Stonewood & GrillSmith Take Top Honors In Our 2016 Dining Survey
900ยฐ Woodfired Pizza, Hungry Greek & Burger 21 Also Grab Crowns; Three Wesley Chapel Residents Take Home This Yearโs Free Dining Prizes!
Thereโs no doubt that New Tampa and Wesley Chapel both have a lot of restaurants, even though both areas continue to be dominated by national, regional and even local chains.
In our 2016 Reader Dining Survey & Contest, the top three restaurants โ according to more than 500 readers who submitted surveys โ in both of our distribution areas were all part of small local or regional chains and in New Tampa, seven of the top ten also are links in (albeit small) chains. The interesting thing to me was that the larger national and regional chains, which could only receive Write-In votes on our Dining Survey again this year, got fewer votes and points than ever before.
In fact, this is the first time ever that Bonefish Grill, Outback Steakhouse and Texas Roadhouse all failed to make the top 25 in Wesley Chapel, even though theyโve all always been among the most crowded restaurants in town. And likewise, neither Olive Garden nor Red Lobster got nearly as many write-in votes as they had in our previous contests.
It should be noted that Cheddars Scratch Kitchen, BJโs Restaurant & Brewhouse and Longhorn Steakhouse all opened too late in the process (our voting was from September til November) to receive many votes at all.
Stonewood Grill & Tavern made it back to the top spot as our readers โFavorite Restaurant in New Tampa.โ Last yearโs winner, Burger 21, dropped to #3 with our readers and last yearโs #5 โ Ciccio Cali โ moved up three spots to #2. In fact, for the third straight year, the same ten restaurants in New Tampa received the most points from our readers as last year, although once again, the orders of those ten restaurants has changed.
Meanwhile, in Wesley Chapel, GrillSmith and The Hungry Greek took home the top two spots for the second year in a row, while Pizza Mania (#4), La Prima Pizza (#5), Dempseyโs Steak House (#9) and Wolfโs Den (#10) all moved into (or back into) our readersโ top-10. I will tell you more about many of these restaurants next issue, when I show you my 2016 Dining Favorites.
Congratulations go out to this yearโs Dining Survey contest winners โ all of whom happen to live in Wesley Chapel. The winners were selected by a random number generator from among the more than 500 properly-filled out entries. The 2016 winners are Roberto Davila ofย Lexington Oaks , who will receive a $200 gift card to the restaurant of his choice in the Tampa Bay area; Angela Haraf of Quail Woods, who wins aย $100 gift card to the restaurant of her choice; and Melissa Spear of Meadow Pointe, who snags a $50 gift card to any restaurant she chooses.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to fill out an entry form. Look for my restaurant favorites in our next issue and for some of these listings to appear on future episodes of WCNT-tv.
Your Favorite Restaurants In Wesley Chapel (WC)
1. GrillSmith
2. The Hungry Greek
3. Vallartaโs WC
4. PizzaMania
5. La Prima Pizza
6. PrimeBar
7. Burger Monger
8. Bonsai Sushi
9. Dempseyโs Steak House
10. Wolfโs Den
11. Pinchers Crab Shack
12. Yamato Japanese Steakhouse
13. PDQ
14. 900 Woodfired Pizza
15. CineBistro
16. Asian Buffet
17. Little Italyโs Family Restaurant & catering
18. Amici Pizza
19. Buttermilk Provisions
20. Best NY Pizza
21. Capital Tacos
22. Hibachi Express
23. NY NY Pizza
24. Latin Twist Cafรฉ
25. (tie) Don Pan International Bakery
365 Caffe Italiano
John C. Cotey
Assistant Editor
The New Tampa & Wesley Chapel
Neighborhood News
P.813.910.2575
F. 813.910.2483
www.ntneighborhoodnews.com