Latest opening: San Carlo Alderley Edge
What: A flash new Italian restaurant in Alderley Edge, a Cheshire village that’s home to some of the most affluent individuals in the North West. San Carlo Alderley Edge is on the former site of Gino D’Acampo’s Luciano restaurant. San Carlo Group acquired the restaurant - which had only traded for a year - and switched it over to its eponymous brand following a minor refurb. Earlier this summer, the site closed for a £3m glow-up and recently reopened. San Carlo Group says this new iteration of the 160-cover restaurant is off to a flying start with over 500 people booked in for opening day.
Who: San Carlo Group is led by Marcello Distefano. His father Carlo - who is still involved in the business - founded the group in Birmingham in 1992. Today, San Carlo Group is one of the biggest family-owned and run UK-based restaurant groups. It operates over 30 locations and counting across a number of brands including Signor Sassi, Isola, Fumo and Cicchetti.
The vibe: Located in the middle of the village on London Road, San Carlo Alderley Edge is inspired by grand Milanese villas and gardens. The site’s kitchen has been repositioned to create a more spacious dining room that features a Venetian-inspired terrazzo floor. There’s also a terrace with a retractable roof that features a pergola strung with Italian crystal pendant lights and a marble open-flame fireplace. As the price tag suggests, San Carlo Group has not skimped on anything. The marble bar, for example, is trimmed with brass and a high-gloss marine wood of the sort usually found on designer yachts. Work is also underway on a private dining and event space
The food: San Carlo Alderley Edge offers roughly the same menu as the group’s other restaurants that trade under the San Carlo brand. The focus is on tried-and-tested Anglo-Italian dishes but there a handful of distinctly-non-Italian options including ribs in barbecue sauce, prawn cocktail and tournedos Rossini (the latter may be named in honour of a famed Italian composer, but is unequivocally French). Prices are in-line with the premium feel of the venue. Most starters are north of £10, pizza starts at £14 and pasta dishes range from £15 to £34. Meat and fish-based mains are typically £25 and up. Interestingly, all of San Carlo’s brands are pitched at pretty much the same level in terms of spend per head. And while the menus across each of the formats differ, they utilise many of the same ingredients and ideas.
To drink: The restaurant offers the same drinks list as the other San Carlo sites. Those looking to splash out aren’t short of options. The Champagne selection tops out at £415 for a bottle of Cristal and there are also an extensive selection of premium Italian wines. Only a handful of these tip over the £100 mark including a Cervaro della Sala (a Chardonnay/Grechetto blend from Umbria) and a Barolo with the most expensive still wine on the list hailing from France (a Puligny Montrachet 1er Cru). Oddly given the premium nature of its list, San Carlo does not print the vintage on its menus.
And another thing: The restaurant is something of a homecoming for the family with Distefano and his siblings having grown up in the area. “This marks a significant personal milestone in our family’s journey,” Distefano says. “We’ve taken our time with the remodelling and design; we wanted to ensure we did this great location justice and deliver a destination we feel has been sought after for some time.”
There’s gold in them thar Cheshire hills
It’s not surprising that the family has had its eye on the village for a while. The group’s other sites might all be in major cities, but the village - which has a population of around 5,000 - is a special case because it is home to many of the brand’s most loyal (and moneyed) customers. The huge sum San Carlo Group has spent making its mark on a restaurant site that was barely a year old when it was taken on says it all - there’s gold in them thar Cheshire hills.
And San Carlo Group knows exactly how to mine it. San Carlo Alderley Edge looks more like a restaurant in Dubai than one in the Cheshire countryside. While there are already a few branded operators in the village - including Gusto and The Botanist - San Carlo Group has upped the ante considerably with this unabashedly lavish overhaul.
When we caught up with Distefano earlier this year, he said that the current trading landscape has necessitated a partial rethink of San Carlo’s brand positioning. Post-pandemic, the group has invested more in its launches and refits than it ever has before in a bid to reaffirm its premium credentials.
“The lower end of the Italian market is extremely tough. The upper end of the market is a much safer place to be,” he said. “To continue to appeal to the demographic we must raise our game. This is especially important outside London. People have copied us. They look like us, which means we need to reinvent ourselves.”
San Carlo is now working with new design agencies to create more vibrant, upmarket and Instagram-friendly looking spaces which draw on 1960s Italian design – think White Lotus season 2 – and use premium materials that are often from Italy. “If we are to be a luxury brand, we need to reflect that in everything we do,” Distefano added.
