BellyUp! to Tampa’s Best Bars

Seminole Heights

Corner Club runs as a coffee shop and a bar out of the same room on Sligh Avenue, with drip, cold brew and espresso on one menu and beer, wine and cocktails on another, plus a short list of snacks like pretzel and PBR beer cheese and lemon garlic hummus. It keeps zero-proof versions of its own cocktails on the list. Creative Loafing has described it as the neighbourhood dive bar, known for cheap beer.

Ybor City · $ · kava, coffee, tea

Grassroots is a kava house on East 6th Avenue in Ybor City serving Vanuatu kava, locally roasted coffee, kratom, herbal teas, kombucha and hand-crafted natural sodas. It is built for sitting still: free wifi for remote work, a shelf of board games, and a room that runs from morning coffee through to a late hangout. Its own words for the place are that every visit feels like home, and that it is more than a cafe. The kitchen side is small, and the food that is there is deliberately vegan and gluten free friendly.

Ybor City · cuban, sandwiches, coffee

King Corona has been on Seventh Avenue since 1998, which by Ybor City standards makes it a newcomer and by everyone else's standards makes it a fixture. The Ybor room pairs a full bar and a walk-in humidor with Cuban coffee and sandwiches, and the sidewalk tables are one of the standard places to sit and watch Seventh Avenue. The house also rolls its own small-batch cigars under the Dulzura Farms name. A second Ybor site, King Corona 1902, is announced for November 2026: twelve thousand square feet on Seventh Avenue with a members-only floor and a balcony over the district.

Downtown · american

Late Start runs three ways out of one downtown room: locally roasted coffee and a breakfast menu with a Mexican twist in the morning, smashburgers and breakfast tacos through the day, and beer brewed on site all of it. The taps carry its own IPAs and stouts plus a rotating selection from other local and regional breweries, and there is a short wine list. Coffee service stops at 2pm on weekdays and noon at weekends.

Hyde Park · new american, coffee, tea

The building went up in 1891 across the street from Henry B. Plant's Tampa Bay Hotel, held an arcade of local shops from the 1920s, then sat empty for decades until the century-old brickwork was restored. Brother and sister Blake Casper and Allison Adams reopened it as Oxford Exchange on September 24, 2012, and Casper's line for how it started is that it started with a bookstore and an office. Under one roof now are the restaurant, the bookstore and shop, a coffee bar, the TeBella Tea Bar, a champagne bar, the Commerce Club membership workspace, and the OE Studio and podcast room. The design takes its cue from the old London clubs and shops, and the stated intent was a place to belong.

Seminole Heights · cuban

Soul de Cuba opened on North Florida Avenue in Seminole Heights and cooks from what it calls authentic family recipes, built around the Cuban sandwich, slow-roasted lechon and Sunday brunch. The kitchen puts on themed evenings rather than just service, including a Taste of Havana plate of ropa vieja, lechon asado, arroz moro, beef empanada and platanos maduros, and an Evening in Havana night of Cuban food, music and stories. There is a bar, a patio and catering for celebrations and corporate events.

Seminole Heights · european, sandwiches, gastropub, american, bar food

The Independent has been the beer bar of Seminole Heights for about fifteen years, a European-inspired pub on North Florida Avenue with a cafe attached that serves the same kitchen menu plus coffee and baked goods. The draft list is built from imported and American craft beer, and the kitchen runs from Bavarian brat platters to tempeh reubens. Visit Tampa Bay records 50 seats indoors and a total capacity of 150 with the outdoor space, and lists live music, gallery openings and beer and wine events as the regular calendar. The bar stays open to 1am at weekends, which in this stretch of Seminole Heights is unusual.