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Mon-Sun. 6:00 p.m. - 12:00 a.m.
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Disclaimer: Buyer beware you are overpaying for the food because there is no corkage fee. Okay, got that out of the way.
Speranza is a cool little place and great for big groups. It has a nice feel and it is so awesome that it's BYO-whatever. However, I can incorporate myself into an Italian mama and make exactly the same dishes at home. I've tried the pasta and salads and while they are decent, it's nothing special. Also, I've noticed that they tend to serve their dishes on extra large plates, which makes the food look awkward (yes, food can look awkward). I think if they put a little more time into the presentation customers would perceive the dish looking and tasting better than it actually is.
This is not a "food" restaurant. Well, one would ask, "How could that be?!" Let me explain - Speranza is all about the experience and when you get the bill at the end I think you'll agree. Cool ambiance, all you can drink, and a relatively minor bill. As our governator would say, "I'll be back."
I am torn about giving this place 4 stars but I feel like I give everyone 4 stars! Maybe I only review places I like. So sue me!
I am only giving it 3 stars because the food was kinda boring. Not so memorable, not really bad or anything just standard.
I had the lasagna which was great. My hub had a house pasta that was recommended and it was watery and flavorless. Although the pasta itself was homemade and a great texture.
Our table was great, the ambience was wonderful. I loved the decor, the service was nice and I love this part of Silverlake. I felt like "Why aren't there more places like this??" The prices are great and we paid a reasonable $75 for two people as we brought our own wine (they are cool about that and charge no corkage).
BOTTOM LINE: It was a relaxing and romantic eve on a lovely outdoor patio and we enjoyed it. We just wished the menu had a litte more PIZZAZZ!
P.S. DO make reservations otherwise you really won't get a table on a Sat. night...
Should I just give up on finding decent Italian (bagels and pizza and Jewish deli) in LA? Can a New Yorker please give me a yay or nay?
Perhaps the only good dish at Speranza is pasta, which I did not order, but you'd think calamari and a beet salad would be easy enough. Apparently not.
The prices are fair, but then again, so is the food.
Oh, and they don't serve wine, but you can bring your own. Boo.
Speranza = hyperbole.
It's a bummer, too. I love this neighborhood. When my group walked up to the entryway, the server asked if we had a reservation for our party of 9. Bashfully, we admitted we didn't. And I bashfully publicly admit here that I didn't know until now that Speranza was this week's It Place. They accommodated us gracefully and we sat on the lovely patio and looked at the lovely people.
Busser dude slammed bread on the table. Glasses (empty) followed by surfer busser dude, who made me smile, but who pissed off some members of the party when he complained about the size of their bags.
I asked for a wine list, after I got excited about the menu. I didn't know it was "BYO," as the waiter said. "There's a liquor store across the street," he added. Cooool. No corkage.
The food is where everything went downhill. The cheese plates were tremendously large, but our server, who eventually endeared himself to me, didn't know, or was too busy to know, what they were. I asked because I wanted to learn, and he was like, "You know! Cow, goat, gorgonzola!" and BOLTED away. He was slammed but gracefully condescending. We were a big party of drinkers and foodies and he should have at least pointed at two and pretended to endorse them. The cheeses were good, though, again. It's a good thing, because it's all I ate.
I ordered the shrimp and asparagus (homemade) fettucini in a tomato cream sauce. It came out a brick. Nothing was "creamy" about it. The shrimp = rubber. The asparagus = undercooked. (Raw, even, and raw asparagus can make you really sick.) The sauce = non-existent. My friend had pesto on her pasta and it was bland as all hell, and her pasta was under al dente, to say the least. My acquaintance had the bacon-chile ziti and it was soaking in bacon grease. He liked in, and I quipped that that was where all our oil went from our pesto and cream sauce. I'm sorry, but that food was unpassable. I dumped the olive (questionably olive) oil and balsamic from the table on my pasta and added a ton of cheese when server dude came around, but it didn't help, because of the varied poor textures of the ingredients.
I ambushed our server and quietly, privately explained my dish, which he took off the check. There was no arguing.I am not going to pay $16 for crappy pasta, ever. Call me a cheap bitch.
