What to order at Berns? (Tampa: attorneys, house, live)

[RosalieB]

My family and I will be visiting Tampa next week and we have reservations at Berns! Does anyone have suggestions on what we should order? My husband and the kids will be getting steaks, and I'm more inclined to order fish. Should we stick with the French onion soup and regular salad, or upgrade? I'm thinking maybe we'll just share one appetizer -- any suggestions? And of course, there's the important matter of dessert, as the dessert room sounds amazing. Yelp seems to think we should order macadamia nut sundaes. What do you think? What's your standard order at Berns?

[BucFan]

the last time I was there I just had a Caesars salad. A family member was paying and I didn't want him to shell out a lot for all of us.

I was miseable in there because of the loudness of the place. Couldn't carry on a normal conversation - probably chose the worse possible day where the place was packed.

Hope it's better for you.

[Raquel_T]

Steak.....lol

[wizrap]

OMG what a great restaurant!!! It's been awhile but we always got the filet mignon--you order steak by the inch. We always got the standard soup and salad--the veggies are from their garden out back.

Everything I ever got at The Dessert Room was amazing. I always had it to myself--husband could never make room.

[LKJ1988]

Get a sterk.

[spbbound]

My recommendation would be one of two options:

1) If two people are going to be eating steak, order a chateau briand (filet, fancy name) in a size that feeds two; you get a better overall steak and they just cut it in half at the table.

2) or, try the 100 day aged delmonico, aka ribeye. I've never had a ribeye I liked more than a filet, as I'm not a fan of fattier steaks, but Berns 100 day aged delmonico is incredible. Keep in mind it is not their normal menu delmonico; that one I dislike as much as any other ribeye, but the 100 day I'd order over a filet, including their filets, every time.

As far as salads go, your steak comes with the french onion and house salad, so most people don't even need an app order. I find the ingredients of the house salad to taste incredibly fresh, so I never opt to swap it with a caesar, etc.

Of course, other than the food, unfortunately I don't care much for the experience in recent decades (!). As BucFan said, loud. Berns is like ten rooms of soho attorneys trying to out boast each other. The only room that I like is the Rhone Room, which is the unusual one in the middle of the restaurant which has a backlit series of pictures of the Rhone River; I ask to be seated in that one when making reservations. Service I've found to be 50/50 most of the time; you can get a great server, or you can get a condescending one that questions your choices or gets snobby about things, and beverage refills haven't been their strong suit as of late. The building, decor, etc., as has been pointed out endlessly online, looks like a brothel that was decorated in 1930. The walls and carpets seem dirty. Last but not least, mandatory paid valet and an inexplicable built in 12% tip to ensure half the customers who don't bother to read their receipts add another 20% on top of that.

[SJNE17]

that's good color. places like that can only live on reputation for so long...as the crowd who went there en masse for 1-2 decades prior consistently stops going. restaurants need to continually entice a new generation of diners.

we went to "haven" next door and it was awesome. affiliated with berns, sorta, we were told. our waiter was incredibly knowledgeable about everything on the menu and really nice guy. great service, and the food--amazing. that style of menu is not for everyone, but if you like what you see, it's worth the experience. the drink menu alone, along with a couple of small plates, makes for a great light meal for two.

Originally Posted by spbbound

My recommendation would be one of two options:

1) If two people are going to be eating steak, order a chateau briand (filet, fancy name) in a size that feeds two; you get a better overall steak and they just cut it in half at the table.

2) or, try the 100 day aged delmonico, aka ribeye. I've never had a ribeye I liked more than a filet, as I'm not a fan of fattier steaks, but Berns 100 day aged delmonico is incredible. Keep in mind it is not their normal menu delmonico; that one I dislike as much as any other ribeye, but the 100 day I'd order over a filet, including their filets, every time.

As far as salads go, your steak comes with the french onion and house salad, so most people don't even need an app order. I find the ingredients of the house salad to taste incredibly fresh, so I never opt to swap it with a caesar, etc.

Of course, other than the food, unfortunately I don't care much for the experience in recent decades (!). As BucFan said, loud. Berns is like ten rooms of soho attorneys trying to out boast each other. The only room that I like is the Rhone Room, which is the unusual one in the middle of the restaurant which has a backlit series of pictures of the Rhone River; I ask to be seated in that one when making reservations. Service I've found to be 50/50 most of the time; you can get a great server, or you can get a condescending one that questions your choices or gets snobby about things, and beverage refills haven't been their strong suit as of late. The building, decor, etc., as has been pointed out endlessly online, looks like a brothel that was decorated in 1930. The walls and carpets seem dirty. Last but not least, mandatory paid valet and an inexplicable built in 12% tip to ensure half the customers who don't bother to read their receipts add another 20% on top of that.

[TampaKaren]

For the fish, I'd recommend the Pompano, and for dessert, Bananas Foster. They have live lobster, too, but they're huge. One time, I had the fresh catch and it was prepared and served in paper. The Columbia in Ybor serves something similar, but I didn't like it so much.


Agree with BucFan that the main dining room is very noisy. You can request the Cameo room ahead of time which is s smaller room and a little more quiet (but not much).


I just remembered that one of the best meals I ever ate there was a steak sandwich at the bar.

[Concert D Major]

See, the reason they call it "Bern's" is because the menu prices are so high it'll BURN right through your wallet !

[MAniacTHW]

Originally Posted by TampaKaren

Bananas Foster.

The absolute BEST Bananas Foster is at a little place called Gino's in Forest Hills. Right off Amernia and, well... Armenia. It's behind the 711. Definitely a cool place to check out. 10006 N Armenia Ave, Tampa, FL 33612