This Seta Milan Restaurant Review is from our 2019 visit to this 2 Michelin Star restaurant, located in the Mandarin Oriental Milan. The restaurant is led by Chef Antonio Guida, who previously earned 2 Michelin Stars at Il Pellicano in Tuscany, and also worked at Pierre Gagnaire in Paris. Chef Guida earned 1 Michelin Star for Seta within 4 months of its opening in 2015, and a 2nd Michelin Star in 2016.
Seta Restaurant Location and Hours
Seta is located in the Mandarin Oriental Milan, at Via Andegari, 9, just an 8-10 minute walk from the Duomo (Cathedral). After entering the hotel, turn right. You'll need to walk through the Mandarin Oriental Milan's other restaurant, the Mandarin Bar & Bistrot, to reach Seta.
Note that Seta is normally closed for much of August and the Chef's Table is usually closed for July and August, but has already reopened as of August 26 for fall 2019 reservations. The restaurant is open Monday-Saturday, for lunch 12:30-2:30pm, and for dinner 7:30-10:30pm, closed on Sundays.
Seta Restaurant Ambience
We arrived promptly at 7:30pm when the restaurant opened, and were shown to our table. 7:30pm is early for dinner in Milan, so only a few other tables were seated during the first part of our dinner, all of them other foreigners, and mostly couples. The outdoor courtyard setting is lovely in warmer months, although of course indoor dining is available as well. Recorded light jazz music accompanied our meal.
I liked the whimsical design of the plates, which were different for my son and me:
Seta Restaurant Menu and Dining
We only had 1.5 hours to dine, due to needing to get to the airport, so I was glad that it's possible to order just two courses (although longer tasting menus and a Chef's Table are also available).
Our dinner began with a lovely arrangement of amuses bouches, the most memorable of which was a crispy quail egg, enveloped in kataifi-like pastry with the egg still soft inside. We were helpfully advised to eat it in one bite, and while a largish bite, it was fantastic. A fish amuse bouche with foam was our second favorite, and I also enjoyed the mini cannoli with carbonara filling, and the beet palate cleanser.
On the advice of our server, both my son and I chose the Risotto, a specialty of Chef Antonio Guida. His summer version included mussels, sea urchins and mackerel sauce, with a bit of squid ink as well. Definitely the best risotto I've tasted, and the most luxurious as well, given the sea urchin.
For our second course, I was interested in the Fig Fed Chicken in Salt Crust, but unfortunately our limited time made that difficult, so we chose the duck for two, with the breast glazed in honey and yuzu and served with peach and shallot sauce, and the thigh with carrot puree and passion fruit sauce.
I have to admit that, while the meat was cooked perfectly, I was a bit disappointed with this dish, as I'd expected the skin of the duck breast to be crisp and it wasn't.
The duck thigh was delicious, but personally I would have preferred a separate carrot puree and a passion fruit sauce, not the combined carrot-passion fruit puree. In this case, I think the combination was less than the individual ingredients, as a stronger and tangier passion fruit flavor, in my view, would have better complemented the rich meat.
Our 2-course menu didn't include dessert, but Seta provided some lovely mignardises of traditional French canneles, pistachio financiers with raspberry, mini brioche with custard filling, and coffee custard petits fours among others; my favorite was the coffee custard one, but they were all excellent–Seta appears to have a great pastry chef.
The Verdict
We loved the beautiful outdoor courtyard setting, the amuse bouche presentation and the signature risotto at Seta. It's also nice to have a shorter tasting option of 2 courses for EUR 90, as opposed to the mandatory longer multi-course tasting menus at many 2-Michelin star restaurants. I was a bit disappointed with the duck main course, given that the skin wasn't crisp, which is something I'd expect for a duck dish, even at lower caliber restaurants. We enjoyed the bread and very thin bread sticks with choice of French butter and seaweed butter, although I do think at the 2 Michelin star level it would be reasonable to expect more bread choices. The mignardises were well executed, and it was gracious of the restaurant to pack them up for us, given that we were full and also had limited time. Service was very polished yet friendly.
Overall, for a special evening with a loved one in Milan, I'd recommend Seta.
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