There, along with the pretty patio and the absence of corkage fee, is the other star. They HAVE TO get their food dialed, or I will never return. I'll go to my faithful Sila across the way.
I had a great time here. The food was good Italian, not the best, but very good. The service is friendly and relaxed. I got the fettuccine with asparagus and shrimp which I liked very much. I also tried some of the lamb chops which were cooked perfectly.
The menu is simple, and I felt a few things were missing, such as ravioli. Hopefully the menu changes from time to time. The bread they serve when you sit is great as well. The prices start around $10 for pastas and go up from there, but with BYOB or wine, you can keep the price down. Everyone there seemed to be having a good time, and everyone brought wine.
It can get busy, even on a Sunday night, so if you are a big group it helps to make reservations.
Our first time here after reading so many rave reviews yet we did not have a good experience. I ordered the squid ink pasta; BF ordered spaghetti pomodoro and chose the "fresh homemade pasta" option on the menu (for an additional $4).
We waited ONE HOUR for our meals to arrive. So even if it was a busy Saturday night, this wasn't good. One hour is a friggin' long time to cook and serve simple pasta. Chef Ramsay would NOT have approved.
My squid ink pasta was ok - black and salty, nothing to write home about. BF's pasta turned out to be fettucine and the waitress said: "Oh I should have told you that the fresh pasta is fettucine".
BF had a craving for spaghetti and he doesn't like fettucine so he was upset. Understandably, after waiting 1 hour.
The only good thing is that you can walk to Trader Joe's and get yourself a bottle of two buck chuck and pay no corkage.
SPERANZA IS STILL THE BOMMMBB!
I go all the time and never get over it.
The grilled shrimp were the best shrimp I've ever had.
The pesto pasta with shrimp is SO DELICIOUS too!
And the vegetarian special pasta with bechamel is still my jam as well.
Everyone is SO nice, and the atmosphere is charming and adorable.
Someone on here said foodies beware- I say FOODIES REJOICE!
LOVE Speranza!
The patio and indoor (kind of) seating area is adorable.
The fresh pasta is…
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This is a great date spot or great spot to just chat it up with close friends. The ambience is small and intimate, with candles and outdoor lights decorating the outdoor dining portion of the restaurant. The food is also very good and they get a plus for byob w/no corkage fee. The pastas and apetizers are simple but fresh and good quality ingredients. Their never ending bread basket is freshly made and the olive tapenade is to die for. In my opinion the best dinner item is the lamb with a side of spinach. Trust me, its great! Also, don't forget to get desert! I don't remember what it's specifically called, but its a blueberry/whipped cream dessert...just ask the waiter and try it...you'll want to lick the plate clean :) .
Love this new place in Silverlake. Super laid back, no corkage fee as you can tell by now. I had the simple pasta checca which was surprisingly super flavorful. The atmosphere is amazing--no long lines and chaos, they staff was nice and the bread [which they kept bringing] was amazing.
Minus one star for allowing smoking on the patio, I couldn't 100% enjoy my meal with the second hand smoke enveloping our table.
I would give it a 3.5 but I am rounding up to be nice.
It was a decent italian restaurant but it is really hard to enjoy italian restaurants when your italian family makes everything way better. Everything was good except lacking flavor/herbs/spice/whatever. The bread was great, the menu had pretty classic items. Cute atmosphere. But just mediocre food. And our waiter was DEFINITELY on something. Definitely.
Nice atmosphere, friendly servers. But BYOB, which should bring down the prices and didn't.
Entrees were $15-20, not cheap. The food was not about flavor -- no different than any old mediocre italian place, worse than I'd have made at home. And the kitchen took about 30 minutes for a simple dish.
We had a table that made no sense, crammed into a space so small that I had to hold my breath.
I liked the feel of the place and the laid back servers. But they didn't get us a menu until we went and dug it up from the waiter station ourselves. The server suggested sparkling water without knowing they were out of it. ...just lots of little problems, one after another, and finally leaving us without food for way too long.
I wouldn't go back here.
