REVIEW: Reading’s new Italian restaurant San Sicario

San Sicario, Caversham Rd, serves authentic Italian dishes using recipes that have been passed down for generations.  

Soon to be launching a new menu, we had to go down and see what was on offer.

We arrived at around 1pm on a Friday afternoon and we were the only people in the restaurant. I put that down to it being relatively early on a weekday as more customers arrived throughout our meal.

The restaurants décor is bright and modern - with a well-stocked bar at the front of the restaurant and Italian-style art on the walls. Mediterranean music was playing, making it a pleasant atmosphere for lunch.

We were quickly brought a jug of still water with lemon slices and given the opportunity to look at the specials menu.

For starters, we decided to order the ‘Il salmone marinato’, fresh salmon marinated in treacle, whiskey and orange; ‘Funghi trifolati con l’uovo fritto, wild mushrooms with garlic butter and parsley sauce; and garlic bread.

All three dishes came out relatively quickly and were beautifully presented.

The garlic bread, a staple for any Italian meal, was crispy, buttery and delicious.

The garlic butter mushrooms were served with a coated poached egg which we thought was a strange addition to a classic dish, but it worked. The poached egg was cooked perfectly and was clearly very fresh due to the bright yellow yolk.

Starters at San Sicario (Image: Newsquest)

The salmon was described as “different but nice” as the taste of whiskey was quite strong for the fresh salmon. It was a good opportunity to try a new take on fresh smoked salmon.

Sean O’Neill, a guest accompanying reporter Megan O’Neill, said the restaurant offered “a good range of dishes on the menu and the specials sounded great.”

For the main course, we ordered spaghetti carbonara and tagliatelle with beef ragu from the main menu. We also ordered the pappardelle with duck ragu from the specials menu.

San Sicario offers the pasta dishes in two portion sizes – a full portion and a starter portion.

Also with Megan was Jane O’Neill, who commented on the half-sized portion option: “I really liked the option of smaller size main courses as I often can’t finish a full-sized meal and food goes to waste

“It was the perfect size for me.”

The homemade pasta was fresh and delicious in all three main meals.

The duck ragu was a tasty change from the classic beef dish, however next time I would probably try something else.

Main dishes at San Sicario (Image: Newsquest)

Onto puddings we decided to share the lemon cheesecake and chocolate fondant.

It was the biggest portion of cheesecake that we had ever seen so definitely worth the £6.50.

The chocolate fondant was served hot with vanilla ice cream. It was crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside – after watching my fair share of Masterchef, I know that even John and Gregg would be impressed.

Desserts at San Sicario (Image: Newsquest)

San Sicario is located just outside of Reading town centre on Caversham Road. The nearest car park is across the road in the complex with Aldi, The Range and TGI Friday’s.

The busy roundabout outside means the restaurant doesn’t benefit from a nice view of the Italian countryside. Instead, we watched many cars racing along the busy road which took away from the relaxing feel of an authentic Italian restaurant.

Overall San Sicario was a great meal out and I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a nice Italian meal, away from chain restaurants.

The manager, Franco, was keen to share his passion for Italian cuisine and was attentive throughout the meal.

From May 9, San Sicario, will be launching its new Sunday menu, so will be open every day.

To find out more about San Sicario click here or view their menu here.