Whenever you’re on vacation, it can be hard to find restaurants to eat at. You want to try the local places but you’re scared. You have a hard time finding chain restaurants that you know you’re comfortable with. I mean, the last thing you want on vacation is food poisoning or to have to cook the entire time. That is why Justin and I have decided to start putting together lists of our favorite restaurants from our trips. Below I’ve listed the four restaurants our family loved the most from our time in the Tampa / St. Petersburg area in Florida.
RumFish
Located at 6000 Gulf Blvd, St Pete Beach, Florida. We’d somehow ended up at this restaurant by accident. When we arrived we realized that this was the Dr. Guy Harvey restaurant. Queue the enthusiasm! If you aren’t sure who Dr. Guy Harvey is, he is an artist that paints and designs fishing shirts. From my previous post about Why I Paint – Or Try to At Least, you all know that I enjoy art and from Justin’s post about 2018 My Year to Catch a Fish on The Fly, you know Justin’s love for fishing.
The front of the restaurant was a gift shop so we looked around for a while then we made our way to the back of the building to view their floor to ceiling saltwater aquarium. This tank was actually made by the ATM guys from the TV show Tanked!! How cool is that? One of the really neat aspects of the tank was the partial tunnel viewing area. Instead of walking up to the side of the tank and only being able to see the side. You get to see the animals swim above you! Sadly the restaurant portion was closed until dinner which wasn’t for another 2 hours and we were starving so we went off to find another restaurant to eat at that day. Later in the week Dad (Rick) Lee, Mom (Kim) Lee, and Brother (Dylan) Lee returned to the restaurant to have dinner.
Below is Mom Lee’s review of their visit.
“We started our meal with the meat and cheese tray appetizer that consisted of two different types of meat and cheeses, olives and pickled okra with butter garlic toast. I got the new York strip and fresh green beans and mashed potatoes. The steak was grilled and seasoned to perfection. My husband ordered the Mahi Mahi, he described it as fresh and tasty. It came with rice with a creamy sauce and fresh green beans. The environment was peaceful and beautiful with the view of aquariums with saltwater fish made by the ATM guys from Tanked. We finished our meal with a dessert chocolate molten cake with ice cream that was the perfect ending to a great meal.”
Seabreeze Island Grill
Located at 17855 Gulf Blvd, Redington Shores, Florida. This is the place I’d picked for my birthday dinner with Justin. I picked this restaurant because it promised a view of the water from the outdoor and indoor dining areas. As soon as we walked in they had a bar to the left that smelled heavily of alcohol. As nondrinkers, this was not very appealing to us but things were not too rowdy in the bar and there was a separate seating area off to the right away from the bar. The restaurant was extremely busy! Since it was a Monday night, we had not expected it to be this busy and several of the other guests seemed surprised by the wait. Seabreeze was definitely worth the wait though!
Justin ordered the Mahi Mahi with garlic red potatoes and tropical coleslaw. The coleslaw was sweetened with pineapples and Justin LOVED it! He’s not one for sweets but he could not say enough good things about it. He ate it so fast I didn’t have a chance to try any of it. His Mahi Mahi and garlic red potatoes were really delicious as well! Thankfully Justin took his time on those so I got to try them. I ordered the Key West Pineapple Shrimp and MAN was it awesome! First of all, it came served in half of a hollowed out pineapple so from presentation to taste, it kicked butt! It came with a small side salad that had a vinaigrette dressing.
The service was great and everyone was very nice. We will definitely visit Seabreeze again when we are back in the area! Sadly Justin was too excited about his food for us to get a picture before he dug into it. Mine was too pretty to not take a picture of though so, enjoy!
Tuttorosso Pizzeria
As told by Mom Lee
Located at 77863 Blind Pass Road, St Pete Beach, Florida. This a quaint restaurant with exceptional pizza! We ordered hot wings as an appetizer, a specialty pizza and a custom made pizza with our favorite toppings. The wings were crisp to perfection and the hot sauce was spicy but also flavorful. My 16-year-old, who eats wings everywhere we go, said they were great but not too spicy. The pizzas were mind-blowing they were so good. I mean with fresh ingredients and hand tossed crust, what’s not to love? The sauce was the best I’ve ever had with the perfect seasoning (sorry Big Eds). I’m a sauce girl and if the sauce isn’t right, neither is the pizza. As the waitress walked by we saw many other Italian dishes that were perfectly plated and beautifully presented.
This is a small place and does server alcohol but was not a rough place. We aren’t drinkers and felt comfortable with several other families having dinner. We were treated well by their friendly staff. Tuttorosso has a mom and pop restaurant feel. This place is another reason to visit Florida and to hate leaving. We wish we had a place this great in Tennessee.
Ford’s Garage
Located at 11105 Causeway Blvd, Brandon, Florida. I had noticed this restaurant first due to many of my friends on social media posting pictures of their burgers with Ford’s Garage logo burnt on the buns. Since I am now driving our Ford Mustang as my daily vehicle, I immediately was interested in this place and when I found out we’d be near it on our trip, I knew I wanted to go. Being huge Ford fans, we were all in love with this restaurant.
Outside the restaurant, they had old Ford vehicles and a vintage gas pump. When we walked in we felt like we’d stepped back in time into a Ford garage (haha get it? Ford garage… Ford’s garage). Above the bars were Model T’s on a lift. How cool!? Even the restrooms were decked out in Ford garage decor! The sinks were tires with gas pump water faucets! I had never seen anything like that so I was completely mesmerized!
Okay now enough about the decor, on to the food. Ford’s Garage had their menu set up to where each of their signature burgers had a different town leader assigned to them based off which burger was their favorite. Each of us ordered something different.
Our Orders
Dad Lee ordered the High-Octane Burger minus the bun with a side salad. Dad Lee and Mom Lee are on a Keto diet. This basically means high fat and no carbs. Mom Lee did a custom burger, again no bun. She did the Black Angus Burger with smoked gouda cheese, lettuce, dill pickle planks, guacamole, and cilantro sour cream with salad. Brother Lee ordered the Ford’s Original Nachos. Justin ordered the BBQ Brisket Burger with french fries. This is a normal burger topped with a full serving of brisket! this is basically Justin’s dream burger! I ordered the Ford’s Signature Burger with green beans. I love a good bbq bacon cheeseburger so this was right up my alley! The food was DELICIOUS! The service was top notch! We could not have asked for a better experience!! This is a MUST TRY if you are anywhere near one!
Ford’s Garage was the first restaurant we decided to order dessert at. Their menu offered Funnel Cake Fries, which none of us had ever seen or tried before. They were too much to resist so we got them. This act ended up breaking Dad Lee and Mom Lee’s Keto diet. As soon as they hit the table Dad Lee had one in his mouth. They were that yummy looking, and tasting!
Funny story about these fries, we’d gotten to this restaurant around 8 pm or so. Justin and I normally go to bed around 9 pm due to work so I was already pretty tired and when I went to go order these, I called them Falafel Fries.
Thank you for reading! We really hope you enjoyed this post and if you do please give it a share. If you try any of these restaurants or have been to them before, we’d love to know about your experience! Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our newsletter to always be up to date on our adventures. Thank you and God bless.
