Beacon Tampa Rooftop Lounge — Restaurant in Tampa

We left here feeling frustrated about our experience. There were a couple areas we felt Beacon/JW missed the mark:

(1) For an ‘upscale’ cocktail bar, the hospitality that should come with that is not really here. From the moment we checked in until we left, it almost felt like we were inconveniencing everyone. When we first checked-in, we were taken outside, and then into an overflow seating room which was totally disconnected from the restaurant. We asked if we could sit outside instead, where they sternly mentioned they were ‘fully committed’ and could not accommodate. After asking about another table, this time inside, they agreed move us to a table in the main bar area which was fine. However, we could not help but notice not one other party was seated outside, and by the time we left, all the tables outside along the windows outside were empty. Quite frankly, the whole restaurant was half empty when we finished our drinks around 8:30p on a Saturday night — far from ‘fully committed’. I would never ask to move tables if I notice the restaurant is busy, but it simply wasn’t and never got busier. This is just one example, but, most of the staff we interacted with were just cold and uninviting. I’m not sure what they think this place is, but it created an atmosphere that I wouldn’t really want to return to.

(2) The parking situation was a bit of a nightmare. I called the hotel in the morning to confirm my reservation and ask about parking, which they said that there is complementary 3 hr parking for guests of Beacon — awesome. However, when we arrived, that was not the case. Upon arrival, we were informed that since it was an ‘event’ night (I guess something going on at Amalie), and that the $50 parking charge was only 50% off for Beacon guests. We don’t mind paying to park, but it would’ve been nice to know this change to the policy in advance, as we would’ve made other arrangements (Uber/etc.). I told the Beacon staff about this miscommunication, but they really didn’t care to hear it. I feel like if you’re going to open your lots to ‘event’ guests, you shouldn’t pass that burden onto guests/patrons of the hotel. Anyways, to make matters worse, when the I picked up my car from the valet, the inside of my car was soaked! They kept the drivers side window open and must’ve had the car outside during a pretty heavy storm. They offered to get me a towel, but, at that point, I was just ready to leave, so I drove home with completely wet car interior.

Overall, Beacon has the potential to be a fun rooftop cocktail bar/lounge, but our experience here was pretty bad to...

From my personal experience, the place is a BIG SCAM!!!!I don’t even know where to start!!! First of all when you go to reserve a table online, they highlight dress code that is NOT applied!! Secondly they have a section in the booking page that it’s for special requests and that also NOT applied. We were celebrating birthday, I asked a couple things and nothing was done. Customer service 0.0 servers poorly trained in conduct, quite dismissive, rude, short in communication!! We asked about recommendations on drinks and appetizers and all we heard, is how refreshing and rainbow colors came down from heaven! Anyway, drinks came, the best I can say awful! We barely made 2 sips out of them and that just to realize what just happened! The appetizer came after we ordered the surf & turf dumplings, omg it was awful as well. 0 flavor, not to mention the lobster was almost non existent. As we try to decide what we are doing and we try to laugh it off, here comes a crew of girls and tv cameras taking video shots for advertisement of the place. Which ok whatever, until the moment that almost half of the crew were pretty much almost on our table, and in order to do what they had to do they literally pushed our chairs from our table like nobody was sitting there!!!! Rude and dismissive and not even one apology! The funny part is while they advertising some girls there, they have no clue of WHO actually was the person that they were so rude trying to celebrate her birthday!!!!! The place is a joke, presented as some kind of fancy rooftop experience with class and trust me none of this is true! I’m only appreciative of one of the employees that understood what just had transpired and she didn’t apply charges since literally we barely sipped the drink and had one bite from one dumpling! We barely sat there for about 35 to 40 min. So we left, picked a Mexican restaurant across the street and FUN FACT, guess who came to eat there after an hour or so! The girls from the crew that took place to the beacon!! Hilarious!! All I have to say the place is overrated in the media, and if you are looking for quality, you better choose somewhere else to go!! The environment was ok, the view if anything takes one star but that’s...

Visited Beacon tonight at the roof of the JW Marriott Tampa Waterside. We did make reservations because we heard it can get busy. You check in with a host in the lobby and take a separate elevator directly up. They do have a dress code so make sure to look out for that, although a member of our party was told to take off his hat,several guests were seen with hats on in the venue. Valet parking is complimentary for 3 hours if you validate your ticket which is nice!

As far as drinks, they were great! We had a couple rounds. I want to point out though, we did the "table side old fashioned experience" but it was quite disappointed.... It's $35 for an old fashioned with Brugal Rum ($35 for the whole bottle in the store). You can pick your syrup and bitters. The server then pushes a themed cart to your table (which was cool looking). But the big disappointment comes when they just pour your drink over ice and hand it to you. The drink was premade at the bar and the server literally just pours it. How is that an experience worth basically double the price of the normal old fashioned on the menu? I was expecting it to be made on the cart in front of us, now THAT would be a "table side experience". If you opt for smoke they will smoke it at the table, that's it. Somehow, smoke is worth a $5 upcharge? Just make it at the table and include the smoke for $30. I would recommend to just order the old fashioned off the menu and save $12.

Espresso martini was good, but wasn't very cold. Server asked if we wanted Bailey's in it which we agreed but it was never mentioned that was an upcharge.

Food we ordered the 5 cheeses which was a GREAT portion. I was very impressed. Ahi tuna was great, but a couple bites were extremely spicy and others not at all. Bao buns good. Flatbread was great!!

Service was excellent I really enjoyed our server. The bar itself was so cool and really themed well. The views were amazing. Come around 530 or whenever sunset may be that time of year. Totally worth it. Recommendation for JW - add heaters above the outside tables for the...