Tell me bout Tampa Bay

[NateHitch 1282]

Wasn't planning on doing a family vacation this summer but stumbled upon cheap airfare to Tampa and said fuck it, I've never been so why not. My son's and I love us some rollercoasters so Busch Gardens is booked but that's about it as far as itenerary goes. We'll be there 4 days, anything we shouldn't miss?

[tx 3 putt 77658]

https://thedali.org/

i loved this place and a baseball game there did not suck 

 

http://eatatbodega.com/ <<< great lunch stop 

[AustinMT 952]

One word, all you need to know:

Bern’s

 

[Ogie Ogilthorpe 639]

Downtown St Pete has some great bars. If a good band is in town Jannus Live is a great concert venue.

Great grouper sandwich at the Hurricane on Pass-a-grille beach. Great view of the beach and sunset from the rooftop bar.

[Bartles 769]

Florida Aquarium is solid, they have a Goliath Grouper that's the size of a small car. Also find an excuse to go over Sunshine Skyway, it's a really impressive bridge. Short trip (1 hour+) to Longboat Key/Sarasota would accomplish that

[Nueces River Rat 5566]

The Bucs suck and that's all I know.  

[GroovusHorn 16]

You should definitely go to Caladesi Beach. It is consistently rated as one of the top beaches in the world.

[MAROON 445]

Original Hooter's is in Clearwater.

 

 

[ZB'Tejas 594]

12 hours ago, AustinMT said:

One word, all you need to know:

Bern’s

 

This... go here and then after go upstairs to the Dessert Room. I didn't do too much in Tampa, played a few golf courses while I was there but stayed at the Don Cesar in St Pete Beach which was a good spot for family.

[AustinMT 952]

2 hours ago, ZB'Tejas said:

This... go here and then after go upstairs to the Dessert Room. I didn't do too much in Tampa, played a few golf courses while I was there but stayed at the Don Cesar in St Pete Beach which was a good spot for family.

Agree on the dessert room.  Also, ask your waiter for the tour -- they will take you through the kitchen and also show you the on-site wine cellar (about 30,000 bottles -- the "big" cellar is next door, and has over 500,000 bottles)

[NateHitch 1282]

Had a great time, Bern's was fantastic.  Busch Gardens was great, went in with mediumish expectations and we all had a blast, some great coasters there and the zoo aspect was pretty cool.  The Florida Aquarium and Sparkman Wharf were nice too.  Went down to Ft Myers to visit a college my son is considering so got to go over the Skyway Bridge twice, I love that stuff but it made the wife nervous both times.

And just in case someone bumps this looking for stuff to do, the flamenco show at the Columbia restaurant was really fucking cool.  Wife dragged my sons and I kicking and screaming to it and we all ended up mesmerized.  Great food and drinks too.

[BottleRocket 647]

The Salvador Dali museum in St. Pete is pretty amazing

[Ogie Ogilthorpe 639]

13 hours ago, NateHitch said:

  Went down to Ft Myers to visit a college my son is considering

I live in SW Florida, if you have any questions about the area.

If he is considering FGCU, it is a up and coming school with a great campus.

[Loco 3754]

Not a single Mons Venus rec. 

Surly, you slippin'

[Brew 3049]

2 hours ago, Ogie Ogilthorpe said:

I live in SW Florida, if you have any questions about the area.

If he is considering FGCU, it is a up and coming school with a great campus.

My daughters went to volleyball camp there this summer and really enjoyed the campus. We have a place not far from there so we have been out by it plenty of times to go to GC Town Center but never went onto campus before.

[NateHitch 1282]

Yup it was FGCU, they're offering him a full ride. I wasn't sure what to think but I loved the school and it's a beautiful campus. We saw some alligators lounging by the ponds and the dorms are easily the nicest we've seen so far. He fell in love with the school too, we still have a few more visits but I think he's made his mind up

[Underdog 28825]

Tampa was our last stop on our Florida tour/vacation back in 2001, really wanted to do BG but the wife and jr were getting homesick by then, we had been gone for close to 3 weeks so it was understandable, so we cut the trip short.  I remember being on the GC as a kid with several beautiful smaller towns/cities, Tarpon Springs being one of them, watched some guys do a sponge dive, pretty cool.  

[HouTex 1894]

Another vote for Bern's, but only if you are a wine geek.  The steaks and sides are good, but nothing like you'd get at Pappas Bros. or the like.  Unless you are good enough to spot the wine you want in the tome of a wine list, tell your wine guy what you like, your price point, and trust him.  We ended up with some Bordeaux and Rhone wines with a little age on them that were fantastic.  And they were about 1/3 the price you'd see at a Pappas-like steakhouse.  And be sure to save room for dessert.  

If anyone is planning a guys (or couples) golf trip to Streamsong, it's worth a trip to Bern's the night before and spend the night in Tampa before driving over to Streamsong.

[NateHitch 1282]

29 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Tampa was our last stop on our Florida tour/vacation back in 2001, really wanted to do BG but the wife and jr were getting homesick by then, we had been gone for close to 3 weeks so it was understandable, so we cut the trip short.

Was really impressed with Busch Gardens.  I went in expecting it to be on par with Six Flags over Texas but it was on a whole other tier. Cedar Point and Universal Studios Orlando are my meccas out of the coaster parks I've visited and I'd put BG just below them, along with Magic Mountain.

We booked a snorkeling trip to Egmont Key Island but storms flared up halfway there and we had to turn back and the trip turned into a sightseeing tour that was still pretty interesting.  They fully refunded us but it was still a bummer, really wanted to see the island and it's civil war fortifications.

