Silver Darling in Aberdeen City

Nice and clean place, good food but the waiters be grumpy

A couple meals here. Oysters were fantastic. Cullen Skink, wow….so good! Mulled mussels , I really liked the twist on mussels…not a “pop” moment, but enjoyable. Scallops were great/fantastic. Cod was good, a bit long in the pan, but flavors were there. Variation in staff attitude, generally good overall…but one a little rough on the edges both times. Overall great, looking forward to coming back!

It's a very nice place to visit at the end of the harbour. The service is great and the people are very nice. The food is really good. The place to go for seafood in Aberdeen for sure. The Cod was very good and the presentation was lovely. It is very busy so I recommend to make a reservation when you want to go.

The good reviews are well earned. Went in not expecting much as I'm not a seafood fan, and that's no fault of theirs. I wouldn't take stars off or even bother to leave a review if I were vegetarian dining in a steakhouse. I expected a seafood centric menu, but was surprised to find there is something for everyone. And that something for me was out of this world. I chose the venison and it was literally perfect. I could tell you how tender the meat was, how well the vegetables paired, and how the treacle jus was absolute magic, but those would just be words. It's something you need to experience. The chef made a highly curated dish feel like comfort food, and I mean that in the best possible way. Well done.

Great place for seafood - scallops for starter was delicious and monkfish scampi was a lovely twist. Great service, would definitely return.

Fantastic location and perfect service. The food was excellent

Long awaited visit. We ordered the Seafood platter, really good, and good selection. My husband ordered surf and turf, arrived with no surf! I ordered the Lobster Thermidor. We tried to catch a waitress, eventually one appeared and asked how was our meal. My husband mentioned “no surf” and I also said there didn’t seem to be any Thermidor sauce on lobster. The waitress asked if he still wanted the surf and she said the sauce melts into lobster!!!! So dry and no taste. A very dry and overcooked surf appeared after my husband had finished main course. We decided not to have dessert. With wine our bill came to £156.50!!!!! Would have expected our night to be a memorable treat, however both disappointed. Furthermore the toilets were shabby and very dirty, The usual review e-mail appeared and I mentioned above issues, no response. They need to visit The Fish Shop at Ballater and see how things should be done and presented.

We celebrated my parent’s diamond wedding anniversary in the Captain’s Table room. The food and service was second to none. The staff always seem to arrive just at the correct time. They were friendly and very professional. I would definitely recommend as the views are as stunning as the food. There’s something for everyone on the menu and the portions are generous and beautifully presented. Can’t wait to go back again and massive thanks to the Danni and all the staff

We were a little early but out table was ready and we were greeted warmly. Our main server was a lovely lass who was very knowledgeable and approachable. My husband and I had 2 starters and the Silver Darling platter all together to share. The starter prawns and scallops were very good. The platter was on the whole very tasty however is filled with whitebait a bit too much I feel. We ordered the cheese board to share and this was a big disappointment. First of all, a different server just plonked the board on the table and left without a word about what cheeses they were. We had to ask out regular server. Sady, it was as if the board had been prepared and stored in the freezer. Who wants to eat frozen cheese? The cheeses therefore were rather tasteless and looking back, I really wish I had said something at the time as it was a complete waste of £11. All in all, our visit was nice but could have been much better.

We really enjoyed our visit to The Silver Darling. My Dad has been wanting to go for about 30 years, so we thought it high time. Location is lovely with views of the Shetland ferry leaving the harbour through the surrounding picture windows. We shared the Silver Darling platter between three of us as a starter, which was high quality and tasty. My only real gripe was with the main. Not the halibut, which was perfectly cooked with a particularly delicious crust, but that the dish description clearly signposts the need to order some carbohydrate. I was looking for a bowl of really-nicely cooked potatoes and thought I’d ordered them, but instead, for £5, I got about six unseasoned, underdone spuds. I know the current trend (American in derivation) is to offer the “choice” of “sides” but I’d urge the chef to develop a textured, carb-based element with a little bite to the dish. That would have made it 5/5 and memorable for the right reasons.

Great location, loved watching the boats. Wonderful food, the seafood is exceptional, but there’s plenty of vegetarian and meat options if you’re not a fishy person . The staff were so friendly and efficient and they made me feel very special on my birthday. Would recommend this establishment to everybody.

The food was excellent, as was the service. A fantastic view over the river, lots of boats of all sizes. We even saw two otters.

Four of us had lunch on Sunday 20th October. The quality of the food was excellent. Sadly the head lady waiter seriously needs to attend a course on customer service Our celebration was spoiled by her bad attitude at contradicting us. We would not say that food was cold if it wasn't and we had waited a long time between the course. We will not return

Had a solo dinner on a work trip and it was perfect

Halibut, mussels were good if ordered as mains. The platter’s lobsters were sadly not the freshest as the meat was mushy

My wife and I came for a date night dinner during the week. We ordered oysters that came out promptly and with a delicious red wine vinegar sauce. Our entrees were delicious and hot. My wife and I ordered a bottle of wine from their large selection. Worth checking out while in Aberdeen.

