San Carlo in Leicester

Food epic, service was shocking, atmosphere was bland....

We came to Leicester to the theatre and wanted food beforehand. We came across this restaurant and we were all so glad we found it. There were 6 of us and we all enjoyed our food. It was absolutely delicious, the staff were really friendly and even put the twinkle lights on when we asked! A really fabulous restaurant and we definitely recommend it if you visit Leicester.

I liked this restaurant. Excellent food with friendly and helpful staff. Actually some of the dishes eg. Pasta putanesca, calamari fritti, ham and mushroom pizza, was the best Italian I had had in some time. To top it off, the restaurant is well designed and the atmosphere is bright, cheerful, summery and pleasant. Pricey. Recommended!

Very satisfied. Sure must visit

Food was average, ordered truffle Parmesan fries which were forgotten about, after we asked we then got plain fries bought out as we were finishing our mains, wouldn’t return

Came here for the first and last time. Good was absolutely top notch. Service was really poor. Had to ask three times to get some more drinks. We waited an hour for our starters, I'm sure we were forgotten. I left feedback too after our visit with them but didn't receive anything back. It's a shame as we saved up lots of money to come here and it was for a really special occasion. The food was superb though. Just disappointed with our service.

We went here to have some food after my daughter’s graduation. It was a quiet time of day so we got seated and served quickly. The service, from front of house to table, was impeccable. The food was really good after a long day, with big portions if you order as a main course. Plenty of vegetarian choices and my dad had an awesome mixed grill. We are used to London or Cambridge prices and so the bill came as a pleasant surprise. Will look forward to returning when next in the city.

Visited on my birthday, though it was just 9.30 in the evening the waiter was just rushing things . The food was good but the bald guy seemed a bit racist. Good food but won’t visit again!

Nice to find fresh fish and delicious salads in the middle of the country. My Dad and I enjoyed the meal very much and appreciated the quality of all of the authentic Italian flavours and styles. Service was friendly and helpful. A very interesting place that I didn't know about until recently

Lovely place and great service plus food of course.Thank you.

Repeat visit with friends before the theatre. What do you say the food is top draw and excellent presentation. Three different prawn appetizers all rated superb, mushrooms top class and the focaccia bread excellent. Dover Sole prepared and served expertly, seafood ravioli is top draw, scallops rated top draw in taste and presentation, risotto got a great thumbs up. Sides nicely sized. Desserts great to end a great dining experience. However it’s the staff who top it off, immaculately turned out, attentive and focused. To top it off the reacted quickly to running homeless beggars harassing customers. Thank you and we look forward to a return event as soon as possible.

Bland and unimpressive. Ate here earlier this evening and left rather unimpressed. Previous occasion really great. Very poor pizza 🍕 and when challenged the waiter did not really understand. Ate one piece, paid bill and exited at rapid pace. Pull your socks up lads. Look and appraise your faire! No better than a super market at present!

Expensive but amazing, well worth it

Enjoyed the table clothes and Italian music in the background ..it was elegant.However....when we sat down the hostess took our drinks order.Two more couples came into the restaurant and were served with drinks immediately. After about 15min I got up to ask for our drinks...not a pleasant experience especially since there were only 6 couples in the restaurant. The food was exceptionally flavorful however when I had finished my spaghetti Gamborini there was a layer of oil on the plate.

Nice restaurant nice food nice customers service

Had dinner here when visiting Leicester. We had focacia with olives to start and then Calzone and the seafood pasta dish, followed by coffee. The food was absolutely delicious and plenty of it. Service was prompt and friendly. Would definitely recommend.

Great service by the manager Valeriam, she really did go above and beyond.

Best place to have a nice gathering. Really thank you for the amazing experience

We came here to eat at a special place to celebrate a 50th birthday. All the staff were very welcoming, attentive and most importantly, showed a willingness to talk to their customers. This is a quality that we really appreciated as it made the whole evening better. The food itself was simply delicious and we tried a variety of the more lavish dishes and were not disappointed - I really recommend this place and would definitely be returning x

How long does it takes to bring a bowl of Olives 10 feet to our table? We watched every member of staff walk pass them like at least 3 times!! Come on guys you are letting the restaurant down with poor service, food was actually very nice!

