So our friends came over from Orlando, one of the most stale non-descript cities in Florida, to Tampa this past weekend.  I gave them a few options like Frenchy’s Stone Crab Festival or the Tampa Food Truck Rally or the Fly Bar and Restaurant.

They chose the Fly Bar.  Good choice, although I wouldn’t know this until afterwards because this was going to be a field trip for me, too.

The Fly Bar (a sister restaurant of one running in San Francisco) is set on Franklin St., almost to downtown Tampa.  Out its front door are red brick streets that make the area feel residential, not corporate.  We got reservations, although I don’t think we needed them.  The demographics for the place was truly eclectic from the 60 year couple to the 20 somethings tatted up.

The inside of the restaurant is as eclectic as the people.  The walls are lined with paintings done by Sean Spoto, a regionally acclaimed artist.  (I really want one of his paintings.  Just have to come up with a couple grand.  Details.)  There’s also a great bar area, too.

The food is solid.  Not bad.  Not great.  Just solid.  My wife got the fish tacos.  It was good but I’m not a fan of fried fish tacos.  Our friends got the shrimp and grits.  It would have been thrown out the window in Charleston and Savannah, but it was decent for Tampa.  And we all split the panko crusted goat cheese.  This was good but very rich.

Lastly, the beer and wine selection was phenomenal.  A lot of local brews on the menu.  And the drink selection was wide spread with multiple choices.  There wasn’t a bad choice on the menu.

I’m going back…

Have any of ya’ll went?  Thoughts?

If the owner or manager of the Fly Bar reads this little of Florida blog, I would be interested in doing an interview with you.  If you will leave a comment in this blog post or click this link to contact me, we’ll talk!