Staying at the Doncesar wondering where are a few good places to eat. So far we have Berns, Melting Pot, Brunch at the Doncesar, and Billys Stonecrab & Steak. Is Billys the best place for Stonecrab? What about seafood in general, where for that? Any suggestions about these places or any others would be appreciated. Thanks!

staying a couple weeks in SPB in may and are so envious of the pink palace! it's out of our price range, though we've wanted to stay there for 20 years!

does anyone know of any online sites that offer a price break for the don? i once saw a listing that they had rooms for $99 but have never found that myself!

oh well....i'll still watch this thread and hope to pick up some tips.

i'm also interested in the don's sunday brunch. do we need reservations? anyone know the price for it?

smaller favorite restaurants include woody's for that beachie-right-on-the-water feeling and great grouper sandwiches. we also love the little snack bar for on pass-a-grille beach for breakfast, along with the seahorse on pass-a-grille.

i know nothing about berns or the melting pot or billys stonecrab & steak. can you tellme where they are located?

thanks,
linda

The following were some of our favorite restaurants:
Sea Critters - St Pete, eat outside on the docks
Backfin Blue cafe in Gulport (the best!!)
Frenchy's Rockaway on the beach in Clearwater
Billy's in Tierra Verde for fresh stone crabs - they were wonderful, the rest of their food just so-so. I Don't know if the stone crabs are seasonal, we were there the last of Feb. Billy also offers free boat rides at 5:00pm Mon thru Sat
Cabby's On the beach in Treasure Island for grouper sandwiches
Canjan Grill on the Bayuo(sp?)in St Petersburg for Crawfish. Yummmmmmmm

CD----------i'd LOVE more info on billy's free boat rides! where is terra verde in relation to SPB?

Billy's in Tierra Verde for fresh stone crabs - they were wonderful, the rest of their food just so-so. I Don't know if the stone crabs are seasonal, we were there the last of Feb. Billy also offers free boat rides at 5:00pm Mon thru Sat

Linda,
Here's the link for Billys
http://www.billysstonecrab.com/
I've never been so I can't comment on it, I just found it one the web and am hoping some people who have been will throw me a bone and tell me what they liked/disliked. As for the Doncesar cheaply, I know they send me emails where you can stay mid week for $99 in the off season, like July. If you go to their website you can sign up to be on their mailing list, they'll alert you when the specials are. We can't wait to see it, we've never been but have heard a lot about it. Good luck.

Billy's free boat ride is on a pontoon boat. There are a few slips outside their restaurant and the pontoon is slipped there. We were there on a Sunday and it was not available but it looked like fun. The pontoon is equiped with rows of seats. I would call to see if you need reservations for the boat ride. After getting reservations for the boat (if they require it) I would go early for drinks and stone crabs while you wait and it is still light out and ask for a window seat. It was a fun place. Their drinks were good and we loved, loved, loved the stone crabs.

Hi Guys! Stone crab season ends May 15th. Billy's free boat ride is a cute come-on - they take you around the corner to "shell island", an uninhabited sandbar where locals moor their boats during the day and sometimes camp out. Billy's has a great rooftop bar, as cd said, the rest of their food is so-so, but their stonecrabs are first rate. There was an article in the local paper about the crusty owner and his hobby of traveling all over Florida to procure his stonecrabs. His restaurant on Tierra Verde (on the way to Fort DeSoto) is located a couple miles east of the Don CeSar, probably ten minutes (at most) away. I just discovered another great restaurant, in the same shopping center as Billy's: Crazy Conch Cafe. It's a bit fancy, but the food was wonderful. Waterfront also (we sat at the bar so didn't see the view).

P.S. My favorite breakfast place, Le Croisette, is at the north end of St. Pete Beach, on Corey Avenue. Also on this road is the post office, another cute bistro-type restaurant called Mangia's, and a wonderful little oldtime theatre - if you're into arthouse movies, check it out, it's called the Beach Theatre.

Hi Joan!
Good to hear from you again. Wish we were there!

hi cd! you too! email me re your husband's resume: joanleakathotmaildotcom.

I LOVE cajun food, gumbo is just about my favorite dish on earth. I've never had crawfish, someone please indulge me and explain how you eat them and what they taste like. I've never eaten anything with the head still on it, this could be a problem.
Anyplace else in the Tampa St Pete area to get good gumbo/cajun food? Thanks.

