San Carlo - Bristol — Restaurant in Bristol

Food = 4 stars. Service = 1 star.

We dined on 27/01/23. Booked a table for 4 adults. We specifically put in the notes that we had a baby and needed space for a pram. On arrival the maître d' came to check our reservation. We gave the name and he checks the computer and says 4 persons and we said yes and a baby. He becomes rude and says “you only booked for 4. We have no table with space. You will have to wait at the bar”. I tried to explain it was in the booking notes but he ignored me, walked off behind the bar and started talking about us to colleagues in Italian as I heard him say the word “bambino”. Although I can’t speak Italian it didn’t sound like he was complimenting us. This upset us from the offset. I’m not sure my description explains how rude and abrupt he was. Making out it was our fault despite the restaurant clearly not reading the notes on the booking.

We then had to stand at the bar for in excess of 10 minutes. 4 adults and a pram and we just felt awkward and were in the way of other diners coming into the restaurant. We did talk about walking out and were even looking online at other nearby restaurants to see if they had availability. However we were eventually seated so stayed.

The servers were extremely pleasant and friendly and can’t fault them for that.

However, starters, they came and one of us had ordered ribs. They brought him out Crostini di Granchio. We told the waiter who apologised and took it away. But he then had to wait at least 5 minutes until his ribs came. Normally no big deal, mistakes happen. BUT….

Main courses. 3 pizza/calzone and a lasagne. Pizzas all came at same time. But the same guy from our group didn’t get his lasagne for close to 10 minutes. They brought his side dish but not main. So he’s sat there picking at his side dish but not wanting to eat it on its own as obviously wanted to enjoy it alongside his main. By the time his lasagne came his side dish was half eaten and also cold.

Then onto desserts. 3 lots of ice cream and a panna cotta. Panna cotta had not arrived for over 10 minutes and we had to ask the waiter where it was. He then brought it straight away. I’m just glad the panna cotta wasn’t for the same guy who had issues with starter and main or it would have been a hat trick for him.

When the bill came we explained our issues and they took off the service charge which is the least they could do.

Food itself was very nice. Can’t fault the flavours and presentation.

If it was just the service issues I’d have forgiven them as sometimes these things happen especially when it’s busy. However the rudeness from the maître d' means i’d probably never go back. Plenty of other options in Bristol where you don’t get made to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome.

Also it’s only now, doing this review and looking properly at the receipt that they charged us for Crostini di Granchio and not ribs. So £5 more expensive for something we didn’t...

Definitely the worst dining-out experience I’ve ever had. We had a booking for 6 people to celebrate my brother’s 30th birthday. From the outset, we felt very unwelcome and even ignored by the staff. After a wait of at least 30 minutes, we managed to ask someone if they could please take a drink order from us as we hadn’t even been offered water at this point.

If you like focaccia - definitely avoid this one. It is not focaccia at all, more like a garlic pizza bread. We asked for ours to come with the main but it came as a starter and we had to wait at least another 40 minutes for them to take it away again. We had been there for at least an hour and a half before our mains arrived, and we still had to get someone’s attention to ask for a second round of drinks within this time. It’s fine if there’s a delay in the kitchen, it would just be nice to be told so people don’t feel forgotten about. We kept watching as table after table who had arrived after us were getting their food before us (we were just 5 pasta orders and one chicken dish).

When the food finally came, they had gotten my mum’s order wrong. They apologised and brought her out what she had originally ordered (chicken Milanese), but the side of potatoes she ordered came with bacon in when she had ordered them without as she can’t eat pork products. The potatoes were removed from the bill in the end, but this didn’t seem like much of an apology considering how terrible the service had been on the whole and how long we had waited for the order to eventually be incorrect. The tagliatelle I had was very thick, obviously homemade which I appreciate, but just not very good. For the price, I would expect 10/10 Italian food - this was about a 5.

Following our meal, we waited about another 30 mins with dirty plates on our table before my dad got up to ask for the bill and paid at the bar just so we could get out of there.

Overall, I’ve never experienced service like it and I don’t understand why it was so bad. We were a family out for a special occasion, not making too much noise, not causing anyone any trouble, yet we all agreed that we felt unwelcome and ignored. Maybe we just got them on a bad day, but for that price point you would expect good food and good service and we unfortunately received neither. We would’ve happily spent more money on drinks and maybe even stayed for dessert, but what was supposed to be a fun occasion was overshadowed by how bad the service at San Carlo was. I would definitely not return and would advise anyone to...

Visited San Carlo for first time in a few years for a special occasion, off the back of good memories. Well this time the memories certainly wouldn’t be the same.

Started with a 20/30 past our booking time which is ok it’s a busy restaurant but not once offered a drinks menu or service or to even look at the food menu, which I feel is not acceptable.

Once seated we ordered pretty sharply as now we both hungry,

Olives, garlic bread, arancini, gamberoni luciana prawns.

Arancini were over done dry on inside and still seeping with oil which left an unpleasant aftertaste, the mayo served with dish deffo saved this one.

Prawns were good, slightly over but nothing to complain about good solid flavours with touches of garlic and fresh tomato served with really crispy thin bread would recommend.

Garlic bread was ok, not best lacked any real fresh garlic flavour, felt very “pre-made” And olives hit the spot for that sweet salty tangy vibes.

Mains we ordered the 18oz Chateaubriand steak to share, with fries, garlic and chillie tender-stem broccoli and sautéed potatoes.

Overall the steak was cooked to perfection, soft tender filet with good crust on outside cooked mid rare and finished with plenty of flavour throughout the meat. Could taste the deep meat flavours yet succulent butter finish on the palette.

Sides were hit and miss, fries were either over done or just about cooked and absolutely not flavour or seasoning at all.

Broccoli again some had nice flavour and fresh with a crunch others lack anything and left a lingering after taste.

Potatoes just too crispy Almost too crispy to eat and again flavour profile was minimal.

Overall best things here were the steak and prawns, but the rest was pretty poor and when eating it did not make you want to eat the whole plate, were ok leaving half of it because just dint leave amazing taste profile for you to want to finish the dish.

Service was pretty slow and uninviting, no real effort too make the experience of dining here special. Wouldn’t be rushing back to have food again.

Shame because I had high hopes for San Carlo based on previous visit few years ago.

Overall would score the experience 6.5/10 Lots of improvements needed, that extra care in the food with the flavours would boost this score massively and service that welcomes you and makes you feel wanted in restaurant too would...