Those who think Wesley Chapel has too many shops and restaurants and not enough things to do, here’s some good news:
Main Event Entertainment, which according to its website boasts state-of-the-art bowling, multi-level laser tag, gravity ropes adventure courses, billiards, video games and other entertainment, is considering opening a location in the Cypress Creek Town Center.
According to plans proposed at a pre-application meeting with county planning officials, the adult-geared fun center is inquiring about putting a 50,000-sq.-ft. facility on the land between I-75 and Tampa Premium Outlets, tucked behind three existing parcels that border the south side of S.R. 56
The Main Event center would also include 332 parking spaces.
Representatives from planning and design consultants Kimley-Horn met with Pasco County on April 24.
Main Event, founded in Plano, TX, currently has 39 centers in the United States varying in size from 45,000-75,000 square feet, and its “Eat. Bowl. Play.” model combines dining options with sports and gaming entertainment geared towards families and adults.
It competes in the same entertainment market as the popular Dave & Busters, which has plans to reach 200 locations in the U.S. and Canada, Top Golf and even Florida Hospital Center Ice, which opened last year in Wesley Chapel and offers food and drink to go with dozens of various hockey and ice sports leagues and lessons.
Dave & Busters and Top Golf are located in Brandon. Dave & Busters opened in 2017, and Top Golf opened in 2014.
Main Event Entertainment, which serves over 20-million guests annual according to the company, will also offer full-service catering with private rooms that will appeal to large group events.
A Wesley Chapel Main Event would be the third location in Florida, joining centers in Orlando, on International Drive, and Jacksonville. It is expected to bring roughly 150 full- and part-time jobs to the area.
A subsidiary of Ardent Leisure, Main Event Entertainment is the fastest growing bowling-anchored entertainment business in the U.S., according to the Ardent Leisure website.
EVEN THOUGH I’ll never try to convince you that Vallarta’s Mexican Restaurant, located in the City Plaza at Tampa Palms shopping center, is the best Mexican food you’ll ever eat, I do enjoy the food (especially at Vallarta’s reasonable prices), the service and the atmosphere at this local chain of family-owned eateries.
Because I’m the adventurous type, I always try to sample something new whenever I visit Vallarta’s, skipping only the shrimp dishes that I’m allergic to, and I keep finding new favorites to go with my old ones.
On my most recent visits, I first tried the semi-spicy steak a la Mexicana and although the thin rib eye steak is a fatty cut, the blend of onions, tomatoes and sliced jalapeños definitely make it a flavorful choice for me. There also are seven other non-fajita steak dishes on the menu, all under $15, unless you get a steak and shrimp combo. I can recommend the batter-dipped steak milanesa and the Vallarta’s special steak, topped with grilled tomatoes, onions and peppers.
Next, I tried the pork chunks with onions, or carnitas, and found what truly is now my new favorite dish at Vallarta’s.
The pork is obviously marinated and the chunks literally melt in your mouth. Pedro, the general manager, says that the chunks are made from pork leg or butt. All I can say is that I’ll be sampling this one again. For the same price ($13), you can add salsa roja (red) or verde (green), but these beauties don’t really need any sauce. The carnitas are totally tasty as is.
Shrimp Avocado Rice
Vallarta’s no longer serves its fajitas sizzling on a metal dish, but they’re still pretty tasty and I prefer the chicken to the steak fajitas.
Starters at Vallarta’s include the cheese (queso) dip, guacamole Vallarta, a mushroom quesadilla and five varieties of nachos,so whether you like them just with cheese ($6) or the nachos Vallarta (with grilled steak, avocado, onions and cheese, $11), you’re sure to find one that suits your fancy — just bring plenty of friends, as the nacho orders are huge!
And although I can’t eat the Cocktel de Camarones (shrimp cocktail, $14) due to my shellfish allergy, I saw someone enjoying it the other day. The large shrimp are served “swimming” in a tasty hot sauce, in a gigantic margarita glass. I also enjoy the Mexican chicken soup, which was perfect for those cold days we had in March.
Jannah also recently found a new favorite, as she really enjoyed the chicken fajita salad, which also is available with beef or shrimp and served in a monstrous tortilla shell that is overstuffed with fajita chicken, plus grilled peppers and onions, lettuce, tomato, sour cream, pico de gallo, guac and cheese. It’s not served with dressing, but it honestly doesn’t need additional toppings, as Jannah ended up not needing to use her side of ranch dressing.
