Tampeño Fish and Meat Market — Restaurant in Tampa

I am a Foodie and learned about this restaurant on instagram. It did not disappoint. The food was absolutely delicious. I went with a girlfriend and we ordered several things.

For the appetizers, we ordered the meatballs, fish bites, and the codfish croquettes. Also, the endless summer salad with peaches, which was to die for. The peaches were fresh cut and not canned, served over mixed greens, with feta crumbles, sunflower seeds and a flavorful vinaigrette. For the entrees we ordered the lobster dinorah which was an 8 to 9 oz lobster tail in this delicious tomato cream sauce and was plated on top of their signature sofrito yuca mash. OMG! Total flavor explosion. The second entree was the salmon ala toscana served with another delicious sauce garnished with grape tomatoes and a side of linguine. To wash it all down, we ordered a pitcher of the white sangria.

The amalgamation of flavors was just incredible. There were diners close by who I could hear exclaim how wonderful their dishes were as well.

We were too full for dessert, but I did order the cafe bonbon, which is a small cup of espresso that's served on top of condensed milk and then topped of with foam. Absolutely delicious. That was my dessert. It's such a great little place that is located in a residential neighborhood. within walking distance to the Raymond James stadium.

You can actually see the stadium from the restaurant. It has outdoor seating and the manager Louis was just amazing.

He went to every table several times to see how everything was. The level of customer service was just fantastic. This is definitely a great place to go with a group of friends so you can try multiple things or a special date. Reservations are advised because it is a small restaurant and the crowd...

I have been to this restaurant twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. Let’s start with the positive - This spot is cute and clean. We all found the lunch menu tasty. I recommend the battered fries and steak. The calamari was basic but good. The 3 other patrons seemed pleased with their lunch as well. After having a nice lunch experience on Wednesday I decided to come back to try dinner the following Saturday.

My dinner experience the following Saturday was a 180. We left for a different restaurant. As the anpps came we asked they packed it up and give us the check. Everything was a bit off. Though there were only 3 patrons being served they seemed understaffed or slower. Also, they did not yet have a liquor license. They only offered wine, beer, or sangria. The sangria was decent. The battered fries were still good. After ordering our apps the wind ended up knocking sangria all over our table and that’s when we moved from the front patio to the back patio. There was a family still seated outside from when we arrived. They had a kid and played Baby Shark loud asl and did not care about anyone else. Our waiter never asked them to put headphones on their child or to turn the music off. While we were getting set up at the new outside table I noticed what I can only guess was an employee bringing in some frozen food in giant plastic bags. Then I see the (maybe owner) holding catering trays of hot food lending us to think some items might be prepared off premises - we were unsure. All of this combined is why we left the restaurant. We couldn’t enjoy our meal and I wasn’t sure I still wanted eat dinner there.

The best I can recommend is lunch only at this point. I believe this is a newer restaurant and likely needs some more time to knock...

We came here for dinner recently, here’s what I thought.

Atmosphere: Tampeño is a beautiful restaurant space. They converted an old store into a nice restaurant. They have plenty of indoor seating with a bar. They also have ample outdoor seating by too!

Restrooms: They had two single use bathrooms. They were nice and clean!

Service: This is where I have to take down a star. The service was very slow, it looked like they had one gentleman working tables. Our waiter was really nice, but the service could’ve been quicker.

Food: We loved our food. I’d say prices are good for the quality of food you get. I got their ‘Grilled Octopus’ entree and loved it. I got 2 octopus tentacles which you never see, usually at a restaurant you just get one. My friend got 3 on her dish! The asparagus was cooked perfectly. I LOVED their yuca mash. It was so good and something I’ve never had before. Everyone else enjoyed their dishes.

Overall, this is a great place for a nice dinner and lunch. It is walking distance to Raymond James, so it’s perfect to eat at before or after a game! I think this place is a hidden gem! Also I saw they have...