Hardens Guide to the Best Restaurants in Darlington
Hardens guides have spent 33 years compiling reviews of the best Darlington restaurants. On Hardens.com you'll find details and reviews of 7 restaurants in Darlington and our unique survey based approach to rating and reviewing Darlington restaurants gives you the best insight into the top restaurants in every area and of every type of cuisine.
Featured Darlington Restaurants
1. Origin Social
Fusion restaurant in Northallerton
2 Friarage Street - DL6
“If you happen to find yourself in Northallerton, a sure place to go!” – this two-year-old small plates venture focuses on live-fire cooking, and is a good bet in this thinly provided town.
2. The Orangery, Rockliffe Hall
British, Modern restaurant in Darlington
“A lovely location for a special event” – this five-star property sits in over 365 acres on the North Yorks border, and its more formal dining option (you can also eat in the clubhouse overlooking the golf course) lives up to its name – a tall, striking pillared space with glass roof. Chef Paul Nicholson offers a four-course à la carte menu for £70 per person, or there’s a six-course tasting option for £95 per person, backed up by an impressive 400-bin wine list.
3. Stable Hearth Neapolitan Pizzeria & Enoteca
Italian restaurant in Darlington
Duke Street - DL3
2023 Review: “Great pizza menu served by lovely people” remains the verdict on this award-winning pizza-stop, whose numerous accolades and certifications promise a Neapolitan experience through and through: your selection is cooked at 400 degrees and will be ready in 90 seconds!
4. The Bay Horse
British, Traditional restaurant in Hurworth
45 The Grn - DL2
Marcus Bennett’s fifteenth-century village gastroboozer – a regular on ‘best’ UK gastropubs lists, and a consistent scorer in our annual diners’ poll – is a “very dependable” sort of spot, offering “beautifully presented food, especially game in season”; there was the odd quibble this year (“are prices higher” now?) but it still makes for “a good all-round treat now and again”.
5. The Coach House
British, Modern restaurant in Middleton Tyas
Middleton Lodge Estate, Kneeton Lane - DL10
2021 Review: Set in 200 acres of North Yorkshire, this informal bar/brasserie is an “interesting conversion of stables attached to the main house” (there is also a posher dining option here, ‘The Forge’). An all-day operation, it offers food that’s “reliable and well presented” from a series of menus, including breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner (with the focus on Mediterranean char grills).
6. Crathorne Arms
British, Modern restaurant in Crathorne
2023 Review: “It’s still as good as ever at Eugene and Barbara McCoy’s country pub” say fans of this destination, ten minutes from Middlesbrough. “It’s one of the few places that still hold a traditional Beaujolais Day in November and has a waiting list of people wanting to come!”
7. Bettys
Afternoon tea restaurant in Northallerton
189a High St - DL7
An offshoot of the time-capsule tearoom chain offering (once you get past the queues) genteel service, plus afternoon tea, sandwiches and other things more substantial. Fans claim that it’s “great for brunch with very professional staff”, although it’s perhaps not the pick of the Bettys bunch, and there was the odd caveat this year over rising prices and shrinking portions.
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