San Carlo Manchester Reviews 

Not sure which branches are getting bad reviews however Manchester (King St) is great. Try the salted seabass! Yes it gets busy and the waiters can be overworked but the food quality (which is what I dine out for) is fantastic!

Had the best time food was amazing and the waiter rico was amazing he made the experience so good thank you

Terrible experience in Manchester today. Turned away and humiliated by staff member called Manuel. Went today with my son who has mild autism. We had his tiny support dog in a bag and we were humiliated by asking for a service card. Had the staff member have been from the UK he would have known that there is no specific card. My son left in tears. What the staff restaurant did not know is I used to be the landlord to their staff for many years. In all honesty I did not want to eat there anyway, it was half empty, and the food is basic. A brand that rides on the fact it was once a quality restaurant 20 years ago. We do not even eat at the one in Alderly as it is again average. I have a good mind to call the newspaper about the humiliation we received. For clarity the dog was in his aero plane cabin bag and was silent and is no bigger than one hand.

We visited over last weekend and our meal was excellent and staff friendly

So average. Lasagna was so bad. . Fast food at very premium prices. Last time I’ll go there,

The place is a joke, on our way to Dubai, arrived at the restaurant at 6pm to be told they are not serving food now. I thought this was susposed to be an International airport?
San Carlos need to live in 2026 and not on their previous history.
The pub next door is serving food until 9pm.

Manchester Airport. A sprawling, fluorescent-lit purgatory; a grey, carpeted ulcer on the face of the North West where human dignity goes to be processed, X-rayed, and eventually discarded in a clear plastic bag. It is, quite possibly, the worst airport on God’s weary earth—a place where "customer service" usually consists of being barked at by a man who looks like he’s just been told his pension has been replaced by Magic Beans.

And yet, nestled within this dystopian fever dream of delayed departures and £7 bottles of lukewarm water, there is San Carlo.

Walking into San Carlo is like stumbling across a clean glass of water in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. In a terminal where most staff treat you with the glazed-eyed indifference of a man watching a screen-saver, the team here actually look like they give a shit. It’s disconcerting. They are alert, attentive, and—miraculously—not standing over you with the menacing proximity of a bailiff. They manage the impossible: being present without making you feel like you’re being monitored for a shoplifting conviction.

The rest of the airport’s bars and restaurants—temples to the "damp panini" and the "microwave-pinged sludge"—could learn a thing or two here. Most airport dining experiences feel like being fed in a high-security prison, only with more expensive beer. San Carlo, however, treats you like a sentient being.

Then there’s the kitchen. An open kitchen.

In an airport, "open kitchen" is usually a brave choice, as it risks revealing that your "Artisanal Lasagna" is actually being birthed from a cardboard box by a man who’s lost the will to live. But here, you see actual competence. You see chefs who are there to cook, not just wait for the "ping" of a 1000-watt microwave. The food is excellent—especially for a high-turnaround space where the clock is ticking toward your gate closing.

It’s an oasis of professional competence in a desert of industrial-grade misery. If the rest of Manchester Airport functioned with even half the pulse of San Carlo’s staff, it might actually be a place people visited by choice, rather than as a mandatory step in their escape from the country.

Food was fine but the rest of the experience was awful. Table wasn't ready when we arrived. Staff were rude. Service was poor. Quite a few mistakes were made. We're not regulars, we wanted to do something nice for a friend's birthday, but we felt looked down on most of the time.

Oh dear, my wife & I had such high expectations. The table was ready on time albeit a little cramped, the staff were busy but pleasant. The disappointment was the food & presentation. When the Branziono came it was in a clear sealed plastic bag (the cooking method I guess). After being shown this in it's sealed state I wan informed that it was to be taken away to be opened (ok fair enough, but not quite what I was expecting). It was then presented to me in the same bag but ripped open ?? I asked for it to be removed from the plastic bag altogether and presented on my plate (so that I could put my side orders on the side of my plate!) The waiter kindly took it away for the second time & did this. However, by this time my wife's meal was almost cold. In the end it turned out to be mediocre food, poorly presented and highly priced. You would have to work hard to convince us to go back -

Very average not a scratch on other surrounding restaurants .

