Romantic Dinner in St. Petersburg, FL
 

My husband and I are going to be staying on St. Petersburg Beach. We are celebrating our 40th birthdays. I'm looking for a nice restaurant and maybe a place to go dancing or have a quiet drink.

Any sugguestions for a nice restaurant?

Happy Birthday(S!)!!!

There are lots of places, here's some restaurants I love for a special occasion: (hope you will consider Tampa, about a 30 minute drive)

Salt Rock Grill (Indian Rocks Beach)
Carino's (northern tip of SPBeach)
Armani's (at the top of the Hyatt in Tampa near the airport)
Cafe BT (Tampa, tiny but exquisite French/Asian cuisine)

Also, the Maritana Grille inside the Don CeSar gets high ratings...I like their "casual" restaurant better - Sea Porch.

Have a great visit!
Oh, and there's good dance music at two places on Treasure Island: Captain Kosmakos and Mr. B's. Mr. B's also has pretty good food, although not a "special occasion" place.

I just remembered a brand new find that I didn't want to leave out: Cafe Ponte. It's wonderful, already won all kinds of chef awards, located in a shopping complex on Ulmerton Road in St. Petersburg.

Joan, Have you tried the "new" Six Tables in Gulfport in the renovated Peninsula Inn? The setting is very romantic, but we have yet to eat there so can't vouch for the food. We've done the 6 Tables in Tampa and it was excellent, and the one in Dunedin gets great reviews too.

We've been to the Peninsula Inn for drinks only after eating next door at Backfin Blue. The bar area is very nice, upscale. The night we were there, there was a jazz combo playing...don't know if that is a regular feature or not.

This might be an idea for 40th birthday celebrations. It is a fixed menu, 6 courses and $65pp including wine. As the name implies, there are only 6 tables so an intimate setting. The one in Tampa uses all antique china and silver, mismatched. Here's the website jp4ny if you'd like to read more. http://www.innspa.net/sixtablesinfo.htm

The little downtown area of Gulfport can be fun to walk around in the evening too. It's a hard area to describe...artsy fartsy might be the best I can do! A left over piece of Old Florida, but rapidly joining the mainstream...in it's own (very) unique way. One weekend a month (the first?) there is an arts festival and if the night you visit happens to fall during this event, you'll have fun exploring the shops after you finish dining.

Thank you Joan and Oliveoyl for your help. This trip will be like a second honeymoom.

Another recommendation for Salt Rock Grill. :-)

I agree with the Salt Rock Grill! I have lived in St.Pete for 29 years born/raised and nothing compares to the Salt Rock Grill on Gulf Blvd. in Indian Rocks Beach. 19325 Gulf Blvd., Indian Shores, Fl ph:727-593-7625.

You're in good hands with all the great dinner recommendations from Joan and OO. I also recommend the Island Way Grill in Clearwater. I enjoyed a romantic meal I had once at the Don CeSar, but it was like eating in a morgue. No one was there, but the food was great and it's a beautiful building.

After dinner, you might try the Hampton House of Jazz on Central in the downtown St. Pete area. They have great jazz in a nice setting. Very intimate. Unfortunately, I don't think there's much dancing going on. But they have some little love seats that are good for couples. It has been a nice addition to St. Pete's usually staid after-hours fare.

The Ring Side Cafe on 4th Street is also a good place to have a drink and hear live music. You'll find blues and rock music, younger crowd.

I would not recommend Captain Kosmokos unless it's for your 60th (or just to get a good laugh because it's a very weird place -- Joan likes it because they don't card her there, hahaha).

I meant to say she likes it there because they DO card her -- guess I should lay off the fodors at 1 AM.

HAHAHAHA! Actually I've never been inside Capt K's! A couple of my friends who love to dance really enjoy the place though, and they're in their 40's. Hampton's sounds interesting!

We've driven down from Clearwater twice to eat at Salt Rock since the first of the year, and things have changed, but not for the better.

The food remains very good, but the atmosphere has simply gone to blazes. Just too loud, too crowded, too tightly packed. Forget comfort and converstaion. And we had a reservation but still had to wait over 30 minutes. Waiters handed loaded trays and pitchers over our heads all night long. They are short handed! The management is trying to pack in as many as possible. IMHO, you can do much better than Salt Rock Grill if you want both good food and decent ambience.

Gee Mel, that's mighty PASSIONATE of you! We're all ears re: much better! Shells maybe?

Joan, Mel is an "im-poster". I'm sure he'll just vaporize any minute now.