We went in here after a busy day at work, brilliant food and excellent service. We were very impressed, totally recommended 👌!

POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE EXPERIENCE. I am utterly appalled by the shocking service my daughter and her friends experienced today. Despite my wife's glowing recommendation of this establishment, they were seated at a table only to be blatantly ignored after placing their food order. This shocking treatment of customers is inexcusable, and I sincerely hope it is not repeated. In fact, my daughter and her friends left the restaurant in embarrassment and opted to dine elsewhere. If there was an option for zero stars I would have selected it. Nonetheless, they have lost future business from us and our friends!!!

The restaurant is a very nice place with a pleasant atmosphere. The food is just great, delicious and well-prepared. Highly recommend visiting!

Lovely place friendly staff (Manal) good food and perfect ambiance. Infact my son doesn’t eat outside food much and is choosy however the chef made him a risotto he had some but they also offered him ice cream which he relished. A must try

Birthday celebrations with my fa

From start to finish we enjoyed the meal and the surroundings of this above average restaurant. The service was impeccable and the food also came up to this standard, which comes at a price but well worth it.

The best restaurant in leicester, service is perfect, food is superb, the staff is world class, I would definitely be coming back.

What was once a premium restaurant, shows signs of decay, skimping on portions and a general lack of quality for the food compared to last year. Pictured are the same dish (pollo calzone) a year and two months a part. On the left (April 2023) is a generous portioned calzone with lots of sauce and even more filling, this is the dish that drew me into San Carlos grasp and made me want more. On the right (June 2024) is the dish they served for my birthday meal. Not even a tenth of the sauce is present and is instead replaced with rocket, which doesn’t aid the dish as much. What a dissapointment on a day so special to I, if not rectified I can see San Carlo’s customers, much like I, getting fed up with this skimping.

Visited in Feb for late valtines date. we went early for pre show dinner, so it was still full of the post work crowd still - was a bit odd having some patrons on laptops around you whilst the drama and excitement of giant seafood platters are brought out but that's no fault of the restaurant (it was busy becuase it was good) - food was so delicious and the service was very good, they forgot my wine but brought it immediately when I asked about it. Will definitely be back for fancy date so much on the menu to try, and definitely a good evening vibe (pictured: antipastiboard, truffle ravioli, lamb and rosemary potatoes, and dessert platter)

Delicious food, high customer service culture and a nice atmosphere. I recommend

Rude staff. Awful experience. Waitress sneakily eating chips off costumers plates before serving. Me and my family have been coming here many years but will not be returning.

Lovely evening dinner at San Carlo, food was full of flavour! Lovely vibe. More reviews on my IG: @niceatsuk

The welcome was warm, we ate very well and the servers were attentive. I recommend!

We rolled in at 8pm and had not booked. They seated 6 of us with no issue. The food was fantastic, the service was top notch and the ambience is perfect. I am from NYC originally and I can say this restaurant made me feel close to home. Highly recommend!

Online booking said there was no availability but we rang and then turned up to find restaurant very quiet. Food excellent - Carlo himself was there too. The Manager said he would look into why the online availability is different to what is available.

The restaurant was not busy (it was an early Monday evening) and the service was good. I'd describe the food as average, and not worth the £72.82 paid for two starters, two mains, a cup of tea and a coke. I was asked if we wanted water, so I said yes, but later found it on the bill at £4.70 for a small bottle! At that price, you really are having a laugh. In the unlikely event that I go again, I'll remember to ask for tap water.

Food wasn’t great, tasted and looked like warmed up in microwave. Drinks were poor, tasteless espresso martini, literally served in espresso cup 🤌. Service was rushed. Loud, uncomfortable atmosphere. Used to be better as I’ve been there few times . So, San Carlo’s, you’re fired !!

The food was bland and when the supposedly owners son who is the assistant manager asked how the food tasted was advised it was bland and not seasoned walked away and came back to slam the bill infront of me. AVOID. Get a pizza from a supermarket that has more flavour

Great food, great service, great place. We'll be back

First visit to Leicester and on a very rainy, windy night we needed somewhere close by to eat. A quick online search showed us San Carlo close by. Having eaten at San Carlo before in Bristol and Liverpool we knew we were in safe hands. Food and service excellent. Never been let down!