There also are plain grilled chicken dinners (pollo a la Parilla, $11) and a fried chicken breast (pollo Empanisado, $13).
And of course, Vallarta’s also has lunch and dinner-sized combinations of all of your Mexican favorites. So, whether you like hard or soft tacos, enchiladas, chalupas, burritos, tamales, tostadas, taquitos, flautas, chimichangas or tostaguac (I honestly don’t know what that last one is), you’re sure to find your favorites on this huge menu, with most lunch combos from $6-$9 and most dinner combos at around $10.
I’m not the biggest quesadilla fan, but they also are available for $8-$11 and the one I definitely will try in the future is the chicken, bacon and cheese variety.
Oh, and of course, even though I’m usually a chunky salsa kind of guy, Vallarta’s puréed salsa, served in wine carafes (you pour the salsa into a bowl for dipping), is highly addictive, especially with the restaurant’s fresh, hot, super-crisp tortilla chips.
Don’t Forget Cinco!
Another great thing about Vallarta’s is that it offers a full liquor bar with a variety of Mexican and domestic beers, a selection of top-shelf tequilas, as well as lots of margarita varieties that, according to the Vallarta’s menu, are “truly bigger than your head,” all at much lower prices than you’ll find at most sit-down Mexican eateries.
So, if you’re looking for a place to spend Saturday, May 5 — aka Cinco de Mayo — look no further. Vallarta’s will have music, food and drink specials and a big crowd for Cinco, although the place is crowded for dinner almost every day all year-round (and even many days at lunch time) and continues to receive lots of votes every year in our annual Reader Dining Survey & Contest. In other words, when you serve good food at very fair prices, people will keep coming back for more.
And, speaking of more, there also are Vallarta’s locations in the Wesley Chapel Village Market, one near the Suncoast Pkwy. off S.R. 54, one at Collier Pkwy. at 54, one on S.R. 54 in Trinity/Odessa, plus Temple Terrace and Carrollwood. The family that started Vallarta’s also opened a more upscale San José Mexican Restaurant on Land O’Lakes Blvd. (U.S. Hwy. 41 in Lutz), as well as the new El Pescador Mexican seafood restaurant in the New Tampa Center plaza on BBD Blvd. We plan to feature El Pescador in our next issue.
Vallarta’s of Tampa Palms is located at 16023 Tampa Palms Blvd. W. It is open every day for lunch and dinner. For more information, including some great regular coupon specials, visit VallartasRestaurants.com or call (813) 978-3761. The Wesley Chapel Vallarta’s is located at 5335 Village Market. For more info, call (813) 907-5161.
In addition to Chuy’s,Bahama Breeze Island Grille also is getting ready to open due east of the new plaza across from the Tampa Premium Outlets (TPO) that is anchored by the months-old Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers.
Bahama Breeze will likely not open until the summer, but the building has made considerable progress (photo, near right) since first going vertical just a few short weeks ago.
We’ll keep you posted. — GN
Latin Flavors To Replace Cody’s
Rice-n-Beans, a popular Puerto Rican restaurant located in Lutz, will be opening soon in Wesley Chapel at the site of the former Cody’s Original Roadhouse on Wesley Chapel Blvd. just west of I-75.
The site is undergoing a $25,000 renovation. No official grand opening date had been set at our press time. — JCC
Pizza Hut To Open Next?
Now that Starbucks is open in the new Pleasant Plaza on S.R. 54 east of BBD, the next storefront to take shape in the new strip center will be Pizza Hut, which could be open by May or June.
The 3,800-sq.-ft. pizza place will fill one of the three remaining vacancies in the plaza. Following Pizza Hut, construction will begin on a nail salon. The Pleasant Plaza developers are currently negotiating with a tenant for the remaining vacancy. — JCC
Kwan Ming Bistro Closes
I was saddened to see that Kwan Ming Bistro, located on S.R. 56 in the same plaza as Wolf’s Den, had closed. My friends Henry (aka Kwan) and his wife Ming gave it a good several-year run in a tough plaza that also includes the somehow-super-successful Cabana Spas (see ad on pg. 9 of this issue).
Unfortunately, the restaurant had some issues — some felt it wasn’t quite upscale enough to justify its prices — but I did really enjoy Kwan Ming’s won ton soup, BBQ spare ribs, egg rolls and combination fried rice.
