The Orangery - Darlington

It started with a pre-dinner drink in the drawing room, a high ceilinged chamber with much dark wood and leather furniture.

Took my fiancé here for her birthday for a spa day at the Rockliffe Hotel. The restaurant serves food at Michelin star prices but food doesn 't quite cut it. Service is fine and brought up allergy note on reservation at the beginning of meal, but staff should try to smile a bit more and try to be more engaging. More annoyed than anything else as the restaurant engaged in the age old sin of set menu/taster menu sized dishes on the à la carte menu. As expected left feeling extremely hungry despite spending over £250 for two three course meals and a bottle of wine, left the hotel premises a couple hours later to get McDonald 's. As for the food itself, okay, but just didn 't quite cut it. Lamb was bland, the risotto nothing to shout about (unoriginal), and nothing that I couldn 't get at a French Bistro in Edinburgh or Newcastle for half the price and twice the quantity. Bakewell tart for desert was somewhat redeeming. @Chef check out l 'escargot bleu in Edinburgh for three courses done right, or do what Hjem in Northumberland does and get rid of the à la carte menu so people know not to come if they don 't want to sit through 8-10 courses. Not sure about the mix of English and French dishes either, local ingredients but no local inspiration. Feel free to invite me back when you 've fixed this, and please fix this as you are obviously quite talented. Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: £100+ Food: 2 Service: 4 Atmosphere: 3

Fantastic! Great food great wine. Very attentive and knowledgeable staff.

Interesting food but painfully slow service. From start to finish dinner lasted over 3 hours, most of it spent waiting in a less than comfortable dining area. The Orangery produces excellent food but the experience is mired by style over substance and an under delivery on core comforts. Would hesitate to recommend.

Outstanding cuisine preceded by very good cocktails in the bar. The hotel deserves all the plaudits it gets. Particularly impressive that standards have been maintained at this time of chef and staff shortages. Lovely reception staff too. The original building has a real wow factor too.