A restaurant couldn't be better. Prices moderate but high quality and tasty. Service is friendly and helpful. The location with views of the harbor and the sea is perfect. 5/5

The food was great, even though waiters wrote down the wrong thing for myself. She did apologise though, service was not rushed either.

A delicious meal! We had the Scottish beef as well as the langoustines. The cooking of the beef was perfect and the accompaniments ideal. A little extra garlic butter that goes perfectly with meat as well as vegetables. The langoustines were very good and in sufficient quantity.

Excellent seafood menu, fast and attentive service interesting views of the harbour in dolphins!

Good, but definitely doesn't live up to the hype.

I had the seared halibut, a glass of sauvignon blanc and the lemon posset. All delicious. Great views. Friendly service.

This booking was for a special 75th Birthday from my son. Firstly as we walked in and shown our table the mess of food left by the persons before was disgusting and not something you expect to see when you visit a top class restaurant. My meal was not good (surf and turf) steak & delicious but half Lobster had very little meat about 2 mouth fools was watery and very disappointing. At £57 it was extortionate and would not recommend to anyone who has a good appetite. However the Muscles for our starter was very good. Overall Very disappointing.

Fantastic food in a lovely setting

Great location, food was great service was great

Excellent lunch. Panoramic view of the entrance to the port.

Phone of the front desk rings all the time and the noise is disturbing

Amazing food and really good service in a relaxed atmosphere.

Superb.....but do not walk your way to the restaurant

Had a quick lunch there today. Delicious.

Very noisy and not suitable if you can't climb winding staircase, which I did not know before I booked. Staff pleasant and tried to be helpfull, but rushed off their feet. The fish was good a d fresh. Easy parking.

We visited the Silver Darling with family whilst visiting Aberdeen, the setting was great and the food was good. The restaurant was pretty busy but the staff seemed to manage keeping the customers happy.

I had never heard of this restaurant but our friends recommended it. There is a superb view over the harbour - I think there will not be any passing trade because of where it is. It will rely on its reputation to ensure returning customers. From the moment we arrived till we left the service was good. The menu was varied, with mains split between ‘fish’ and ‘meat’. I have never had tuna before (except out of a tin!) but felt this would be a place to try it. Beautifully presented, it was excellent. For my main, I had the tomahawk pork steak, and it too was tasty and excellent. My wife had the hake which she said was delicious. We finished with coffee as there was no room for a sweet. Definitely the most expensive lunch we’ve ever had, but at the same time excellent value. For us it will be a special occasion restaurant, and we will definitely be back!

Excellent service and very efficient service thanks 😊

Today we had a wonderful lunch with retired colleagues in the private dining room at the Silver Darling. The service was flawless. Staff were cheerful, professional and attentive. The dishes were excellent, tasty and beautifully presented. All in all a really lovely experience. Well done !

Nice restaurant with nice views and good menu.

Booked a table for lunch, superb view over the harbour. A warm welcome with friendly and polite service. Incredibly fresh food in a relaxed environment. The haggis Bon Bon’s are simply a delicious treat and the Haddock was utterly fresh and delicious, possibly the best fish and chips I have ever had. We will return next time we are in Aberdeen.

The food was delicious, but one of our party is gluten free and he was very unwell after. The restaurant are clear that it can't be down to them, but we're pretty certain it was. In the end it's one word against another but I personally wouldn't recommend to anyone with any medical dietary needs

Nice seafood restaurant with cracking views of the harbour.

4 Ladies on a visit to Aberdeen. Silver Darling is a beautiful restaurant overlooking the harbour. Lovely staff, who welcomed us on an impromptu visit. We ordered 3 x fish and chips and 1 x salmon. All delicious. Thanks to David for looking after us. x

what a wonderful restaurant! I hosted a group of 12 in the private dining room and it was simply perfect. The food and wine menus were top shelf and service was great. The setting on the wharf just delightful.

Amazing food in a great location

Our visit here was to be the special final night meal out on our holiday and we looked forward to it for days. It's a really lovely place and most of the food was beatiful. Great to watch the ships go in and out whilst eating too. However, having a long term coeliac in our party we are always careful...ALWAYS. The restaurant bluntly denied any responsibility at all for his 48 hour illness following our visit. We KNOW that he ate nothing with gluten at our hands so it must have been a cross contamination at the restaurant. There is no other possibility. I repeat that they were very blunt in their denial... And offered no assurance that they would redouble their efforts try ensure all diners were safe in future. All I'll say is that if you have any such allergies to gluten I would strongly urge caution. Such a shame.

