Over 50 St. Pete

Downtown · pan-asian, wagyu steak, sushi, steakhouse

Fortu opened in late November 2023 on the ground floor of the Ponce de Leon Hotel, in the space Ceviche Tapas Bar had held since 1997 before it moved to Beach Drive in 2021. It was founded by Shan Bakrac and is run through Benson Hospitality Group, with Nathan Howey as executive chef and managing partner. The kitchen is pan-Asian and built for sharing, with Japanese A5 wagyu, wagyu gyoza and Australian wagyu picanha on the menu and a bar that leans on Japanese whisky and sake. MICHELIN's inspectors call it an attractive, high-energy dining room with handsome wood finishes. It has been listed in both years Pinellas County has been eligible.

Grand Central District · vegan sushi, ramen, asian fusion

Thalia Tatham was diagnosed with lupus at 23 and went vegan in 2020 to take control of it; she told FOX 13 she was in remission within six months. She would not give up sushi, so she started making plant-based rolls for her family, then sold them at pop-ups and a weekly drop at Black Radish Vegan Grocer. Her first brick-and-mortar opened on 21 March 2022 inside Body Electric at 655 31st St S, and the restaurant has since moved to 1990 Central.

Grand Central District · izakaya, sake, french-japanese small plates, oysters, sake bar, ramen, small plates

In Between Days opened in August 2021 in a 1925 Craftsman bungalow, the idea of Pinellas native Zach Ashton, a recording artist turned restaurateur. It is modeled on Tokyo's underground listening bars ... a pair of 1972 Klipsch Cornwall speakers behind the bar, two turntables, and records played a full side at a time under oil lanterns. The room is small on purpose: its own profile counts 7 tables and 6 bar stools. Beverage director Noah Sain leads a team of sake sommeliers over what local press calls Florida's largest sake collection, and chef Justin Shwetzer cooks a short rotating menu of gyoza, hamachi, oysters and a noodle dish. It joined the MICHELIN Guide Florida in 2026.

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

Downtown · nikkei, izakaya, sushi

Isu sits in the basement of Fortu with its own entrance on Beach Drive, and shares Fortu's owners and management. St. Petersburg Foodies describes the menu as three things at once ... Japanese fusion, izakaya small plates for sharing, and Nikkei, the Japanese-Peruvian cooking that began with Japanese immigrants in Peru. The reviewer wrote that there is nothing else like it in the city.

Downtown · sushi, omakase

Brothers Arte and Rexley Kwok opened this counter in January 2018 as downtown St. Pete's first omakase restaurant. There are ten seats, each facing the chef, and Rexley Kwok prepares and serves every course himself. It is omakase only, with two choices ... a signature menu with a few more appetizers, or a shorter one focused on nigiri. The DMO says the fish comes direct from Tokyo's Toyosu market. Booking is through Tock only; the restaurant's own site warns that it is not on Google Reserve.

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.