Esperisma Bar-Restaurant — Restaurant in Municipality of Thira

Think it twice. There are better options if you are looking for an iconic sunset dinner with good views.

It is one of the restaurants that differ by price (more expensive than most) in Fira. But you are not going to find many of the things that you assume that it is going to offer. This is the summary of our experience (sunset dinner on 30th June) .- Management of reservations: Terrible. They are very quick to request the deposit of 50 euros when making the reservation (in our case weeks in advance) but later they do not correspond with the appropriate sensitivity to what has been noted and commented during the reservation process. .- Views: You only have a 30-35% chance of getting the privileged views from the first row of the terrace and, since they ignore the comments in the reservation process, it`s possible that you can end in a table that you don't like. That was exactly our case. I tried to explain that I had some chat before in the reservations emails, but before taking an interest in our case, they gave a generic answer (and this is a place where you are going to spend about 100 euros per person if you have a normal dinner). This was our frustrating first impression at Esperisma, when we had been looking forward to this dinner with such expectations for the last few weeks. So if you want to ensure good views, maybe it's better to try somewhere else where you have a better chance of getting them. There are places where you can dine very well with many tables on the front line, such as Aris. Or others (also high-ticket like Esperisma) that have fewer tables, but where they are more sensitive to the type of reservation you make previously, such as La Colline (in my view, more recommendable than Esperisma) .-Food: it is really good, the only thing that is really worth it and that can differentiate it from other restaurants in the area .-Wines: They are expensive for the value they provide. They do not give good advice, they do not know if a specific wine in the menu is not available, they do not bring the wine at a good temperature, and, in my opinion, they fill the wine glasses a lot when they are served to you, (which increases the probability that the temperature will vary, if we are talking about a long dinner) .- Cocktails and drinks: We had a cocktail, and it was delicious (Less is More). And also we ordered a Gin Tonic and the bartender messed it up in the preparation, it was terrible. He filled the glass with an exaggerated amount of ice. Really, he put 20-25 ice cubes (which in Santorini are small and dissolve in a matter of minutes with the heat). The drink, for 13 euros, after 5 minutes did not taste like Gin and tonic, tasted like melted ice water. A complete disaster.

Claramente sobrevalorado. Siempre habrá una opción mejor si buscas vistas, experiencia o atención. No vas a encontrar muchas de las cosas que supones que va a ofrecer al ser más caro. .- Gestión de reservas: Pésima. Son muy rápidos para pedir el depósito de 50 euros al hacer la reserva (en nuestro caso con semanas de antelación) pero después no corresponden con la sensibilidad adecuada a lo que se ha apuntado y comentado durante el proceso de reserva. .- Vistas: Solo tienes un 30 por ciento de posibilidades de que te toquen las vistas privilegiadas de la primera fila de la terraza y, como no hacen caso a los comentarios en el proceso de reserva, les da igual el motivo por el que acude cada cliente. Te sitúan donde te toque y, antes de interesarse por cada caso, te dan una contestación genérica (en un sitio en el que vas a gastar unos 100 euros por persona si haces una cena más o menos normal). .-Comida: es verdaderamente buena, lo único que merece la pena de verdad y que lo puede diferenciar de otros restaurantes en la zona .-Vinos: Muy caros para el valor que aportan. No aconsejan bien y en nuestro caso la botella que pedimos no estaba a temperatura adecuada. .-Buenos cocktails pero no pidas gin-tonic. Lo llenan de hielo y sabe a...

Disappointing. I opted for the private dinner for our 20th anniversary. I booked more than a month in advance, including paying a €300 deposit.

The location for the private dinner, a terrace two floors above the main restaurant area, was fabulous. We had a great view of the sunset, and the decor was great. We did not opt for any extra decor. They set up some music after we arrived and it was good, although sometimes drowned out by the party bars above.

The food ranged from delicious (crudo, gazpacho) to good (sea bass, octopus, dessert).

Unfortunately there were several issues with the management and service:

We were seated, asked if we wanted water, and offered to have a few pictures taken. That was all great, but afterwards we were abruptly served the first dish (gazpacho). There was no offer of a drinks menu, nor any explanation of the multi course tasting menu we were about to have. I had to go down myself later to ask for someone to bring a drinks menu. Maybe because I said in my email that I'd like the "dinner without drinks" ... but that was referring to the pairings.

My wife is vegetarian so the restaurant had a special menu for her, which is great. But they made some changes to the menu, which they did not inform us about at any time. Instead of having a choice of two mains, they replaced one of the appetizer courses (a falafel) with one of the mains (an eggplant dish) and served the other main (risotto) as the main. My wife hates risotto so I never would have booked if that was the only option. The mains were also large, so my wife didn't have any appetite by the time the risotto arrived.

In general the portions were too large for a meal with so many courses. I tried my best but couldn't finish my main course even though I enjoyed it. We could barely make a dent in the dessert.

Near the start of the meal I was asked whether I would like the rib eye or the sea bass. I had to ask what the sides were as, again, there was no explanation of the menu. After asking, I opted for the sea bass. When it arrived, I was surprised to see cauliflower and broccoli on the plate which weren't mentioned by the waiter. I don't like either so I was a bit disappointed.

When making the reservation I mentioned that we are celebrating our 20th anniversary with them. Not a soul wished us a happy anniversary.

Since we were in the private dining area, if we wanted anything (like a drinks menu...) we had to go down two sets of stairs to the main restaurant lobby. They should probably consider a call button for the private dining area.

The toilet has no locks!

What I can say is that the service staff was friendly and seemed quite disappointed with all the problems themselves. My take is that the FOH personnel tried their best but this restaurant is poorly managed, especially around the private dining experience.

Obviously the majority of reviews here are for the main dining area, and seem very positive. But I'd urge you to reconsider if you're thinking about their private...

If I can give 0 stars, I would. This place is extremely unprofessional and right now I’m trying to not let it ruin my night. I had booked with the restaurant a night ahead and requested a table by the ocean with a good view of caldera and the building in Fira. The next afternoon, I receive an email from the restaurant saying that in order to confirm my reservation, I would have to put down a non refundable deposit of 25 euros. I needed to respond yes so they can send me a link to put the deposit in. I waited all day and even up until my reservation at 6:30PM, I had receive notification reply. When I got to the restaurant, the bartender said there’s no reservation under my name, and when I told him about the situation with the situation, he said “it’s ok, we can sit you” and proceeded to sit me in the middle of the patio with no limited views. I saw an empty table right by the ocean and ask if I could sit there instead, he said that the table there is for reservation. I told him “I have one and I specifically requested under the note section that I wanted a patio table next to the ocean with a view. He then told me to sit where he assigned and wait; if the reservation doesn’t show up, I can have that table. I told him the only reason I book at this place because I like the view and I just want a table with good views. It wasn’t like I had to wait because all of those table were taken. There was a COMPLETELY EMPTY table and he refused to let me have it. I said if I don’t get the table, I will go somewhere else, and he replied with “you can go” while doing the gesture of him not giving two cent where I take my business. Excuse me?! If I book at a time before them with that request, how are you going to put me at a table i never ask for. If you honor the people that haven’t even show up, why not me?! Not to mention that it’s crazy to take me off the reservation list when YOU GUYS are the one that never send the link to pay the deposit. Outrageous. The bartender should be fire but then I’m sure the don’t care since they just want your money with the 25 euros deposit. I’m still mot over this as I type. The service here is a joke. Please don’t waste your time or money here. Use it for better things and better restaurants to make your vacations better. Plenty of other restaurants to dine that will actually...