Tampa FL 坦帕 or 滩吧


Tampa, Florida – what a booming city! Her many winning pro leagues, Lightning, Buccaneers and Rays certainly added to its allure, and MORE.

Tampa is the city with 384,959 population (2022), ranks 49th city in the US.

Tampa Bay, or the Bay Area (not San Francisco’s Bay Area …) is the body of water connects to Gulf of Mexico. But usually it refers to its metro area, that includes surrounding cities, such as St. Petersburg to the west and Clearwater, north of St. P. The Bay Area has population 3,290,730 (2022), ranking 17th in the nation. Sarasota to the south is another place that worth to visit.

Tampa TPA is a neat airport, with many direct flight around the major cities in and out of US.

Many Chinese use 坦帕 but I think 滩吧 is more appropriate: beaches and bars, especially tiki bars -:).

Here is our visits

Sports

There are many good restaurants. Ethnic restaurants, such as Chinese and Korean (Sa Ri One closed) are so so but Vietnamese is generally good. My list is generally excludes St. Pete, and includes a few good restaurants between Tampa Bay and Sarasota. The ranking of the top 10 changes, obviously; and the rest just added randomly.

  1. Columbia Restaurant, Ybor
  2. Lilac downtown Michelin
  3. The Pearl: oyster; Michelin downtown
  4. Casa Santo Stefano, Ybor
  5. Alleno @ St. Pete
  6. Steelbach Steak
  7. Ulele, Armature Works
  8. Oak n Ola
  9. Forbici, Italian @ Hyde Park
  10. Bulla Gastrobar tapa @ Hyde Park
  11. Social Roost
  12. Duval’s @ Sarasota
  13. Terra Gaucha Brazilian steakhouse
  14. Circle @ Apollo Beach
  15. Parkshore Grill @ St. Pete
  16. Kojak’s House of Ribs BBQ, a dump but yummy
  17. Acropolis Greek Taverna @ Riverview
  18. Bernini, Ybor
  19. On Swann, Hyde Park
  20. Yummy House
  21. Beaune’s Wine Bar @ Chateau Cellars, Ybor
  22. Sunset at Apollo Beach
  23. Oxford Exchange
  24. The Library @ St. Pete
  25. Steep Station @ St. Pete
  26. Bern’s Steak House @ St. Pete
  27. Haven @ Hyde Park / SoHo,  Michelin
  28. Rooster & Till
  29. Skipper’s Smokehouse
  30. Thinh An Kitchen & Tofu
  31. Datz
  32. Byblos
  33. Watervue Grille @ Harbour Island
  34. Bahama Breeze
  35. Watervue
  36. First Watch
  37. Pia’s Trattoria @ Gulfport
  38. Flan Factory, a cafe
  39. Rosenheim
  40. Hales Blackbrick on going dispute 
  41. Apollo Bistro

buffets

… some dockside

  1. Rick’s on the River
  2. Circles @ Lands End
  3. Salt Shack on the Bay
  4. Finn’s Dockside
  5. Sunset Bar & Grill
  6. Jerry’s Dockside Bar & Grill
  7. Dry Dock

Ybor City is one of interesting areas in the Tampa, with many cigar bars and restaurants.

Cigar: Tampa is a cigar city. Especially in Ybor City: La Flor de Sanchez y Haya cigar company (Tampa Historical; UFL; Hotel Hoya) on 7th Avenue opened its door on April 13, 1886, became the first place in Ybor City to roll a cigar. Nowadays there are many cigar bars and lounges, with workers rolling up the sticks on either side of the 7th Avenue. There is also the famed El Reloj which was opened in 1910, and was considered to be the largest and finest cigar factory in the world. J.C. Newman Cigar Co. since 1895, is the oldest family-owned cigar maker in US.

Others

Things Asian

Mediterranean & Middle East

Leave a Reply