Quick reviews: Tampa

I ate out way too much while in Tampa for two months. Keep in mind that most of these reviews are based on a single visit and intentionally very brief.

  • Acropolis: A Greek restaurant nestled in Tampa’s Cuban neighborhood feels a little too touristy and while the food is good it’s a little overpriced.
  • Bar Louie: A superior, ever-shifting selection of beers on tap. Good, somewhat overrefined, bar food.
  • Bella’s Italian Cafe: Moderately expensive Italian place with good, classic food — mostly pastas and pizzas — and a good wine list.
  • Bungalow Bistro: A cute setting but a tries-too-hard restaurant. Shoots for fancy but just hits above average.
  • Cafe Dufrain: Laid back bistro with good food on the waterfront. On a nice day, sit outside.
  • Chihuahua Mexican Grill: Adequate Tex-Mex served in a dinning room dressed in kitsch. Chips are served in a dog bowl.
  • The Creperia Cafe: Decent crepes, both sweet and savory, served in a cafe setting. Options range from basic to caviar — with prices to match.
  • Daily Eats: A greasy spoon with better food and higher prices. Caters to the hipster crowd.
  • Fly Bar & Restaurant: Bar with good beer and liquor, restaurant with good small plates of food and lots of tattooed waiters and customers.
  • Five Guys Burgers and Fries: Good, greasy burgers and overflowing fries make this simple and delicious.
  • Frankies: No matter what the sign say, they serve the worst Philly cheesesteak ever. Good hot dogs, though.
  • Loading Dock Sandwich Pub: Lots of sandwiches, each custom built, and special sandwiches everyday.
  • Lucky Dill Deli: A few places packed into one, but it gets chaotic at lunch. Cheap Mexican food is served next to New York-style sandwiches.
  • Mise En Place: Upscale bistro with a reasonably priced lunch menu. Awesome grilled cheese (including blue and chevre) served with house-made fries and ketchup.
  • New World Brewery: Good, simple food (mostly pizza) and a great selection of beers on tap and in bottles.
  • NYPD Pizza Delicatessen: Premade crust means pizza that doesn’t live up to what New York-syle pizza should. Plus you have to go to Channelside. Yuck.
  • Paninoteca Mediterranean Café: Classy, good and still reasonably priced Mediterranean food, with lots of good sandwiches and lunch fare.
  • Samurai Blue: Served in a hipster setting, the sushi was honestly the best I’ve ever had. The specialty rolls offer a variety of flavors and textures.
  • SideBern’s: Hip-yet-elegant little brother of the venerable Bern’s Steak House. Great food, but it’ll cost you. (I wrote a full review for The Tribune.)
  • Square One Burgers: Perhaps a bit too expensive for what it is, but decent burgers. The fried pickles are delicious and the cupcakes are cute.
  • El Taconazo: Better know as the Taco Bus because it serves good, cheap, authentic Mexican food cooked in a bus parked behind the dinning room.
  • Tampa Bay Brewing Company: They brew good beer on site and use much of it in the food. The Brewer’s Choice burger with fried onions and blue cheese is good.
  • Taqueria Cantina & Burrito Joint: Fairly crappy, overpriced, inauthentic Mexican food, but a wide array of beers. Free chips for correctly answering a trivia question.
  • La Teresita: One of three classic Cuban joints in Tampa. The counter is for the younger set, while families eat in the dining room.
  • Three Coins Diner: A real greasy spoon with real greasy-spoon prices. You’ve eaten at here before, even if it’s your first visit.
  • Twisted Bamboo: Safe, competent-but-not-great Asian-influenced food that can’t figure out what it wants to be. (I wrote a full review for The Tribune.)
  • West Tampa Sandwich Shop: Cheap and great Cuban restaurant that serves a mean media noche sandwich and café con leche.

9 thoughts on “Quick reviews: Tampa”

  1. How about answering the real questions on everybody’s mind. So are you a Fatty McFat-Pants after all that eating out?

  2. You haven't had the best sushi ever. You just think you have because you're not the sushi connoisseur that I am.

    Sushi Matsuri in Gainesville is the best sushi ever. Coming in second is Shooting Star Japanese Bar & Grille – also in Gainesville.

  3. Ditto Emily. That was the first question that crossed my mind.

    Sushi Jo in West Palm Beach (and around the corner from the Post) has the most original roll selection I’ve seen. http://sushijo.com/

    What was the name of that diner we had lunch at in Soho and I had that amazing salad? Mmm, so good.

  4. Ditto Emily. That was the first question that crossed my mind.

    Sushi Jo in West Palm Beach (and around the corner from the Post) has the most original roll selection I’ve seen. http://sushijo.com/

    What was the name of that diner we had lunch at in Soho and I had that amazing salad? Mmm, so good.

  5. Well, except one summer, no one has ever accused me of being skinny. But Fatty McFat-Pants might be going a little far.

  6. And, hey, one day those full reviews might even be published!

    Having been to all these places approximately 5,000 times (except Twisted Bamboo, which is new), I’d say you pretty much nailed them all on your first impression.

    I blame myself for not taking you to Brocato’s for Tampa’s best Cuban sandwich, First Choice for the area’s best barbecue or Red Mesa for jaw-droppingly good Southwestern food. We probably also should’ve hit Pelagia (great Mediterranean) and Ceviche (amazing tapas), among others.

    I guess you’ll just have to come back.

  7. If you think Samarai Blue is the BEST sushi, wait till you try Yoko’s on MacDill Ave in South Tampa…YUM!!!!

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