Had reservations here for 9pm yesterday, but at the last minute my friend convinced me that it would be blasphemous to go to a BYOB restaurant and not get wasted, so by the time we called a cab and actually arrived at the restaurant, it was 9:30pm. Which was perfect, since I'd called at 8:55pm and changed our reservation to then. They were shockingly cool about this last-minute change.
So we walk in with two bottles of Rex Goliath and a sixer of Peroni and are very promptly seated at a large picnic table on the upper patio. I suppose it wasn't technically a picnic table since the benches weren't attached, but it did indeed have benches, so whatever.
After sitting, the sixer was promptly shuttled to the refrigerator, the red was opened and poured, and the white was put on ice. We then ordered appetizers: prosciutto and caprese. We ordered the prosciutto first, but for some reason it came after the caprese. In fact, it came at the same time as our entrees... Why? A good question--I don't think they were curing the ham in the kitchen--but I'll let it slide since it was the only negative of the entire evening.
A couple Peronis later, our entrees arrived: fettuccine with squid ink sauce, fettuccine puttanesca, fettuccine with shrimp and asparagus, and risotto with lobster. All the fettuccine dishes were made with fresh pasta, and they were all excellent. The sauces were flavorful and wonderfully balanced. It was, more or less, an excellent meal.
After dinner we enjoyed some espressos and cappuccinos and a serving of tiramisu, of which I am not a huge fan... My friend who ordered it, though, seemed to enjoy it tremendously.
Overall, it was a wonderful experience. The servers were friendly and accommodating, and the outdoor seating was perfect for a balmy July night. Worth returning to and recommending to friends, without a doubt.
Sorry... nice try... not so much.
$12 insalata caprece with tomatoes so mushy and flavorless, and basil the size of big piece of pepper. Fine mozarella, but really it's a dish about the combo, not just the cheese. Shockingly flavorless.
The free bread and olive oil tapenade was great! Good marks for that.
Our clam linguinie (fresh home made pasta) really hurt our feelings. First, I've never had clams delivered sans shells. Second, the homemade pasta was so tough I wished it were from a box. The garlic sauce was once again flavorless.
Our lambchops were good, but again, totally under seasoned. With so many people dining in this austere outdoor environment so close to the sidewalk I really hoped that they were there for the delightful food, not the no-corkage fee.
The free almond blondie bar was good says my partner, but for me it was too little too late. So wished for a different experience.
Crab legs--great
Some kind of fish carpaccio--pretty good
steak -- yum
nice cappuccino finish
great company, byob, relaxed atmosphere makes for good times--tables are arranged so you can sit more privately or be among other guests, which is very nice.
All about taking the time to enjoy, without having to be too precious about everything (but just precious enough).
Amazing gem of Silverlake. I craiglist rideshared one of the servers from SF to LA and he caught me on to this place. His name is Dan G and he's the man! Melissa lived down the street for years and never stepped foot inside.
Zach was the server... might I say, such a stand up guy. The rest of the crew was very helpful and were really intrested in what we thought. Veal... amazing! Home made fet... to die for. No corkage fee... clutch! The owners were playing with their kids at their table which just added to the great community vibe. Afterward, we walked down the street to a bar they owned and listed to a unique 5 piece band.
Great place, thank you for sharing.
The worst service I have ever had at a restaurant!!!
A friend decided to have her birthday dinner at Speranza so we called and made reservations for 15. The owner had let us know usually with a party so big and with the no corkage fee each person would have to order something. We arrived at the restaurant with only 10 in our party and let them know immediately that our party was smaller. After our server took our order he realized not everybody was ordering a entree. (Some of our party had decided to order appetizer's instead) But none the less everybody ordered something. He then started making comments to us about how unfair it was bc each person had not ordered an entree and how his manager was upset with our party and taking it out on him. I was shocked that our server was complaining to us about not ordering enough food. I offered to speak to the manager and let her know everybody had order a dish and I could not control the fact that some people in our party decide they want an appetizer. He then told me "speaking to the manager would not help anything". At this point our whole party felt awkward about the situation. And to make matter worse another server who was clearing our table had made a comment about the situation to us!!!