Hello. Just thought I'd post that I've been eye-ing a package on hotwire.com with a room at the Don Cesar for the week of Jan. 1, 2005. (I know that's supposed to be a good time to travel, but haven't found many great deals yet.) The actual room rate isn't disclosed, but it overall is a good value. (I think my most recent search was for $585/person out of Des Moines (where we don't get much in the way of bargain air fares) for 5 nights.)

GMHAV
Crawfish etufee (sp?)is what I have as it is already out of the shell. Now, my husband orders steamed crawfish and has to take the meat from the shell and peel it like a lobster tail. Not for me, I order something already prepared! It is wonderful!!!

abroughtonromain: i would love more info on how to search for that combo deal with the don cesar. i can't seem to find it. i'm not too far from you, by the way, in that we're in the quad cities!

are you searching for an air/hotel package? when i search hotels alone, nothing on the don comes up.

thanks,
linda

GMHAV...Peeling crawfish is a snap. Hold body in one hand, head in the other. Give a slight twist and the head comes right off. The tail shell has rings like a lobster. Peel off the ring that was closest to the head, then pinch the tail at the far end, put the open end to your mouth and grab the meat with your teeth as it comes out with your pinching. It's easier than it sounds!

We used to live in New Orleans, and although when I was pregnant I was never sick, I did lose my taste for most food the first 3 or 4 months with the exception of crawfish. That's all I wanted to eat and fortunately they were in season at the time. Of course our daughter was born with pinchers instead of hands...a minor defect.

Enjoy the Don...that's my favorite beach hotel. My husband runs a hotel in Tampa (where we also live), and for our anniversary we take a busman's holiday at the Don. It really is lovely. Their main restaurant is quite good...Maritana Grille.

We enjoy cd's Backfin Blue (Gulfport) too and have been meaning to try "6 Tables" in the Peninsula Inn next door to Backfin Blue. The other "6 Tables" around the Tampa Bay area are good, but it's a fixed menu and a lot of food. Not inexpensive. You've really got to be in the mood for eating (they would call it dining )when you make reservations there!

Ok I'm jealous, the don and Berns, mmmmmmmm!! Check out the Sunday brunch at the Don. It's awesome.

More restaurants. Casual would be the Hurricane up in Pass-a-grille.

The Lobster Pot, a little further north from Madeira Beach is awesome, as is the Salt Rock Grill.

Have fun!

Lots of info available on Tampa Bay Online (TBO.COM). Be sure to have Grouper while there.

For my many long weekends at St Pete Beach, it's Berns for steak and Leverocks for seafood and Shells for a great bowl of clam chowder.

Unless you like early dining, be sure to make reservations soon at Berns. I had to book three weeks ahead for dinner last weekend.

And it was yummy. I don't care what anybody says, Berns is the greatest. The best thing we had was the lobster bisque -- very rich almost bacony taste. I know it's impossible but be sure to leave room for a trip to the Dessert Room upstairs.

A good lunch place at the beach -- head to Madiera Beach just north of John's Pass -- Dockside Dave's has the best blackened grouper imaginable. Sorry but there's not much Cajun fare in Tampa.

Have fun.

We were able to make reservations at Berns last year two days in advance. (Friday night in April)

TG...we are going to have to duke it out over Berns! IMHO it's a joke, living on past reputation. Now admittedly we haven't been back since our first trip a few years ago, and now that Bern senior is gone, perhaps there have been changes, but here are my observations, for what they are worth.

One, it's a great cut of meat, and providing you start with excellent meat, even you or I could do as well, so the steak will be excellent. But why oh why serve it on dinnerware not even as good as the quality you'd find in the average dorm dining room--thick destruction proof plates and flatware that looks like camping gear?? What is with the bread, like zwieback we gave the kids when they were teething. And the wine list...chained to the table with fully a third of it whited out? If they are being stolen, add the replacement cost to your meal price, don't further destroy the ambience with bike chains. Look around at other plates in the dining room...no matter what the meat, all will have the same veggies. Nothing wrong with that, just lacking in imagination. Then there's the decor. Now if Bern's son has implemented improvements in these departments we'll have to go back and give it a try, but if not...once was plenty.

On its side, the kitchen tour is terrific and most interesting for anyone not in the business. I'd never been behind the scenes and thoroughly enjoyed it. I hear that the dessert room is terrific...but you understand what is behind that concept I'm sure. That gets everyone out of the dining room so tables can be turned without folks lingering over dessert and coffee. Nothing wrong with that, but that's what it's about. We did not do it...having to make that decision prior to dinner, and not knowing at that point if we'd want dessert. After finishing dinner and deciding we did still have room for something more, it was too late...we'd have to wait an hour to get in. All in all...the evening was not a positive experience.