Food a bit below par. Service also quite poor but prices do not reflect the low standards. Far from the best Italian in Leicester

Seated very quickly, although took ages to get the bill, staff were by the counter for ages

Food was superb but the service was significantly lacking. Slow and impersonal. No apology of any kind for waiting an hour for main courses. We were a table of 6 and plates arrived slowly over a 7-10 minute period one by one. This happened for all three courses. Automatic service charge on the bill should have been removed as a gesture as a minimum but there was no acknowledgement of their mistakes at all. £360 total. Won't return.

Nicely decorated. Very welcoming staff. Great food. What more do you need?

Very rude staff poor food definitely worst san carlo wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy

Not good food place don’t recommend didn’t make me feel welcome

Went to San Carlo with my University friends and felt so out of place and awkward the waitresses weren’t very inviting and made us feel uncomfortable especially the waitress who had ginger hair , when she was taking our payment she was very rude and judgy when we said we want to pay separately, she was also giving dirty looks. We didn’t ask for water and it wasn’t on our bill when it came but because we took the service charge off they made us pay £4.70. i am very dissatisfied and wouldn’t recommend coming here

A fantastic find! Delicious food, lovely setting and attentive friendly team of staff. We will certainly be back!

Had such a lovely time yesterday. Food was absolutely gorgeous. Wild mushroom starer and mussels were my favourite. We ended up ordering a lot for 2 people. Portion sizes are apt so ensure to order just enough. Booking is needed even if it’s not too busy so do reserve a table before arriving. Overall, lovely place and attentive and friendly staff. Will visit again!!

Very old school mentality restaurant from the waiters sneering at the customers to the good old would you like water for the table and appearing with a £5 bottle trick, back to sniggering and talking in front of you to other waiters when you ask to remove the service charge. Was very disappointed when on our valentine's date we were seated near the toilets in the poorly decorated basement. Prices are over inflated considering the portion size and lack of quality. Won't ever be coming back!

If you want good food this is the place for you.

Had a great time. The starters came promptly and the main meal was hot and delicious. Great drink selection though a little expensive for the amount but overall a good place for a date or celebration

Overpriced mediocre food. The drinks were all put down on the table and split slightly so we sat with spill stains on the table for our whole dining experience. One drink was made wrong and they hastily took it from the table and remade it sheepishly. The food was small portions with minimal flavour, very disappointing. Garlic bread was a pizza base with greasy, tasteless butter smeared on it, and this was brought out as a starter, so we ate bland bread on its own :/ £9 service charge for 3 people, and £5 for WATER. For 3 people, this cost us just over £100 !!

When walking it it look lush and super cozy! However I wish everything else was at the same standard. We waited over 25 mins just to get drinks ordered and then waited another 10 to get out to us when the restaurant was practically empty was loads of staff standing around ignoring eye contact so we couldn’t ask questions. They also got our order wrong with drinks as we just asked for two tap water jugs as there was a big group of us but when the drinks did finally come they gave us one bottle of water and poured basically a shot each in our glasses of water, this cost us £5 for basically nothing. We went through many drinks as the food took FOREVER! We waited 35 mins just for starts and then waited 1hr and 20 for food! The starters tasted wonderful however forgot to give me a plate for my muscle shells so had to place back in my food, when I was half done they then gave me a separate plate. With the mains other than the wait fell flat. It was far too spicy me and my partner ordered the same and it wasn’t the the same at all completely different taste. My friends gnocchi was over cooked and looked like mush and slop on a plate she didn’t even eat it all. Alongside this, when waiting they gave us complimentary “fries” which was well appreciated in the moment until it came to the bill and they actually added it on along with other stuff we didn’t order. Because of everything was so poor for such a luxury place we asked for no service charge and because of this we were greeted with rude staff had to wait another 16 mins to get the bill sorted as they didn’t believe us. I’ve been to other places with the same pricing and food and experiences 10 times more better than this place. It is shocking. We didn’t give them a hard time or complained as it ain’t like us to do so we all just wanted to eat as we were all so hungry from waiting and leave immediately . Worst experience ever I will not be returning thankfully. If the staff took as much interest into their customers like they do with their personal conversations maybe this review would be different. I hate complaining and never have however this needs to be mentioned.

