Stonewood Wins Again As Your Favorite In New Tampa! 

Las Palmas Wins Favorite Latin & #2 Overall; Via Italia Is 3rd & Also Wins Fave Pizza & Italian! 
Executive Chef Danny Manzur, sous chef Jason Price, kitchen manager Gary Zimmerman & operating partner Dennis Diaz celebrate the fact that Stonewood Grill & Tavern in Tampa Palms again won “Favorite Restaurant in New Tampa” with Neighborhood News readers for 2024. (Photo by Charmaine George)

There isn’t much more we can say about Stonewood Grill & Tavern that hasn’t already been said each of the past eight years as our readers’ Favorite Restaurant in New Tampa, so we won’t even bother. Suffice it to say that Stonewood’s combination of quality food, an elegant setting, outstanding service, New Tampa’s most hopping upscale bar crowd and fair prices continue to keep it at the top of your list. 

This year’s second-Favorite Restaurant in New Tampa (and Favorite Latin Restaurant in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel) was at least a little bit of a surprise, NOT because Las Palmas Latin Grill isn’t a great mom-&-pop restaurant, but because owners Ramses and Ana Garcia were still operating out of a food truck, rather than their brick-&-mortar location, when last year’s survey was conducted. For Las Palmas to nudge past last year’s second place finisher, Via Italia, after not making the 2023 top-25 was very impressive. 

Overall, seven of your 2023 top-10 Favorite Restaurants in New Tampa still made this year’s Top-10 (some moved up, others down), but Las Palmas, EggTown and the reopened Kobé moved into the top-10 while Fresh Kitchen, Olive Garden & Minerva (which still won for Favorite Indian Restaurant) dropped out. — GN 

1. Stonewood Grill & Tavern 

2. Las Palmas Latin Grill 

3. Via Italia Wood Fired Pizza & Bar 

4. Liang’s Bistro Asian Cuisine 

5. Fat Rabbit Pub 

6. The Grill at Morris Bridge 

7. Mr. Dunderbak’s 

8. Cali Tampa Palms 

9. EggTown Breakfast & Lunch 

10. Kobé Japanese Steakhouse 

11. Sushi Café 

12. Johnny C’s Italian Eatery 

13. Hungry Crab Juicy Seafood 

14. Fresh Kitchen 

15. Lima Peruvian Cuisine 

16. Cappy’s Pizzeria 

17. Frammi American Grille & Italian Food 

18. Thai Lanna 

19. Thai Ruby 

20. Minerva Indian Restaurant 

21. Taste of NY Pizza 

22. Burger 21 

23. Acropolis Greek Taverna 

24. Don Julio’s Mexican Restaurant 

25. (tie) Gorkhali Kitchen & Peabody’s 

1. Stonewood Grill & Tavern 

17050 Palm Pointe Dr., Pointe at Tampa Palms 

(813) 978-0388 • StonewoodGrill.com 

So, even though it is part of a mini-chain with fewer than ten units, no one should be surprised that Stonewood Grill & Tavern — which was the first upscale restaurant to open in New Tampa and has always been at or near the top of our Reader Survey rankings ever since — took home top honors again this year. 

With new menu items like peach bourbon-glazed pork chops (top) and the huge tuna poké stack appetizer (bottom) always being added to the chain’s menu by Tampa Palms executive chef Danny Manzur, and the most New Tampa of all bar scenes in zip code 33647, it’s not difficult to understand how Stonewood keeps itself at the top of our reader rankings (and at least near the top of mine) every year. Kudos to Manzur and operating partner Dennis Diaz and their staff for never skimping on quality. 

2. Las Palmas Latin Grill 

6431 E. County Line Rd. 

(813) 991-5500 • LasPalmasLatinGrill.com 

When owner and chef Ramses Garcia told me last year that he sold his Las Palmas food truck and was getting ready to reopen in the same space his brick-&-mortar Las Palmas Latin Grill had been in before (after closing for about a year because of a kitchen fire), I knew he was going to be successful, but I had no idea that he would be able to go from not making the top-25 in the 2023 Reader Dining Survey to #2 Favorite Restaurant in New Tampa in such a short period of time. 

