In our most competitive category in our 2020 Survey, where the top five vote getters were separated by just a handful of votes, Treble Makers, one of the first new restaurants to open in The Village at The Grove shopping center, sneaked into the top spot as your favorite American eatery in either of our markets.
While that may seem a little surprising when you consider how many restaurants are now located in Wesley Chapel alone, it’s no surprise at all to anyone who’s eaten there — especially if you’ve enjoyed a delicious dinner and stayed for the dueling piano shows on the weekends or for the live music on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
Chef Kevin Maggard’s menu will likely continue to grow and evolve over time, but he already has a lot of favorites from which to choose, including the unique coconut curry grouper and some of the tenderest, best-seasoned steaks in either of our distribution areas.Â
I also regularly rave about Treble Makers’ calamari, ahi tuna and diver scallops appetizers. — GN
The chicken wings at Bubba’s 33 are some of the best around.
2 — BUBBA’S 33 The surprise here isn’t that Bubba’s 33 finished #2 in this “Favorite American” category, it was more that Bubba’s only finished as your 17th favorite restaurant in WC despite its great menu and drink and food prices.
3 — BONEFISH GRILL Bonefish Grill is obviously one of the consistent favorites among our readers again this year, as it finished as both your third favorite restaurant in Wesley Chapel and third favorite American restaurant in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.
4 — BAHAMA BREEZE Bahama Breeze Even though a good portion of its menu isn’t necessarily “American” food, Bahama Breeze also was pretty consistent, finishing as your fifth favorite restaurant in WC and fourth favorite American restaurant in both of our markets.
5 — FAT RABBIT Fat Rabbit in Tampa Palms is a classic American joint. The bar serves ice cold beer, including its own craft brew, the burgers and wings are terrific and the super-crispy tater tots shouldn’t be as good as they are.Â
The Next 10, in order of votes: Oakley’s, GrillSmith, Ciccio Cali, BJ’s Brewhouse, Stonewood, Mr. Dunderbak’s, Glory Days, Walk-On’s, Cheddars, Ford’s Garage.
With the possible exception of the hotel/tourism industry, there’s little doubt that the restaurant business was among the most Covid-affected industry sectors in Florida in 2020.
And, although many of the new eateries that opened in Wesley Chapel in 2020 were delayed by the pandemic, the past year was still one of the busiest for new restaurant openings in Wesley Chapel.
Among the new eateries that opened in 2020 in (and adjacent to) Wesley Chapel were the following:
Main Event — Yes, we realize that the bowling and entertainment center is more than “just” a restaurant, Main Event did host one of the first North Tampa Bay Chamber ribbon-cutting events following Gov. Ron DeSantis’ pandemic-caused shutdown of just about everything here in the Sunshine State.
Double Branch Artisanal Ales — Again, Double Branch, located in The Village at The Grove of Wesley Chapel (above), doesn’t yet qualify as a “restaurant” — at least not until its kitchen opens — but it has offered pizzas from a food truck outside the craft beer brewery and should open a kitchen inside in 2021. Even so, enough of Wesley Chapel’s craft beer-crazed residents voted for it as their Favorite Bar in New Tampa & Wesley Chapel for it to finish in this year’s top-5 in that category.
Treble Makers— Another entertainment venue that opened in The Grove at Wesley Chapel during the early stages of Florida’s restaurant re-openings, Treble Makers was one of the few newcomers to register more than a blip with our readers, finishing as the 4th Favorite restaurant in Wesley Chapel (see list, right) and Favorite American Restaurant in both of our distribution areas. if you haven’t tasted the coconut curry grouper, fried calamari or grilled filet mignon, you owe it to yourself to check out Treble Makers for a dueling piano show on Friday or Saturday night ‚ or anytime!
Rock & Brews — Considering how packed the place has been (even with social distancing) inside and out since the moment it opened, we were a little surprised that the first Tampa Bay link in this small chain (on S.R. 56) — inspired and owned in part by Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons of the rock group KISS — didn’t get any votes at all from our readers, until we realized that it didn’t open until a week before we shut down the voting. With great live music on the weekends and everything from unique bruschetta to sweet heat fried chicken on the menu, Rock & Brews will likely make our 2021 top-10 — and look for it to finish at least that high when I reveal my 2020 favorites in our next issue.
