Saro

Admirala Lazareva Embankment 22, Petrogradsky District, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Saro represents a more contemporary Saint Petersburg restaurant profile: European cooking, a carefully designed interior, and a location on the Petrograd Side rather than the Nevsky axis. The official tourism listing describes it as a European restaurant from a chef-led team, with an open kitchen, 1960s-inspired design, large windows overlooking Krestovsky Island, and a seasonal terrace. The menu combines local products with Italian-influenced dishes and a compact wine programme, which gives the restaurant a polished but not overly formal feel. It is a good example of the city’s modern dining culture outside the classic imperial core. I ranked Saro in the upper middle because it adds geographic and stylistic breadth. Saint Petersburg is not only Nevsky Prospekt and heritage dining; it also has a contemporary, design-aware restaurant scene on the Petrograd Side. Saro earns its place for being current, clearly positioned, and meaningfully different from the city’s more historic institutions.