Of course, adding beer and wine had to help, but adding new dishes — like his delicious fried whole snapper (top photo) to go with his award-winning Tampa- and Miami -style Cuban sandwiches (bottom photo) likely helped even more. 

No matter what menu items you love at Las Palmas, it’s clear that Ramses and his wife Ana have provided the restaurant comeback story of the year for not just our readers, but for yours truly as well. 

3. Via Italia Wood Fired Pizza & Bar 

8644 Hunter’s Village Rd., Village at Hunter’s Lake 

(813) 475-4857 • EatViaItalia.com 


Finishing closely behind Las Palmas for #2 this year was last year’s #2 finisher, Via Italia. I don’t believe that the drop of one spot from last year has anything to do with former owner Roberto Maganuco selling the restaurant to new owner Sonny Patel, as the restaurant still serves the same delicious Italian fare (like the tagliatelle Bolognese shown here). I just think Via Italia fell victim to a new wave of support for Las Palmas. 

4. Liang’s Bistro Asian Cuisine 

17515 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. 

(813) 978-1225 • LiangsBistroTampa.com 

Jumping up from #6 last year to the fourth spot this year is Liang’s Bistro, which also continues to dominate the “Favorite Chinese Restaurant in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel” vote, as it has every year since it opened. 

As I have often said, while not all of Liang’s dishes can be called “New York-style” (although its crispy egg rolls, right, are very NY-ish), there’s no doubt that it has been our area’s only quality sit-down Chinese place. 

5. Fat Rabbit Pub 

16029 Tampa Palms Blvd. W., City Plaza at Tampa Palms 

(813) 252-3004 • FatRabbitPub.com 

There’s no doubt that the Fat Rabbit Pub has been a model of consistency since it opened to rave reviews several years ago and this year is no exception. 

Fat Rabbit has repeated as our readers’ #5 Favorite Restaurant in New Tampa, thanks to still serving its more upscale pub items (like its new fattened shrimp appetizer and a variety of new rice bowls, including the Fish Taco bowl with Mojo mahi-mahi), as well as some of the best wings (photo) in our distribution areas. 

6. The Grill at Morris Bridge 

10920 Cross Creek Blvd., Cross Creek Commons 

(813) 388-5353 • TheGrillatMorrisBridge.com 

Although it dropped from #2 Favorite Restaurant in New Tampa two years ago to #3 last year and #6 this year, there’s no doubt that a large number of our readers love owner Frank Gouveia’s Grill at Morris Bridge, as it finished only a few votes behind the #3-#5 favorites on this page, all of which were significantly ahead of #s 7-#10. 

Plus, with the recent addition of new bar menu items (like this chili cheese dog), The Grill isn’t just for “date night” anymore. It’s also a great place to watch a game, too. 

7. Mr. Dunderbak’s 

14929 Bruce B. Downs Blvd., Oak Ramble Plaza 

(813) 977-4104 • DunderbaksBeer.wordpress.com 


After returning to the top-10 (#8) in New Tampa last year, following a mysterious one-year absence from our readers’ top-25, Mr. Dunderbak’s and its German (and American) cuisine continues to be not only a popular place to have a beer, but also everything from corned beef Reuben sandwiches (photo) to jagerschnitzel, as it rose to #7 this year. In short, Mr. Dunderbak’s is still Tampa’s “German Bierhalle, Braueri, Marketplatz und Restaurant.” 

8. Cali Tampa Palms 

17004 Palm Pointe Dr., Shoppes at The Pointe 

(813) 975-1222 • EatCali.com 

Although New Tampa’s original “bowl culture” eatery has risen and fallen a few spots year over year, Cali Tampa Palms continues to be one of our readers’ Favorite restaurants in New Tampa. 

Known not only for its tasty bowls (like the “Lean & Clean” shown here), but also for delicious wrap sandwiches, salads and oven-baked pizza — all with quality ingredients, Cali is likely to remain a consistent favorite for years to come. 

