Experts' Choice Award Columbia Restaurant
What the experts agree on
Florida's oldest and world's largest Spanish restaurant serves generations-old Cuban recipes in historic Ybor. The iconic 1905 salad and fresh Gulf stone crabs are must-tries.
“Make a date for some of the best Latin cuisine in Tampa.”
– Fodor's
Fodor's "The local chain's 1905 salad—with ham, olives, cheese, and garlic—deserves its cult status. October through May sees stone crabs fresh from the Gulf of Mexico. " Full review
Gayot14.0
"A must-visit restaurant while in Tampa, with history and tantalizing Spanish cuisine." Full review
i
If you want to watch the flamenco show, which runs from Monday through Saturday for a cover charge of only $6 per person, ask for the Don Quixote dining room and arrive a little before 7:30 p.m. The restaurant, which survived the area's depression in the late 50's, is now operated by the fourth and fifth generation of the Gonzmart family.
Afar Magazine "Spanish- and Cuban-inspired cuisine tantalizes the restaurant goer. Some recipes are generations old and are still favorites." Full review
Afar Magazine "Florida's oldest restaurant...also the largest Spanish restaurant in the world. The Columbia not only quenched my thirst for knowledge, but also quenched my insatiable hunger for Cuban cuisine." Full review
Afar Magazine "Ybor City can boast that it is home to the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Florida. The Columbia Restaurant opened in 1905 as a café serving coffee and Cuban sandwiches to..." Full review
The Infatuation8.0
"La Columbia is Florida’s oldest restaurant and claims to have invented the cuban sandwich. We’re not here to litigate that (if we were, we’d point out that Key West is where cuban..." Full review
