San Carlo - Manchester

I booked the private dining room for 21 people for a hen do. The room was gorgeous the food (all pre ordered) was amazing and so was the service. Would definitely recommend if you're looking for a larger private dining space in Manchester.

Exceptionally disappointed.

Having had a great experience here previously, and having dined at their other restaurant in Birmingham over the last 20 years, I have no idea what went on yesterday at the Manchester restaurant.

The place was not slammed busy, yet they took an age to take our order for drinks and starters. And then the main meals took over an hour to arrive (We were not the only table to have the same issue - others were less than happy also, yet other tables seemed to be getting course after course while we waited?).Not acceptable.

Lots of staff arrogantly roaming about like they were on a reality TV show yet delivering a less than acceptable level of service, especially at this price point.

The food was bang average, and my meal, the Turbot at nearly £40, was appalling - the smallest piece of fish I've ever had and absolutely destroyed by an overly rich butter, lemon, and caper sauce. Not balanced whatsoever. And could/should have been amazing.

Overall, and like some others, I was pretty miffed by the entire experience. Absolutely no resemblance to prior visits.

Nobody minds paying a premium for great service and food. The reality however is that neither was present on this occasion.

Poor.

With no reservation on a busy Saturday lunchtime we decided to grab some food at The San Carlo ‘Mother ship’ in Manchester.

Wowzers … big, bold, super glam, super busy with a nice mix of guests - shoppers, dates, birthday celebrations and ubiquitous ultra glam Manchester ladies…

We loved the ‘old school’ charm with the team dressed immaculately- aprons, bow ties and white jackets to boot. Obviously there is a very high standard of elegance and training here, mind you it’s crazy busy and so it needs to  run like ‘clockwork’.

We were going to a show so we ordered quickly - delicious garlic / tomato bread - great start.

We both ordered the king prawn and chilli spaghetti with olives and capers £22.50!

What was delivered to our table was a dish of mushy pasta over cooked pasta with a red sauce lacking in any sort of Olives, capers or chilli !!! Plus a total of 4.5 overcooked  ‘butterflied’ prawns. YUK. (See photo) At this point we should have sent it back as it was simply a mess… We had a show to get to and we were hungry.. The waiter offered Parmesan, at least it made it look a little better.

We commiserated with two gorge Negronis which were top drawer,  thanks to the bar.

For a pre theatre pasta meal its was very expensive and disappointing.

Cocktails and service amazing… Food not .

POST SCRIPT…. BELOW SAN CARLO REPLIED WITH A FAKE CUSTOMER SERVICE E MAIL ADDRESS!!!  GO ELSEWHERE

This is an exceptionally good restaurant! We dined here on a Saturday evening, the restaurant was full the entire time but we were still very well looked after. The staff were very kind and attentive making sure to keep our glasses topped up and ensuring we had everything we needed. The food was to die for ! We had the Tagliolini crab, Spaghetti Frutti Di Mare and Pappardelle all’Anatra. Each dish was well prepared and absolutely delicious. We were celebrating a birthday as well and the staff brought out a dessert for him which was a lovely touch. All in all this was an amazing restaurant with a bustling atmosphere, great staff and delicious food. I would recommend this to anyone !

Absolutely wonderful service and a great overall experience! The “San Carlo Risotto” was especially outstanding—it truly blew me away. I spent two weeks traveling through Italy and didn’t come across anything quite as delicious. Highly recommended! Thank you Natalia and Zico :)

Halal Status for San Carlo - Manchester