Over 50 St. Pete

Beach Drive · italian, pizza

A St. Pete-born trattoria and the original of a small group that now has rooms in Tampa and Land O' Lakes. Its own site says it was inspired by a 2003 trip through Tuscany and opened in 2005. The same owners run Stillwaters Tavern on the same stretch of Beach Drive.

Downtown · cuban

A Cuban-inspired rooftop bar on top of the AC Hotel downtown, built around rum cocktails. There is an indoor lounge and an open-air terrace, and a boozy brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 10:30am to 3pm.

Go early. It turns into a late-night spot later in the evening.

Beach Drive · french brasserie, mediterranean, american

A Beach Drive brasserie with a separate market next door at 162 Beach Dr NE selling pastries, breads and chocolates. The restaurant describes its cooking as classic dishes with subtle Mediterranean influences, in the style of a European brasserie. It serves brunch, lunch and dinner and books private events and banquets.

St. Pete Pier · seafood, american

A deck-wrapped restaurant on the downtown marina seawall near the Pier entrance, in business for more than 20 years. Its future is unsettled: the city's $165 million marina rebuild calls for the building to come down so the seawall beneath it can be replaced, with construction expected to start in late 2026. In April 2026 the city had not said whether Fresco's would return afterward, and council member Gina Driscoll said she had 'a lot of concern about this restaurant being displaced'.

Gulfport · american

Gulfport's brewery turned six in June 2026 and threw its second annual Beerfest to mark it. Three of its beers medaled at the 2026 Best Florida Beer competition, and in August it released Sea Breeze, a beer honoring local newspaper history back to 1886. There is live music in the biergarten, a Tuesday run club and Thursday trivia. Since June 2026 it also opens at 9am as a breakfast cafe pouring Black Crow Coffee.

Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.

Pass-a-Grille · seafood, american

The Falkenstein family from Baltimore bought the site in 1977 and built the restaurant out of what was left of an old hotel. The spot had held Page's Pavilion bathhouse, built in 1912, and later the Casa Bonita Hotel. The family added the first floor in 1986 and the upper floors, a banquet room and the rooftop bar in 1990. The roof deck, the Hurricane Watch, has two bars and a full-circle view of Pass-a-Grille. The grouper sandwich is the dish the restaurant puts forward.

Beach Drive · new american, coastal, steak, seafood

Opened in August 2024 in the space that was 400 Beach Seafood & Tap House. Shawn and Jeanna Damkoehler bought that restaurant in 2021, ran it under the old name until 2023, then rebuilt it with the design firm AvroKO around Aesop's fable of Juno and the peacock. St. Pete Catalyst reported it as the only Florida restaurant serving Dean & Peeler steaks, dry-aged 45, 65 or 90 days. The Pluma lounge next door keeps more than 1,400 wines, and the patio faces North Straub Park and the yacht basins.

Gulfport · greek, seafood

A family-run Greek and seafood room on the corner by the Gulfport pier, open since 2011 and run by Dia and Gus Vartsakis. Helene put more than four feet of water through it in September 2024 and nearly everything had to be replaced. 'We saw our time, energy, passion, and livelihood destroyed,' Dia Vartsakis told St. Pete Rising. It reopened on August 29, 2025, in time for GeckoFest, and The Gabber's publisher called its return a marker for downtown Gulfport's recovery. Two shops that shared the building, Qi Crystal Energy and Paw Paw's Pet Boutique, did not come back.

Pass-a-Grille · american, seafood

A walk-up counter on the sand at Pass-a-Grille, open from 7 a.m. until half an hour after sunset. An old ship's bell beside the seawall is rung every evening as the sun goes down, and the bell came through the storms intact. Helene and Milton pushed sand and saltwater through the kitchen and it was closed for about four months, reopening in early 2025. Live music runs Friday to Sunday. A second counter operates at 6850 Beach Plaza.

Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.

Beach Drive · modern american, seafood, steak

Open since 1996 and, in its own words, the first major restaurant on this stretch of Beach Drive. Executive chef and partner Tyson Grant runs the kitchen; the site says he was voted Best Chef of Tampa Bay in 2025. It also runs full catering for weddings and corporate events.

Grand Central District · latin, peruvian, small plates

Opened in December 2024 by Jason Ruhe and Hope Montgomery, who also own Brick and Mortar Kitchen and Wine Bar downtown and Sea Worthy Fish + Bar in Tierra Verde. Ruhe shares the kitchen with Jason Cline, formerly head chef at Birch and Vine. The menu runs to 20-plus small plates, charred octopus, Peruvian-style ceviche and two paellas, around a circular bar with a small stage for live Latin music. David Fischer of Zazoo'd designed the room.

Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.

Gulfport · breakfast, southern, american

Named for Aunt Stella, born in Manhattan in 1910, who became a nun and loved to cook. The restaurant serves its full menu all day, breakfast included, and keeps a doggie menu for the patio.

Beach Drive · american

The Beach Drive original of a scratch-kitchen tavern from the same owners as BellaBrava a few doors down; a second Stillwaters has since opened in Land O' Lakes. It pours 20 regional beers, wines and cocktails on tap and makes its own sausages in house. Its Cuban sandwich is built on La Segunda Cuban bread with smoked ham, mojo pork and a pickled apple slaw.

Downtown · sushi, tapas, tiki

Tiki drinks, tapas, pool tables and more than 50 sushi rolls on the 600 block. Chef and co-founder Tom Golden opened it in 2016 after renovating a building the restaurant says is 125 years old, one that ran as a bar in the 1930s and 40s and 'even served as a brothel at one point'. The house catchphrase is 'I'm starvin', make me some cold dead fish'. Weekend brunch features Granny Sage's biscuits and gravy.

Grand Central District · seafood, oysters, steak

The Oyster Bar spent 24 years at 249 Central Avenue downtown, from 1999 until it closed there in 2023. Owner Josh Cameron of Craft Hospitality Group brought it back on 14 October 2025 in a new 3,200 square foot Grand Central room with 120 seats, 22 of them outside. The old signatures came with it ... buffalo shrimp, bacon parmesan-crusted grouper and raw oysters, with a dollar-oyster 'Aphrodisiac Hour' from 4 to 5pm. The site now names Daniel Walter as executive chef.

Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.

4th Street North · american, pub fare

A tavern in a century-old farmhouse on 4th Street North with a summer orchard and verandas, built around what it calls the spirit of Old Florida. Happy hour is half off drafts, house wines and wells. Its site also lists a Beach Drive Walk Up Cafe at 400 Beach Dr and a Gulfport drive-thru.