Panitas Bakery — Restaurant in Tampa

While I appreciate every culinary journey, my recent dining experience at Panita’s fell short of expectations. The lack of initial greeting set a regrettable tone, which carried throughout the service. Though our server, reportedly auxiliary staff, was present, her knowledge about the menu was limited.

Our orders - an arepa with pernil, sandwich with pernil, cachapa with beef, a side of fries, and two fruit drinks - arrived inconsistently. The fruit juices emerged as the solitary highlight, vibrant and fresh. Water was conspicuously absent until prompted, and the main dishes arrived haphazardly.

Regrettably, the arepa was incorrect, featuring beef instead of the expected pernil. By the time our sandwich was served, due to an oversight in order placement, it was an underwhelming afterthought, rescued somewhat by the commendable freshness of the bread.

The cachapa was disappointingly heavy on the cheese and sparse on taste. The fries, while competently cooked, suffered from a lack of seasoning.

The absent response to constructive feedback, coupled with long waits throughout, compromised our overall dining experience. The rationale that our server was just a helper and not truly part of the staff was unexpected and frankly, uncompelling.

The bright, refreshing fruit juice indicated potential, yet the cuisine and service need to...

I've always driven past Panitas and wanted to try this place. We walked here for lunch after pickleball today. We were seated right away and given menus to order from, everything sounds delicious here, it was really hard for us to choose what we wanted to try.

For our entrees, we tried their yucca fries and two Cachapa Pernil y Queso. We loved what we ordered, they were made fresh and so delicious. The cachapa is a corn pancake stuffed with cheese, onion, and pulled pork. It was sooo good. I've never had something like it. The yucca fries were delicious and came with two dipping sauces. Our friends tried two of their Arepas and loved them.

We were eyeing their desserts the entire time we ate our lunch and knew we had to try some. We tried their Cuatro Leche cake which was recommended by our waitress, it was delicious. We also tried a dessert that was flan on top of cake, so good.

The decor is simple, you can tell their priority is good food. It has ample seating and parking for customers. The food did take a little bit of time to come out but it was worth the wait.

All the food here was so unique and flavorful. You can tell they really care about their food. The wait staff was super friendly, and everything was made to order and fresh. Panitas is a hidden gem and we WILL be back to try everything else on their...

My sister invited me to lunch and with no real plans, we stopped at a little place she had been curious about: Panitas, on Lincoln & Spruce. We both ordered a Cuban Sandwich. In Tampa, we KNOW our Cuban sandwiches, there is tremendous history behind it. It is comfort food for many of us. THIS IS NOT A CUBAN SANDWICH!!! If you are offering it on your menu, for $10 (!!), get it right. The bread was not Cuban bread. The "cheese" was that yellow plastic fake cheese, there was one very thin slice of commercial ham, no salami, chunks of pork, globs of mayonnaise and mustard (notice the white globs in both pictures, it fell on the plate).👎 Upon leaving, much to my sister's disapproval, I let them know what a Cuban sandwich is. They were not interested and simply told me, "that is how we make it here". Well! Then call it something else! A South American Club, A Fake Cuban, but don't call it what it is certainly not. Wa-Wa's would have...