| | | San Carlo Restaurant Manchester - member's reviews |
"In San Carlo, I have found a restaurant that can offer good value for money and a good service.
I had lobster, which was fresh and prepared to perfection." - bis, manchester - NEW MEMBER (5/7/11 visited on a thursday afternoon) |
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 "San Carlo is a top-end Italian restaurant, with an emphasis on fish dishes. I've eaten here quite a few times and it is always packed out. On my latest visit I went for a Spider Crab starter and Grilled Halibut (£14.95) for my main. My wife opted for Beef Carpacio with a mustard sauce for her opener, then Scallops Ravioli for main. Our side dishes were chips and spinach (quite a lot of garlic!). Every dish was first class and the service couldn't be faulted. The overall bill, including a beer and 2 cocktails, 1 dessert and a coffee came to £77 including tip. Not the cheapest in town but definitely one of the very best. Highly recommended." - ian, stockton heath - TRUSTED REVIEWER (12/11/09 visited on a thursday lunch)
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| "I've been wanting to visit San Carlo for sometime and finally managed to get there. I'm now upset I havent been sooner. The food was amazing and the whole evening was a great experience. The service was quick but not too fast and the atmosphere was great, nice and busy with a great vibe about the place. I can easily see why The Times call this one of the Top 10 Italians in the UK. Puccinis used to be my regular haunt for a good quality Italian but I have now found a great rival and I will be returning as soon as I get the chance." - danny bowen, manchester - TRUSTED REVIEWER (15/10/09 visited on a sunday lunch) |
| "Having had one bad experience in the past but then a good experience on my last lunchtime visit (review below), we decided to see if San Carlo had overcome it's inconsistency. Alas, based on our experience last Sunday, it's an emphatic no.
At lunchtime on Sunday the restaurant wasn't full but was pleasantly busy. Yet we were shown to a dreadful table, next door to a waiter service station. Therefore I spent my meal looking at food splashes on the pillar that clearly hadn't been cleaned, piles of serviettes and bottles of tabasco - not great...
We were quickly asked about drinks, and again I do find the wine list a little pricey with little choice at the lower end - you will pay at least £19 a bottle here. Our orders were taken quickly and there were complimentary olives on the table.
As previously, food did arrive quickly. Mr B's starter of Smoked Salmon Stuffed with Crab was fresh, simple and delicious although portion size was small, which serving it on a large plate emphasised. My starter of Crab & Prawn Cakes was disappointing. Three small balls which were bland, where you would not have known if the prawns had been included or not, and completely overpowered by the accompanying sweet chilli dip.
Mr B's main course of Monkfish was well cooked and the tomato sauce complemented the meaty fish flavours nicely. However for £17, portion size was small and he would have expected some form of accompaniment. Instead you need to order side dishes. Potatoes and vegetables for one person added over £5 to the cost.
My Lobster Tagliolini was not a generous portion - unusually, I finished it all without any difficulty. Overall the flavour was good but it was badly let down. Billed to include peas, I was very disappointed to find these seemed to be tinned peas - there are no excuses for this at any time but particularly when peas are actually still in season. I don't eat tinned peas at home and certainly don't expect to pay £17 to do so in a restaurant!
As portions had been small, we both had more than enough room for dessert. Mr B's Baked Cheesecake had a lovely consistency and the little dish of fruit compote was perfect. However, he described the dish of caramel sauce as 'odd' and a little synthetic tasting. My Panna Cotta with berry compote was good.
Service was not good though. Our primary waiter could barely manage to utter a word to us, or for that matter any other diner - although he had no difficulty in conversing loudly with his fellow waiters around us or over our heads. We were never asked for feedback over our dishes. We were not offered further drinks. The bill was brought silently without a word spoken. Kitchen staff could be seen standing inside the kitchen eating.
The total bill for 3 courses plus one bottle of wine - over £90. Value for money based on our experience? No. Will we be going back? No.
And the final verdict - after we got home Mr B declared himself still hungry and had cheese & biscuits to fill that hole." - melanie bryan, wigan - TRUSTED REVIEWER (16/8/09 visited on a sunday lunch) |
| "This was actually my second visit to San Carlo. The first time had been on a Saturday evening a couple of years ago and we had been unimpressed with the seating and service and therefore had not gone back. This time I visited with my Mum and Auntie at lunchtime. We were immediately greeted, shown to a table and given our menus. The waiters were very fast at offering drinks and perhaps a little too keen to take our order - we had to politely send them away a couple of times while we worked our way through the extensive menu and specials list - however, had we been on an extremely tight lunch time schedule we would have appreciated the speed.
The specials were mainly fish and shellfish and the choice was superb. Much as we would have liked to linger over more than one course, time was not on our side so it was just main courses for us plus a bottle of wine (of course!). Both Mum and I opted for the Scallop Ravioli and Auntie chose the special Seafood Spaghetti. We had a bottle of Pinot Grigio, which arrived quickly and was properly chilled. We were given a complimentary bowl of olives, which went well with the wine, while we waited the short time for our meals to arrive.
