The Best Restaurants in Tampa for 2026

Bern's has anchored 1208 South Howard Avenue since 1956, and its wine cellar — long cited as one of the largest restaurant lists in the world — runs past half a million bottles. Steaks are dry-aged in house and cut to order; the move is to order by thickness and weight, then walk upstairs to the Harry Waugh Dessert Room, a warren of private booths built from old wine casks. It is theatre as much as dinner, and no first visit to Tampa is complete without it. Compare the best steakhouses worldwide.

Chef and owner Eric Fralick runs Koya as an intimate omakase counter in Seminole Heights, and it has held a Michelin star since the Florida guide's debut, retaining it for 2026. The multi-course menu of edomae sushi and seasonal small plates runs north of $150 and is built around fish flown in several times a week. There are only a handful of seats, so this is a reservation you plan a trip around rather than drop into. For a quiet, exacting dinner for two, it is the best in Tampa. See more sushi counters.

Kosen earned a Michelin star and kept it through the 2026 ceremony, one of only four Tampa rooms to do so. The kitchen works an edomae-leaning omakase of nigiri and warm courses, with the multi-course menu landing in the $150-plus range depending on the night's fish. Like Koya it seats very few, so reserve ahead and arrive on time — a sushi counter waits for no one. For visitors choosing between the two, Kosen is the easier table to land at short notice.

Chef Bryce Bonsack opened Rocca in Tampa Heights in 2021 and earned a Michelin star that the kitchen has held through 2026. The cooking is northern Italian and pasta-led: the tortellini in brodo and the daily hand-cut pastas are the reason to come, with plates roughly $18 to $42. The room is handsome and easygoing rather than hushed, which makes it the most flexible of the city's starred tables for a birthday or an anniversary. Book a few weeks out for a weekend seat. More Italian fine dining.

Ebbe holds a Michelin star into 2026 for a tightly run modern menu of small plates served from an open kitchen in Seminole Heights. The format is a sequence of seasonal courses, generally in the $90 to $130 range, that change with what the kitchen can get. It is the warmest and most personal of the city's starred rooms, with the chef often handing plates across the pass. For a diner who wants ambition without a stiff dining room, this is the pick.

Lilac drew a Michelin star soon after opening and remained on the guide's recommended list after the 2026 ceremony moved its star elsewhere. The kitchen runs a polished modern American tasting menu, generally $120 and up, in a dressed-up room that still feels built for a celebration. The drop from the starred tier makes it a slightly easier and arguably better-value booking now than it was a year ago, without a real fall in the cooking. Reserve a week or two ahead for weekends.

Part of the Gonzmart family's Columbia Restaurant Group, Ulele opened in 2014 in a restored 1903 water-works building on the Hillsborough River at 1810 North Highland Avenue. The kitchen cooks Florida native ingredients over a live-fire hearth: the char-grilled oysters, the alligator hush puppies and the okra fries are the signatures, with mains around $24 to $42. The riverside patio and the on-site brewery make it the most genuinely local big night out in the city, and reservations are easy by Tampa-star standards.

The Columbia opened in Ybor City in 1905 and is the oldest restaurant in Florida, still run by the founding Hernandez-Gonzmart family across a full city block of tiled dining rooms. The 1905 Salad is mixed tableside, the Cuban sandwich and the paella à la Valenciana are the order, and a flamenco show runs most nights. Mains sit around $20 to $40. It is history rather than innovation, but for a sense of where Tampa came from, no other room comes close. Reserve a table near the courtyard.

Chefs Ferrell Alvarez and Ty Rodriguez opened Rooster & the Till in Seminole Heights and helped turn the district into Tampa's dining heart, drawing repeated James Beard recognition along the way. The menu is a rotating set of modern American small plates built for sharing, generally $14 to $34, with a chalkboard of specials that rewards letting the kitchen lead. For a relaxed, food-first dinner with friends rather than a formal occasion, it is the city's most reliable table.

Eddie V's sits on the downtown waterfront and delivers exactly what it promises: prime steaks, a long raw bar, and dishes like the Chilean sea bass and the crab-crusted snapper, with mains generally $40 to $65. The V Lounge runs live jazz nightly, the service is smooth, and the room is dressed-up without being stiff. It is a chain rather than a one-off, so it earns its place for reliability rather than surprise — the right call for a business dinner where nobody can be let down. Compare the best seafood restaurants.