Florida Ave. Brewing Co. — Another hotly-anticipated entry that opened too late to receive reader votes this year, the former location of Sports & Field on S.R. 56 has a unique menu, with items like bibimbap bowls, Chinese sticky ribs and smoked gouda lobster mac & cheese, to go with more typical sports bar fare, an amazing craft beer selection, full liquor bar and private tasting rooms.
Zukku-San Sushi Bar & Grill — Again, Zukku-San opened too late to get any reader votes this year, but it is a beautiful new restaurant with a full liquor bar, great sushi and Japanese specialties (including the best tempura and chicken teriyaki we’ve had in years) and a true South Tampa vibe. Look for Zukku-San to register with our readers in 2021 and to finish very high in my list of faves this year.
Chuck Lager America’s Tavern — After years of failed attempts to improve the former PrimeBar location in the Shops at Wiregrass, the third location of Chuck Lager’s in the U.S. (and only one in Florida) brought in great food from the mind and kitchen of celebrity TV chef Fabio Viviani and a beautiful-looking new place for lunch and dinner that also opened too late to register with our readers (above) this year but will still make my list of Wesley Chapel favorites and will surely do just as well with our readers next year.
Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. — As a transplanted native New Yorker, I appreciate the “legit” kettle-boiled-then-baked bagels and “Brooklynized” water used for the bagels and coffee at this new favorite on S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel, which could contend for “Favorite Breakfast” in our distribution areas with our readers next year.
Crumbl Cookie — Although it also opened too late to make a splash in this year’s Reader Survey, not since Nothing Bundt Cakes opened in the Shops at Wiregrass has any new dessert-only place created such a stir in our community. The decadent churro and s’mores cookies are our favorites of Crumbl Cookie’s rotating flavors so far.
Moschella’s Italian Eatery & Market — See story here.
As for the favorites in our Reader Survey:
GrillSmith’s offering of fresh fish dishes helped make it Wesley Chapel’s favorite.
1 — GrillSmith has been among the favorite restaurants in Wesley Chapel with our readers since the day it opened in the Shops at Wiregrass, but it was a little surprising for it to regain its top spot as the #1 in Wesley Chapel from 2018 (after finishing second to Bahama Breeze last year) with all the new places that opened.
Even so, it’s hard to argue with our readers on this one, as GrillSmith does have a great menu with a lot of variety that has been added over the years — including an increased choice of steaks, flatbreads, pastas and more.
I also believe that the fact that GrillSmith has added truly fresh “short trip” Florida fish and is one of the few local places that can surprise you with cobia, corvina or even amberjack, in addition to the more common grouper, snapper and mahi-mahi.
Plus, throw in its bottomless bubbles for weekend brunch, its expanded lunch menu and socially distanced bar area and prime location in the Shops and you’ll understand why GrillSmith’s return to the top spot isn’t that surprising at all. Â
2 — 900Âş Woodfired Pizza is more than just a “regular old pizza place,” although few do pizza any better. But its delicious tortellini della casa, pesto di Genovese and other pasta dishes make it so much more.Â
3 — Bonefish Grill is one of the few other choices for truly fresh fish in our area and there’s no doubt its now-open new location on S.R. 56 (with plenty of parking!) will help make it even more popular with our readers in 2021.Â
4 — Treble Makers was one of the first new restaurants to open in “The Chap” early enough in 2020 to register with our readers and its outstanding steaks, fresh fish and tuna (above) and dueling pianos entertainment will likely keep it high on this list for years to come.
5 — Bahama Breeze dropped a few slots this year when compared with last, but this island-themed eatery’s popular Jamaican, Cajun and American specialties, live music and indoor/outdoor bar areas featuring tropical drinks (above) are appreciated by our readers.Â
Stonewood & GrillSmith Take Top Honors In Our 2016 Dining Survey
900° Woodfired Pizza, Hungry Greek & Burger 21 Also Grab Crowns; Three Wesley Chapel Residents Take Home This Year’s Free Dining Prizes!
There’s 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 — according to more than 500 readers who submitted surveys — 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 they’ve 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, BJ’s 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 “Favorite Restaurant in New Tampa.” Last year’s winner, Burger 21, dropped to #3 with our readers and last year’s #5 — Ciccio Cali — 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), Dempsey’s Steak House (#9) and Wolf’s Den (#10) all moved into (or back into) our readers’ 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 year’s Dining Survey contest winners — 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 of 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 a $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.