We left early due to the mrs getting her main after i finished mine! There was a table in the corner that also had the same problem... Service there was absolutely ridiculous. Places like this should hire proper front of house staff with correct training.

Ooh I love the friendly service I always receive from the staff. Please keep it going and keep smiling. Talking about food, have always had amazing pizzas.

Molto buono, ci siamo stati varie volte ☺️

Was not impressed at all, extremely poor service, had to ask twice to order drinks, food was ok. Spilt my red wine on clothes, didn’t offer replacement , which I would have paid for regardless… more importantly didn’t offer another table and sat in a red wet stained table , despite having plenty of free tables. The owner/manager, argued at the time of leaving, that I refused to pay for the spilt drink and requested the service charge to be removed.. it’s all fancy, but even with 4 tables in play.. bad service. The lady was unhappy that we called to request a round of drinks, whilst she as talking to another colleague.. Will not be returning.

Very good food, service was a bit slow but we had a Lovely meal

Did not enjoy the starters the mushroom in filo was very bland but the mains did not disappoint, really liked the creamy filled pasta

We visit San Carlo with friends very very often. The food the atmosphere was amazing. Always lives up to the expectation. Last night me and my two friends came San Carlos, food was great but the service was absolutely appalling from one person! I didnt get her name but she was a tall white lady in a grey suit, pretty but wow was she rude! She took us to our table we spoke to her very politely. Took down our order and she was just constantly rolling her eyes at us. Anything we asked for she would make a face. When she brought out the pizza we’d asked her could we get a pizza cutter or could you ask the chef to cut it, it felt like we were asking for so much she took the pizza off our table walked away rolled her eyes and you could tell she was saying some things to the staff. It was just constant the whole time we were there and it was so unpleasant and rude! We asked for the bill but we asked to take the service charge off. I go out regularly to many restaurants I never ever have a problem paying the service charge but if I’m not getting a good service I will not be paying. So we started paying and told her to take the service charge off. Rudely she replied well you didn’t tell me that before and she grabbed the old receipt walked off rolled her eyes said something to one of the male waiters bearing in mind we are literally watching her do this! She came back took payment and we needed to use the bathroom so went downstairs. She walked to two male waiters looked at us and said something to them about us as we were walking past. It was very very very rude and this service was absolutely disgusting! I really hope San Carlo you’ll be having words or doing something about this because we enjoy coming here to have authentic Italian food and we don’t want to stop coming here! Please sort this out! Absolutely disgusted!

Lovely restaurant, friendly waiters and the food was fantastic. Would highly recommend to anyone considering going.

Very disappointing. Arrived at 12pm with family including two young children. Staff were clearly not ready to open and they did not seem interested in taking our order. Garlic bread as a starter was covered in black soot underneath so the pizza oven wasn’t cleaned properly. Service very slow and the rest of the food was very average

Lovely nye meal!! I would have loved to have sat upstairs as the vibe and atmosphere downstairs wasn’t that great but we also went for a meal at 6pm on NYE! The mussels were the best I’ve ever tried even after going to the south of France! Lots of options to choose from and I’ll definitely be returning to a San Carlo in another city to try the pasta dishes

Nothing to write home about here Wrong drinks brought. And they took an age

Shocking service from san Carlo. Manager over there trying to overcharge us..on top they were trying to charge us £39.99 per person for those that didn’t show up, when in fact the cancellation policy says £10 per person. Avoid this place at all cost and also make sure you double/ triple check your final bill.

Only cares about vip guest (footballers) the rest are left to suffer with awful food & even worse service

spectacularly unimpressive... wierd veg collection makes me believe they were reheating stuff from the day before, random sprout leaves but no sprouts for example. Mediocre food, unimpressive service, did not seem to know what they were doing. was a poor choice on a rare night out.

