Catering By Robert

I haven't used this caterer, but there are good reasons I haven't. First, they will not schedule a tasting for you until after you've put down an $800 deposit. I'm sorry, but this is the first caterer I've come across who was adament about not letting you taste their food, and there is no way I'm going to commit to a service that I'm going to spend thousands of dollars on when they don't give you anything to try. We would have even paid for a tasting, but they were too busy insisting that Robert is such an amazing chef you shouldn't have to try it. If that's the case, they should have no problem scheduling tastings, like every other caterer does. To top it all off, Susan was extremely rude and insulted me. A few months after we'd crossed them off the list, they were at a wedding show, and we tried the few items they were offering. We were not impressed at all with their plain rice, weird pasta salad with hard leafy things sticking out of it, and cheese spreads, and we're very glad we didn't commit to working with people that can't cook and don't know how to accomodate their customers. I would highly recommend you look elsewhere for your caterer.

Cristino's Coal Brickoven

We decided to try this place after seeing a segment on Tampa Bay's 10 on it. We ordered 2 pizzas and gelato. The pizzas came out pretty quick and were tasty. The gelato was really good. Parking is a bit tight and service was a little slow, and we were glad we went on a weeknight. I bet it's pretty crowded on the weekend. We would go back if we happened to be in the area and wanting some pizza.

Catering By Design

I haven't hired 2 Brothers and a Friend, but I have had a good experience with them. They are very nice, quick to respond, and accomodating. They let us have a tasting and not only let us pick what we wanted to try, but made special menu items for us and allowed us to come to an event they were setting up for our tasting. Their prices are among the best of caterers I've seen, about $24 for a 4 entree buffet with appetizers, linens, china, and staff. The food was good, but their specialty is Greek, so it's better if you are looking for Greek food. I have heard nothing but good things about this caterer and would not hesitate to work with them. They don't have a website, but will respond to emails and send you the menu.

Catch Twenty Three

my friends and I tried this place out for the sunset dinner special that was advertised in a coupon book we got in the mail. They advertised 5 dishes with 2 sides, salad, dessert, and sodas for $10.95. They had advertised guava bbq ribs as one of the options, but when we got there she said they didn't have that (only sometimes have it). I was a little dissapointed, but got the shrimp scampi. one of our group got roasted chicken, one got the jerk pork, and the other also got the shrimp scampi. they brought out banana nut bread and small rolls which were ok. a little odd about the bnb, but it was ok. the salads were ok too. the jerk pork got the best response out of the 4 of us. I wasn't impressed with the scampi and neither was the other person who ordered it. It came with 5 shrimp and a bunch of chunky tomato sauce on it, nothing like scampi I ever had. it was bland and boring. the coconut rice was the best thing on the plate. beans were chunky with weird stuff as well and hardly any beans. the dessert was a not so great piece of key lime pie. we weren't too dissapointed with the food, but it was just ok. we probably won't go back and judging by our experience we'll never go for the regular dinner which looks to be extremely overpriced. the service and atmosphere was average.
NOTE: This restaurant is now CLOSED, and Fish Tail Willy's has taken it's spot.

O'keefe's Restaurant

I tried OKeefe's around 8pm on a Friday night. the place was completely packed, so I assumed it would be good. I had read some other good reviews online. So we went in and ordered the corn beef puff appetizer. It came out in a fairly reasonable amount of time, but was a bit smaller than I expected. three small puffs. they tasted good, but I would have expected at least 4 or 5 puffs for the $6 or so that they cost. the waiter delayed on the silverware and said they ran out of wrapped silverwear, so he had to bring the individual pieces. I ordered the chicken teresa, but was told they just ran out of it. that was a little annoying. this place was starting to seem pretty unorganized. I begrudgingly switched to a different kind of chicken (forgot the name) and my boyfriend ordered a burger. we got the food after a while. my chicken was ok, but nothing fabulous. same with the burger. the food was adequate, and mostly decently priced, but I think for the most part we'll stick with Bennigans.

Smart Luck

Smart Luck sells lottery software and books that help you strategize based on past lotto trends. Then you can increase your odds further by wheeling those numbers. The official website is smartluck.com which includes tons of helpful tips and information about their past winners. Check it out, you won't be disappointed. Gail Howard's Smart Luck software is the best I've seen. I've never had anything but good experiences with this company and would recommend it to anyone.

Anderson Park

I came across this park last weekend, and it really surpassed my expectation. The park is huge, right on Lake Tarpon. There's a boardwalk on the water that continues through a tropical jungle area. On another part of the nature walk, there are picnic areas right on the water, complete with grills. There are also lots of covered picnic pavillions that you can reserve. On the other side is a large children's play area on a big hill overlooking the water. It's really beautiful and a perfect place for a casual family outing or a special event celebration.

PROS: beautiful, lots of amenities, free
CONS: none

Rumba Island Bar & Grill

Rumba Island Grill is about as close as you can get to island food in Clearwater that I've found so far... but that's not saying much. This place has been busy every time I've driven by, so there must be a lot of people who enjoy it, but that also makes parking pretty difficult as their lot is small, and I think they want you to valet (which we hate doing). Anyway, the food wasn't bad, but we weren't impressed enough to return. The biscuits they serve are supposed to be cheddar habanero, but they are plain corn muffins. My companion ordered conch fritters, but has had better ones at several other local restaurants. It's been several months since our visit, so I don't recall the other items we ordered, because they didn't leave an impression with us either way. It was worth trying because we like trying new restaurants, but we're still looking for really good island food.

Frenchys Saltwater Cafe

If you happen to be on the beach with friends hanging out and having drinks, the saltwater cafe might not be so bad. I went with a group for a birthday dinner and it wasn't so great. we had to wait over an hour in the crowded tiny waiting area. the whole place was extremely loud because everyone was shouting over each other. the food seemed decently priced, but servings were pretty small. I had the chicken caesar salad which the menu quoted was "big enough to share" and it was about half the size of the caesar salads you'd get at a Bennigan's type place. It tasted ok, but the dressing was too much like mayo, not enough flavor. if you get drunk, it might be a fun time. if you're looking for great service and great food, look elsewhere.

PROS: location
CONS: nothing great about it, slow service

Advance Auto Parts

In general, I've been satisfied with DAP. This particular store, I will not go to again. I had a problem and was trying to get someone to help me figure out what I needed to get to fix it and the guy that was "helping me" could not even understand English and looked at me like he was an idiot. He looked at the problem and seemed clueless about how to even turn headlights on. He went in to ask other people and ended up selling me a part I didn't need. I went next door to Meineke, and they immediately knew what the problem was and told me to return the part. they fixed the problem free of charge and spoke English.

If you know what you need, buy it at DAP (or better yet, a different part store), but if you have a problem, go next door to Meineke. They know what they're doing.