- Play Hard
- 16th Oct 2026
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Inside Rockliffe’s new fine dining restaurant and Japanese cocktail bar in County Durham
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The new Rockliffe restaurants have finally arrived, and after months of waiting for a proper look, we can confirm they’ve been worth every minute.
Rialto, an all-day Italian-American restaurant, and Ro, a Japanese-influenced cocktail bar, lead a brand-new era at the County Durham resort, guided by the culinary vision of James and Maria Close.
It’s all part of a multi-million-pound reimagining of one of the North East’s most iconic luxury hotels. Set across 375 acres within an ancient curve of the River Tees, Rockliffe is becoming a gastronomy-led destination that it says is “set to rival some of the best fine dining experiences in the UK”. Big words, but having seen the menus, we’re inclined to agree.
6 NEW WAYS TO EAT AND DRINK AT ROCKLIFFE
Rialto and Ro sit within a wider line-up of six distinct dining experiences at Rockliffe Hall, each with its own character and sense of occasion. Alongside them, you’ll find ATLAS James & Maria Close, a newly built 36-cover standalone restaurant, afternoon tea in The Morning Room, a boutique café at Café TERRA, and a sports bar-style food and drink concept at The Clubhouse, overlooking the Championship golf course.
It firmly places Rockliffe among the most exciting restaurants in County Durham right now.
Now the menus are out, here’s where we’d start…
RIALTO AT ROCKLIFFE BRINGS NEW YORK TO THE ORANGERY
Rialto lives in the former Orangery within Rockliffe’s Grade II-listed East Wing, and the first images show a room you’ll want to linger in. Light pours through a pitched glass roof held up by slender black cast-iron columns, each trailing ferns and ivy, while tall arched windows look straight out onto the gardens.
Below, it’s forest-green velvet banquettes, tan leather and burnt orange armchairs, marble-topped tables, and warm herringbone floors, with feathery pampas grass on every table. Through a sweeping marble archway, a second dining room feels more intimate, with a botanical coffered ceiling, deep green walls, rich wood panelling, and a bay window framing the wooded valley beyond.
Inspired by the energy of mid-century New York and the nostalgia of family gatherings around the table, Rialto runs from à la carte breakfast right through to dinner. Menus celebrate local ingredients and seasonal produce from the estate’s own walled garden, and it’s open to residents and non-residents alike.
Think long lunches that roll gently into dinner.
APERITIVO HOUR IS YOUR NEW AFTERNOON PLAN
Between 3pm and 5pm, aperitivo hour eases you into the evening, with a special offer on all aperitivi, Negronis, and freezer martinis. Order a Rialto Spritz, a Negroni Blanc, or a crisp Vesper, ideally out on the terrace when the weather plays along.
Pair it with ragù-stuffed Gordal olives, house focaccia with new season olive oil, or the mortadella buns, packed with griddled mortadella, provolone, Dijonnaise, and sweet-sour onion agrodolce. The Rialto Martini & Fries arrives with a selection of house dips, and it’s every bit as indulgent as it sounds.
The burrata bar deserves its own moment. Creamy Regina del Volturno burrata comes topped with anchovy, Amalfi lemon, and chilli, or pesto Genovese and Sicilian pistachio, served with garlic crostini for scooping.
La dolce vita, County Durham style.
MARIA’S LASAGNA IS ALREADY A SIGNATURE
By evening, the room warms into a lively Italian American restaurant made for passing plates around the table. Pasta arrives as a traditional 70g mid-course, from pappardelle with ragù from Bologna to conchiglie in vodka sauce.
Maria’s lasagna layers signature ragù with 36-month Parmesan, and Hugo’s spicy meatballs arrive in San Marzano tomato sugo. To share, the lobster diavolo for two brings spaghetti with native lobster and pomodorini, while the 900g Miguel Vergara rib of beef comes with a glossy Diane sauce.
