Chanta — Restaurant in Tampa

That was absolutely the worst dining experience I’ve ever had. I genuinely regret not taking pictures of the food just so I could attach them here. Every dish that came out looked unappetizing - that’s actually why I didn’t take photos in the first place. But by the time dessert arrived, I realized just how bad everything was and really wished I had documented it. At that point, I knew I had to write this review to warn others.

We started with the Ciuperci (stuffed mushrooms). It was literally three small, sad mushrooms sitting on a little drizzle of arugula. That was supposed to be a $12 appetizer. What a joke.

Still, we were excited for the pasta. We ordered the Saccottini Vanessa, which on the menu says it comes with fresh truffle. There were no fresh truffles - maybe a few teeny tiny flakes that could have been truffle, but they were so small and thin you couldn’t tell what they were. It was mostly just a drizzle of truffle oil. Honestly, I’m not even convinced the flakes were truffle at all because they had zero flavor. And that dish was $34.

Originally, we considered ordering the Bolognese, but it was $28. Seriously? When Il Pastaio in Beverly Hills offers theirs for $25? Okay, maybe comparing it to a restaurant in another city isn’t entirely fair - but Chanta’s pricing is even higher than Olivia and On Swann, which are among the most upscale spots in Tampa. That’s just bizarre.

Anyway, back to the pasta we did get - flavorless, disappointing, and not worth the price at all. The pasta itself was cooked fine, but the only reason we ordered it was for the fresh truffle, which was nonexistent.

Then came dessert. We ordered the raspberry fluff, which, according to the menu, was supposed to have raspberry jam. It came with blueberry jam. No one mentioned this change. The server didn’t warn us, and honestly, she seemed pretty uninformed about the menu overall. When we asked basic questions - like what was in the sauce - she said she had to check with the kitchen. It wasn’t like we were asking anything complicated. We quickly realized she didn’t know the menu at all and didn’t want to bother asking further.

The ambiance? Cheap. From the sugar packets to the to-go boxes - everything felt low-budget and careless. Our bill came out to $125 for just one appetizer, two pastas, and a dessert. No drinks, no alcohol. The prices were outrageous for the experience we had.

To top it all off, the table next to us had someone who appeared to be a manager casually conducting a job interview - right in the dining area. For a place with fine dining prices, this was unacceptable. And honestly, I’m not surprised that on a Sunday evening - Father’s Day, no less - they were almost empty. I thought maybe it was a hidden gem, but after the dining experience, I completely understand why it wasn’t busy.

Overall, it was a terrible experience, and the menu misinformation paired with the pricing felt like a scam. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone.

UPD [after the response from the restaurant]: Thanks for confirming everything I wrote - including how little you care about honest feedback.

Let’s set the record straight: No, we did not finish all the dishes. We left most of the pasta and the dessert untouched. We only ate the three-mushroom appetizer because we were starving - not because it was remotely good. Spinning that into “satisfaction” is just dishonest. I called out multiple discrepancies in your menu(like the wrong jam and the missing fresh truffle)and you didn’t even bother addressing them. How convenient! And no, comparing your prices to top-tier restaurants isn’t “irrelevant.” It highlights how absurdly inflated your pricing is for what you actually deliver. You’re charging more than some of the best spots in Beverly Hills while serving bland food and sugar packets that look like they’ve been sitting around since the ’90s.

I don’t care how many positive reviews you have - I was a paying customer too. Trying to dismiss my experience as “venting” just proves how unwilling you are to take real...

This was a unique and great experience for us here in Florida. My husband and I live in Orlando but we had few things to take care of in Tampa and accidentally we found this lovely restaurant, "Chanta". We have been very pleasantly impressed...it's absolutely beautifully decorated inside and they also have a nice terrace to sit outside. The food is extraordinarily delicious. They have different kind of great European dishes and also Romanian traditional food. If you happen to be a veritable Romanian, ohhh, you will LOVE the food, it's even better than you remember it from home. If you happen to be an American or any non-Romanian foreigner, you will fall in love with the food right there, on the spot. The SAUSAGES are home-made, made "in-house" based on old, authentic Transylvanian recipes and they are so delicious, that they are literally "to-die-for" (unless of course, you are a respectable gourmand Vampire, thinking they are so delicious, they are literally "to-live -for", lovely enough to delight yourself for few more centuries). Another Romanian delicacy you can enjoy at "Chanta" are the famous-one-of-a-kind MITITEI (which we suggest you try first, before anything else, the meat is phenomenal), The Romanian traditional SOUPS and fabulous SARMALUTZE are something any guest visiting 'Chanta" should absolutely try....And my favorite Romanian (and not only) dessert PAPANASHI is something you will come back for... It's very difficult to find authentic "papanashi" outside of Romania so it was truly a delightful surprise. So the restaurant looks very chic and very clean, the food is so delicious that will bring Romania and Transylvania to your mind more than you can imagine but....on top of all that, we absolutely loved the people who own and run this restaurant. It 's a family-owned restaurant (very lovely family I might add). It was our first time in Tampa and our first time in "Chanta" and they have been all extremely nice and friendly and attentive with us. It was such a wonderful experience. Did we just finish our lunch and went back to Orlando, you might ask? Yes, of course. But only after we ordered "to go" another platter of "MITITEI, SAUSAGES and CHIFTELUTE, oh my!" (in that order)... We definitely recommend this restaurant to anybody who enjoys savory food. As for us, we will be back for more on our next...

First time dining here upon recommendation by friends. There were 6 of us dining. The atmosphere is great and the venue nice and cozy. I give the food 4 stars based on the comments of the other 5 in our party. I feel that I cannot review my own meal as I ordered one of the specialties items and was informed they had sold out of my selection - it was 5:30 pm. I found it difficult to understand selling out of a specialty item at so early in the evening. That being said, as mentioned, the other 5 in the party raved about their choices: the schnitzel; goulash; and a couple of pasta dishes. Rather than the smoked sausage platter that I wanted, the Romanian sausage platter was recommended and I selected that. As a starter, I chose the shrimp and fried calamari appetizer with fried polenta. The appetizer provided an ample supply of food and with the very light breading, was very good; however, from the description, I certainly expected more than just 2 small shrimp in the dish - but again, as stated, this was very tasty. On to the sausage platter - the sausage may have been very good for those familiar to how they should taste but I just couldn't enjoy them. At this point I felt the overall experience was definitely better than average and would have no hesitation to come back and try a different item from the menu. Then.... came the bill. First of all, we all felt that we had made it pretty clear that we were 3 couples and wanted 3 separate checks - that didn't happen as one check was presented. With little time to waste as we had tickets to the Straz, we decided to just split the bill evenly. That completed we all were signing our checks and completing the tip portion when it was discovered an automatic 20% tip had been added. Now I have no problem with that procedure but I do have a problem with not being notified that a tip had been automatically added. Not sure if this is the policy for all checks regardless of the size of the party or for parties of 6+, but in any event I do believe it is appropriate to be informed. I didn't see any mention on the menu but even if it was there and verbal reminder should be routine. Once we realized, we all erased our submitted tip as it would have resulted in a minimum 40% total tip. Unacceptable procedure...