Datz – A Food Experience!

When we went on our September Florida trip, I’d researched restaurant possibilities and I picked up recommendations from our friends, Irv and Martha.  We ended up with a big list of restaurants…with very little time to try them out!

This is the outside dining area and customer waiting area at Datz Tampa.  I didn’t get a photo of the front of this restaurant but in fairness, it’s ‘look’ wasn’t an attention grabber…being sort of plain and unremarkable. 

As the saying goes, never judge a book by its cover!

 

The interior of Datz was pretty impressive…a little industrial, lots of color, two levels, brick and wood with lots to look at. 

What drew me to Datz in the first place was their on-line menu combined with a rating of 408 excellent/very good vs. 36 poor/terrible reviews on Trip Advisor.  I’m always looking for a 10:1 good to bad ratio…

Datz Menu is in a newspaper format.  It is very extensive!  It includes segments for breakfast (until 11 AM), weekend, lunch, dinner, an extensive beer listing…focused on craft beers, plus a huge liquor menu.  The latter includes the biggest listing of bourbons that I’ve ever seen in a restaurant.

We started out with a small order ($5.00) of Monkey Bread.  This consisted of pull-apart clusters of “warm gooey cinnamon sugar bread drizzled with vanilla icing”.  It was pretty good and it could have been warmer.  I have had better…

Some other appetizers were more interesting and/or unusual.  For vegetarians there was the Buffalo Cauliflower. ($12.00) The cauliflower is roasted and tossed with buffalo sauce, then served with a chive dip.  There was also Pig Candy, “a bucket of caramelized goodness”. ($15.00) The Mac Bites ($10.00) were more up my alley… The Mac Bites consist of Benton’s Bacon, jalapeno, mac n’ cheese with sriracha aioli. (Benton’s bacon is produced just a few miles from our home)

Laurie ordered the Hansel and Gretel. ($12.00) This sandwich on a pretzel bun is constructed of ham, Swiss cheese and Cigar City jai alai beer cheese fondue.  All of the sandwiches came with a pile of very nice house made potato chips drizzled with creamy blue cheese and topped with green onions.  It was a top notch sandwich!

  

Dawn Marie ordered this flatbread creation for lunch.  I can’t find it on the website’s menu but I don’t think that she had any complaints.  She accompanied it with a side of Garlic Mascarpone Mashed Potatoes. ($5.00)

Of course I ordered a huge meaty cheesy sandwich!  This was Ty’s Two Fister. ($13.00) This luscious pile of goodness was loaded with Sy Ginsberg’s corned beef, house smoked pastrami, both Swiss and Muenster cheese with honey cup mustard on some tasty toasted rye bread.  This was an excellent creation and I was very happy!

We were stuffed after our lunch but the display cases full of spectacularly beautiful baked goods and amazing hand-made (and pricey) William Dean chocolates did catch our attention!  On our way out, we stopped and purchased a single piece of the candy for each of us.  The price per piece got my attention but it was excellent candy.  When I checked on-line, I found a 5 piece assortment for $12.00 plus shipping.   William Dean's Website: https://www.williamdeanchocolates.com/online-store.html.

Datz is a fun and quirky place with good food.  We would return if we were in the area again.  Datz Tampa is located at 2616 South MacDill Avenue.  Serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.  There also is an adjoining bakery.  Phone: 813-831-7000.  Datz Website is at http://www.datztampa.com/.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave