Darling’s Diner

It’s closed now and I was very sad. Been going there for years. Most recently it was hit or miss but I will miss many things from Caesar salad, calamari fries, pasta, wings and more. So long Darling’s!

First let me say a tear is dropping from my eye to see all the negative reviews but also to know this place is closed.
I went to college in Philly not to long ago (2007 – 2011) and this place was my go to place for out of towners. The food was always great, the variety was awesome and the cheesecake was OUT OF THIS WORLD. I was excited yet sad that they added a bar after I graduated so I couldn’t experience the nice addition.
I always had an awesome waiter that would help me navigate the menu and the specials were tasty as well. Their chicken fingers rocked so hard. I also NEVER had to wait for a seat no matter how large my party was.
Here’s To Darling’s Diner, you will be missed…

I came here after a night out in Philly, and the experience was just okay. My table and I just ordered water and it took a while for it to come to the table. The food also took a while, but that was understandable because it was busy. The thing that irritated me is that we were done with our food for a while and the waitress kept passing our table when we were trying to grab her attention so we could pay the bill and leave. Dont get me wrong the server was very nice and patient because it did take us a while to order food.

A few days after posting this review of this horrible restaurant, it closed. Guess my review was accurate.
I went there recently and had the worst restaurant experience of my life.
It started with them telling us the wait would be ten minutes, which turned into over a half hour. Okay fine. We get to sit and order drinks and a piece of pie to start with before dinner (fun, right?). When they bring us that, they inform us they have no more silverware and give us instead one set of plastic utensils to share. WTF. The kind that come in a plastic bag with mini salt and pepper. Fine. We finish that and wait again another half hour for the guy to return and take our order. I ask about the veggie burger, if they’re homemade or the pre-​made microwave type, he assures me homemade so I order it, specifying no sauces (I’m allergic to all dairy). So then we wait an hour for him to return. No water refills, nothing. At this point we’ve been in this restaurant for 2 hours. He returns. The sandwich was definitely one of those pre-​made flat microwaved pieces of cardboard. I go to take a bite and get a mouthful of mayo. I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to dump and entire BUCKET of MAYO onto my sandwich but as it would make me literally sick to eat, I asked they take it back. The server instead of apologizing informs me that if I didn’t want it, it would take another hour to re-​make. At this point I gave up. If you’re gonna make some really baller food, fine, I’ll wait. But it takes you AN HOUR TO MAKE A MICROWAVE VEGGIE BURGER? This was your screw up, not mine, so you make it right and fix it, you don’t tell me it is going to take another hour, you go and have them do it right away. Not to mention they didn’t know how to take it off the bill and the manager was «busy» so they just gave me the money back cash for that part of the bill. Super unprofessional in every way.
Then the waiter avoided us and I had to ask another sever to please have him bring our check. It took a ridiculous long amount of time. We showed up at 11:30, didn’t leave till 3. And all I got to eat during that time was a shared piece of cake with a shared fucking fork.
Normally I’m pretty forgiving of restaurant servers and screw ups, I used to work in one myself. But this was just over the top bad and it really ruined a good afternoon. I will not be returning and I highly encourage everyone to avoid this restaurant, if you can even call it that.

I ate there three times, food was okay the first time and horrible the other two times. I quit going back after that. They get two starts because the staff was friendly, but really, the waitress was clueless the last time I went. I asked for corn tortillas with my hues rancheros, and she brought me ones with flour. I politely asked for corn ones and she said «Those ARE corn tortillas»
Since their regular food was so awful I was afraid to try the desserts, fearing they would be too sweet.

Pretty disappointed with this place… I’ve eaten here before and brunch was always pretty good. I don’t know if they hired new cooks or the manager is new but I def wasn’t pleased with my meal or the service. My boyfriend and I came for brunch on a Sunday we wanted to sit outside so we had to wait about 15 minutes; no one asked us nor told us there was a wait we just assumed… Usually when you walk into a restaurant the first thing the hostess does is ask for your name or at least acknowledge the fact that you are there. Then I just asked the hostess if we can sit outside and if we can have a menu so we can start figuring out our order.
Once we were seated we had to wait about 25 minutes for our meal. My boyfriend had ordered steak & eggs, he also stated that he wanted his steak «well done». I had ordered a few sides and we both ordered the cheesecake French toast assuming it was huge (since we had it before).
My scrambled eggs were hard (yes hard) and my hash browns weren’t fully cooked not to mention they forgot my bacon! My boyfriend’s steak was medium rare and our French toast wasn’t big at all…
Just a huge disappointment… I should of just stayed home and made breakfast myself.

