La Speranzina Restaurant & Relais — Restaurant in Sirmione

I have mixed emotions regarding this hotel. The hotel is beautiful. It is on a nice quiet side street, but close to the castle and to the main square in Sirmione. The water views from the hotel are amazing, and the location cannot be beat in that regard. || We stayed in the Kristina suite. It is very spacious as depicted on the website. It has a beautiful view and a private dock. There is a small minibar and the room was nicely set up with fresh fruit and Prosecco on arrival. There is a sweetheart tub near the picturesque window. There appeared to have been a recent leak from it. There was a dark spot on the rug near the tub, and the room smelled a bit like moldy in that area. The bathroom is open to the main room, which might be uncomfortable for new couples. You can see into commode and the shower. So be aware if you are shy or conservative. It was not a problem for us. The emotional steam shower and the sauna were nice, but you have to call the front desk to turn it on. That is a minor inconvenience, however, as the staff IS very attentive and ready to take your call. Once on, it stays on for 3 hours, after which you will need to call again if you later want to utilize it.||We stayed at the end of the fall season, however, and our room was hot. The first night we seemed to have some air conditioner, but it was stifling on our last two nights. We called the front desk, who came and agreed that the room was hot. The room temperature was never adjusted. It was still at least 75 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and likely it was over 80 degrees in our room! We never enjoyed our steam shower or sauna again because the room was way too hot to enjoy it. There is no screen on the Patio deck door, which I did not feel comfortable leaving opening anyway. It is too easy for any boatsman to approach your dock, or for one of the many swans/birds to sweep in for a visit. Our stay was spoiled because we were so miserably hot in our room.|| I have since realized that hotels in Italy are somewhat regulated for energy efficiency, although this was not relayed to us. There was never an explanation or apology provided to us. I would have appreciated an honest explanation if that was the case. Nonetheless, my husband felt the situation was unacceptable for a 5* property that only has 3 rooms. Could they not afford to provide us with air conditioning when we were paying over 800 Euros per night? | We also arranged to have a massage in our room, which turned out to be awkward. Firstly, only one person can have a massage at a time, as they have to call in an off site masseur. No couples massage here, and you would have to arrange it in advance. The masseur sets up in the middle of the room. So the other person needs to plan to be at the restaurant/lounge, or outside on the dock. If not, they will be sitting on the couch or bed on watching their partner get a massage—or waiting awkwardly in the large closet... You could utilize the steam shower/sauna, but you might not be comfortable because it is open to the room where your masseur is. Not ideal. The massage itself felt great, but it was on a very narrow and somewhat uncomfortable massage table. My husband is very muscular and he barely fit on the table! The masseur mentioned that she also worked at nearby Villa Cortine. Afterwards I was left wishing I had stayed there instead. I would have preferred access to a full spa. The hotel has a tranquil setting with its amazing views of Lake Garda, but it is not a spa retreat. It is NOT advised if you really want spa services. A hot jacuzzi and steam shower will not be sufficient if that is what you are seeking.| Breakfast in the morning was tasty and freshly prepared, but it was slow. If you have an early morning tour, you better prepare ahead of time and go early. Coffee alone will take 15 minutes....But if do you have time to lounge in the morning, breakfast really is a nice experience. The pastries are fresh and eggs etc are made to order. The servers really are excellent. Staff, I must say, was consistently attentive and very hospitable during our stay. | We did also dine in the restaurant one night. The food again seemed to take a while to prepare. But our dinner was good, and the ambiance very nice. I would say that the restaurant is still worth a visit for lunch or dinner. It is expensive, however, and I am sad to say that I dined better elsewhere in Sirmione. | Overall, this Relais is just not worth its high price. Charming and romantic from afar, but rather...