PartyScene Closes; Sweet Party Adds Its Inventory
Sweet Party, located at 20310 Trout Creek Dr., just off Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. (behind Burger) has acquired the remaining inventory from the PartyScene store in the Pebble Creek Collection.
“We are happy to be the largest party store in the New Tampa/Wesley Chapel area,” Sweet Party posted on the Wesley Chapel Community Facebook page.
Although Sweet Party is an awesome party store that deserves New Tampa’s support, I was sad to see my friend, Alex De Joseph, close her store after a solid 12-year run in a tough location.
Alex says, “The increase in rent, the insane road construction and increased competition from the internet created a perfect storm that made my decision obvious, but still heart-wrenching.” I agree, Alex.
For more information about Sweet Party, call (813) 994-4900 or visit SweetPartyTampa.com. And, please tell them that you read about them in the New Tampa &Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News! — GN
The next big day for a local restaurant opening is all set — Tuesday, April 24! That’s the day Chuy’s Tex-Mex is scheduled to hold its grand opening.
Located in the Cypress Creek Town Center North area, across S.R. 56 from the Tampa Premium Outlets, Chuy’s is expected to fill what many restaurant-goers feel is a void in Wesley Chapel and New Tampa.
Founded in 1982 in Austin, TX, Chuy’s specializes in fresh Tex-Mex fare like burritos, enchiladas and tacos made with fresh ingredients, as well as its famous Elvis Green Chile Fried Chicken and daily drink specials. And, based on the popularity of Chuy’s sangria at the recent Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel (see pages 1 & 3-6), those drinks should also be a big hit.
The local Chuy’s will be 8,500 sq. ft. with a 650-sq.-ft. patio, with a decor enhanced by an Elvis shrine and other fun, quirky fixtures that don’t seem to make any sense.
WHAT’S IN & OUT AT THE GROVE?: While one store, the Toys R Us and Babies R Us, are on their way out, Cost Plus World Market is finally in at The Grove off Oakley Blvd.
The 18,600-sq.-ft. Cost Plus World Market(map) is a subsidiary of Bed Bath & Beyond, which also has a store in The Grove.
Based in California, Cost Plus World Market specializes in an eclectic assortment of unique items for the home, from furniture to jewelry and accessories, as well as gourmet food and drinks. It claims to sell items imported from more than 50 countries and has 277 stores nationwide.
Other home decor stores also are coming to the Chap. At Home, which is headed for the south side of S.R. 56 (behind Costco), is working its way through the permitting process, and a HomeGoods store is coming to the Cypress Creek Town Center North area north of S.R. 56.
ROOMS TO SPARE: Another hotel — yes, yet another hotel — could be in the works off S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., in Wesley Chapel, as engineers from AVID met with Pasco County officials on March 19 in a Development Permit pre-submittal meeting, or pre-application meeting.
Developers are proposing a four-story, 120-room Extended Stay America located on Eagleston Blvd. off BBD, right behind the Wells Fargo bank and across from Wesley Chapel Toyota.
Extended Stay America, headquartered in Charlotte, NC, owns and operates more than 600 economy hotels across the U.S. and Canada geared towards those needing a room for weeks at a time. The company announced in January it would allowing franchising of its hotels for the first time.
The proposed Extended Stay American in Wesley Chapel will be 62,000 sq. ft., and the development would also include 6,400-sq.-ft. strip shopping center on the southwest corner of Eagleston Blvd. and BBD.
Wesley Chapel already is expecting three new hotels to open this year — a six-story, 125-room Hilton Garden Inn on Silver Maple Pkwy., across S.R. 56 from Florida Hospital Center Ice, is scheduled to open in June, a 92-room Fairfield Inn & Suites is expected to open in June or July a few miles to the east (in the Wiregrass Ranch development), and the six-story, 132-room Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center will open in July at the Cypress Creek Town Center across from TPO.
Another hotel, to be located behind the Walgreens on S.R. 54 and BBD, also is in the early planning stages.
VROOM-VROOM:Ferman Harley-Davidson is FINALLY coming to Wesley Chapel. The long-awaited and famous American motorcycle manufacturer met with the county on Feb. 1 in a pre app meeting, proposing a 30,677-sq.-ft. sales and service building on the 14.5-acre property just north of the Cypress Creek Animal Hospital on Wesley Chapel Blvd. in Lutz.
