Rumba Island Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Saint Petersburg

I love Rumba! I found it driving by almost two months ago (I wish they’d advertise more) and I was pleasantly surprised! The service has been consistently great, the bartenders are amazing (every visit I’ve sat at the bar), and the food is fresh! The stone crab is phenomenal, the chowder is delightful, the scotch bonnet mini muffins with the accompanying butter are flavorful & divine, the fried green tomatoes are delicious, the wedge salad is a fresh take on a traditional wedge, the live entertainment has always been great, the bar specials are fantastic (certain drinks are BOGO and $2.50 domestics drafts)!

I have yet to try brunch here which is on weekends until 2 PM. The hot chicken on biscuits sounds amazing and on Saturdays they have $2.00 mimosas!

The managers here are present, friendly, and seem genuinely supportive of the staff. Every staff member has been friendly, warm, personable, and professional. They remember me and welcome me every visit!

The bar extends from inside to outside, providing a unique setup that allows you to find your comfort zone. The ambience at the outside bar gives vibes of a slightly elevated tiki bar while the inside bar is more traditional to a typical bar and grill, albeit with a cool bamboo back bar wall that mirrors its outside counterpart.

On Tuesdays they have 75 cent wings, which is unheard of in this day and age. My absolute favorite item on the menu is the Oysters Manchego. They are, hands down, the best cooked (charbroiled) oysters I’ve ever had! These alone are worth a visit here, though they also have traditional raw oysters if that’s your preference!

This place is worth a stop in for the all-day happy hour for a cocktail, an appetizer or two, or for a full meal! The bottom line is that the food is house-made, the seafood is fresh, the produce is healthy and fresh, and Oysters Manchego should be a must...

This place has potential, but it’s far from reaching it. Arrive 10 minutes before 5 to be told it’s a 45 minute wait. There was a very rude hostess who told my group to “wait outside and not clog the entrance”, as we were standing up against the wall. There are no seats inside to wait. This is Florida and there is a large elderly population. To have expectations that everyone is going to wait outdoors in the heat for 45+ minutes is absurd, and to have a hostess speak to my group in such a manner was uncalled for.

Beyond that, our wait was upwards of 1 hour and we were seated at a dirty high top and not provided with menus or napkins/silverware. Our server, Mike did the best he could with the hand he was dealt but simply put, these servers need better support. He was kind and courteous throughout our dining experience.

The idea of putting sauces in spoons for a group of people to share for appetizers is not intelligent. There’s not enough sauce in a spoon for a bowl of calamari, comes off as stingy. Next, entrees. My partner ordered a pineapple rum chicken and was served a piece of chicken with no sauce and some pineapple sprinkled on top. He inquired on where the sauce was and if perhaps they forgot to put it on the chicken. Our server kindly inquired to be told that the owner came in a week ago and took the rum sauce out of the recipe yet failed to inform anyone of this change. The manager was as professional as possible in the manner and provided a new dish and apologized. Unfortunately, the dish took quite a long time to come out and the rest of the table had already finished and boxed leftovers. We were at this restaurant for close to 3 hours in total.

The food tastes pretty darn good, but with all of the aforementioned said, this place has many kinks to iron out before I would consider returning. Sorely disappointed in...

I was so excited to finally go see what has taken so long to get open. I know that COVID put a big damper on things for them when they began construction some 2-years ago, but I was anxiously waiting and looking forward to their opening. I would like to write a nice review, but unfortunately all I have to review is.. well.. nothing... A friend and I went there last evening. Two very nice gals met us at the door as hosts. We turned left as we went in the door and headed to the bar area for a beer and to check out the menu and order some dinner.l We sat at a bar table, and sat, and sat, and sat... There were several servers around that just ignored us. Finally we got up and went to the bar for service. The bartenders were busy at the other end of the bar on their phones, and they, too, glanced up at us and then ignored us. My friend said, "I hope this is good this time, because I will never be back." I replied, "Then why don't we just go somewhere else?" He agreed and we left and went over to Miller's Ale House just about a mile away where we had a beer and a nice meal. I have always said, I would rather have mediocre food and excellent service than have excellent food and poor service. In this case we had NO food (or drink) and NO service. They aren't ready to be open yet. I think it is time to close, restaff, and retrain, and then try again.. I may be back in 6-months or so to try it again, but maybe not.. There are too many other good choices in St. Petersburg that actually have service. Sorry for the negative review, but it's a fair assessment of our experience. (I would have given the experience only 1-star, but I added a star because they have done such a nice job on renovating the outside of...