The food was excellent. The Scallop Ravioli was delicately flavoured, maintaining the taste of the scallops. Auntie declared that the Seafood Spaghetti had managed to achieve a stunning depth of flavour and was probably the best she had tasted in a long time.
The waiters were attentive ensuring that our wine and water glasses remained topped up. Main courses were cleared quickly and we were offered (but declined) deserts and coffees. The bill came quickly and was accurate. We were pleasantly surprised at how bustling the restaurant was for a weekday lunchtime. The diners were a good mixture of business people, shoppers and people out with friends. The atmosphere was lively but not too loud. But the highlight for me was in finding that one of the best waitresses we have ever had the pleasure of experiencing - Karina - has moved to San Carlo. When she spotted me across the dining room she came straight over and greeted me like a long lost friend, proceeding to introduce us to her manager and colleagues. Based on this experience, I shall be asking Mr B to take me to San Carlo for an evening meal and look forward to the chance to explore more of their fantastic seafood selection." - melanie bryan, wigan - TRUSTED REVIEWER (24/8/09 visited on a thursday lunch) |
| "I've used San Carlo several times - always at lunchtime - and I've invariably been very impressed. That was the case again on my latest visit. The food was very good and the staff very friendly and efficient. In my experience, the best Italian in Manchester but... it seems to be a real Jekyll & Hyde as several of our friends have told us about the poor service they've received, and this seems to be echoed in the reviews on Restaurants Of Manchester. That makes it risky for me to recommend it even though I personally rate the place really highly." - Ian, Stockton Heath - TRUSTED REVIEWER - (17/4/09 visited on a Wednesday lunch) |
| "A really good Italian is something which is sadly, quite tough to find here in Manchester, with most relying on the trade of customers demanding a fast, 3 courses for £15 pre theatre dinner.
San Carlo has built a good reputation over the past few years, and most people mention it as the 'top' Italian in town. Everybody from Ronaldo to Ant and Dec have been reported to have eaten here recently (I don't know if that's good or bad), and it definitely always looks popular when passing, so we decided to give it a try and see how it fared.
The greeting was off the bat, quite stern and unfriendly, opening into a very busy and boisterous dining area. We were however seated fairly quickly in a modern, newly refitted dining area that had definitely been expensively fitted out.
We ordered a nice bottle of Barolo, along with starters of bread, lobster ravioli and carpaccio, then our mains of fish platter and veal, and then took in the atmosphere around us. It's personal preference of course, but I'm tempted to say that it's not really a place for a romantic meal, as it was extremely noisy, and seemed to be mainly occupied by large groups, who were intent on shouting louder and trying to look cooler than the table next to them. The wine arrived quickly, along with a grumpy and seemingly arrogant waiter. Incidentally, the wine was superb, although the waiters had little to do with its choice.
Anyway, the mains arrived, and everything was fine. Home made ravioli with a decent filling of lobster, and nice rich semi translucent carpaccio of beef, followed by a huge fish platter, and nicely cooked veal. Across the board, the quality was all fine, tasty and decently presented, but nothing special, and a bit of a let down following all the hype behind it. Price wise, it's a little more expensive than any other Italian in town, but still very affordable, and hardly justifies it as a celeb haunt/high class dining establishment.
So, if you like trendy, rowdy places, whose main selling point is that they are classed as a place to be seen, then this place is probably great. Personally, when eating Italian food in particular, visiting as a couple, we don't, and much prefer quieter, more intimate and homely places that put an emphasis on good food, served quickly, politely and without a fuss, and more importantly, in a down to earth way. I've eaten at plenty of Michelin starred places with seemingly less egotistical staff and customers than those at San Carlo.
On a side note, a friend of mine used to work in the kitchen at San Carlo, and he assures me that he's never worked in such a well stocked or well manned kitchen in his life. I find it ironic then how his newly opened restaurant in Rossendale outdoes San Carlo in all respects other than location and decor, and all without posing blondes, sat having a drink in the window. Its a shame really, that the latter 3 traits are the main reasons for people visiting San Carlo, all in ignorance to the fact that their actual dinner isn't really anything out of the ordinary." - Chris Handley, Salford - TRUSTED REVIEWER (20/11/08 visited on a Saturday evening) |
| | "I'd heard very mixed reviews about this restaurant with many comments mirroring those on Restaurants Of Manchester, but I found it top class. Excellent food (particulalry the sardines starter) and a very lively atmosphere. Monday lunchtime and the place was buzzing! My only criticism was the prices. I thought that the pasta dishes in particular were expensive, compared with other similar quality Manchester Italian places, but don't let the couple of quid premium put you off. It's worth the trip." - Ian, Stockton Heath - TRUSTED REVIEWER (21/7/08 visited on a Monday lunch) |
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