[Underdog 28825]

Yeah, coaster fiend myself, CP being the best I've been to.  Unfortunately, haven't been back(1998) since Millennial was built.  

[NateHitch 1282]

22 minutes ago, Underdog said:

Yeah, coaster fiend myself, CP being the best I've been to.  Unfortunately, haven't been back(1998) since Millennial was built.  

You need to go back just for the dragster ride among others.  We planned a Chicago trip in 2015 and I strong armed a trip to CP as part of it, wife hates rollercoasters and was not amused with the alteration to her travel plan but that was the closest we'd be to CP in the foreseeable future.  We ended up landing in Chicago at 8pm, secured rental car and I drove us to Sandsky, we got there around 3 or 4am.  Woke up to be there 30 min before opening and 3 of us had an amazing experience and the 4th one (wife) tolerated us.  The hotel had an indoor water park so it ended up being fun for everyone.  Stopped by Notre Dame on the way back to Chicago and did the tour which was greatness, really enjoyed it.  Had the tour guide take a pic of us giving the horns up on their field and then we proceeded to get destroyed there 38-3 a month later.

 

imgur

[AustinMT 952]

1 hour ago, HouTex said:

Another vote for Bern's, but only if you are a wine geek.  The steaks and sides are good, but nothing like you'd get at Pappas Bros. or the like.  Unless you are good enough to spot the wine you want in the tome of a wine list, tell your wine guy what you like, your price point, and trust him.  We ended up with some Bordeaux and Rhone wines with a little age on them that were fantastic.  And they were about 1/3 the price you'd see at a Pappas-like steakhouse.  And be sure to save room for dessert.  

If anyone is planning a guys (or couples) golf trip to Streamsong, it's worth a trip to Bern's the night before and spend the night in Tampa before driving over to Streamsong.

Bern's is about the experience.  Like going to the Salt Lick for bbq on a nice fall day.

[bigshark88 388]

Gotta mention Ted Peters Famous Smoked Fish in Pasadena as an offbeat BBQ joint for smoked fish in a cash only, family owned establishment.

Also Cigar City Brewing in Tampa for some good liquid.

Berns for the experience over the substance. If you are in a large group budget twice the time you're thinking.

[Saint Austin 745]

I'll be staying near the Tampa convention center in a couple weeks. Any other good recommendations near there?

[MAROON 445]

56 minutes ago, Saint Austin said:

I'll be staying near the Tampa convention center in a couple weeks. Any other good recommendations near there?

Just flew back from Tampa this morning. Stayed right across the street from the Convention center at the Marriott Waterside.  Nice hotel with a very good lobby bar and outdoor patio bar on the water.  Also a third floor pool bar.

There is a pretty good hockey bar called Hattrick's.  If the Lightening are in town you should go - they play just a few blocks from the convention center.  There is a free trolley (think St Charles Street Car) that goes from downtown to Ybor City.  Lots of bars in Ybor.  We had dinner at Columbia which is a very cool spot - FYI the bartender had three bottles of Pappy last night.

Went to Bern's and its a great experience.  I thought the steak was ok (needed a lot more seasoning) but the atmosphere was fantastic.  I could sit and drink in their bar all night. Think Goodfellas meets Casino.  We were drinking with a local chick later and she said its looks like the inside of a whore house.  Pretty spot on.  Didn't know anything about the Dessert Room and the waiter didn't mention it - but we were drunk as fuck so he might have been trying to get us the hell out of the there.

Years ago we would go to Tampa and spend most of the time in Clearwater.  That's a good spot.  There is a crab place called Crabby Bills in St. Pete that was fun if you like to drink beer and pick boiled crabs.

 

Of course you have Mons Venus, and there is a Hard rock Casino near downtown.. I didn't go, but a few others went and they said it was fun.  One of them won $800 so he was pretty happy.

[Saint Austin 745]

58 minutes ago, MAROON said:

Just flew back from Tampa this morning. Stayed right across the street from the Convention center at the Marriott Waterside.  Nice hotel with a very good lobby bar and outdoor patio bar on the water.  Also a third floor pool bar.

There is a pretty good hockey bar called Hattrick's.  If the Lightening are in town you should go - they play just a few blocks from the convention center.  There is a free trolley (think St Charles Street Car) that goes from downtown to Ybor City.  Lots of bars in Ybor.  We had dinner at Columbia which is a very cool spot - FYI the bartender had three bottles of Pappy last night.

Went to Bern's and its a great experience.  I thought the steak was ok (needed a lot more seasoning) but the atmosphere was fantastic.  I could sit and drink in their bar all night. Think Goodfellas meets Casino.  We were drinking with a local chick later and she said its looks like the inside of a whore house.  Pretty spot on.  Didn't know anything about the Dessert Room and the waiter didn't mention it - but we were drunk as fuck so he might have been trying to get us the hell out of the there.

Years ago we would go to Tampa and spend most of the time in Clearwater.  That's a good spot.  There is a crab place called Crabby Bills in St. Pete that was fun if you like to drink beer and pick boiled crabs.

 

Of course you have Mons Venus, and there is a Hard rock Casino near downtown.. I didn't go, but a few others went and they said it was fun.  One of them won $800 so he was pretty happy.

Great stuff. Thanks!

[Mack Tripper 696]

On 10/11/2019 at 2:40 PM, Saint Austin said:

I'll be staying near the Tampa convention center in a couple weeks. Any other good recommendations near there?

Columbia, which is a Spanish restaurant in Ybor City. Get the salad that everyone gets as an appetizer. They also claim to have invented the Cuban sandwich. Whether that's true or not, it is pretty damn good. 

Cigar City Brewing is worth a visit. 

Edited October 18, 2019 by Mack Tripper