8 Best Restaurants in The Tampa Bay Area, Florida

Sunsets and Gulf views are the bait that hooks regulars as well as travelers who find their way to this somewhat hidden pit stop in historic Pass-a-Grille. Dating from 1977, it's mainly heralded as a watering hole where you can hoist a cold one while munching on one of the area's better grouper sandwiches. (Speaking of this sweet white fish, it's the real deal here, which—be warned—isn't always a guarantee in some restaurants.) There's also a range of seafood and steak entrées, and the crab cakes are legendary. The aforementioned sunsets are best seen from the rooftop sundeck.

Picture this: flip-flop-wearing anglers and beach-towel-clad bathers lolling on picnic benches, sipping a beer, and devouring oak-smoked salmon, mullet, mahimahi, and mackerel. Dinner comes to the table with heaping helpings of potato salad and coleslaw. If you're industrious enough to have hooked your own fish, the crew will smoke it for about $1.50 per pound. If not, there's always what many consider to be the best burger in the region. The popular smoked fish spread and Manhattan clam chowder are available to go. There's also indoor seating at Ted's, which has been a south-side fixture for more than six decades. Closing time is 7:30 pm, so dinner is only for early diners.

Four reasons to go: the fried grouper sandwich, the clam "chowda," anything else seafood—including the shrimp po' boy and oyster sandwich—and the beef burgers. It's very popular among locals—just check out the packed parking lot at lunch and dinner. New England–style seafood is a house specialty, including whole-belly clams and lobster, but the grouper and mahimahi are fresh from local waters.

Quebec native Mike "Frenchy" Preston runs several eateries in the area, including the fabulous Rockaway Grill. Visitors and locals alike keep coming back for the grouper sandwiches, which are moist and not battered beyond recognition. (It's also real grouper, something that's not a given these days.) Frenchy also gets a big thumbs-up for the she-crab soup, and, on the march-to-a-different-drummer front, the grouper egg rolls. In mild weather, eat on the deck, and stay for sunset if you can.

Long heralded as one of the best spots for watching sunsets, this place also gets high marks for its fresh seafood. Seared tuna, gator bites, and wasabi scallops are among the more intriguing appetizers on the menu, which also has an assortment of bowls, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and wraps; entrées range from coconut shrimp or grilled salmon with a mango salsa to St. Louis–style barbecue ribs or marinated skirt steak. The restaurant is casual but not too casual, with a bit of a Tommy Bahama feel, so you may want to ditch the beach attire. Be advised that it gets pretty packed around sunset, when a live band plays island music and the margaritas flow.

Follow the crowds to this off-the-beaten-path eatery, where numerous varieties of beer flow as freely as the rolls of paper towels mounted on wire hangers overhead. Seafood selections range from fried scallops and grouper to more elegant options such as blackened tuna, but oysters are the main event here. The all-day menu includes sandwiches and pasta. Come during happy hour weekdays or on weekends if you enjoy making new friends.

Although the fish served at this upbeat restaurant at the RumFish Beach Resort by TradeWinds is deserving of much attention, the ones swimming in the 33,500-gallon aquarium lining the restaurant's back wall are the real draw. The menu consists primarily of local seafood prepared with a Caribbean touch. All three meals are served here. At dinner you'll find grilled jerk swordfish, pan-seared grouper piccata, and Gulf shrimp with stone-ground grits. The massive fish tank's construction was featured on an episode of the reality show Tanked, and it is home to a broad range of residents of the Gulf of Mexico, including a nurse shark, several grouper, and a bright green moray eel, who periodically comes out from beneath its rock. For $25 you can swim in the aquarium during the restaurant's off-hours, and even take a behind-the-scenes tour. If you're eager to catch a game, you'll want to head to the bar, which has multiple TV screens and a decent bar menu.

Tourists and locals converge here to enjoy a lively waterfront atmosphere, but the rock-solid menu is the best reason to come. Don't believe the Caribbean fire-roasted lobster tails are "jumbo"—at 1¼ pounds they're on the small side, but they're twice-cooked, including a finish on the grill, and quite tasty. Those more turf than surf might be interested in the Chicken Rock'n Bleu, which adds fresh spinach and champagne-mushroom sauce into a classic chicken dish. The Dayboat menu features that day's fresh catches prepared in a variety of ways. In fair weather dine on the dock; otherwise ask for a table with a view of the water.