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Char Restaurant, Darwin City, AU-NT

Char Restaurant

3.8
3.8
506 Reviews
$41 to $100
Modern Australian
  • Good for special occasions
  • Great for outdoor dining
  • Charming
Located in the historic grounds of Admiralty House overlooking Darwin Harbour, Char Restaurant on The Esplanade is a must-dine Territory destination. A go-to for locals and visitors alike looking for a special night out, the refurbished glass-fronted steakhouse with a courtyard, offers select grilled meats and Modern Australian dishes.

The restaurant prides itself in sourcing the best regional produce to match one of the best wine lists in the Top End; think entrées like scallops baked in the half shell, with garlic, lemon and dill butter, pickled fennel and chicken skin, or popcorn chicken karaage, yuzu curd and edamame. Add some reef to your beef with a main of rib fillet, topped with split bug, truffled bechamel and pangrattato; or dive into pan-roasted duck breast and Cognac sage jus.

Permanently Closed

This restaurant is permanently closed.

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Additional information

  • Dining style
    Casual Dining
  • Price
    $41 to $100
  • Cuisines
    Modern Australian, Steak
  • Hours of Operation
    Dinner Tue–Sat 17:30–23:00
  • Phone number
    (08) 8981 4544
  • Payment Options
    AMEX, Cash not accepted, Mastercard, Visa
  • Dress code
    Smart Casual
  • Executive Chef
    Quincy Curry
  • Private party facilities
    Char Restaurant can host a variety of functions with access to private dining areas. Let our functions manager take the care away from your next function
  • Area
    Darwin City
  • Cross Street
    70 The Esplanade, Darwin City
  • Parking details
    Ample street parking is available
  • Additional
    Bar/Lounge, Beer, Beer Garden, Cafe, Cocktails, Corkage Fee, Entertainment, Full Bar, Gluten-free Options, Late Night, Outdoor Smoking Area, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Patio/Outdoor Dining, View, Wheelchair Access, Wine

What 506 people are saying

Overall ratings and reviews

3.8
3.8 based on recent ratings
  • 3.8Food
  • 3.7Service
  • 3.9Ambience
  • 3.5Value

NoiseModerate

604 Reviews
  1. AndrewandLisaD

    Victoria

    17 reviews

    1.0

    17 reviews

    Dined on 2 July 2024

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 1
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 1
    Wr rocked up only to find the estaurant is permanently closed. We found a great alternative - Tim's Surf & Turf.

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  2. ClythH

    Tropical QLD

    13 reviews

    1.0

    13 reviews

    Dined on 28 May 2024

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 1
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 1
    This restaurant has closed, apparently in August last year. We turned up at the booked time to find it closed, unoccupied, non-operational, etc. Please remove it from your system! We had a great pizza at City Pizza instead!

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  3. OpenTable Diner

    NT

    1 review

    1.0

    1 review

    Dined on 24 May 2024

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 1
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 1
    This restaurant is permanently closed and boarded up yet it still lets you book a table on open table. Booked for 24/5/24 and it is permanently closed. Someone should update your website and booking platforms

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  4. SRCresident

    San Francisco

    6 reviews

    vip
    1.0

    6 reviews

    Dined on 16 May 2024

    1. Overall 1
    2. Food 1
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 1
    Both Char & Open Table failed us. We arrived in "the dry" & saw the note about being open only then. Your reservation window opened, & we reserved a dinnertime with no comment from your site. Only after arriving @Char and waiting for the doors to open did we discover we'd been tricked by you and them. Bad performance, folks!

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  5. Shaz

    Tropical QLD

    4 reviews

    2.0

    4 reviews

    Dined on 2 September 2023

    1. Overall 2
    2. Food 2
    3. Service 3
    4. Ambience 3
    We’ve eaten here before and loved it. This was very disappointing. Apparently it was the last night before season closure with many of the items on the menu unavailable, and those that were not up to standard. This isn’t acceptable.

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  6. ChrisM

    NT

    3 reviews

    5.0

    3 reviews

    Dined on 1 September 2023

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 5
    4. Ambience 5
    Excellent as usual so very sad that it is closing earlier than normal for the wet season.

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  7. Norann

    Caribbean

    1 review

    5.0

    1 review

    Dined on 1 September 2023

    1. Overall 5
    2. Food 5
    3. Service 4
    4. Ambience 5
    The steak was so delicious, we had three different cuts for our four diners and all were extremely happy with the flavour and tenderness. We did opt to share two desserts between the four of us: highly recommend the apple pie and the banoffee.

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  8. TimC

    Sydney

    3 reviews

    2.0

    3 reviews

    Dined on 29 August 2023

    1. Overall 2
    2. Food 4
    3. Service 1
    4. Ambience 1
    Fantastic steak! Service was non existent. Lots of service staff standing around the bar talking & laughing but very difficult to get their attention. On the night several diners from different tables had to actually go & ask staff to take their order, get wine or salt/pepper etc. This use to be an excellent restaurant experience but it’s changed. The steak was still amazing but we were seated for 30 mins before a drinks order was taken, then had to go into the bar & ask for someone to take our food order………..

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  9. Melanie

    London

    1 review

    2.0

    1 review

    Dined on 26 August 2023

    1. Overall 2
    2. Food 1
    3. Service 2
    4. Ambience 2
    We had been recommended this restaurant by lots of friends. The staff were lovely but we were overall quite disappointed with the quality and value for money of the meal.

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  10. MandK

    Victoria

    2 reviews

    3.0

    2 reviews

    Dined on 25 August 2023

    1. Overall 3
    2. Food 2
    3. Service 3
    4. Ambience 3
    Char has unfortunately gone downhill. We went as we heard that it was closing down soon due to break-ins but we think it a combination of things, one of them is a loss of passion by management which flows through to food, staff and venue. Two of our steaks were chewy, one nearly inedible. They were only 3+ marbling but the wait staff did not suggest the best way to have them cooked. It would have made all the difference… The “shoestring fries” were just plain chips, and luke warm not long after being served. I hope Char can reinvent itself if it is to reopen next tourist season, otherwise it’s probably worth looking elsewhere.

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FAQs

Char Restaurant is rated 3.8 stars by 506 OpenTable diners.

Yes, you can generally book this restaurant by choosing the date, time and party size on OpenTable.

Permanently Closed

This restaurant is permanently closed.

Google Map for Char Restaurant

70 Esplanade, Darwin City, AU-NT 0800

Additional information

  • Cross Street
    70 The Esplanade, Darwin City
  • Area
    Darwin City
  • Hours of Operation
    Dinner Tue–Sat 17:30–23:00
  • Price
    $41 to $100
  • Cuisines
    Modern Australian, Steak
  • Dining style
    Casual Dining
  • Dress code
    Smart Casual
  • Parking details
    Ample street parking is available
  • Payment Options
    AMEX, Cash not accepted, Mastercard, Visa
  • Executive Chef
    Quincy Curry
  • Additional
    Bar/Lounge, Beer, Beer Garden, Cafe, Cocktails, Corkage Fee, Entertainment, Full Bar, Gluten-free Options, Late Night, Outdoor Smoking Area, Patio/Outdoor Dining, Patio/Outdoor Dining, View, Wheelchair Access, Wine
  • Phone number
    (08) 8981 4544
  • Private party facilities
    Char Restaurant can host a variety of functions with access to private dining areas. Let our functions manager take the care away from your next function
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
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