9. EggTown 

17507 Preserve Walk Ln. (New Tampa) & 27607 S.R. 56 (Wesley Chapel) 

(813) 533-7221 (NT) & (813) 994-9666 (WC) • EggTown.com 

Jumping up eight spaces from #17 last year is this year’s #9 Favorite restaurant in New Tampa, EggTown. 

Despite losing out to Keke’s in this year’s “Favorite Breakfast Place” voting, this growing (now up to five units) mini-chain (with locations in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel) is a great place for delicious breakfast items (like the egg, chicken & waffles shown here) but also delicious lunch/brunch specialties like chicken salad croissants, burgers and grilled chicken sandwiches. It has super-fair prices, too! 

10. Kobé Japanese Steakhouse 

17641 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. 

(813) 680-5800 • KobeSteakhouse.com 


You can’t really call Kobé Japanese Steakhouse a “newcomer” to our area because it had a New Tampa location for several years before shutting down to relocate a few miles south on Bruce B. Downs Blvd., but it is the first time in a couple of years Kobé has been open and our readers obviously are still taken with what is now New Tampa’s only place for “dinner-&-a-show” teppanyaki-table Japanese fare. Our readers obviously appreciate that Kobé — now with eleven locations throughout central Florida, — has returned with the same quality it had before. 

Have You Voted For Your Wesley Chapel Favorites Yet? You Could Win $200 In FREE Dining!

You still have a chance to win FREE dining in this year’s Reader Dining Survey & Contest, but as you’re reading this, there’s only a little more than six weeks left to vote for your favorite eateries in Wesley Chapel & New Tampa! Click HERE to enter!

Here are this year’s categories again! 

1) Your Five Favorite (overall) Restaurants in Wesley Chapel (WC) 

2) Your Favorite American Restaurant in Wesley Chapel 

3) Your Favorite Pizza Place in WC 

Those same three categories also appear on the New Tampa ballot. 

Both entry forms, however, also include lists of places that ask you to pick your Favorite in New Tampa (NT) AND Wesley Chapel, often (but not always) because there aren’t enough in a certain category in just one of our distribution areas. Here are those other categories: 

1) You Favorite Mexican Place in NT/ WC 

2) Your Favorite Latin (but not Mexican) Restaurant in NT/WC 

3) Your Favorite Chinese Place in NT/WC 

4) Your Favorite Japanese/Sushi Restaurant in NT & WC 

5) Your Favorite Thai or Korean Restaurant in NT/WC 

6) Your Favorite Italian Food in NT/WC 

7) Your Favorite Greek or Mediterranean Restaurant in NT/WC 

8) Your Favorite Indian Place in NT/WC 

9) Your Favorite Breakfast Place in NT/WC 

9) Your Favorite Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt or Gelato Place in NT/WC 

10) Your Favorite Bakery in NT/WC 

11) Your Favorite Coffee Shop in NT/WC 

We’re providing the lists of places, although we’ve left out the large national and regional chains (with more than 50-60 total locations), because you have to write (or type) the names of your favorites in the spaces provided and we’re pretty sure you know those if they’re your favorite in a category — and yes, you can still include them (we just wish you would focus on local). 

Fill out as many categories as you like, but please don’t put the same name in every category, because those votes won’t be counted and if a restaurant is on our Wesley Chapel list, your vote won’t count if you write the name of that restaurant in any New Tampa-only spaces and vice-versa. 

You can submit both New Tampa & Wesley Chapel ballots without being DQed — and, as always, there is still no purchase of any kind necessary to enter or win a great FREE prize! Click HERE for Wesley Chapel and click HERE for New Tampa.

This year’s Grand Prize is now $200 in FREE dining to the restaurant of your choice anywhere in the Tampa Bay area. There also are prizes of $100 and $50, all chosen at random from among all correctly-filled-out entries received by email or on our NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net website (Note-no U.S. Mail entries will be accepted for this year’s contest!) by Friday, October 18. 

