Date night in St. Pete

[rshally]

Just looking for some suggestions, i have a few in mind, but wanted some other opinions...what I was thinking was Ceviche's, then a walk along the waterfront to Gelato place. Any other cool ideas for GREAT food, GREAT atmosphere, modestly impressive.

Thanks in advance!!

[Junika]

We haven't been back to Chateau France in a few years. At that time it had new owners and the food wasn't up to the usual standerds. This is the one downtown St Pete. Has anyone else been there recently? We are coming in October and would try it again.

[rshally]

well we ended up going to 400 Beach Seafood and Tap House...WOW, what a great choice...valet parking along 5th Avenue was full, but we found street parking in the neighborhood a block away...upon arrival, we noticed there was a HUGE list of waits(the place is HUGE by the way, and very loud inside, great bar area, a few spearate rooms for banquet and group dining too...one of the hotesses advised that there were several tables outside with no wait, and we took one of those and were seated right away...it was a beautiful evening, great views of the bay and pier...the menu was excellent, lots of seafood choices, great appetizers, and over 20 beers on tap, I tried the Widmer Drifter, and we ordered Flash Fried Calamari - cooked perfectly, tender, excellent seasoning, and a great sauce for dipping; for meals I had the Ahi Tuna with Lobster Rissoto - HUGE piece of Tuna, coked perfectly, and a nice dipping sauce, the Rissoto had huge chunks of Lobster, in a very cheesy and delicious al dente pasta; my date had the atichoke stuffed Grouper, again antoher HUGE peice of moiust and tender grouper, atop perfectly cooked and seasoned greens..we both shared each others meals, they were excellent, and im looking forward to my next trip back.

[joan]

Rshally, that sounds delicous.
May I ask what your bill was?

[rshally]

BIll was $73 for the appetizer, beer, two entrees...and i also forgot that the entrees included house salads and homemade chedder buscuits...YUM!

[joan]

thanks!
Sounds a wee bit high for only one alcoholic bev, one app, two entrees. But it does look beautiful from the outside (and the beautiful people will be going there with Vinoy across the street I suppose). Can't even imagine what the rent must be on the place. A HUGE wait for a HUGE restaurant --- good for them!

[rshally]

its a medium priced place...apps are all 5 to 15; meals are all 12-30; cocktails/beers are all 5-10. i like that salads, sides(usually a vege and/or startch, and the cedder biscuits are included)....the menu is on line, i was very impressed.

[kenr]

Check out today's review of 400 Beach... by Brian Ries of Creative Loafing. He gave it 3 stars.
http://blogs.creativeloafing.com/dail...

[sweet_polly]

I don't know how you can go wrong with Ceviche. :)

Parkshore Grill is also very nice, though...elegant yet not over-the-top...and you can dine outside and overlook the Vinoy Yacht Basin if you like.

http://www.parkshoregrill.com/

[RibDog]

In addition to Ceviche, maybe go to their tapas bar downstars which is called to Pincho y Pincho. I think that might be kind of nice also.

[Manderley]

i loved both ceviche and pincho y pincho; depends on if you're in the mood for a crowd party atmosphere or a quiet down home place. :)

one of my favorites in st pete is chateau france, expensive but wow. pate de fois gras, filet mignon in black truffle sauce, and grand marnier souffle for dessert. very romantic. honey and i had our wedding dinner there. we got married at the bed and breakfast right next door. sweet memories.

[rhnault]

I like Cafe Alma and I am really wanting to try Bella Brava since Domenica Macchia is now the chef there.