Help!!! Tampa on Thanksgiving

[Driverdog]

Boston-based hound needs a place for turkey on Thanksgiving night. Bad enough I have to visit the SO's mother, please help me find a great place to eat so I don't have to put up with her cooking. Will be coming into the airport and heading south after dinner but willing to make reasonable detour as necessary. Some of the better restaurants up here are doing thanksgiving night dinner and I'm sure hoping there is an opportunity down there. Thanks in advance for sharing your local knowledge.

All the best...

[MICRODOT]

How Far south are you traveling - Do you want a place in Tampa near the airport (before you start your travels south) or would you rather have dinner further south in someplace like Sarasota....or further south?

Many restaurants in the Tampa area will be doing the buffet thing (and require reservations) for Thanksgiving. Some of the buffets are quite good.

Close to the Tampa airport (a couple of miles) on route 60 overlooking Tampa Bay:

The RUSTY PELICAN (usually a nice buffet in a nice atmosphere.)

OSYERCATCHERS (at the Grand Hyatt -- actually, in a separate building back behine the Hyatt directly overlooking the bay). Very Good Seafood restaurant (and sometimes hard to get reservations. Beautiful view looking over the bay - nice Sunsets. Don't know what they plan for Thanksgiving but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't either go buffet or include a turkey selection. Excellent seafood selection. Valet parking. Casual elegance - servers wear white shorts and shirts. Customers tend to the dressy casual to sportcoat, nice slacks, little black dress. On the expensive side.

CASTAWAY - seafood, beef, chicken - but I think they usually do a buffet for Thanksgiving. Beautiful view over the bay. Dressy Casual to little black dress. Rustic, nautical seashore atmosphere.
Also near the airport is

Bahama Breeze -- Dardin chain restaurant

RUTH'S CHRIS Steakhouse
ROYs -- part of the OUTBACK Steakhouse chain -- very good
seafood, island food mix. Great wine list.
FLEMINGS PRIME STEAKHOUSE & WINE BAR - also an OUTBACK experimental restaurant (built here to determine if nationwide expansion is a good idea) --- very good steakhouse -- more expensive and elegant than outback.
ARMANI'S -- top of the Hyatt Regency - great view, great food, expensive to very expensive, little black dress place.
LANDRY'S SEAFOOD HOUSE - chain seafood restaurant (out of Dallas) -- casual, overlooking Tampa bay - moderate prices.
CKs -- at the top of the hotel attached to the Tampa International Airport. Revolving restaurant - usually a buffet for Thanksgiving. Good views of Tampa area. Normal menu is generally Moderate to Expensive. Dressy Casual to little black dress crowd.

[Tandoori Girl]

I imagine that many places will be closed. The Columbia restaurant (all locations) is running a Thanksgiving dinner special. Google them and go to their web site to put in your reservation.

[Mild Bill]

Castaway(s?) on the causeway does a killer Thanksgiving spread... I've been there 5-6 times in my 25 years in Tampa...

Tons of stuff... on the water too... make reservations...

5 minutes from the airport...

[Microdot]

Something a little different: The Yacht Star Ship (which is actually a dinner boat cruise in downtown Tampa) has two cruises planned for Thanksgiving. First boards at 11:30 and the second boards at 3:30. I haven't been on one of their cruises in the last 2 years but they've rennovated what was already a brand new, beautiful ship since then. (They enclosed part of a deck to increase their serving area.) I took my parents on a dinner cruise for my mother's birthday and the food and the service was wonderful. Ship was very clean, wheelchair accessible. Top deck was an outdoor bar with dancing. Reserved tables. White tablecloth service - but on the expensive side. This will probably run around $50.00 - 60.00 per person not including drinks and tip. Their website is at
www.yachtstarship.com.