Char Restaurant

We had an overall poor experience at Char, all service driven.

1. When we arrived, we were asked to wait at the bar while our table was being prepared. That would normally be understandable, except the restaurant was 2/3 empty and we were the only people waiting.
2. They had 2 pinot noirs by the glass and we made a point to say we would like one of each. However, they brought the wrong wine.
3. They also brought us the wrong steak. We had 3 people sharing 2 different steaks, and they brought us 2 of the same one. We then had to wait 30 minutes for the correct steak to be cooked, by which time we had already finished the rest of our food.
4. We had half of a steak leftover at the end of the meal (the one that we already had to wait for). We asked to take it to go - we were at first told by the waitress we would have to sign a waiver, but then told by the manager we couldn't at all because it was against the law to take it away. (We had just dined at another nice restaurant in Darwin the night before, and were able to pack up our leftovers without any problems.) After a lengthy and unpleasant discussion with the manager, we ended up grabbing a box we already had and packing it up ourselves.

The food was decent, but not good enough to justify the price, and certainly not good enough to justify the service and dining experience. I do not recommend this restaurant at all. There are plenty of nice restaurants serving steak and seafood in Darwin - save yourself the trouble.

Good food, good location, some fantastic staff. Read the menu carefully. The rib eye steak (without the blue cheese sauce) was cooked beautifully.

Slow service, not of a high std.
Incorrect orders, twice.
Asked if would like bread and then charged for rolls.
Extemely expensive for what is essentially a steak house.

Very helpful and friendly staff. Food was delicious!

Very expensive; even for Darwin. Waiters from around the world owing to the backpacker lifestyle in Darwin, but this does not result in good service. Even though our waiter explained the special lamb dish to my wife, which she then ordered, the wrong lamb dish came out! And they managed to spill water and wine each time they poured! Table in the corner was too noisy; everyone's conversation echoes off the glass.

The food was disgusting and I have been sick all night. I ordered rib eye and at the suggestion of the waitress, peppercorn sauce. The sauce tasted awful... Smelt and tasted like bleach or cleaning fluid. I presumed something want astray and that the sauce jug must have had bleach or something left in it. I sent it back to the kitchen but it was returned to me with a message from the chef that he had tasted it and this is how it is meant to taste!! I scraped off the sauce but still got sick!!

The food is delicious. The waiter who looked after us was wonderful and friendly. Very helpful when asked questions and kept our water topped up. The steak was cooked perfectly, my entree of scallops was amazing, in fact that is the dish that keeps me coming back. The pork was delicious, I would have scored 10 but it was a little pink for my liking (personal preference) highly recommend this wonderful restuarant.

We set out for a quiet meal together which we wanted to be special farewelling a close friend in a group of three. The food was delightful however we found the wait staff whom had been initially very attentive lost interest after the mains got literally dumped on our table by someone from the kitchen. We even had to go seek someone out at the end of the evening to pay our bill. Lovely food but on this occasion average service in a place that didn't have a huge number of diners.

Entrees were delicious, the restaurant was lovely and had a really nice find dining feel to it. Service was friendly and our waitress Charlotte made some wonderful recommendations, she was great. The way you bring out the meat is great, made me change my choice from fish to steak. Only qualm is it was a tad over priced. But would definitely come back to try the other menu options.

Great restaurant! Everyone's food was perfection, cocktails are delicious, and the ambience is good as well. Highly recommend for a romantic meal, or group dinner.

Great location, delicious food especially the steaks (a bit on the expensive side) and very friendly and thorough service. Had a lovely dinner outside with family. Would go back for other special occasions. Thank you

Good menu, excellent service and well prepared food. Not cheap but good value for money

Great food, but function on so service lacked and food (steak) wasn't cooked to order as a result of kitchen being behind and long waits

Was very impressed by the efficiency of the booking process and acknowledgement when arriving of our dietry requirements. Surprised then that my vegatarian wife was then advised on the best steak cuts! Food and coctails were generally of good quality but service was slow and some waiting staff had attitudes/appeared unhappy with their job.

As you expect, Char is serious about their steaks. What you get is excellent quality food in very nice surrounds, but you will pay for the experience.

service was terrible

Took my fiancée out for her birthday dinner was so pleased with char as a place to dine. Great service ......

Great food, great service, great atmosphere. Would highly recommend

Lovely atmosphere. Delicious food and knowledgeable, attentive wait staff. We will be back again for sure.

Excellent food and service and willing to modify menu to suit a kid size meal. A little on the high side for price if you order a steak and still have to throw in a side however all exceptional in taste.

This is our favourite restaurant in Darwin. We are always made to feel welcome on arrival and Irma, our Service Specialist, looks after us like we were family! Eric knows our favourite cocktails and makes them extra special with exotic flavours and new twists. The food is always top notch and of the highest quality. We LOVE CHAR!

I have dined here at least 8-10 times with my husband and it is normally fantastic. However on a few occasions the staff have been really slow. This time The waitress was very rude and abrupt and really upset me, my steak was cold and and very rare when I ordered medium. When I complained about my cold steak the waitress reheated and brought it back to me, I was very unhappy and I would expect a lot more for $46.

Great food and excellent service

Fantastic food, great staff, excellent wine selection.

Great evening and the food was amazing. Second time I have been in the last few months and found it to be quite hot when seated inside. Suggest getting the aircon's looked at, as I noticed quite a few diners finding it uncomfortable.

Unfortunately we didn't have a wonderful experience. Our meat was over cooked pork cutlet was dry and rack of lamb was well done. The service was less than average, twice other options to what I had picked were offered but when I declined and wanted my original choice I was asked why I didn't want the other options. Don't think I need to justify why I want what I want. The cost of the meals wasn't reflected in anyway in the food or service or ambience.

The food was excellent, while we were there for a secret special occasion they did spill the beans.

The service we received from beginning to end was excellent as was the food. We have been fortunate to eat in many exceptional restaurants around the world and would put this in our top 10!! We rate our experience on the location, ambience, service and quality of food. Some restaurants have good food but the service and ambience is not right. This was just what we wanted.

Very nice evening, excellent food!

Good steak house. A bit pricey. Not your everyday restaurant to visit but definitely for a special occasion

Food was absolutely delicious, but service was quite indifferent (but friendly).Quality of customer service needs to lift significantly: more care for the customer (one waiter per table rather than many, saying goodbye at the end), better understanding of table service/waiting niceties (e.g. our waiter wiped our table down with his hand, wine was spilled but ignored) and better coordination between bar and waiting staff (our drinks arrived after our meals, and we had to ask several times).

Great setting and service, however, food was a little pricey for what came out. Ie $27 for an entree that wasn't overly impressive.

I met Matty Hayden there. Top night

I was expecting more. The presentation of the steaks and and explanation lead you to believe you were going to get a great steak and the price indicated that. Unfortunately, my T Bone was cooked well , but needed a chainsaw to cut it.

Very nice place with great food and service. WArm and welcoming waiters. Steaks are overpriced.

the staff were lovely but it took our meals over an hour to come out

Lovely night with good food, good wine and nice atmosphere. A little on the pricey side but great for a special occasion!

Good is always fantastic nice atmosphere we just find the service a little too slow. But we love dining there.

Good food, well executed and flavoursome. Service is friendly, accommodating and efficient although staff would benefit from a good briefing on dish components at the start of service.

The food was outstanding the best we found in DarwinLocation was lovelyStaff were friendly and attentive