On arrival our server asked if we wanted water, another couple that arrived after us was informed of the special and given drinks, then after 10 minutes we had to ask another server if we could order drinks, once the drinks arrived i had to ask what the specials were.on no occasion did they come to ask us if we were enjoying our food, starter or main, we also had to shout over to the server to get their attention to get drinks, actually we had to do that more than twice. The food itself was beautiful couldn’t fault anything with it at all thoroughly enjoyed it, but the service let the reputation of this restaurant down. When I tell people of my experience with the silver darling I’ll be telling them the service is poor.

Beautiful location with excellent fish. Worth visiting is Fittie, a fishing neighborhood next door.

Lovely setting but food was a little underwhelming. Service was pleasant and polite. Not sure I’d rush back if I’m honest.

Well what can I say we had a great evening. The food was to die for. The service was great . It was very busy but still it was a great evening . The staff were all very good x

Used to be great, but the last couple of times that I have been here it was disappointing, which is not acceptable for the price. I see a similar story in more recent reviews so it's unlikely that I'll be back any time soon.

Everything was lovely, food amazing as well, I been few times, and is lovely, the only thing, this time, the waiter’s, with the name Cath with glasses and tattoos, wasn’t very nice and a bit rude in the end, when she was taking the payment…but otherwise everything was lovely, just please, next time be careful with the actitudes of the waiters, Thnak you😄

This is a gorme place, we just had some lovely drinks.👏👍

WOW had an incredible lunch celebrating my husbands birthday. He chose the Silver Darling Platter which was fresh, beautifully displayed and delicious, I had Cullen skink and Pil Pil Prawns AMAZING, both! The backdrop made this experience all the more special with ships coming in and leaving and if that weren’t enough we we had two dolphins playing right in front of us. So special. Highly recommend!

Very good food, nice service. The only drawback is perhaps that it is quite loud in the restaurant.

Second visit and its as good as it was pre-Covid. Langoustines absolutely fantastic.

Great restraunt, great service and a great view. I really liked the white board that showed you what fishing boat had caught what on that particular day. Really good to plaice to eat

Friendly and professional welcome. Delicious food.

A very good choice for seafood 😃

Went there for my birthday on 11/07/24 and it was Thursday 6 pm. The guy at the reception was quite unfriendly (a couple of guests were running 10 minutes late), but he said that we would have to leave strictly at 7:20 as they had another reservation. I was quite stressed as it was my birthday and wanted the evening to be perfect. Then we were waiting for the waiter for 15 minutes to take our order and they brought drinks and starters quite fast, but it took so long to bring main meals. And the waiter seemed not to know the menu well, they were confused and brought us one more main meal. We ate it as well and paid for it, of course. So we ended up sitting there more than 2 hours. I didn’t notice other guests coming when we were leaving. The food was very good I must say.

Really fresh seafood with view of Aberdeen harbour entrance area. Even managed to see a pod of dolphins during the meal.

A unique restaurant at a unique location, right at the tip of the Aberdeen harbour. Food is great while the full-windows on all 4 sides offer a magnificent view 360° around. Don’t miss the photos of Scot celebrities on the walls…

We booked through trip advisor. The restaurant found our name but not our reservation, so they would not seat us. We were visiting from Canada, so a long way to come. Should have thrown a dart and just picked a place to eat as it was quite a drive to get there. The restaurant was less than half full but the girl at the counter didn’t even look to see if anyone was leaving soon or if a reservation was cancelled. Not sure where their training comes from. Will never recommend or visit again.

Really lovely seafood. Enjoyed the oysters. Some great monkfish scampi.

We had a fantastic meal at the Silver Darling. From the wine to starters to mains to desert, it was top notch. Here is just a small sampling of our order.

Great food, lovely atmosphere, situated at the dockside with water view where we watched the dolphins play. My husband took mussles to start and I took roast duck which was lovely. We both took the haddock with chunky chips, home made mayo and crushed peas which was so tasty. The resturant sits beside Footdee (fitee) a lovely old village of stone cottages. The staff were lovely and i would highly recommend however if you plan to go at a weekend it’s advised to book. If you are staying in aberdeen you will need to take a taxi at about £10 as it’s a 40 min walk from the city.

Exceptional food, service and experience when we visited after our son’s graduation from Aberdeen University. The view over the harbour provides a unique experience and brought back childhood memories of growing up just over the water from the restaurant.

Superb high quality locally sourced ingredients Lovely venue Stunning view of the harbour and passing ships A bit pricey and good for a special occasion Ps : it's up stairs so not suitable for limited mobility

This is obviously a popular restaurant and there are photos on the wall showing some celebrities who I assume dined here. Nice enough building and some tables have views, maybe oil supply vessels leaving port. The menu was reasonable for a specialty restaurant but didn’t quite meet expectations. Not a cheap place by any means but pricing was not ridiculous either. Pleasant staff on the whole.