According to paperwork filed with the county, Ferman Harley Davidson would also include a 2,655-sq.-ft. mezzanine, a pavilion and gazebo, 210 parking spaces and a 3,500-sq-ft. restaurant.
Harley-Davidson, founded in Milwaukee, WI, has locations in New Port Richey, Brandon and on N. Dale Mabry Hwy. in Tampa.
I send out many thanks to freelance writer Andy Warrener for also attending this year’s Taste and for his efforts to get a feel for the Taste from the persepective of some of its attendees. The folks on this page all raved about the event and were excited to be part of this feature. — GN
Antoinette and Jerome Lee of Cross Creek in New Tampa found out about the event in the Mar. 23 New Tampa edition of the Neighborhood News. It was also their first time at a Taste event.
“I like it because you can select the vendors you like,” Antoinette said. “If there’s one in particular you like, you can use your cards there or, if you want to try a new restaurant. It’s also nice to meet people in line. You work in the community but there are a lot of people you don’t come into contact with. Here you can do that.”
Antoinette was partial to the Cuban food offered up by La Yuma. Jerome was previously a fan of Texas Roadhouse and said he enjoyed their samplings.
For Arbor Greene resident Jacob, 15, his favorite was Snow Rolls Ice Cream, and for his brother Noah, 6, it was the pizza from Bosco’s Italian-to-Go.
“We actually found out about the event in the Neighborhood News,” said their father Randy. “There are lots of activities in more established communities like downtown and South Tampa but not much going on in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel. This event gives us lots of options to look for and a chance to get out and do things. As the community grows, so will events like this.”
Quail Hollow residents Steve and Virginia Catrombone brought their eight-month old son, Memphis, to the event. They have lived in the Wesley Chapel area the last five years and were attending their first Taste of New Tampa. They had never even been to FHCI before.
“The prices are great and the food is awesome,” Steve said. “It’s a good, community event. The turnout is really nice and it’s well-organized. We’ve been to food truck rallies, local markets and events at the Shops at Wiregrass and this event is great. We’ve seen Wesley Chapel grow so much the last five years.” Virginia enjoyed sampling area eateries that she hadn’t had visited yet. “This is a great event because all these places are local for us,” Virginia said. “And now, we have a chance to see what they have to offer.”
Jeff and Jennifer Pike, who live in Live Oak in New Tampa, brought their twin daughters Liliana and Amalia as well as their son, 12-year-old Carter, to the Taste.
“We found out about the event on Facebook, it’s our first time here,” Jeff said. “The food was the clincher. There’s such a variety with what’s in the neighborhood, we didn’t even know half the places. The event gets people to recognize that there are more restaurants out there than just the major chains.”
Jeff enjoyed the Shepherd’s pie from O’Brien’s Irish Pub, while Jennifer was taken by the flan and rice and beans offered by La Yuma.
“The food samples are the primary reason for coming, also to hang out with friends,” Jennifer said. “It’s a very family-friendly event,” Jennifer said. “The kids are here with their friends and there’s always a new restaurant to discover.”
Did you attend this year’s Taste of New Tampa & Wesley Chapel? If not, why not? If so, what did you like best about it? We’d love to hear from you. Send us a Facebook message (search “Neighborhood News”) or email us at EditorialDept@NTNeighborhoodNews.com!
Those who think Wesley Chapel has too many shops and restaurants and not enough things to do, here’s some good news:
Main Event, founded in Plano, TX, currently has 39 centers in the United States varying in size from 45,000-75,000 square feet, and its “Eat. Bowl. Play.” model combines dining options with sports and gaming entertainment geared towards families and adults.
A Wesley Chapel Main Event would be the third location in Florida, joining centers in Orlando, on International Drive, and Jacksonville. It is expected to bring roughly 150 full- and part-time jobs to the area.
Bahama Breeze Getting Closer To Opening
Latin Flavors To Replace Cody’s 
The next big day for a local restaurant opening is all set — Tuesday, April 24! That’s the day Chuy’s Tex-Mex is scheduled to hold its grand opening.
ROOMS TO SPARE: Another hotel — yes, yet another hotel — could be in the works off S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., in Wesley Chapel, as engineers from AVID met with Pasco County officials on March 19 in a Development Permit pre-submittal meeting, or pre-application meeting.