The bill came out to around $150 on a slow Tuesday night. I could not believe the restaurant staff had made us feel bad about spending $150.
It was then time to pay the bill and we had a few cards and the server who had helped us close out the bill snapped at me and asked if we could put it on one card. (Is it that difficult to run a couple of card through the credit card machine. It took her 3 mins.)
This had been the worse dinning experience I have every had esp on a friends birthday.
DO NOT EAT AT THIS RESTAURANT!!!
My new favorite italian spot in my neighborhood!
not that this was a hard spot to fill, i didnt really have one in the hood. Nicky D's was the closest thing i had to an italian staple- good pizza and totally acceptable chicken parm. I love you Nicky- but you dont know about-a the pasta like-a speranza know about-a the pasta.
I have passed this place half a gazillion times. never knew what was going on inside until my friend invited me to dinner there. i arrived early and was taken immediately by the charm. i love the outdoor seating- extremely weather dependent but great on the upper level- maybe not so much on the level closer to the street. its just so charmy. i went on a perfect night and got a great table- chairs with backs (some of the tables are benched). my review would be different if conditions were otherwise.
i had been eyeing the fresh made fettucini tossed over a drying rod in the open kitchen inside. the maitre d had reccomended the fettucini with shrimp and asparagus and that is what i ordered. it came in a pink sauce with chopped up tomatos on top in an appetizing bowl. bread arrived first- very good- with olive and red peper tapenades. my homegirl ordered the lasagna which was super mini served in a tiny crock but was so rich that the size was fine.
on our take home box, the super cute waiter drew a cartoon of the food inside and i loved him a lot for it.
we sat for hours, drinking or corkage fee-free trader joe's wine and enjoying the space. some freshly baked delicate almond crispy sugary something crisps were brought out- making for the perfect finish.
for some reason i think that the only pasta that is made fresh is the fettucini.... i could be wrong.
a definite yum. perfect on a warm night. cant wait to come back!
I went here with my mom who was visiting me and we didn't know we needed reservations. Nevertheless, instead of sitting right next to the street, we sat at the "kitchen table" right in front of where the staff congregates. It was a unique perspective. The staff was pretty friendly, but as with most young people, there can be some degree of arrogance. We chatted with the owners who were very friendly and caring. I got pasta and my mom ordered lasagna. I tried her lasagna and it was amazing, baked like a quiche. The bread and olive tapenade was great. It inspired me to go buy olive tapenade at Ralphs and use it as a spread in my lunch sandwiches. The atmosphere is cramped, but nice. We went to Bogie's across the street and bought wine. Why are people surprised that there is no corkage fee? This place has no liquor license, so of course they will open your bottles for you. They want you to enjoy yourself and order appetizers and side dishes. I could see why restaurants that DO serve wine would charge a corkage fee for bringing your own goods. I wouldn't say the food was great, but it was pretty good and somewhat unique.
I am borderline 3.5 stars but since I came on a fine balmy LA evening I'm in a good mood. But something about the outdoor patio plants with their amputated branches poking out to hit you in head and poor lighting and uncomfortable seats makes me annoyed with this place. Sorry.
The food is good and nicely priced. The bread and sauces are welcomed and the BYOB (bring ur own bottle) helps keeps prices down even if the wine store opposite isn't really that good (so Britt says.)
I had the squid with ink sauce and spaghetti. The sauce was a bit creamier than I've had before, but was good if a bit rich. Our shared berry and cream dessert was missing the cookies and nuts cause of allergies in our party, but was fresh and tasty.
If you want to find the Silverlake upwardly mobile hipsters this is where they'll be this summer. Bring you flash lights and a couple of cushions. If you're a bug-o-phobe sit inside :) And if you want a little less bravado get the attention of anyone but the Italian waiter. Shouldn't be hard he's the only Italian here.
There was a piece of GLASS in the pasta. Service was HORRIBLE. You would think that after we found glass they would be extra attentive but NO. Food was gross. Seriously just go to TJ's an buy some tomato sauce out of the jar and it will be better. Had the most disgusting caprese I've ever had - c'mon how do u mess that up??
