Here are the top 10 most popular restaurant and bar stories on St Pete Rising of 2022
/This is it, St. Pete. Your top 10 most popular restaurant and bar stories on St. Pete Rising over the past 12 months.
For the past nine years, we’ve been living and breathing everything St. Pete to keep you in-the-know and serve as the authority on everything new and coming soon to the Sunshine City.
From fast-casual eateries to high-end cocktails bars and everything in between, this was a huge year for new restaurant and bar announcements brought on by pent up demand from the COVID-19 lockdowns.
If you aren’t hungry and thirsty before you start reading this story, you will be once you finish—we promise.
We’ve got a lot to look forward to in 2023. Now let’s dive in.
10. Cava
Cava, a Mediterranean fast-casual restaurant, was announced in July and opened in September at 1320 4th Street North in St. Pete. Cava features a food assembly line, similar to Chipotle, that lets diners customize their meal using an assortment of bases, spreads, proteins, toppings, and dressings. The menu offers build-your-own salads, rice bowls, grain bowls, and pitas. Protein options include spicy lamb meatballs, harissa honey chicken, grilled chicken, grilled meatballs, braised lamb, and vegetarian options like falafel and roasted vegetables.
9. Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls
Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls is coming soon to 501 1st Avenue North in downtown St. Pete. In addition to its namesake lobster rolls, the restaurant’s menu also includes shrimp rolls, crab rolls, BLT rolls, New England clam chowder, lobster grilled cheese, lobster mac and cheese, lobster bisque, and salads, as well as Whoopie Pies for dessert. The menu also includes options for kids as well as beer, wine, and hard seltzers. Entrée prices range from $15 to $26.
8. Sparrow
Sparrow, a rooftop bar with a 1960s retro vibe, will debut at the Moxy Hotel by Marriott, which is currently under construction at 1234 Central Avenue in the EDGE District. The beverage menu will include an abundance of custom cocktails as well as big batch cocktails for groups, such as Mixtape Punch, Psychic Visions Punch, and High Tea. Sparrow’s exterior will feature tables overlooking Central Avenue, larger dining tables for groups, and a secondary bar adjacent to the hotel’s rooftop pool. Sparrow is expected to open in the first quarter of 2024.
7. KPOT
K-POT Hot Pot & Barbecue is coming soon to 6901 22nd Avenue North at the Tyrone Square Mall in west St. Pete. Korean BBQ (or KBBQ for short) refers to the popular method in Korean cuisine of grilling meat that you prepare yourself at your table. KPOT in St. Pete will be an all-you-can-eat dining experience that merges traditional Asian hot pot with Korean BBQ flavors – but modernized with a full bar and a nightlife-like atmosphere.
6. Torchy’s Tacos
Torchy's Tacos is coming soon to 2314 Tyrone Boulevard North in west St. Pete (formerly Pollo Tropical). The Austin-born fast casual restaurant is known for their “damn good tacos”, breakfast tacos, green chile queso, and frozen margaritas. Interior build-out of the 3,650 square foot space has already begun.
5. Fortu
Fortu, an elevated pan-Asian steakhouse, is coming soon to the former Ceviche space on the first floor of the historic Ponce de Leon Hotel at 95 Central Avenue in downtown St. Pete. The menu will feature a variety of steak cuts including a 16 oz. Koji dry-aged A5 Japanese wagyu steak. Additional offerings will include a Korean-style half-fried chicken, lobster “dynamite” twice baked potato, house-made dumplings, and various local seafood dishes. Fortu is expected to open in the 2nd quarter of 2023.
4. Central Park St Pete
Central Park St. Pete, a massive five-story food hall, is coming soon to 551 Central Avenue. After nearly a year of excavation work, vertical construction has begun on Central Park, which will include a basement speakeasy, seven quick-service food concepts and a bar on the main level, two elevated full-service restaurants on floors three and four, and an events/creative arts space that will highlight local musicians and performers on the top level. Hi Hospitality Group founder Natalia Levey originally estimated the project would open by the end of 2022, but construction delays have pushed the debut to the end of 2023.
3. Cane & Barrel
Cane & Barrel, St. Pete's newest rooftop bar and lounge, is coming soon to the top of the AC Hotel by Marriott, which is currently under construction at 110 2nd Street North.
The bar will be inspired by Cuban heritage and is designed with the flora and fauna of Florida in mind. Cane & Barrel will feature a 1,000-square-foot interior lounge and a 1,900-square-foot rooftop terrace that will reflect the colorful energy of Havana nights mixed with an old-world charm. The AC Hotel by Marriott St. Petersburg and Cane & Barrel are expected to open in early 2023.
2. Welcome to the Farm
Welcome to the Farm debuted in November at 216 1st Avenue North in downtown St. Pete (formerly MacDinton’s Irish Pub).
Inspired by his own farm in Tennessee, country music superstar Chase Rice opened the live music country bar offering an expansive whiskey menu along with themed cocktails, such as “Bennington’s Flask” named after Rice’s favorite buffalo.
The interior features cowhide benches lining the back wall and a large red, white, and blue neon star hanging above a hardwood dance floor.
1. Good Night John Boy
In February, St Pete Rising announced that Good Night John Boy, a 70s-themed nightclub, was coming to the Jannus Block in downtown St. Pete. The news went viral -- at least locally.
The club's owners, Cleveland-based Forward Hospitality Group, expected to open at 16 2nd Street North two months later in April, however permitting delays pushed the opening back nearly a year. Now projected to debut in February or March 2023, construction has finally begun on Good Night John Boy.