Not that good, awful food, over priced.A shame as it could be better. A lot of competition so should go out to be better, rather than run of the mill.

Was contacted by them asking me to leave a 5 star Google review in exchange for money! Scammers with a shit restaurant that need to resort to fraudulent practices to make themselves look good!

Was contacted by them through my phone saying they would pay me to leave them a 5 star google review!

Food was not so good at all

Great experience at San Carlos Manchester, excellent food and drinks, highly recommend

Visited for lunch 4 January 2025. Pre-booked and arrived 10 minutes prior to booking. It was pouring with rain an we were refused early entry. I had a bag because I was travelling to London after my lunch and they refused to take this in! The staff were surly and the food was mediocre. The mussels were the size of winkles. The bill included service and came to £275 for two. The management when made aware made no attempt to rectify and there was no suitable apology for this horrendous experience. Definitely will not visit this or any of their affiliates. Do. Not recommend. I would give no stars if I could!

I was having only good opinion about San Carlo in Liverpool, but after today’s experience in Manchester i will never come back. My partner despite confirming 4 times with waiters she’s intolerant to gluten, and dairy received… regular pasta- instead of gluten free. After 15 minutes she was already in pain in their toilet, for next couple of days her life will be a painful struggle. They’re lucky it wasn’t allergy, and reaction wasn’t fatal. In 2025 with such a knowledge around intolerances to make a mistake like this, is simply unacceptable.

We hired the private dining for an 18th and I can't compliment the restaurant and staff enough.
Natalia in the bookings team went over and above to accommodate our dietary requests and on the night, Darius looked after us fabulously.
The food all came out together and was faultless.
The room was great

Well where do I start? It was a complete catalogue of errors from start to finish. We arrived from Leeds staying in Manchester for the weekend, very excited. Looking forward to dining in San Carlo. It was busy with a nice vibe - then we ordered our food 🙈 we ordered starters & mains. The food arrived - all the mains, no starters. We sent them back. The starters eventually arrived, king prawns in a tomato sauce. There was so much salt in the dish it was inedible - sent back. Tempura prawns were terrible, thick soggy batter - sent back. Starters came again still inedible, sent back. Then the mains came. My chicken principessa (which I’ve had many times before but in Leeds & always nice) was not nice. The sauce was congealed - it was obviously kept warm whilst we waited for our starters which we should have received in the first place. My friend had a seafood platter & the scallops weren’t cooked throughly! She is a chef & couldn’t believe it. Everything went back, we had lost our appetites by this point so had very little to eat. Extremely disappointing evening. We had wine which was the only thing to fill our stomachs and we were charged for that & we paid but in hindsight San Carlo should have offered this to us as complimentary or we should have refused to pay. The prices are not cheap but you would expect to get a far better service & edible food. Adriano from the Flying Pizza in Leeds (the good old days) would never have allowed this to happen! A complete shambles of a night. I’d like to say a comedy of errors but we certainly weren’t laughing

Review: ⭐☆☆☆☆

I usually try to stay positive, but my recent experience was quite disappointing. I ordered food from san carlo, and the waiting time was absolutely ridiculous. I placed my order at 6 PM, and it didn’t arrive until nearly 7:30 PM!

I understand that things can get busy, but this was beyond reason. When I called to check on my order, I was met with vague excuses and no real update. By the time the food finally arrived, it was lukewarm and not even close to what I had hoped for.

I was really looking forward to enjoying my meal, but the lengthy wait completely ruined the experience. I don't think I’ll be ordering from here again. It’s a shame, because the menu looked promising, but the service needs a serious overhaul.