Italian restaurant

Well, being in soul less Richmond I was expecting something to be off or weird but I was amazed and stunned that it was awesome. Nice friendly staff, they seem a little new to it but doing great!! Even got to finish the food before the plate was taken away which is a rarity. Very impressed all in all. Food was amazing too.Just had to go get my own salt and pepper and the heat pump blows directly onto the middle tables making it breezey as for some feed back (may need a vein adjustment) but I feel like this is a minor thing considering i was waiting for a disaster.Top marks! Thanks for squeezing us in, will definitely return.Price in on point too for a bloody nice meal

I've been here a few times now, and the food is always delicious.

My goodness, the best pasta in town (Maltagliati ragu) and the best chocolate dessert in town (the nemesis). Super quick, no fuss, professional, friendly and a good vibe too.

First visit after hearing good things. Busy Friday nite. Glad we booked.Friendly staff and attentive to requests.Good wine menu with lots from Italy.Food menu covers all bases and the pizza list is large and very well priced.The food service was fast and efficient and the dishes we tried amazing taste and quality.Thanks for the digestive at the end of our visit.Highly recommend.

We wanted a break from all the meat that tends to get served in Queenstown and were looking for alternatives. We decided on BC because they make their own pasta. We had the carbonara, the lamb ragout and spaghetti bolognaise for our daughter. They were all pretty good. The only comment I would make is that I don’t think they need the cream for the carbonara and can just rely on the egg with Parmesan (which is what I am use to). The ability to have 1/2 and 1/2 pizza is a nice touch and the pizza was pretty good (they do a kind of Napoli/Roma hybrid). The bolognaise sauce was good and not too sharp. For the appetiser we had the mussel in caponata and the caponata was done really well. For dessert we had the tiramisu and affogato.I must commend the service of our waiter (French lady I believe) who was very polite, helpful and friendly without being overly intrusive.So if you want a nice place to go with a rustic Italian feel then you can’t go wrong with this place.Well done.

The best pasta I’ve ever had in my life. And I’m a massive pasta eater!Lovely, intimate, authentic restaurant. Couldn’t recommend more.

Such a lovely place to dine. Staff are welcoming and food is great. Always get one of their pizzas so good!

Great service and very friendly staff ! But the pizza was burnt. From the first bite it tasted bad and relaxed that it was all burnt when we flipped it. It was really bad.

The food and atmosphere were great, we had a fantastic night. The only negative was service was very slow, particularly around asking for drinks orders. It took ages for a waitress to appear and ask if we'd like a drink, and no one checked again if w needed new drinks, I had to go find a waitress and ask. But apart from the drinks thing we thoroughly enjoyed the meal

We stopped by at Dunedin on our South Island road trip. We hadn't planned to come to Esplanade Restaurant but I am so, so glad we did go in the end. It was my top 2 restaurants of 2022.With the waves crashing outside, spitting up spray in September, it was still cold enough that the heaters were on inside Esplanade. We came in at 6ish and had a table in 5 minutes. Filled up pretty quickly.The waitresses were attentive and warm, making us feel welcome, despite there being many customers. The food didn't take too long to come out. When it did and we dug in, it was stunning.The food was next level delicious. It tasted like Nonnas out the back were personally making the pasta, crushing the tomatoes for the bolognaise and balancing to perfection.I couldn't believe how good it was. Every bite, I was raving to my wife who just told me to shut up and eat otherwise she'd eat it all. Kids were wolfing down the pizza and pasta too.I wish this review could do it justice but it really doesn't. If you're visiting Dunedin, you must try Esplanade.