Good luck! — GN 

Another Chance To Win FREE Dining In Our 2024 New Tampa Reader Dining Survey & Contest!

So, it seems that the change in format has thrown some of our usual voters for a loop, but here’s the bottom line: There’s only about two months left for you to submit your votes for your Favorite Restaurants in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel — and to win up to $200 in FREE dining to the restaurant of your choice!

If you click HERE, you’ll find lists of every local and small chain restaurant in a number of categories in both Wesley Chapel and New Tampa. We’re asking you to name your favorites in each category. You can skip as many categories as you like, but we’re grouping the lists of restaurants by type. Here are those categories:

1) Your Five Favorite (overall) Restaurants in New Tampa (NT)

2) Your Favorite American Restaurant in New Tampa

3) Your Favorite Pizza Place in NT

These same categories also appear on the Wesley Chapel ballot. Both entry forms also include lists of places that ask you to pick your Favorite places in New Tampa (NT) AND Wesley Chapel (WC). Here are those other categories:

1) You Favorite Mexican Place in NT/ WC

2) Your Favorite Latin (but not Mexican) Restaurant in NT/WC

3) Your Favorite Chinese Place in NT/WC

4) Your Favorite Japanese/Sushi Restaurant in NT & WC

5) Your Favorite Thai or Korean Restaurant in NT/WC

6) Your Favorite Italian Food in NT/WC

7) Your Favorite Greek or Mediterranean Restaurant in NT/WC

8) Your Favorite Indian Place in NT/WC

9) Your Favorite Breakfast Place in NT/WC

9) Your Favorite Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt or Gelato Place in NT/WC

10) Your Favorite Bakery in NT/WC

11) Your Favorite Coffee Shop in NT/WC

We’re providing the lists of places — although we’ve left out the large national and regional chains (with more than 50-60 total locations), because you still have to type in the names of your favorites in the spaces provided and we’re pretty sure you know those chains if they’re your favorite in a category — and yes, you can still include them (we just wish you would focus more on local).

Fill out as many categories as you like, but please don’t put the same name in every category, because those votes won’t be counted. And, if a restaurant is on our Wesley Chapel list, your vote won’t count if you write the name of that restaurant in any New Tampa-only spaces and vice-versa. You can submit both New Tampa & Wesley Chapel ballots without being DQed. 

We have upped the prizes for this year — the Grand Prize is now $200, plus prizes of $100 and $50, chosen at random from among all correctly-filled-out entries received by email or on our NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net website (Note-no U.S. Mail entries will be accepted for this year’s contest!) by Friday, October 18. 

Good luck! — GN

Another Chance To Win FREE Dining In Our 2024 Reader Dining Survey & Contest!

So, it seems that the change in format has thrown some of our usual voters for a loop, but here’s the bottom line: There’s only about two months left for you to submit your votes for your Favorite Restaurants in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel — and to win up to $200 in FREE dining to the restaurant of your choice!

If you click HERE, you’ll find lists of every local and small chain restaurant in a number of categories in both Wesley Chapel and New Tampa). We’re asking you to name your favorites in each category. You can skip as many categories as you like, but we’re grouping the lists of restaurants by type. Here are those categories:

1) Your Five Favorite (overall) Restaurants in Wesley Chapel (WC)

2) Your Favorite American Restaurant in Wesley Chapel

3) Your Favorite Pizza Place in WC

These same categories also appear on the New Tampa ballot. Both entry forms also include lists of places that ask you to pick your Favorite places in New Tampa (NT) AND Wesley Chapel (WC). Here are those other categories:

1) You Favorite Mexican Place in NT/ WC

2) Your Favorite Latin (but not Mexican) Restaurant in NT/WC

3) Your Favorite Chinese Place in NT/WC

4) Your Favorite Japanese/Sushi Restaurant in NT & WC

5) Your Favorite Thai or Korean Restaurant in NT/WC

6) Your Favorite Italian Food in NT/WC

7) Your Favorite Greek or Mediterranean Restaurant in NT/WC

8) Your Favorite Indian Place in NT/WC

9) Your Favorite Breakfast Place in NT/WC

9) Your Favorite Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt or Gelato Place in NT/WC

10) Your Favorite Bakery in NT/WC

11) Your Favorite Coffee Shop in NT/WC

We’re providing the lists of places — although we’ve left out the large national and regional chains (with more than 50-60 total locations), because you still have to type in the names of your favorites in the spaces provided and we’re pretty sure you know those chains if they’re your favorite in a category — and yes, you can still include them (we just wish you would focus more on local).

