Darlington Restaurant Guide

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!

“Always buzzing”, this “family-run” fixture is very consistently praised in reports for its “great pizza menu” while also offering British and international classics. (After two decades, the owner-operators put it up for sale in summer 2024.)

With its pretty garden and handsomely fitted-out interior, this period gastropub has been no stranger to national awards lists since launching in 2008. It is rated consistently well in reports and even a sceptic whose commentary found it “perhaps a little overpriced” still rated it soundly across the board.

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).

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!”

An outpost of the famous tearoom chain that’s “great for brunch” as ever (afternoon tea and substantial mains also being on the agenda) and where – once you get past the queues – time itself seems to rewind, coaxed backwards by the “very professional staff”. “Prices have risen a lot” over the years “but this place will always feel like a treat!” – indeed it’s “a Yorkshire legend!” (even if this branch is not the most epic of the chain).