The no corkage fee is stupendous. I'd recommend going here before the owners wise up and start charging for it. It's downright fun to share a nice bottle of something you bought with friends.
Although crowded, this place has a cozy neighborhood feel and the wait staff was attentive. I felt really comfortable eating here.
For people driving to the restaurant, please note that on a busy Saturday night, parking is nearly impossible.
For starters, the salads are pretty good, too, but not overly complex. This doesn't mean they are bad because I enjoyed them. The halibut Carpaccio was great and executed well.
For the main dish, I originally had my stomach set on the lasagna, but they were out. Here's what the waitress recommended instead:
1. Ziti pasta
2. Lamb chops
3. Side of peas to mix with the Ziti
The Ziti with the homemade pasta was overall really excellent and the peas added another layer of flavor. If you opt for home-made pasta (according to the waiter), you'll end up getting Fettuccine no matter what type of pasta that you order. The lamp chops were good, but maybe a tad overcooked.
If you're thinking about trying this place, I'd say go for it.
If you seen this place during the day when its closed you would think it was an abandoned building. At night this place is always packed, so I came here with the mrs. last Thursday to see what the hype was. I ordered the Lamb Chops (apparently that's all the comes with it) the wifey had the fettuccine w/ shrimp. Food was good, not great but good. Im thinking the draw of this place is you can bring your own wine. I didnt see a wine list, I dont think they even serve alcohol. Italian food is Italian food......it never wows me. Someone give me a recommendation. Holla.......
Outdoor fun space ,low key ,good eclectic young vibe. Now the food ,most dishes have good flavor well prepared and reasonably priced. No corkage fee fantastic since I'm a wine whore. Service great . Some reviews complain about service probably ate on weekend. Tip from a new yorker for good service I know this goes against the majority of the self absorbed but always ask the servers name your service will be greatly improved.
Hate to sound like a broken record, but...
no corkage fee?! KIND OF AMAZING?!
Their food is fabulous and the service is great. I came with a party of 10 on a chilly night, but they had told us over the phone that they could only seat us outside. When we got there, however, they were more than willing to accommodate us at a warmer location in their very interesting garden patio. I ended up splitting one of their special appetizers--HALIBUT CARPACCIO--as well as their Fettucini Mare e Terra with home-made pasta. Substituting any pasta dish with their home-made pasta is an extra $4 but it's SO worth it! The carpaccio was absolutely fantastic, and the pasta was great!
Overall, it's a very romantical Italian restaurant--a great date place!--but one of my favorites in LA thus far. Beware of the trees/plants interspersed around outdoors seating area, however. Several of the girls in our group almost lost their eyeballs at the end of our meal.
I love this place.
I love the food and the staff.
I love the no corkage fee.
I love to sit outside.
Everyone should come here.
I adore this place. Food is delicious and I find the waitstaff and mgmt to be very friendly and personable. I visit this little gem every time I'm in town to relax and reconnect with good friends.
They let you dine at your own pace and don't try to rush you out under an hour. Sometimes it gets packed and service is a little slow, but the lovely ambiance plus no corkage makes up for the wait... (also the complementary sugar-almond cookies at the end are a nice touch)
I love the caprese, the mozzarella is SO good! Lamb chops! Side potatoes, Mushroom Risotto!!! rigatoni bolognese, checca, and the ossobucco is the best!!! everything is so awesome, can't wait to go back!
Very good pasta, good atmosphere, no corkage. Specials are usually pretty good, have to admit that the lasagna I had there wasn't as good as expected (forgot a spice or two?). Everything else I've had there has been really good.
Very cool, nice friendly service. Kinda like going to dinner at grandma's place.
Parking is a challenge but the casual atmosphere, excellent food and nice staff make it worth the hassle.
My favorite Italian restaurant in Los Angeles, god I love their lasagna. It makes my mouth water just to type the word, lasagna...drool.
Everyone has said it, no corkage fee, sweet.
Tip, go to silver lake wine shop on Silver Lake Blvd, the staff is always super helpful. Grab a delicious bottle and charge to Speranza.