Fill out as many categories as you like, but please don’t put the same name in every category, because those votes won’t be counted. And, if a restaurant is on our Wesley Chapel list, your vote won’t count if you write the name of that restaurant in any New Tampa-only spaces and vice-versa. You can submit both New Tampa & Wesley Chapel ballots without being DQed. 

We have upped the prizes for this year — the Grand Prize is now $200, plus prizes of $100 and $50, chosen at random from among all correctly-filled-out entries received by email or on our NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net website (Note-no U.S. Mail entries will be accepted for this year’s contest!) by Friday, October 18. 

Good luck! — GN

2024 New Tampa Neighborhood News Reader Dining Survey & Contest!

Click HERE To Enter Our 2024 New Tampa Reader Dining Survey & Contest & To Win $200 In FREE Dining! 

Although our 2023 Reader Dining Survey & Contest was super successful, we’re changing up the format for this year’s contest yet again. 

Instead of putting up different categories every issue, we’re going back to showing you the lists of every local or small chain restaurant in a number of categories in both Wesley Chapel and New Tampa and asking you to name your favorites in each category. One difference is that unlike previous years, you can skip as many categories as you like, but we’re grouping the lists of restaurant by type. Here are those categories: 

1) Your Five Favorite (overall) Restaurants in New Tampa (NT)

2) Your Favorite American Restaurant in New Tampa

3) Your Favorite Pizza Place in NT 

These same categories also appear on the Wesley Chapel ballot. Both entry forms also include lists of places that ask you to pick your Favorite in New Tampa (NT) AND Wesley Chapel, often (but not always) because there aren’t enough in a certain category in just one of our distribution areas. Here are those other categories: 

4) Your Favorite Mexican Place in NT/ WC 

5) Your Favorite Latin (but not Mexican) Restaurant in NT/WC 

6) Your Favorite Chinese Place in NT/WC 

7) Your Favorite Japanese/Sushi Restaurant in NT & WC 

8) Your Favorite Thai or Korean Restaurant in NT/WC 

9) Your Favorite Italian Food in NT/WC 

10) Your Favorite Greek or Mediterranean Restaurant in NT/WC 

11) Your Favorite Indian Place in NT/WC 

12) Your Favorite Breakfast Place in NT/WC 

13) Your Favorite Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt or Gelato Place in NT/WC 

14) Your Favorite Bakery in NT/WC 

15) Your Favorite Coffee Shop in NT/WC 

We’re providing the list of places, although we’ve left out the large national and regional chains (with more than 50-60 total locations), because you have to write (or type) the names of your favorites in the spaces provided and we’re pretty sure you know those if they’re your favorite in a category — and yes, you can still include them (we just wish you would focus on local). 

Fill out as many categories as you like, but please don’t put the same name in every category, because those votes won’t be counted and if a restaurant is on our Wesley Chapel list, your vote won’t count if you write the name of that restaurant in any New Tampa-only spaces and vice-versa. You can submit both New Tampa & Wesley Chapel ballots without being DQed. Click HERE to fill out the Wesley Chapel Reader Dining Survey & Contest form!

We have upped the prizes for this year — the Grand Prize is now $200, plus prizes of $100 and $50, chosen at random from among all correctly-filled-out entries received by email or on our NeighborhoodNewsOnline.net website (Note-no U.S. Mail entries will be accepted for this year’s contest!) by Friday, October 18. 

Good luck! — GN