San Carlo Osteria Piemonte
“My spouse and I were staying in Soho for July 4th weekend and decided to take a walk and look for a nice dinner spot.”
“I have only tried the beef tartare and various drinks but I can assure you I will be back many many more times xx”
“I ordered a "Battuta di Fassona" (just with extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper), Tagliere di Salumi, Agnolotti al Sugo di Arrosto, and Bonet.”
San Carlo Osteria Piemonte
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Happy Hour: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
4 reviews
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Obsessed. Obsessed. Obsessed. I can't stop talking about how much I loved this place, so much so that I'm making my boyfriend take me back this week. I'm so glad he found this place. We showed up without a reservation on a Thursday evening and one of the handsome owners from Italy was happy to accommodate us, and found us a table straight away. I LOVED the ambiance, it small, quaint, romantic, and comfortable, I loved the candles on every table. I was smitten. I felt like I was in Italy too with the swanky Italian owner speaking to everyone in his sexy Italian accent and his gregarious personality. Excellent hospitality. Loved it.
We started with the the fried squash blossom with mozzarella and basil. Lightly fried and bursting with flavor, the dish comes 2 per plate. I then had the pan seared scallops in sunchocke puree. OMG can I have 5 of these dishes? WOW. I believe 3 scallops came on the dish, lightly seared and the light sauce paired so perfectly with the scallops. For dinner I had the potato gnocci in a traditional Piedmont cheese with walnuts. I appreciated how they gave European portions because I could have easily eaten 100 of these and gained 20 pounds. The gnocci just melted in my mouth and the cheese sauce with walnuts…so outstanding that I need to go back and get more, excellent dish.
For desert, they make Nutella espresso. Yes, you read that correctly. Espresso brewed with Nutella. It's like the skies lifted, this drink was so good. We had to have two each and luckily my boyfriend cut me off or I wold have had 5.
I can't wait to go back with my boyfriend and my best friend. I'm excited for her to try the food and love it as much as I did!
I was very excited to try this place and had made reservations weeks in advance so expectations were pretty high.
We had to wait 15 minutes even with a reservation and the bar was full so we were kind of in limbo between inside and outside. When we were inside, we were always in somebody's way and had to keep moving around to let people pass. That didn't bother me much, and I didn't mind waiting but the hostess constantly reminding us how amazing the chef was and why the wait was worth it was pointless and only served to raise expectations even more. Heard her say the same to a few other people who were waiting.
We started with the beef tartare($19!) and it was bad. Not terrible, just bad. Chunky, flavorless and altogether disappointing. We also tried the fried squash blossom which was good. Missing something I couldn't put my finger on but I wouldn't hesitate to order it again.
I ordered the braised beef agnolotti and my friend tried to order the beef cheek but they no longer carried it(nor had they carried it for weeks but left it on the menu). She ended up going with the taglierini.
We tried ordering wine four times(yup, four times) but each time our waiter informed us that they were out of the wine we chose without offering any alternatives. What the hell did he expect us to do? Throw a dart at the menu until we got lucky? Eventually, we settled on no wine since, you know…what the actual fuck!? Don't servers/restaurants make their living on wine? He didn't bother suggesting a single bottle. His service overall was unspectacular but not bad I guess. Water glasses were constantly filled and he seemed available enough, though annoyed when we asked for anything.
Both of our dishes were average-slightly below average and I can't be bothered to say anything else about them. Meh.
Again, I was extremely excited to eat here and it couldn't have failed to meet my expectations any harder than it did. To be honest, I want to give them another shot but that's nearly impossible to justify in New York. I almost gave them 2 stars because the meal could've been more expensive than it was but with that being their only saving grace, 1-star all around.
4 stars only cause portions are small if you only want one thing. I love how the restaurant aligns with the Italian culture of a 3 course meal. Appetizer, pasta, then entree.
The food itself was good. The pasta and flavors were good. We came here to carb load before our race but too bad the portions are small.
The staff was extremely nice though.
There's no shortage of great Italian restaurants in NYC, but what really makes San Carlo stand apart is their great ambience and welcoming staff. I honestly can't remember the last time I received such amazing service. Combined with the intimate space, you really do feel as if you're in a romantic hole-in-the-wall restaurant straight out of Italy.
San Carlo offers a series of small plates, so I would definitely recommend coming with a few friends to share. With a few glasses of wine (the pino grigio I ordered was one of the best I've had in recent memory), the food is perfect for a light meal and a relaxing evening.
We tried:
+Insalata Primavera: very light; the vinaigrette had a definite orange tang to it, which was really refreshing.
+ Zucchine: the lightly fired zucchini were good, but the real star of this plate was the citrus-marinated shrimp. Left whole, the shrimp was really tender and light.
+ Gnocchi: had to cancel out the healthy with gnocchi doused in a cheese sauce, but no regrets here. These melted in my mouth without being really rich and overwhelming.
We were also treated to a delicious tart lemon sorbet, a perfect palate cleanser for the end of the meal, and a dessert that I can only describe as a chocolate flan. Both were very light desserts, but perfect for ending the meal on a sweet note.
Again, our experience was definitely augmented by the warmth of the managers and servers (and their incredible Italian accents). I'll definitely be back for that wonderful Italian hospitality, and a few more gnocchi won't hurt, either.