Yay!  Ann is in town from Japan, so you could say this brunch was a "special occasion" brunch.   Allison had raved about Darlington House after restaurant week (keeping in mind prices are fixed during restaurant week), so we were all excited to try Darlington House, which opened in spring of 2008.

A note: Darlington House is "officially" located upstairs.  They have a bar downstairs, but it's dark and more watch football and drink beers than sip mimosas and eat omelets.

Environment: The upstairs Darlington House is what I would call "modern victorian".  (Versus the downstairs is dark wooden bar).   Seating is limited, but they do have a small covered outdoor area that seems to get really weird lighting.  I once almost stopped there with some friends for lunch, but the tables available were split with one side completely in the shade and the other in direct sunlight.


Service: We were able to make reservations and they did seat us before the entire group had arrived...the rest of the group being me thinking the bar was downstairs and wondering where everyone was at and not sure of where the host/hostess was.  Though I will say - the bartender downstairs was great!

Our waiter was young and the consensus was he wasn't great, but he wasn't bad either.  When we paid our bill with about 7 different cards, the manager did come out to help out, which was nice.

Booze: I did order an Irish coffee in my brief stint downstairs when I didn't realize the restaurant was upstairs and it was amazing.  The bartender added vanilla bean creme fraiche (soon to be renamed "creme freshen...see comments below) and it was probably the yummiest one I have ever had.  Once arriving upstairs, I gushed  about the drink to the others so Mattie followed suit, but the upstairs bartender was not quite as caring and his came sans creme freshen. 

The bloody mary's were big, but not so great and a little heavy on the lime-only garnish.  They were shockingly expensive ($11) for such a blah drink and they helped to bring down the entire experience.

The mimosa was heavy on the orange juice, but not as crazily overpriced as the Bloody Mary's.  $7 for a mimosa.

Food: The food mirrored the bloody mary's....blah and expensive.  The omelets tasted ok but were a little on the dense side and they blatantly put a full slice of cheese on the omelet and the eggs someone else ordered and just melted it - no presentation.

The hash was good (a few people ordered this) and both agreed the poached eggs could have been more runny to make the hash less dry.

Kevin had the "Hangover Helper" which was a cute little name for steak and eggs and while the steak was surprisingly good, the eggs were overdone.   We all agreed he was brave to order steak for breakfast - this is usually always a bad order.

The breakfast potatoes had a mixed reaction - both Dana and I were in favor, but Ann and Kevin thought they were just "ok."

Sara got the fruit and yogurt, which was a boring bowl of plain yogurt with some cut up strawberries.

Finally, we got two orders of the donuts holes and dipping sauces for the table.  I don't even think we finished them...and we aren't the type to turn down sweets.  They were just bland.

Cost: This isn't usually a category, but we felt it was deserved.  Darlington House is no Willard...it's not even Peacock Cafe.  The bill came in at $270 for 8 people which was just outrageous for nothing special.  The coffees were $3.25 - this is insane.  Starbucks coffee is half the price, way bigger and better!  There coffee was just so so.  And as you know, we have a club soda thing and most people believe you shouldn't be charged for club soda, but they charged $3, then never brought it!  Obviously, it was removed from the bill...but it's the principal of charging a gzillion dollars for water! 

Overall/Repeat?  While the atmosphere is nice....I thought the cost of the not-so amazing food was completely out of line.  Maybe their dinner is great and worth the cost, but their brunch is not.  No question.  I would not repeat and I seriously doubt I would even go there for another meal. 

Recommend? Not hard to guess, I would not recommend Darlington House for brunch.  However, like I said before, I have heard people rave about their dinner, so if someone was looking for a dinner place in dupont where cost was not an issue, then I might suggest Darlington, but put on a disclaimer.