Lower Deck — Restaurant in Tampa

Great atmosphere, absolutely no reason this place shouldn’t be successful. However…service was painfully slow, lacking in number of servers, very disappointing. I waited 20 mins at a table on the deck to even be acknowledged, to the point that I approached other patrons to see if they are servicing the deck or if I had to order at the bar, the other patrons laughed and said it just takes a very long time. I ordered the loaded fries with buffalo chicken…very, very sub par for the Three Oaks usually good quality. The chicken was hard/tough, overcooked and burnt, and did not taste like it had any buffalo sauce on it, it was not edible. The rest of it was just ok, not sure if I liked it or not. I also ordered the rancher’s cocktail from their cocktail menu. My go-to drink is vodka and lemonade so I figured this would be perfect. It’s very sour, not a fan, although I did finish the drink. Unfortunately I was not able to order a second drink due to the severe wait times in between our table being serviced. I have high hopes for this plan, and hope I can make it a regular dinner spot for my dog and me. But definitely some service, food, and drink quality issues to be worked out. I’m certain Three Oaks will handle it, as there’s no reason this spot can’t be successful.

Also, they don’t validate parking tickets. Server told me to go upstairs and have Jackson’s or AmSo validate it…so I left and paid...

We live a few blocks from the Lower Deck. While the concept is just fantastic, it falls very short of expectations. We made an open table reservation a month in advance for visiting family... The week before the reservation, I was politely called by the manager to share that my reservation had to be cancelled because they had a special event. The place is new, so I understood that there would be startup errors...no big deal... the manager kindly booked us for the next night instead. We arrived for our reservation.. were seated promptly by the awesome hostess into a lovely couch by the waters edge (for the sunset) It took a while for a server to approach...but when he did he was super friendly. He took our order and then never came back. We snapped a few pictures...and waited for our drinks...and to order food. 25 minutes later drinks still never arrived... The music was so loud at this venue... even in the open air atmosphere...couldn't even speak to a person sitting right next to you.. If I was there for a concert or to just listen to music it would be great.. but this is a social place.. a conversation sectional couch.. I love lively upbeat music...Love to people watch and mingle.. but this place is just too loud... WAYYYY TO LOUD! We saw our waiter.. he didn't look in a hurry to get to us.. So we got up and left...Such a bummer. Love the concept just not...

Avoid at All Costs! Downtown Tampa Deserves Better

What could have been a top tier bar turns out to be a chaotic, overpriced disaster. My second visit was somehow worse than the first. $25 for a basic mixed drink in a flimsy plastic cup? Feels more like a failed frat party than a real bar. Lines stretched over 30 minutes just to get a drink because they’ve only got two or three pop-up bars that can’t keep up.

To top it off, we were publicly hassled by a power tripping manager over wristbands that were never given nor even mentioned at the entrance. Two fully legal adults were accused of underage drinking due to having no wristbands, IDs were doubted, and then they called the bouncers, all for nothing. The bouncers checked and told us we were good. The entire interaction was embarrassingly unprofessional. To top it off they still didn’t give us wristbands despite being the whole point of them stopping us.

The place is very poorly run, the vibe is off, and even the crowd seemed to agree. I overheard at least six people say “this place sucks.” They weren’t wrong. Save your money and your night. Go literally...