Oak & Ola — Restaurant in Tampa

My husband and I, booked a table to celebrate his birthday. What resulted was astonishing, and not in the best light. We were told that there was approximately 10-15 minutes wait for our seating and that we can wait at the bar. 10 minutes passed by, then 20, then 40. We were approaching an hour wait and were getting extremely frustrated to the point that we were preparing to leave.

The single greatest saving grace of the establishment that we’ve experienced, was meeting the owner. He was apologetic and extremely understanding. He went out in search of a solution and came back with a result. Honestly, this was the highlight of the establishment, with regards to service. Afterwards we had several mix-ups with our food that were rectified. But what surprised us and left an impression was that no birthday dessert was offered. Only after speaking to a second waiter were we told we’d definitely be provided with that, but unfortunately the damage had been done. We were already leaving and took it to go, only to toss it since you can’t really hold gelato in a cardboard container on the ride home, as we weren’t given utensils to eat it with either. Overall, our best service experience was with the owner who you can tell, really cares and gives it his maximum effort.

The pizza was tasty, especially the mushroom. The crust was perfect and the toppings sufficient. The octopus was good but I definitely felt it didn’t go along with the rest of the meal which included sausage and beans. The Onglet was good as well, but it came cut in sections. Secondly the garnish of beets didn’t compliment it. Would have been better just to bring out a bare steak.

We managed to look again on the site and noticed a lot of the pictures of meals, we didn’t see on the actual menu. Overall, the effort of the owner to improve our night, was the single element that saved our review from completely tearing into the establishment.

Service definitely needs to be improved on drastically. We asked for our food to be brought out by preparedness, but only got our main dishes as well as the wine, about an hour after making our orders. Despite being asked routinely if there’s anything else we’d like to have brought out. Only later into our evening were we told that our main dish orders would be placed. There is definite room for improvement, but there’s hope, since the owner cares and actively...

Was in town from Ohio for a work event and came to see chef Anne and boy, does this place not disappoint. The staff are extremely friendly and knowledgeable, the atmosphere and music are perfect for being right off the water, and the food is to die for. We ordered quite a few dishes to share between the table, and it's almost impossible to pick a favorite.

As a person who has never cared for Brussel sprouts, I would highly recommend them from this restaurant. The Dijon cream mixed with the sharpness of the pickled red onion is a winning combination.

The French onion soup is better than any other version of this that I've had even in top restaurants across Europe. A lot of French onion soups lack any crunch and try to hide a watery flavor underneath a lot of cheese. Chef Anne manages to retain the crunch of the croutons, and highlights the quality of the Gruyere by not using a blend or covering it up with a swiss cheese.

I hope my mom doesn't read this part, but the Zucchini bread and deviled eggs far surpass what I've grown up with, while still keeping a "homemade" feeling to them.

I would highly highly recommend getting both the sweet potato hash and the smoked salmon hash these were probably the majority favorites at our table and the bread pudding french toast is the perfect finisher.

My personal favorite, however, was the chorizo gravy and biscuits. I've had a lot of chorizo throughout my life and its typically my go to morning protein if I'm eating brunch or breakfast out, but I've never had anything like this before. The gravy and meat texture was perfect and it was a good mix of rich, but spicy. The server mentioned they used to use cornbread instead of biscuits with this dish, and I can only imagine how well the slight sweetness of the cornbread would play with the spiciness of the chorizo. Overall a wonderful experience and I hope to...

I’ve never been to Tampa before but heard from a few friends that the Aramark was a must check out. I came solo and wanted to explore all that the wide open space and cafeteria concept that was laid out. After perusing the different menus from the different restaurants, I decided that I would save the cafeteria style for the next day when my family arrived and find a bar to sit at since I was alone. I reached the edge of Aramark, headed toward the water and happened upon Oak and Ola. I walked in and was greeted by a very friendly hostess who told me the bar was open seating, perfect! I sattled up at the bar and was greeted by the bartender pretty quickly with water. He was very kind and walked me through the menu, a bit of the history and the inspiration behind the kitchen while preparing water and my wine. I felt comfortable and was excited to try a few things. I started with the Tuna Tartare, which was delightful. The softness of the tuna mixed with the crunch of the “chip” and the flavors of the aioli in combination of the tuna…VERY yummy. While yummy, I was still hungry. The bartender, recommended the Albondigas, fire roasted Spanish meatballs that were both savory and a little sweet. Again, delightful! I was very pleased and filled at that point. All was paired with two glasses of the Juggernaut Cab and I was one happy camper.

I did get a taste of dessert which was the sticky toffee pudding cake with toffee sauce and it was a generous portion, definitely to be split by 2, maybe 3. Not necessarily because of size but because of richness. So good!!!

I did take notice to the fact that the owner was very attentive to my neighbor guest and was making his rounds in helping to clean up and keep things looking good around the restaurant. You don’t see many managers or owners doing that, so that was interesting. All in all, a good experience...