This has got to be one of the worst dinning experiences ever. Stopped for lunch with my family. Party of 6. Seated promptly, then all down hill from there.
Waited almost 10 minutes for the waiter. Then another 10 minutes for him to deliver beverages. Food didn’t arrive until almost 40 minutes after it was ordered. Plates so hot from sitting under the lamps that the runner had to put a towel over his arm. Veg on plate of wings was hot and wilted. Two plates not even delivered for another 10 minutes.
Asked to speak to manager. She was curt. When my autistic son blurted out that there was no cheese on his burger she admonished him and shot back that she wasn’t our server and that he shouldn’t be disrespectful to her.
Hard to judge the food since it sat cooking under heat lamps for so long basically cooking cooking it twice.
No apology for the terrible service to top it all off. Stay away.
Update: nothing taken off check AND THEY ADDED ON A $ 17.20 TIP! Then blamed us for terrible service saying we ordered too many burgers at one time (4)! The manager is rude, disrespectful and has no tolerance for people with special needs.

I am thrilled to know they are open at all hours of the night.
The service was pretty good. Our server was attentive not overly friendly and accommodating. We went on a Sunday afternoon and it wasn’t crowded but a number of other people were there. I am also thrilled to know they have a full bar and sports tv. Overall the atmosphere is very laid back as any typical diner.
The food was average. I had a BBQ chicken sandwich that took too long to make. The side salad was huge and room temperature (not sure if thats dangerous but I didn’t mind). Onion rings were hot and crispy and the sauce was ok. Nothing to write home about but good enough for a late night meal.

The terrible reviews of this place are enough to keep even the most optimistic of customers away. After dinner at a pizza place that ONLY serves pizza, we decided to give Darling’s a shot. We only wanted dessert and how bad could they mess that up?
Our party of 8 walked in around 9pm on a Saturday. It took a few minutes for them to put tables together, but we were seated without incident. The desserts are in a display case as you enter and we were excited about what we saw.
After I was informed that they were out of the carrot cake, I ordered the chocolate mousse pie. Dining Partner had the colossal Nutella Waffle Ice Cream Sandwich. Others shared the cheesecake and Key Lime Pie. We waited quite a bit of time for the desserts to arrive. Presumably all they needed to do was cut the cake, scoop the ice cream, and squirt some whipped cream on it. When it did arrive, we all were very satisfied with the desserts. The waitress was nice and fairly attentive. While I can’t attest to the quality of an entire meal, Darling’s is A-​OK for dessert.

Very first time, and the food over all was good! I ordered the classic eggs Benedict downside to that the over cooked my egg. However the hollandaise was really good taste house made. I also had the grits those where a hit along with the bacon!!!
The new owner/​partner came and apologized for the over cooked egg and comped it! That was great service! Our witness Leah, was super nice great attitude.
This is a place a would definitely recommend and return to.

Waitress is super nice and attentive. She’s really upbeat and really refreshing. Not crowded for a Friday night. Food came out in a reasonable amount time ad warm.

Slow service, no fresh orange juice, rather small portions and they charge extra when you ask to substitute something.
Food quality is ok but not exceptional.

I will have to say I am surprised at the negative reviews for Darlings. We’ve been here a few times and always a really pleasant experience and our latest experience was amazing. Food was great and our server, Jen was fantastic. My 11 year old nephew commented how «he loved her personality» and «that this was the best dining experience ever.» After waiting at Dave & Busters for 3 hours (that’s a whole other Unilocal review) we redirected to Darlings. It was perfect! the whole staff was great, helpful and energetic even considering it was 10pm on saturday night and the food is really good.
This is a diner… and as far as diners go this is the coolest, friendliest, yummiest that I have ever been.

