One of St Andrews’ most popular seafood restaurants has had a makeover as it looks to bring a more modern concept to the forefront of the town’s hospitality sector.
The Seafood Ristorante, owned by Stefano Pieraccini, has undergone a refurbishment which sees the venue boast a new look and gives every customer in the room a picturesque view of St Andrews Bay and West Sands Beach.
Based at the Bruce Embankment in the coastal village, Stefano, who took over the restaurant five years ago in 2017, is looking forward to welcoming customers back to the venue.
With its new “sharp” look, the blue and yellows associated with the restaurant will now be swapped with mixed patterns and darker tones.
What’s new?
The restaurant has been split and at the front main space there is room for 42 covers.
There is an area at the back with a table of 12, this space can be used for private functions or can be used for tables of 8 or more.
A new bar and holding area have been designed to create a space where guests can enjoy a drink before their meal in the restaurant.
He said: “We’ve created a new bar/holding area with tables that are slightly raised. We’ve taken away the fireplace so even from the back of the restaurant you get a clear view of the surroundings.
“With our restaurant people come to see the views and we were finding we were reluctant to seat people at the back as they wanted to see the views.
“My mum is an interior designer and she’s helped design the restaurant.
“We’ve made it a bit more sharp. The white painted ceiling is now an off-black colour and the floor was carpeted before and now we’ve put in a nice ebony style laminate floor to give it a bit of warmth. It was a blue and yellow theme before.
“We kept the chairs as they were super comfy, but have upholstered them with mix and match patterns and fabrics. It will give a bit of difference to each table.
“The table tops are all dark brown now as before they were a lighter oak colour and the sunshine shining in actually started fading the table colour to white.”
Menu changes
While the menu won’t be changing until around the beginning of March when the season changes, Stefano says that customer favourites will remain for the time being.
However the kitchen team are already working on dishes that will grace the new menu which is in line with their Italian offering with a Scottish twist.
He said: “The most important thing to me is making people happy. Whether they are eating or drinking.
“The new look of the restaurant will further complement the menus we offer but we won’t launch a new one until the season changes.
“There will be similar dishes but we’ll have new garnishes and sauces for some of the dishes which will change them. I didn’t want the team to have to create a menu, just to change it weeks later.
“Davy Aspin (executive chef of the restaurant) is very old school – you don’t get much out of him about what’s to come – but he’s working on a king crab dish that will be really special.
“The best sellers just now are halibut and the turbot. People really love those and the way they are created is incredible.”
The need to reinvest
Opening four days a week for lunch and dinner from Wednesday to Saturday initially, the team will operate five days a week in April – introducing a Tuesday service.
Stefano’s desire to reinvest in his business was sparked in October, and the restaurateur believes he needed to do something with the interior to not only inspire his staff, but give the customers a new experience they’d want to come out for.
He said: “With restaurants you need to reinvest. With hospitality reopening properly again, it is important for us to stay at the top of the tree.
“I’m very lucky with Davy. He and his team are incredible, but from a visual point of view it just needed a bit of a refresh.
“We’ve got a team of five, soon to be six, in the kitchen, and six full-time front of house and some part-time staff, too. It was important to do this to keep things moving forward and keep people interested.”
