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Oh god yes. For crying out loud, Tampa/St. Pete does NOT have a food scene. I live here and I KNOW the food sucks!
I visit family in the Tampa Bay area every year during the holidays. Chains, chains, freaking chains everywhere! Outside of that, the seafood scene is disappointing - mostly fried for the tourists to say "OMG I'm eating seafood on the coast!" within their comfort zone. I notice this problem in a lot of other tourist-heavy coastal areas as well. I'll say, there are some diamonds in the rough, but you really have to look for them.
I visit family in the Tampa Bay area every year during the holidays. Chains, chains, freaking chains everywhere! Outside of that, the seafood scene is disappointing - mostly fried for the tourists to say "OMG I'm eating seafood on the coast!" within their comfort zone. I notice this problem in a lot of other tourist-heavy coastal areas as well. I'll say, there are some diamonds in the rough, but you really have to look for them.
My experience suggests that kids under the age of 8 just don’t travel well. They have short attention spans, get restless, squirm, and act out. And that holds even for things like short bus rides and commuter rail trips, never mind long haul train and bus and flying trips. You don’t do them or your fellow travelers any favors by having them travel this way.
Just drive when you take them, so they can be occupied and belted in and well fed — and nobody else has to suffer their behavior. Or leave them home with a sitter.
Couldn't agree more! Plus if they're really young they won't remember the trip anyway.
I visit family in the Tampa Bay area every year during the holidays. Chains, chains, freaking chains everywhere! Outside of that, the seafood scene is disappointing - mostly fried for the tourists to say "OMG I'm eating seafood on the coast!" within their comfort zone. I notice this problem in a lot of other tourist-heavy coastal areas as well. I'll say, there are some diamonds in the rough, but you really have to look for them.
Bern's Steak House is a great place for wine lovers but the food is extremely overrated. You will always find Bern's listed as a top wine list restaurant but you will never find Bern's on any list of top places for its food. This is why it's always winning awards for its wine list but never for its food.
If you can find great Thai, Japanese, Mexican, African, Indian, New American, Farm to Table, cuisine etc. in Tampa/St. Pete, your standards are way WAY too low. I don't live in Tampa for the restaurants. I live here for the winters and the cheaper housing (and other) costs. But a "foodie paradise" it most certainly is not. People here love chain restaurant food, and most independent restaurants go out of business quickly.
The last time I went to a new, highly-rated-on-Yelp, "Austin-style" taco joint in Tampa, they were dunking the tortillas in water and putting Old Bay seasoning on them (which of course were from a bag).
That should explain everything about the Tampa/St. Pete food scene right there.
Bern's Steak House is a great place for wine lovers but the food is extremely overrated. You will always find Bern's listed as a top wine list restaurant but you will never find Bern's on any list of top places for its food. This is why it's always winning awards for its wine list but never for its food.
I guess I can agree on the food. By no means is it bad, but it's not world shatteringly good either. It's just a good solid meal. Bern's shines in its wine list, as you mentioned, and in the excellent service, with one server never having more than two tables.
It's also just an interesting place vibe-wise, with a "love it or hate it" decor, all the different dining rooms and no windows. I also love the concept of the separate "dessert room"
Quote:
The last time I went to a new, highly-rated-on-Yelp, "Austin-style" taco joint in Tampa, they were dunking the tortillas in water and putting Old Bay seasoning on them (which of course were from a bag).
That should explain everything about the Tampa/St. Pete food scene right there.
The more a city brags about its restaurant scene, the less I am impressed with the food quality. The food scene is absolutely no reason to visit anywhere.
This is a very good point. A high number of restaurants per capita does not necessarily translate to good quality food.
Awesome, I am glad to hear about others collecting magnets, too. Unfortunately our new refrigerator is not magnetic, so we bought these really cool framed magnet display boards and have one in our kitchen and one in our family room, each with about 40 magnets.
Yes, magnets are fun.... I have far too many now to fit them on the refrigerator.
We had a thing where I used to work. Anyone in the office who took a trip brought back key chains from wherever they went. Some people amassed quite a collection and kept them in their offices.
I now have key chains lying around my house from all sorts of places, including a bunch of extras I brought back from London.
Interesting that someone else mentioned rocks. I too pick up rocks when I travel and put them in my garden, but mostly from the US and Canada. I didn't bring any back from Europe.
I have a rock with fossils of sea creatures from Red Rock Canyon outside of Vegas, and I have a rock I stepped on in the Gulf of Mexico when in Florida that looks volcanic. Pink granite from Vermont, too.
An infrequent traveler can be spotted a mile away... Which makes them easier to dodge, get around or ignore totally.
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