I think that people’s reviews of Darling’s is too harsh. This is a diner and you gotta lower your expectations! Even so, my meal here was darn good. I had grilled cheese and chicken soup and it was everything I could have wanted! My boyfriend had chicken tenders and they were your average, decent chicken fingers. We went on NYE at 5 pm and they honored the happy hour special even though it was a holiday. My only complaint was that the service was a little slow but overall it was a delicious meal.

This place is very whatever. It gets the job done, but that’s really it. None of the food is a must and the waitstaff is neither good nor bad. It’s good drunk food if you’re sober enough to Unilocal a place, but I wouldn’t consider it a crave destination.

Do not go to Darling’s unless you have a whole afternoon to waste. Service was terrible and the overall atmosphere was awful between confused customers and a staff who had no idea what was going on.
Came with a group of 8, for what we were hoping, brunch. At first we were told that there would be a 15 minute wait to be seated– which was understandable, so we all sat outside and waited to be called in. 15 minutes turned in 30 minutes until we were called to be seated but soon told it would be another «5 minutes» to be seated. We ended up waiting for a total of 45 minutes. That alone should have been a red flag but we decided to stick it out and go in to order.
The waitress got our drinks and took our orders, but had very little knowledge of the menu. We all ordered simple brunch items, but it took over an hour for us to get our food, and as we were getting our food the waitress decides to tell one of the members of our group, unapologetically, that the kitchen was unable to make his dish. That information should have been known an hour earlier.
Through out the duration of our time at Darling’s, several unsatisfied tables asked to speak with the manager, including our table. When we spoke with the manager, she was completely unprofessional and rude as we expressed what we had experienced and basically told us we should have expected the slow service if we had to wait to be seated.
Slow service is fine, but poor service is unacceptable and never in my life have I experienced such poor service as I did while at Darling’s.

We stopped for brunch late on a sunny Sunday morning with a group of seven adults and two babies. We asked to sit outside and were told by the hostess that we could, but weren’t allowed to put two tables together. Okay, we figured it was no big deal… until after we ordered and saw another party being seated and putting their two tables together. Our waitress told us it wasn’t a problem so we dragged them together. Still not sure what that was all about.
When our food was served, one person’s order was forgotten completely and we had to actually wave down the waitress to find out where it was. We also had to ask more than once for things like water refills and more syrup. The staff just all seemed flaky and like they weren’t really into, you know, customer service. Overall it was weird, and the food isn’t special enough to warrant a return trip.

Waitress syggested the PORT RICHMOND PIEROGIES as an appetizer. I tried it wth a side of fries. The fries were pretty bland.
The pierogies however were really good. Lets face it, there are really arent any bettsr place to get homemade pierogies than from port richmond. Darlings puts their spin on it by serving alfredo sauce atop them which was a nice change from butter or sour cream.
Darlings is a hiply decorated diner in NoLibs next to the Piazza at Schmidts. Good parking at 630 pm.
Friendly service.

After being seated, there was a rather long wait for the server to come by to take orders (about 30 minutes).
Cheesecake stuffed French toast was all right. It looked better than it tasted. I prefer my French toast to be fried up nice and crispy on the edges; this one wasn’t particularly well executed. Cheesecake was mediocre and generic.
Tried a bite of corned beef hash, which was also ok.
Generally, the food is a bit pricey for what you get. Food quality is just mediocre.
Service is friendly but slow.
I wouldn’t want to come here unless I had no choice.

What’s there to say about Darling’s? It’s on one of the hottest streets in Philadelphia, it’s open until late, and has booze to boot. It’s a worse Silk City without dancing and less adventurous food.
Servers are nice enough, which is good, but the uninspired food that doesn’t need to improve to keep business afloat doesn’t help matters. Most items you could make at home. I suppose that’s the appeal of a diner, ultimately, but this is a trendy diner with marked up food.

No. Never.

Love that it’s 24 hours but the food really sucks. FOR REAL.
If you are looking to grub on some greasy good diner food, this isn’t the spot.
You are better off going to a 24 hr diner in the suburbs somewhere.
Really, the only draw is that it’s open and that it’s in the city.
They totally rock music all night long from Music Choice on the TV, which is much appreciated and enjoyed.
Parking: street metered
Location: easy to locate — brightly lit and on the triangle corner part of the street