Excellent service, food and drink as usual. My favourite place to eat in Aberdeen.

Great fresh seafood platter to share. Lobster espresso bisque was to die for. Desserts were divine. Amazing view and ambience too.

The food was great! Unfortunately our waitress was uncommunicative and unfriendly . I think understaffed as forgot our drinks then our coffee. The manageress was lovely just wish the waitress had her attitude. Felt we were an inconvenience. I get people have a bad day but still spoiled an otherwise lovely lunch

Beautiful place with good views. Seafood linguine was good, pasta was tiny bit overcooked, good amount of prawns, couple of scallops and a langoustine tail for £30, I think a bit pricey.. :) windows could be cleaner to enjoy watching beautiful dolphins. Greasy fingers marks on windows spoil the beautiful views.

This is a super cool venue. The staff, however, left an incredibly unpleasant taste in our mouths. From walking in the door, to being served, we were shocked at how rude, unpleasant and poorly we were cared for. This is surprising for the price tag!

Great Food...... Lovely Location.....This Place Is A Must If In Aberdeen.....

A great birthday lunch for my daughter.

Was a traveling party of 10 and had pre-booked food. The food was very good but we waited 50 minutes for it and that is too long. Otherwise a great place to eat and would recommend this place if you are in Aberdeen.

Simply magnificent. I wish I lived closer. There's really nothing more to say.

Lovely place. You can walk there in the area. Very romantic

A beautiful lunch for my daughters birthday!!!

Smallish restaurant with great panoramic views over harbour area, towards Balnagask golf course, Footdee and Aberdeen beach. Delicious food including catch of the day and excellent service.

The best meal experience in Aberdeen. Great dishes fantastic stuff. Highly recommended

Great lamb, great mash, great service, and great view. Overall a great experience.

It was really an honour to be invited here by the Lord Provost long time ago. I was too impressed to take any photos then.

Nice place, nice view, good atmosphere, delicious food. Dolphin watching during lunch.

We arrived early by mistake and the staff were so quick to try and accommodate us, the food was some the the nicest food we’ve ever had and the views from the restaurant were stunning. Would definitely recommend to anyone visiting Aberdeen!

Simply beautiful in every aspect. Food, service and view 10/10

Best restaurant, best food in Aberdeen. The breaded FRESH haddock is amazing! Good olive, greens and dried tomato salad. Toffe pudding was amazingly balanced.fast service. Very good local cider.

Between very pleasant and beautiful decor

Beautiful location on the first floor, all-round glass offering superb views of the ships coming and going from the harbour. Food was absolutely delicious (we had bream, halibut, oysters, mussels, langoustines, scallops and gravadlax) , everyone was incredibly friendly and helpful, what a truly lovely experience. We will be back!

Amazing food, ambience and location. Staff could be more attentive and the menus were a little tatty.

Not quite what it was but still a nice restaurant in an interesting location.

Great place, great views and amazing food. Disappointed that we were not told what the catch of the day was and when we asked the server had to go and get a pad. Some of the paper menus were very dirty with coffee stains. Quite simple to sort out.

Awful weather outside but it was great in here. There was good service from excellent staff. It was fun to have the ships coming past, even at lowish tide. The food, wine and whisky was all good. Children well catered for. Top spot.

Food lives up to the hype. Delicious!

Classic top-notch restaurant. The views are great, saw dolphins swimming into the harbour during the meal. Atmosphere is relaxed. Seating, dinnerware, and interior all very well considered. The food was delicious. Had scallops with edamame and pork belly, it had just the right amount of everything. Same goes for the main of halibut with crab crust. The celeriac, crab emulsion, and halibut compliment one another and the crispy kale was the cherry on top that tied the whole dish together. Never thought I'd say that about kale! Soft drink, starter, and main for £50. Bargain for the quality of the experience.

was delicious! The scenery is beautiful and it feels great when the weather is nice.

The best seafood restaurants in Aberdeen. Their mollusk and shrimp vermicelli is simply spectacular.

The food is great, but the manager of the restaurant is an absolute douchebag. I've been coming there for years, as food is excellent, but I always see his face, he's so dull and unwelcoming, quite rude and not friendly at all! I have NEVER seen him smile, he's never said anything nice to me or my family/friends, whomever I was with. He needs to get a grip honestly. Apart from him, lovely place, great service and great food.

The location of the restaurant is very good, the seafood food is absolutely surprising, and the service attitude is very friendly; the daily catch number of the day is reported on the wall, and the seats are close to the window. You can also watch the ships entering and leaving the port while eating, and the view is first-class!

Great view, excellent food and staff, clean, will go back

Great lunch, fantastic location, great staff and service. Food very good, can't go wrong here, oysters a must

Beautiful views and food is absolutely delicious 10 stars !