Not the greatest experience, 3 out of 6 utensils were dirty. Ordered a pizza which was soggy, chicken which had no flavour and garlic bread which had been falling apart. Not to count the lack of positive response from the waiters. Definitely won't be coming back or recommending the place

Fantastic italian food!! Superb service Great atmosphere and decor inside Food was very flavoursome, really delicious! Would definitely recommend!!

All dishes ordered were lovely There were 6 in our party and we thoroughly enjoyed our meal

The fact the rating is 4/5 ⭐ - doesn't do this place justice. Amazing food at decent prices! I ordered the Ravioli Lobster and it was very good. Atmosphere was great and my only complaint was the draft from the door even though we were seated downstairs. Would recommend to all!

We booked for San Carlo post theatre and arrived a little early, we were politely seated and given menus it took a while to order but chose starters and main course. These were offered to another table by mistake but eventually arrived , the food was excellent but the waiting staff and management were poor! From wandering round aimlessly to missing the bread from the order and having to be prompted to bring it! After mains the waitress clearing the plates ( 20 mins after we finished) asked us re the desert menu we asked to see it but she forgot to bring it, eventually remembering , we waited for 20 mins no one came to take the order , eventually we caught a waitress attention and ordered , she forgot to add it to the system and eventually remembered to add it by this time we had waited over an hour post main course ! We decided we could not wait any longer and got up to pay the bill, the manager at the desk was rude and dismissive saying it’s had only been ordered 9 minutes previously!! She did not give us eye contact and rudely slammed down the bill! We paid and left on the way out she ran after us and shouted it would be nice if you closed the door! She was rude unhelpful and inappropriate! We have never been treated so rudely needless to say we will not be back again

A lovely bright restaurant, modern Italian. A wide menu. We had lamb cutlets and delicious sides of chilli-spinach and bacony potatoes. Smart service and attentive. We would definitely come again, and recommend.

Superb food. They were very busy and seriously understaffed. Despite only having 3 front of house staff we received impeccable service and great food. Hats off to the 3 who served us.

Great service & authentic Italian food. My family and I really enjoyed our meal

Good food, efficient service, good ambience!

We shared the fish dish in the copper platter for lunch. It was absolutely delicious with every aspect on the plate perfectly cooked. Well done to the chef whose name I think was Laseem. The service was charming and efficient. An altogether lovely couple of hours. Thank you.

Staff was very attentive. Resto is very nice looking. White table clothes etc. Only negatives were brought a bottle of water for under 5 £ w/o asking. Calamari was nice but underwhelming. Mains were excellent. We had a pasta and asked to have shrimp added. No problem. Also order a house special shrimp 5* and 3 flavoured gelato for dessert overall 4.5 more or less. Cheers

Very good dining experience, plenty of choice on the menu, leave room for a pudding!

We came for dinner here an hour earlier than booked and the staff were happy to amend our booking and seat us early so we thank you for that. The team were very friendly and attentive and the restaurant was very welcoming. The only criticism I’d have is the phone was constantly ringing on a very loud ringtone which was really off putting when you’re trying to enjoy a relaxing meal, maybe choose a quieter ringtone or have a flashing phone? Also friend finished her ravioli in under 5 minutes and was still very hungry so maybe you need to suggest to people this isn’t a very big dish and they need to order a side with it?

Toilet of men's full of water..... bad smells , 🦞 was terrible...

This is my second visit.. The food is fabulous and the atmosphere is great-will definitely comeback :)

Great service amazing food stuti our waitress was delightful Complements to the chefs too will definitely come back !!

Excellent service and food. Close to the Curve for a pre-theatre meal. Highly recommended.