I have mixed emotions regarding this hotel. The hotel is beautiful. It is on a nice quiet side street, but close to the castle and to the main square in Sirmione. The water views from the hotel are amazing, and the location cannot be beat in that regard. || We stayed in the Kristina suite. It is very spacious as depicted on the website. It has a beautiful view and a private dock. There is a small minibar and the room was nicely set up with fresh fruit and Prosecco on arrival. There is a sweetheart tub near the picturesque window. There appeared to have been a recent leak from it. There was a dark spot on the rug near the tub, and the room smelled a bit like moldy in that area. The bathroom is open to the main room, which might be uncomfortable for new couples. You can see into commode and the shower. So be aware if you are shy or conservative. It was not a problem for us. The emotional steam shower and the sauna were nice, but you have to call the front desk to turn it on. That is a minor inconvenience, however, as the staff IS very attentive and ready to take your call. Once on, it stays on for 3 hours, after which you will need to call again if you later want to utilize it.||We stayed at the end of the fall season, however, and our room was hot. The first night we seemed to have some air conditioner, but it was stifling on our last two nights. We called the front desk, who came and agreed that the room was hot. The room temperature was never adjusted. It was still at least 75 degrees Fahrenheit outside, and likely it was over 80 degrees in our room! We never enjoyed our steam shower or sauna again because the room was way too hot to enjoy it. There is no screen on the Patio deck door, which I did not feel comfortable leaving opening anyway. It is too easy for any boatsman to approach your dock, or for one of the many swans/birds to sweep in for a visit. Our stay was spoiled because we were so miserably hot in our room.|| I have since realized that hotels in Italy are somewhat regulated for energy efficiency, although this was not relayed to us. There was never an explanation or apology provided to us. I would have appreciated an honest explanation if that was the case. Nonetheless, my husband felt the situation was unacceptable for a 5* property that only has 3 rooms. Could they not afford to provide us with air conditioning when we were paying over 800 Euros per night? | We also arranged to have a massage in our room, which turned out to be awkward. Firstly, only one person can have a massage at a time, as they have to call in an off site masseur. No couples massage here, and you would have to arrange it in advance. The masseur sets up in the middle of the room. So the other person needs to plan to be at the restaurant/lounge, or outside on the dock. If not, they will be sitting on the couch or bed on watching their partner get a massage—or waiting awkwardly in the large closet... You could utilize the steam shower/sauna, but you might not be comfortable because it is open to the room where your masseur is. Not ideal. The massage itself felt great, but it was on a very narrow and somewhat uncomfortable massage table. My husband is very muscular and he barely fit on the table! The masseur mentioned that she also worked at nearby Villa Cortine. Afterwards I was left wishing I had stayed there instead. I would have preferred access to a full spa. The hotel has a tranquil setting with its amazing views of Lake Garda, but it is not a spa retreat. It is NOT advised if you really want spa services. A hot jacuzzi and steam shower will not be sufficient if that is what you are seeking.| Breakfast in the morning was tasty and freshly prepared, but it was slow. If you have an early morning tour, you better prepare ahead of time and go early. Coffee alone will take 15 minutes....But if do you have time to lounge in the morning, breakfast really is a nice experience. The pastries are fresh and eggs etc are made to order. The servers really are excellent. Staff, I must say, was consistently attentive and very hospitable during our stay. | We did also dine in the restaurant one night. The food again seemed to take a while to prepare. But our dinner was good, and the ambiance very nice. I would say that the restaurant is still worth a visit for lunch or dinner. It is expensive, however, and I am sad to say that I dined better elsewhere in Sirmione. | Overall, this Relais is just not worth its high price. Charming and romantic from afar, but rather...

After nearly 2 weeks on holiday, it says a lot that I have returned from my meal here to begin my review straight away. From the number of stars given, you can tell it's for all the wrong reasons.

Our experience started really positively with a tour of the kitchens and wine cellar. This was very interesting and really shows the underbelly of operations. We were then seated, given some lovely appetisers and ordered a 7 course tasting menu.

The first few courses were very tasty and the service, attentive. We didn't touch our wine bottle and our water glasses were regularly topped up. We were also provided with drinks toppers, presumably to prevent the odd stray fly from ruining your drink.

But as it got darker, things took a turn. As the light faded, the bugs and mosquitoes came out to play.

We were sat at the edge of the terrace, so we did expect a few bugs. However, we didn't expect for there to be no mitigation measures in place other than the drinks toppers. By the time our final course arrived, our table was littered with bugs and our somehow oblivious server placed dishes right in the center of them!

As our pudding was placed down, a bug flew into it, which was then removed by my husband, not the server. The pudding wine we had ordered arrived with no topper, so we used the ones from our water to cover it instead. As we had also mentioned ordering pudding wine around 40 minutes earlier, it was also a real surprise to order it properly, as it only arrived during our final course, rather than during our sweet palate cleanser as desired.

After we finished our final course, we waited around 15 minutes for anyone to stop by to remove our plates. In any usual restaurant this wouldn't be an issue. But for the Michelin star rating, and its inflated price tag, this was around 7 minutes too long for us. There had also been a long wait between our final savoury course and our sweet course, with the wait being such that we were sat wondering what was happening next.

Overall, the food was good. But, some flavours seemed to be paired together because they sounded good, rather than tasted good. When we asked for a wine recommendation, the sommelier handed us an ipad with a wine list on. A wine list with no tasting notes so that for the uninitiated in what a grape combination tastes like, you were picking purely on price and location.

Unlike the other positive reviews given here, this did not feel like 5 star service, and as the last night of our honeymoon, our overall impression was of disappointment.

If you don't mind sharing your table with 25 or more bugs crawling around once it gets dark, this is the place for you (for reference, in the photo of the table at the end of our meal, every dark mark on the table cloth is a bug). If you do, but can't resist, ask to sit inside as they definitely didn't warn us about the nightlife.

If you're curious because of the Michelin star, there is better value for money out there. Our meal was a very expensive way of gaining more mosquito bites without even the satisfaction of a satisfying meal.

When discussing our holiday in Sirmione, this meal will not be a highlight, or somewhere we'd recommend for a nice...