down to refill my glass. Honestly, I would've preferred the bottle to remain on the table. The young man who brought us our amuse-bouches was so quiet that we could barely hear his mumbled descriptions of what he was setting on the table. Staff were friendly and welcoming, however.

Nov 24, 2010 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  2      Ambience  5      Service  1      Value  1     

We were extremely disappointed with our recent visit to Darleys and cannot believe that we had eaten at a two hatted restaurant! How they have retained this prestigous award confounds us.

The service was appalling. We waited 30 minutes to receive our bottle of wine which was promptly removed from our table. The staff were unable to answer questions with regard to the menu. When the food did finally arrive it was tasteless and uninspired, the dinners we cook for ourselves at home are better. Throughout the meal we had to ask for our water glasses and wine to be refilled and there were significant delays between courses.

All of this meant that instead of choosing dessert we opted to pay the exhorbitant bill. We will never return to this establishment.

Nov 23, 2010 

5.5 Average

Food  5      Ambience  7      Service  6      Value  4     

Food quality and menu selection has, unfortunately, dropped in quality. So sad to see this happening to such a long standing beauty. The worst is the wine list. Being fully licensed, there is no options for a decent wine unless you are happy to pay up around $100 a bottle, where I would hate to even imagine how many hundred percents the mark up is. Absolutely absurd!

Darleys, take note: Something needs to change with the wine list. You are really letting yourself down. Ambience, as always is gorgeous.

Sep 05, 2010 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  4     

I'm usually skeptical about restaurants with such a reputation, assuming they are 2 parts reputation and 1 part performance. Darleys, however, was fantastic and deserving of its awards. The service, great, the food, great, and the ambience was very good. As in all top class restaurants they charge big time but you expect that. Don't expect much change from $400 for a dinner for 2.

Sep 05, 2010 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  4     

Last Friday night (August 20), we made our second visit to Darley's, after a gap of nearly twelve months. The first time, it was really very good, but this time, the food and service were outstanding. Our request for a table next to the fire was granted, and this, combined with the beautiful nineteenth-century room with large, well-spaced tables, comfortable chairs and muted lighting, gave the entire experience a brilliant ambience.

The service was impeccable: lots of friendly, knowledgeable staff on the floor, attending unobtrusively to the needs of about 25 diners on the night. The food was heaven. I started with the oxtail ravioli and seared scallops, an interesting and well-executed combination, and my husband had the smoked salmon and cream filling (can't remember its full details). We both chose a special dish not on the main menu: roasted pheasant with pheasant confit, brussels sprouts and baby onions with redcurrant jus.

Superb combination of flavours and textures, filling but not too much. Then I had the icecream with chocolate leaves, redcurrants and blackcurrant sorbet. This was the highlight of the night. Impossible to describe the "mouth-feel" (horrid word), flavours and texture, in combination, they made it truly memorable. He had the quince pannacotta which was sweet and tart in just the right proportions. Two little amuse-bouches were served between courses : minted pea puree and goat's cheese, then jellied blood orange and creme fraiche.

The only complaint about the Darley's experience is the appalling markup on the wine. I know it's fine dining, but from a comprehensive wine-list, to only offer about 6 wines under $100 is very poor. We had a Tassie pinot noir (Dalrymple) for $77. Nice, but not that brilliant for the price. I noticed that most diners were ordering similar priced bottles. Is Darley's capitalising on the overseas tourists who stay at Lilianfels? Overall, a superb night out, though. We will certainly be returning.

Aug 29, 2010 

7.8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

Our first visit with the new chef Carl Middleton. This was our second stop on our Mountains restaurant crawl. The three things that we always love about darley's are:

The polished, knowledgeable service, the beautiful setting and the food. The service was as always, friendly, informed and professional. The dining room was comfortable and as beautiful and charming as always.

Overall the food doesn't hit the highs of Hugh's days here, but in saying that we thought it was at a very consistent level. In the past we would find that some dishes were amazing, but others fell short. But now all dishes seem to be at a wonderfully consistent level. Which as far as we could see is good, as you know what you're going to get.

The pressed Guinea fowl with foie gras was delightful. As was the suckling pig and the Lambs shoulder. The Vanilla ice cream with mango sorbet and meringue was a great finish to the night. My wife raved about the pear tarte tatin. The prices are at the higher end in the mountains, but it represents very good value.

Great to see Darley's still being a very strong force in the mountains. And you have to love their wine list!

Aug 26, 2010