Possibly the worst experience we have ever recieved in any restaurant if you are thinking of going in one word DON'T We have been to San Carlo's in Leicester quite a few times over the years and we have seen the service and the food slowly go downhill, they clearly have a high attrition of staff turnover and this clearly shows as the staff that they have now really do not have a clue, and from having attentive managers who care for their staff and train them, that has all gone. I can only give you our opinion but in a nutshell they are there to make money and not care about their customers. We arrived on Sat night at a peak time of 19:30 so expected it to be heaving but it wasn't (alarm bells ringing) We sat down and was just taking our coats off when the waitress came and asked are we ready to order??? I said we have only just walked in and not even looked at the menu yet. Then 2 minutes later came and asked for the drink order(jeez) this is just basic training. We orderes the 35oz bistecca Fiorentina about £54.95 so not a cheap steak, the waitress took our order and went away, after 10mins came back and said really sorry we have sold out, disappointed but fair enough and offered us the 30oz None in T-Bone so we took this instead. But when they brought out the steak it was an inferior half the size Tomahawk which by the way isn't even on the Menu, I explained to the waitress this isn't the steak I ordered we had ordered the 30oz T-bone the waitress said that is correct so I explained this isn't a T-Bone it's a Tomahawk which is completely different size and flavour, she went away to speak to the kitchen and the Manager, she came back and apogised saying the supplier had sent the wrong steak to them, and we said well sorry we were not paying for a steak we hadn't ordered and was different, so she went over to get the Manager, he came over and basically echoed what the waitress had said but if we chose to keep the steak he would knock us 20% off the price which I felt he hadnt listened to us as we had said we disn't want it but it would take another 30mins to order and cook something different, we just wanted to leave as my wife was getting extremely annoyed so we opted to keep it. We didnt enjoy it, it tasted different so ended up leaving approx a 1/3. We will never return, we are now going to Trading standards to let them deal with it, as they are charing customers for something that isn't even on their Menu and giving them something different so false advertising

Wonderful dinner with friends on a Saturday night. A lovely atmosphere and staff are very attentive and friendly. I had the Strozzapreti e Polpette which was wonderful - a large portion with lots of meatballs. My partner had the Penne Pollo e Gamberetti which he said was creamy, prawns cooked nicely and again a very generous portion. You get plenty of extra Parmesan too if wanted!! The highlight was the Tomato and cheese garlic pizza bread!! Incredible!! Will come again!

Absolutely beautiful evening, went with my friend to treat ourselves! I had the tiger prawns to start followed by the 30oz T bone steak. Then we got lemon cello afterwards. Stunning, great service. Especially from the waiter named Zakaria!

Great atmosphere and food had to askfor napkin. The salt pepper and oil arrived 5 minutes after food. Tried to clear plate before food finish.

Beautiful restaurant with great decor. Had a meal out as we were visiting our son. Lovely friendly attentive staff. Food was amazing we all enjoyed every mouthful. Would definitely recommend and return.

Top quality food as per, had a lovely experience and customer experience was top Notch. Definitely see you soon.

Absolute must. But consider they do not offer any wood cutlery if you have some take away. The olive tree I was sitting next is fullmof dust today. Minor improvements but a 100 percent come back.

So far, the best Italian I've been in, In Leicester

We took our daughter and some friends for her birthday last night. Met with a really friendly welcome. The service is really good here- plenty of staff who are helpful and polite. They brought a cake out for my daughter and sang happy birthday, which was a lovely touch. The food was tasty. Thank you. Will definitely come back.

The food was amazing however the service was very poor in many ways. The toilets disgusting which you wouldn’t expect from a restaurant of this supposed standard. Adding a service change was not acceptable. When we asked for it to be removed as the service was poor. The waiter was extremely rude. Won’t be going back there. Such a shame as the food we all had was great but they have everything else wrong.

The main course was excellent as was the wine . We ordered the Italian cheese board which was very poor and took an age to arrive at our table. Earlier in the day we ate at a well known Italian chain of restaurants and left feeling refreshed and valued, sadly this promised as much but left us feeling disappointed and diminished.

Excellent quality food definitely recommend a visit 👌

Nice place lovely food but I absolutely do not agree with the fact that your staff who work hard to serve us do not get any of the service charge you add to our bill, but this goes to the top managers. Your staff deserve more appreciation !!! This money should be going to them!!!

Felt non-existent due to the absolutely horrible service. We ordered the most basic dish and it took over 40 minutes to arrive. Once again, words cannot describe how slow the service was. No wonder the restaurant was half empty. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

I went for lunch with a couple of friends and it’s was amazing. We all had a starter which were served quickly and were lovely and we enjoyed the mains just as much. An amazing place to eat and good service as the staff were kind and helpful.