On the plus, the outdoor seating and BYOB policy are great. Those were the only positives!
On the minus, lackluster food and very noisy (even with outdoor seating). I ordered the lamb chops and was given a plate with four small chops and nothing else. The chops themselves were low grade and thin. And apparently you have to order sides to complement your meal. Luckily I ordered a mista salad, unfortunately the salad was 95% baby greens with not much arugula or radicchio and had two very small wedges of tomatoes. My wife ordered pasta and was asked if she wanted homemade pasta for $4 more... I don't care about paying $4 more for homemade pasta noodles, but... And her cream sauce was basically just that, cream. It had no flavor or consistency and was very thin. The noodles were at least cooked properly.
The final negative was the noise. There was a table of drunken hipsters yelling at another table of drunken hipsters -- yelling marco polo back and forth.
I have to say it was one of my worst dining experiences possibly ever... And I'm really not very discriminating. I really wanted to like it as it is right down the street.
If you're a foodie, definitely skip it!!! Even if you're not, skip it.
Oh, everybody --- behave. There are three reasons to go to a restaurant, and each category roughly equates to a price category: (1) because you're hungry [cheap]; (2) because it's cuter, less messy, and generally more charming and social than your own kitchen [moderate]; and (3) because Chef Pierre Roi-Des-Legumes can turn rocks into foam and float them atop of medium-rare birds you had thought were extinct but, wow, turned out to be tasty [ack!].
Speranza is an exceptional restaurant in this second category: a five-star three-star restaurant, which produces consistently good, tasty, happy meals for you --- and your wine-toting friends --- whenever you'd like, in a cuter atmosphere than you can muster (at least while cooking) in your own house.
No matter what I get, no matter how much better or worse it is than what I could do --- given the effort --- on my own, I always leave happy (and always happier once I see the shockingly-low bill). If you're looking for vanilla-bean turbot panna cotta, head westwards; if you just like happy and well-fed, this could be the restaurant for you.
Hmmm? I've been going to Speranza every few months since just after they opened. The first few times I went I couldn't get enough. The food was great. The atmosphere almost perfect. The service superb. I feared it wouldn't last very long because I never saw anyone there. Eventually business picked up and the last time I went there were quite a few people. I discovered I liked it better when there were no people. I don't really like people. I have reason. The food was not great (good, but not great). The atmosphere totally changed. I had to sit way out there on the wrought iron furniture. I always thought that it was just for decoration, but people have to sit there now. I know I said I wanted people to go there, but I meant when I wasn't there. And then there was the service. It was busy so I'll let it slide a bit, but Speranza took a big step down here.
I am hesitant to give up on this place because when they are on, it's on. BYOB is the shit. Take a nice bottle of wine and don't worry about a corkage fee because there ain't none. Enjoy the bread and spreads to go with it. Order a beet salad or prosciutto and melon. Enjoy that wine while you take a gander at the menu. I usually end up springing for the homemade pasta ($4 extra) because it is pretty damn good. They used to give you a cookie with the check, but I didn't get one last time. In any case I can't base this review on my last experience only. As a whole, I have really enjoyed Speranza and I think you will too.Besides, with Barbarella opening next door this place is going to need you people after all. Now go have a nice dinner, just hope you don't have to sit out by the street on the decoration furniture.
The vodka infused cracker & blueberry creme desert is so good I think I'd be willing to break up with my girlfriend for the recipe.
Just kidding.
Sorta.
Terrible first time experience at this place =( i will never go back here. Staff and owner were rude for making us want to move to a different table because we were mis-seated.
Clam linguine was blah... didn't even have the shell. Ossobuco nothing to rave about. The free bread and tapenade was good, at least.
With my new found asexuality (sick of my attraction to sociopaths), I went to this place with an awesome chic friend and met some really cool people. I'm absolutely in love with this place; and like a new lover, all I can do is think about it and I want more.... Oh so much more! The bread is amazing...everything I tried on the menu was astounding: The bread, beef and beet Carpaccio, and the Clam fettuccine (with homemade pasta), the Lasagna. The atmosphere was laid back...perfect setting to enjoy a good meal with good people. No Corkage fee so bring your favorite wine!
