211 Restaurant

Tampa Bay Restaurant Week. 211 Restaurant is a hidden jewel inside the Hilton Hotel in downtown Tampa. Prix-Fixe Menu $34 for 4 courses. The Burrata Sunset was amazing, excellent combination of small heirloom tomatoes and roasted plum in a balsamic dressing. The Saffron Risotto was accented with manzanilla olives. A true masterpiece was the Rioja Braised Short Ribs on a bed of Italian inspired Cannellini White Beans and Tuscan Kale, a Chef James inspired creation. Bringing it all home was the elegant Lemon Cream Trifle. One of the top meals this week. My server was Steven the bartender with help from the crew. I met Chef James who is also the Chef for Embassy Suites and whose creations are a blissful impact to the meals. I also met Gary, the Food and Drink manager for Embassy Suites and the Hilton. He was training staff on a new cocktail called the Black Manhattan, a euphoric drink with a smooth, evocative and silky texture that was superb. They gave me a free sample, it was garnished with savory deep ruby cherries. Business since covid is in great decline and because of that the beautiful restaurant is closed and food is served in the large hotel bar area. The staff is working hard to regain the lost lunch, happy hour and dinner patrons that once filled the place. The catch 22 here is that unless they keep at least a portion of the restaurant open, how can you expect people to make reservations for romantic fine dining in a bar environment. The food and service was top notch, let's hope they can get people back in. They do validate parking so you do not have to pay the valet parking or search for parking on the street.

Excellent brunch and wonderful personnel! On a Monday morning, the area was almost to myself. Complete smorgasbord was worthwhile! Your eggs or omelets will be made to order. The atmosphere is fantastic.

Food is good Over priced Atmosphere typical hotel The service is terribly slow! Waitress spend more time telling you they are gonna get to you and apologizing for the screw ups Don't come here if you are in a hurry At this price point the service should be outstanding, I've had better service at a diner EDIT: Amazingly, my meal was comped without me even saying anything... So good service after all, even tho slow and having got my order incorrect. Bravo!!!

Good option for breakfast if you're staying at the Hilton Downtown Tampa. It has a buffet type of breakfast with different stations and good options to have. Everything it's nice and clean and the servers are very good.

Note to diners...the actual restaurant is closed during the week only open for lunch & breakfast however the bar area has the full menu. Mason was an excellent server with spot on recommendations. The steak was outstanding and the Caesar Salad and Tomato/Mozzarella salad were equally delicious. The bar area is nice and can accommodate a large group but it can get loud because it is in a smaller space.