The Yorkshire dry-aged fillet steak gets a cacio e pepe sauce, a twist we didn’t know we needed, and rose veal ossobuco sits on golden risotto Milanese. Start with the Jack’s Creek wagyu carpaccio for two, dressed Caesar Cardini-style.
SUNDAYS AND LITTLE ONES ARE SORTED TOO
Sundays bring a two or three-course menu, with 35-day-aged Yorkshire sirloin and Yorkshire pudding, or porchetta with crispy pork belly and salsa verde. Finish with New York-style cheesecake, Rialto tiramisu, or an affogato with biscotti.
The bambini menu covers crispy chicken Milanese, Hugo’s spicy meatballs, and vanilla soft serve on a rainbow sprinkles cookie.
RO COCKTAIL BAR LIGHTS A FIRE AFTER DARK
If Rialto is all sunshine, Ro is its after-dark alter ego. Taking its name from the Japanese word for “furnace”, the cocktail bar blends Japanese precision with nods to the North East’s industrial heritage, and you feel it the moment you walk in.
Molten copper glass pendants glow overhead like cooling embers, reflected in smoked, copper-veined mirrored panels. A fire flickers behind glass, curved banquettes in swirling marble-effect upholstery sweep around the room, and rust velvet chairs pull up to round marble tables beneath a dark coffered ceiling.
At the bar itself, a curved counter glows amber from within like hot coals, while a copper rail gantry frames shelves of rare bottles. Terracotta bouclé armchairs and tall windows onto the trees soften all that drama.
Moody, warm, and impossibly photogenic.
OMAKASE COCKTAILS AND A VAULT OF RARE POURS
White-jacketed bartenders work over hand-carved ice, and the omakase-style service hands the decisions to them, pairing a bespoke journey of drinks with artful small bites. Connoisseurs can explore aged Japanese whiskies and sake.
From the seasonal list, Koyo brings together gin, shochu, hedgerow, and jasmine tea, while Land mixes miso tequila, mezcal, yuzu, and plum. Embers combines sesame whisky, hojicha, dark bread stout, and smoked red wine, and the namesake Furnace pairs burnt orange reposado and mezcal with Ancho Reyes, yuzu, and a kick of togarashi.
For a true occasion, The Vault pours Oni, built on Yamazaki 18-year-old Mizunara with Okinawa sugar, hickory, and chocolate. Vault classics include a Negroni and the Kitsune, made with Gordon’s 1960 gin, hojicha, maraschino, and orange.
Not drinking? Pilgrim mixes shiso, hibiscus, and kombucha, and there’s genmaicha, sencha, and matcha too.
DON’T LEAVE WITHOUT THE CAVIAR SOFT SERVE
Ro’s small plates more than hold their own. Nori-dusted potato crisps come with crème fraîche and trout roe, karaage arrives with togarashi ranch, and hamachi sashimi is dressed in ponzu, jalapeño, and yuzu.
Then there’s the vanilla soft serve with Sicilian olive oil and Daurenki caviar: salty, creamy, and completely unexpected. Feeling decadent? You can add Daurenki caviar to your karaage too.
Trust us on this one.
Between Rialto’s long, sunlit lunches and Ro’s fire-lit evenings, the new Rockliffe restaurants make a compelling case for a day that drifts happily into night.
QUICK FACTS
Address: Rockliffe, Hurworth-on-Tees, Darlington DL2 2DU
Rialto: All-day dining from breakfast to dinner; aperitivo hour 3pm–5pm; Sunday lunch menu; open to non-residents
Ro: Japanese-influenced cocktail bar with omakase-style cocktail service and small plates
Rachael Ellis
Head of Content
After gaining a first in her BA Media and Journalism degree at Northumbria University, Rachael worked at Newcastle’s leading regional newspaper with her stories being picked up in national and global newspapers. She spent two very successful years giving a voice to those communities across the North East who otherwise…
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