DAR Restaurant & Cafe

Here’s a short, friendly English review you can use: An absolutely incredible and truly exclusive place. DAR is unlike anything else — the food is very unusual, creative, and built around a highly original concept. Every dish feels thoughtfully designed and surprising. I highly recommend everyone to try it at least once — you’ll be amazed by the restaurant’s vision, and your taste buds will experience something completely new. Truly unforgettable!

Somehow the worst customer service I’ve had in Zurich. So so so chaotic. Desserts being served in the middle of lunch, forgotten dishes, drinks served to the wrong table. We had some 4 different servers come to our table, no wonder it was chaotic. And guess what? The food wasn’t anything special.

Great cocktails and nice atmosphere! The food was nice, but we wish we had knew it was vegan while it is indicated as “Mediterranean Restaurant” instead.

Our recent visit to Restaurant DAR left us with mixed impressions. 1) the bill included a Bruno Dangin Rosé, which we never ordered. While minor in monetary terms, such discrepancies are concerning in an establishment aspiring to refinement. 2) We ordered two Dar Journey menus (the top Chef menu). However, the sequence we received was not consistent with the same menu presented to neighboring tables!!: they were served an additional course (a spring-roll–style dish), which was absent from our table. When we asked at the end, the staff explained that the “surprise menu” allows the kitchen to decide differently for each table!!!!!!. While variety is an interesting concept, no replacement dish was offered, leaving our experience incomplete !!!!!!! 3) the reliance on potato as one of the main ingredient in both the starter (perhaps sth like patatas bravas) and the main course (perhaps lentejas con puré de patata) diminished the sense of variety and balance expected from a multi-course menu. Though competently executed, the repetition limited the impression of creativity. Portions were smaller than expected, the fried mushroom was oily. mmmmm!!!!

We went to DAR for my mothers bithday, and decided on the more expensive ”journey” menu. It started of great with an presentation of the food and it was very tasty. After a few minutes it started going sideways, the dish we had gotten (a kind of soup) was purley made of the vegetables I had explained earlier that I was allergic to and I had an allergic reaction. Luckily my allergy isn’t that treathening and I could continue the dinner. The second dishes that were brought in included a few different meals with nuts, that we also were very clear with that my brother is allergic to. Luckily they told us that the dishes included nuts, and we could clairify once again that we had allergies. They brought a supplement dish for my brother and we thought everything was fine. That was the last round of meals that we got, and finally we went to the bar and told them that we were tired and didn’t want to wait for the rest of the food… We spent 3 hours around the table, and got served food that we had made clear beforehand that we were allergic to (and reasured that they could make supplement dishes) until we decided to get up and leave (it was already around 22:30, and we arrived at 19:45) After they had reduced the price a little because we left before all the dishes had come, we payed a total of CHF 223….

I used to love Dar. I would bring many people here and enjoyed their menu, drinks and ambiance. Unfortunately, the experience is vastly different in the new place. It looks like they went through their menu and tried to 'economize' and make it feel like a diner. Yet, you pay the same price as before. All has been cheapened and the quality ingredients reduced heavily. I was a little embarrassed when I told the person I brought about the famous KFM- it came as two small burnt pieces. Quite disappointing. Also, the service was strange. When we sat down, the waitress sat us and immediately asked the person I was with if they met at a night club over and over. He politely declined her all the times she asked, as he's from another country. We felt awkward and thinking what kind of professional service was this...

Food was amazing!! So many different and unique flavors and textures.

Interesting concept: all tapas have vibrant flavors, where acidity, freshness and spices dominate the scene. Most of the dishes look simple but, do not be fooled, it takes a great technique and attention to details to balance the compositions. The cocktails are also very good and perfectly companion the journey. We took the large menu and for the price I was expecting a third round of tapas or at least a "main" tapas dish. So, in spite having enough calories, I had the impression of a missing crescendo or a lack of change of rhythm of the meal, since all the dishes where small and fresh bites.