Strandhill Public (Tampa Heights) — Restaurant in Tampa

This restaurant/pub brought me back in time to our trip to Ireland in September of 2018 where we got engaged! Strandhill Public is a brand new Irish restaurant in Tampa Heights located next to Armature Works in the bottom of the Pearl apartment building. They have the same concept in Brandon and I’m glad they decided to open a second location in Tampa! The owner is an Irishman passionate about hospitality, great food the & amazing cocktails. A lot of his dishes and & drinks were inspiration from his mother, so you already know it has to be 5 stars! From the second we walked in, we were transported to an Irish Pub with an upscale feel. The walls were decked with pictures of from the Coastal West of Ireland and immediately set the vibe for our date night.

We were greeted politely by our server, Nema and received our first round of drinks: the Fitzgerald’s Cousin. It’s a Irish gin drink with blood orange purée, lemon and rhubarb bitters. This drink was so amazing, I could have chugged 10 of them. Even if you’re not a gin drinker... just get this cocktail and it will blow your mind. Next night out I’m seriously coming back for multiple!

The appetizers were P-H-E-N-O-M-E-N-A-L seriously better appetizers than we actually had in Ireland. We order the Drunken Mussels and the 6 Minute Irish Egg. The mussels will be a must order for us everytime we visit and so will the Irish Egg. The mussels were sautéed in a garlic, white wine, chili paste broth drizzled with a curry aioli and they blew my mind. If you’re someone who thinks they don’t like curry, let these mussels change your mind! The 6 Minute Irish Egg is a slightly runny, boiled egg wrapped in house seasoned pork, panko fried then plated with a hollandaise sauce. My only regret about this egg was that I had to share it with my fiancé!

Next up was our entrees and they also didn’t disappoint! My fiancé got the traditional Irish breakfast (for dinner) since we’ve been yearning for it for the past two years. The breakfast was just like we had so many morning waking up in Ireland, except the Irish Soda Bread was different. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Irish Soda Bread in Ireland and this one blew me away! It was so fresh and had such amazing flavor. This bread is baked in house everyday & you can tell that makes all the difference! In the mood for something else, I ordered the pan seared salmon and it was prepared sooo well! The salmon and asparagus were perfectly and the black pepper mornay was amazing.

Finishing out our experience we had the Banoffe Pie and the Five Farms Irish Cream Coffee. Both were unbelievably great! The Banoffe pie is a caramel, banana mousse in a shortbread crust topped with a toasted meringue.... another item I’ll be ordering every time! We cannot wait to get back here and share this place with all of our friends! Thank you to Strandhill Public for the outstanding & authentic...

So far, the entire Tampa area seems to be complacent with poor service and this place is no exception. It's a decent joint, what I would expect out of an Irish Pub. Came in around 9:00 on a Friday night. No one to seat us, no big deal, we'll just grab a seat ourselves. There were 2 bartenders running the bar and 2-3 servers. It's busy, but not packed. No one dining, just a lot of people around the bar having drinks. After about 30 mins and noticing the servers and bartenders looking at us, whispering and seeming to be annoyed with our presence a server comes over to take our drink order. I ordered a draft beer and my wife an espresso martini. It took about another 20 mins to get our drinks as I watched the staff be more concerned with their friends at the bar than making drinks and running orders. When the server delivered our drinks we asked to order a piece of cheesecake. After about 20 mins she finally returns to let us know they can't serve it after 10 as they can only serve the late night menu. She should have known that upfront in my opinion, but regardless, it's cheesecake. Pull it out of th fridge and serve it up. Technically I ordered it before 10, but you spent so much time socializing it obviously didn't get put in immediately. OK, another round and close us out please. I still tipped 20% because I'm not a jerk, but won't be back. I'm bound and determined to find a spot in Tampa that is...

I know people claim this a lot. But honestly, THE BEST wings in Tampa - size and quality wise. My only suggestion is to adapt a dry rub like blackened or Cajun. But tonight I got the Honey Sriracha and my man got the bbq. My all time favorite flavor previously for wings was a honey hot so it did the job in that similar fashion. The bbq was different and unique enough to enjoy too. But dry rubs on a good wing, there's no comparison. Also the blue cheese and ranch were both top notch. Comes with carrots and celery too, a big bonus for me. Exactly what I want out of a wing dinner. Really worth it. We also split the house salad. It was bomb. There's a ginger vinaigrette and a lemon vinaigrette, we tried both on the side. Both DANK. Josh was our bartender, he killed it....