Columbia Restaurant
| Address: | 2117 E 7th Ave, Tampa, FL 33605, USA |
| Phone: | +1 813-248-4961 |
| Site: | columbiarestaurant.com |
| Rating: | 4.2 |
| Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–11PM 11AM–11PM 11:30AM–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 6
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Jennifer Duffy
Overall, this place is a great experience, I would definitely recommend it. The building is beautiful, the sangria is really good, and the food is very tasty. They started us off right with a loaf of warm, crusty Cuban bread and butter, which I could have eaten all day. Then, as weird as the 1905 salad sounds, it is a must, not only because its delicious but they make it table side so you can see the magic happen. The Spanish Bean Soup was also really good. For dinner, my mom and I had fish (she had salmon and I had the pompano) and both were excellent, including the side of yellow rice, and my fiance had a steak which he said was pretty good but not exceptional. For dessert, we split the coconut ice cream, the churros, and the bread pudding and all were good, but the churros with the guava sauce were my favorite. I felt the same about the service as many other reviewers do, it could be better. Everyone was incredibly nice (especially our waiter and the manager), but it was slow, we waited a long time between courses and for the waiter to come back to check on us. It was disorganized and discombobulated. For instance, the food runner dropped our food off on a tray in front of our table and said someone will be right with us, so we pretty much stared at our food until our waiter came around to actually give it to us. It was odd. Huge props to them though, because they make a lot of stuff (salad, sangria, etc.) table side and thats a lot of extra work. I had a great time and enjoyed everything overall, but be prepared for some weirdness and slowness with the service. If you can chill for a while and enjoy the rest of it, it will still be an awesome time.
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Nicholas Feagans
It is obvious that this place is highly regarded, however I had a less than favorable experience and can only report on that. The good part of this restaurant is the location and the history of it. Lots of cool decorations that make you feel like you are stepping back in time... Almost like a museum. The other side of this is the food and service. I see a lot of reviews saying that they received excellent service, so my experience could be isolated, but my waitress was not attentive at all. We waited for long periods of time with empty glasses and she would walk by and say she was going to grab us a refill, but we still had to wait for a while before she would come back. She also forgot to deliver our appetizer and had to go put the order back in after we had already been waiting for a long time. The food was also not as great as I was hoping for. I ordered based on reviews and suggestions and just what sounded good to me. The deviled crab was good, but the snapper was a different story. It looked.... awful. A giant plate of brown sludge with some onions and green peppers. The snapper was cooked well, but the entire dish was just not something I would ever order again. I didnt try the food that my brother ordered, but it also looked like a plate of brown and he said that the rice was undercooked/crunchy. If there had just been one thing wrong, I could handle getting over it and trying again, but I think that the multitude of things that were bad will keep me from going back or recommending it to others.
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Luccia R
Dinner at the historical landmark in Ybor City/Tampa family owned since 1905. The interior of the restaurant is unique with huge chandeliers and walls looking like outdoor exteriors in several dining rooms and a dining balcony. The corridors have many interesting historical photographs from early days of the restaurants history. The wine cellar is also a pleasure to see from the corridor. Outside on the street are beautiful painted tiles, a must see. We shared as appetizer fried calamari which was a little too oily and not so tasty. I wish we ordered another appetizer instead we noticed other people ordered at a neighbor table. My husband ate and enjoyed Snapper Alicante with fire roasted green pepper slices, almonds, and 2 jumbo shrimp. Only minor point was it tasted too salty. I ate Paella Valencia with mussels, clams, shrimp, scallops and chicken. Very fresh and delicious. For dessert we enjoyed a fantastic Key Lime Pie consisting of only a few ingredients (as it should be). Probably best tasting family recipe of the key lime pie outside of The Keys. See my attached photos. This restaurant is packed on a Friday evening at 6:30 PM. When we left at 8 PM there was a huge crowd inside and outside waiting to get in. I recommend reservations in advance. A memorable dining and visual experience youll cherish for a long time. Our server Ramon M. was great and professional.
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Lindsey Diniz
I made a reservation for 8:30 PM on Friday night. Arrived about 8 and checked in. Was told they would call when seating was ready. Went to the bar and paid $10 each for drinks. Returned about 9 when still no call. The foyer was so crowded it was scary. In an accident situation we would have been trampled. We were told they were seating the people first that were there for the show. Now 9:15. A hostess takes us outside around a corner where we are seated in a bar with loud music. I protested the seating and was informed this was a historic part. A manager I think came and said we should have asked for patio seating when the reservation was made. How would I know? After another 10 minute wait with no water or bread we walked out totally disappointed and disgusted. Never again. Not worth it. The restaurant down the way, Carmines I think, seated and served us good food with short wait. Columbia not worth it though I had built it up to my grandson about the history.
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Sheannette Juarbe
I was very disappointed with my Cuban sandwiches .I had looked online to find a really good place to buy a Cuban sandwich in Ybor city and the Columbia Restaurant came up so I was pretty excited to eat this sandwich thinking it was going be one of the best sandwiches I ever had but no that wasnt the case it was the absolute opposite and I paid $21.00 for 2 sandwiches that we had to throw away. I had ordered two Cuban sandwiches to go and I told the woman I was giving my order to to not put any mustard or pickles but to leave the lettuce, tomatoes and mayo on the sandwiches. It took almost 1 hour to get my Cuban sandwiches. When they did finally give me my sandwiches I went to my car to go to my next destination. I took my Cuban sandwich out and it had nothing but the meat and cheese on it, that was super dissapointing, but it doesnt end there unfortunately. I took a bite and the meat tasted old or microwaved and just everything about it was not good.
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Terri Kramer
The great: the food was fabulous! I had a snapper special and it was cooked perfectly. The good: the waiter was good and would have been under the great category if I was offered fresh pepper on my delicious 1905 starter salad. We received constant refills on our drinks without asking and were asked if we wanted more bread....oh yeah! I felt that he was very attentive and paced the meal well. The bad: the host station was on the rude side (I had a reservation). The employees were congregating in the doorways for social hour and not letting customers pass through...like 3 or 4 deep having personal conversations. Employees would make customers move out of the way or get run over when walking down a narrow aisle.....It felt like they were doing me a favor by letting me be there. I will go back to this restaurant as I have never experienced "the bad" prior to today but if I experience "the bad" again then I can assure you that it will be my last time.