Oh lover, I will be back and I will have more of you.
I loved the quaint little environment. It felt so homey and the food had personal care in it. I was in awe that they make their own pasta :)
I can't wait to try what's on the rest of the menue!
super awesome italian place. great vibe. staff is really sweet, laid back. simple, delicious, homemade (be sure to order it homemade) pastas. other entrees are not amazing. bring your own, no corkage fee. i love the toasty warm bread they give you to start and the chewy buttery cripsy almondy thing they give you to end.
**get the ink pasta with homemade pasta. its super rich but amazing amazing.
great place to dine with a date or friends.
I had the homemade pasta (clam linguine) and the pasta was so fresh, so good. I also ordered their endive salad and it was a perfect appetizer. The rest of my dinner party had ordered different things - crab legs, lobster risotto, lasagna, arugula and pear salad, artichoke salad...etc. they were all excellent.
We brought our own wine, 1 bottle of white, 1 bottle of red and the restaurant provided us w/ wine glasses.
Service was really good. I actually wasn't expecting them to treat us too well because I was using a "gift certificate". They had donated a dinner-for-4 to a charity auction and I ended up buying it, which means they were giving us the food for free (up to $120).
I love sitting at a big benchtable and watching a friend crinkle their nose when they react to that delicately shaved white chocolate rippling off the plate tasting a lot more like cheese only because they forgot they ordered the cheese plate and that is no piece of white chocolate.
Speranza is an odd place and I have really really come to appreciate this. I kept hearing about it and finally tracked it down one day on my lunch break since I work down the street. Although one of the partners who helped launch the place is an architect, there is no real indicator of this, at least not overtly so from the street. In fact, from the street, it is a real freaking eyesore. The giant NAPOCA sign is what stands out most during the day. A sort of cruddy yellowed marquis below that says Speranza on it. Above Napoca, there is visible flotsam wedged up against a second story window. What the hell is Napoca anyway?
The evening certainly does have its merits, though. Being all Silverlake-y in a non-traditional way - this is not on the beaten path, really - what better thing is there then eating outdoors with groups of friends on a warm night? And you can forget the cold nights because they have one of those funky New York City style produce warming sheds strapped onto the outside of the main entrance. There are heaters cozying it up and you can still get that starry night with the harvest tables by candlelight ambiance in December.
The food is always light and fresh and prepared perfectly. If you like your Italian food overflavored and obviated, this ain't the place for you (as you can read in some of the other reviews here). So, don't go. And, please, don't tell your friends, either.
I agree with others, the fresh pasta is great but it is usually limited. They have only had fettucine when I have been there. It is fun to watch them prep it for you. They should offer only fresh and they will be doing more business then they can handle.
Everyone working there is really sweet. The place is a gem. My friends are going to kill me for reviewing it since we all agreed to keep it a secret but I have to give the place some serious credit for selling me on a funky spot.
Pasta, like REAL pasta. Yum, I could eat this everyday. The atmosphere feels like if you turn your back to Hyperion you could be anywhere in the world. Chill-modern pasta joint. Squid ink pasta, carpaccio, the bread and dip, the no corkage fee & the specials; those are the highlights.
Upon a third last chance for Speranza, I've decided to never go again.
My girlfriend's lasagna was aptly described as "echoes of hamburger helper" and she needed some of the excess sauce from my Ziti Americane to give it some type of flavor.
I'm sorry Speranza, you've got a great location and helpful staff but your food is dreadful.
I've been to Speranza twice, and each visit left me with a different impression. The location is… Read more »
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Neighborhood: Studio City
$5 Martinis All Night Every…
Neighborhood: West Hollywood
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
Category: Italian
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
Category: Italian
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
Category: American (New)
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
Category: Restaurants
Neighborhood: Silver Lake
Category: Latin American
Some of my favorite dining destinations in the…
Some of my favorite dining destinations in the…
Places good for taking ladies or dudes or both if…
Some of my favorite dining destinations in the…
