People who promoted this restaurant must have not seen a proper fine dine restaurant in their lives. Unbelievable how they give 5 stars. First of all, there is very low attention from waiters, extremely slow service! We waited 30 mins for a waiter to bring us menu, then another 30 mins to give our orders. Then we had to wait and wait and wait… Waiter paid no attention even if we reminded several times (starters took 45 mins after our order, and our mains never arrived so we left without having our dinner and ended up in Subway as it was already 10pm and most restaurants were either closed or fully booked. They ruined our night. If you have self respect, don’t go to this restaurant…

Really nice and authentic restaurant experience, good food, reasonable prices and engaged and friendly staff. Don't let the location folk you into thinking it's a tourist trap, it is not, rather an Italian restaurant with soul.

Service is the best! Food is also really good! The owner sat down and went through today’s specials and we all went for some of them. The mixed starters including today’s specials was great an I then had the truffle pasta of the day... all in all well worth a visit especially in the middle of the tourist area... wine selected by the staff was great and the same goes for the olive oil and the gin!!!

I don't often give 5 star reviews, this restaurant certainly deserves it! The Panzerotti was excellent, as was the Spaghetti con gamberi all'antica Liguria. The desserts (tiramisu & chocolate fondant) were also very good, especially with the recommended grappa. I would highly recommend the house wine too, especially the Il Tocco.

Love the spaghetti and seabass! Five star service as well. The staff helped me with ingredients of one dish.

Warm and friendly service, excellent pasta and great wine. A great dinner experience

I only had one dish, seafood pasta, so take my review for what it’s worth. I was a little disappointed. Probably should have left when I saw the TripAdvisor award at the entrance. Service was very nice 😊

Homemade pasta was perfect, nice craft coffe stout The place itself is small and busy, but there is a terrace with blankets. At least at summer

In summary it was a great dinner. Prices were mid range and the pumpkin risotto with black garlic was a seasonal masterpiece. Added a glass of wine to that and dessert.

April 2022: I went for dinner and had the Tagliatelle Al Tartufo, Fondente al Cioccolato, Selezione di Formaggi, and Suppli. The food was delicious, and I appreciated that the waitresses took their time to give recommendations. The restaurant is small and busy. And the sound level is not that high, so you can have a proper conversation with your company without the need of screaming through the whole visit. The location is easily found if you go off from the subway station T-centralen and walk straight forward through Drottninggatan until you find the restaurant on your left. I'll give it a four because of the small amount you're served. I wish that a bit more food would be added to the plate. My friends also thought that their dishes were good but would've wished for more. You're still hungry after the main dish, so be prepared to order more (adding on starters, side dishes, and dessert) or continue eating somewhere else.

Can't give a rating other than 5/5. The waiters were incredibly nice and friendly, so the service was excellent. Appetizers, main courses and desserts were all of a very high standard. The carpaccio was falling apart tender, the pasta incredibly tasty. Especially the seafood pasta was memorable. The panna cotta and the chocolate fondant were perfect. The fondant was warm and runny. Definitely a place worthy of all praise.

It is a small but cozy ambient, with friendly staff always describing your dishes/wines and giving recommendations. The food was very delicious, some might tell you that the portions are small but with the full menu it is just enough; you can try and choose one of the 3-slides menus they offer, including wine with each slide - if that's still actual (we went there in Feb 2022) Overall, it was a great experience! Would love to eat there again! Thanks!

I came to Esperanza because we could not make a reservation in another Italian restaurant. How lucky we were! The food was up to the highest Italian standards (according to my Italian husband) and they have Italian partners providing exclusive olive oil and wine. And on top of that, the service is great, specially the Swedish-Venezuelan owner. Fully recommended!

Love this place. Great service and a real Italian. And imported Italian ice cream!! How cool is that?👌

Arrived (3 persons) on a Friday night with no reservations, but seated in the down stairs wine cellar. Service was excellent. Wait staff appeared promptly as did servings of water and bread. The 3 entrees ordered included the risotto, the fresh tagliatelli with truffles (generously shaved on top) and the squid ink ravioli with scampi. All portions were generous and served piping hot. Couldn't have asked for more. Definitely recommend.

I really wish there were a sliding scale instead of stars because I'm definitely somewhere between four and five stars, but I've chosen five because my rating on a scale would be about 4.6 for the dinner experience my fiancé and I had last night. The food was excellent. The service was good. The atmosphere was better than good, but a little less than excellent. You understand I hope. As Italian restaurants in Stockholm go, this is a very nice one.

Excellent and truly authentic Italian food. Sourced from Italy, made in Sweden and as our host and Owner told us.......inspired by Venezuela. Recommended

Wir sind bei Restaurants, die einem den roten Teppich ausrollen, doch eher vorsichtig. Auch die fein eingedeckten Tische und das sonstige Ambiente weckt den Eindruck, in einem Nobelschuppen zu tafeln. Weit gefehlt im positiven Sinne, sehr gute Produkte, exzellente Beratung und sehr nette Mitarbeiter. War ein ausgesprochen netter Abend mit einem rundum Wohlfühlprogramm.

Ein außergewöhnlich leckeres Drei-Gang-Menü. Allerbest. Die Weinempfehlungen (getrennt nach Vorspeise und Hauptgang) standen dem nicht nach! Das ganze "moderiert und präsentiert" auf ein höchst professionelle und gleichsam Super-freundliche Art. Klare Empfehlung!!

Have been here a couple of times and they serve really good food. Lunch is also good but nothing compared to the al a carte menu. Not super cheap but it's in the middle of tourist busy Drottninggatan so it's worth it. Also if you're into grappa they have a huge selection.

Went here for a family birthday and was really happy with the food and service. Right from making a reservation the service was nice and personable. I had the carpaccio and lamb, both of which were excellent. The one weakness were the desserts, which were good but not great. My final rating is a very strong four stars.

Good food, horrible staff. We had a reservation for 2.5 hours during which 2 members of the staff constantly reminded us they needed the table by 20:00. When it was 40 minutes left they came to clean the plates and suggested we order dessert, because they serve it "very slow", that is a quote. Inappropriate jokes about our non-italianness when ordering decaf coffee. What a shame.

Must try if you visit Stockholm.

We had Quail that was not on the menu, with an addition of spinach with parmesan cheese as side dish, excellent if you aren't too hungry. We rounded of the evening with a "coffee semifreddo" (coffee icecream ish) dish from heaven, also not on the menu. Very friendly and attentive staff, time permitting happy to chat with you.. Small place and easy to miss on the big street, but worth a detour and your visit. Enjoy a grappa as digestive after dinner before you leave this little "romantic cove."