Now that Desposito’s finally opened their doors Labor Day Weekend, the most asked question around here has shifted to the opening of another seafood restaurant.

“When is The Darling going to open?” is not only the question I am getting the most, via email and otherwise, but it has become a consistent top 3 search phrase on this website. Inquiring minds clearly want to know.

For those that aren’t familiar, The Darling Oyster Bar is a Charleston-based (and very popular) upscale casual seafood spot. It is arguably one of the most popular in that city, which is saying something all by itself.

A couple of years ago, plans were announced to open a sister restaurant here in Savannah. The building at 27 Montgomery Street facing Franklin Square and City Market was purchased and the build out began. Fast forward to earlier this year when the build out was not only complete, but signage even when up.

Back in the Spring, Chef Derick Wade and his staff participated in our Eat It and Like It Foodie Awards party. Promotion of the new restaurant in this market -in a very small way-had begun. At the time, the hope was to open at some point over the Summer. Once Summer rolled around and there were no signs of movement, I asked an update. I was told they were shooting for Fall, ‘hopefully November.’ Believe it or not, some furniture for the space was on back order and they couldn’t move forward until it was all in place.

With November wrapping up at the end of the week, I put in another request for an update. The official response was “No firm open date at this time. But we will keep you posted.”

Insert sad trombone sound…

What I can add to that is that there has been no rush to open here in Savannah until everything is right at the corporate level. A lot of times after a major build out, ownership is desperate to get the doors open so they can begin cashing in on their investment as soon as possible. I’ve been told that isn’t the case here. The pockets are deep enough to wait until the right time. That’s a timetable they clearly haven’t shared with anyone yet.

To the best of my knowledge, they haven’t begun the hiring process yet either. Perhaps at the management level they have, but not anything else of note.

So unfortunately, the short answer right now is…we don’t know. This is pure speculation on my part, but I would be surprised if it is not open by…..drum roll please….

St. Patrick’s Day.

Cheers.

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