St. Pete Brasserie

Spent the week (a very chilly week, may I add, but still enjoyable!) in Tampa/St. Pete's and just touched down in my native state today. The last meal I had in the area was at this restaurant. I had been looking for a somewhat swanky/contemporary restaurant that would offer me something unique. This place did the trick.

We arrived around 9:30PM on a very busy Friday night and was seated right away without reservations (although, I don't think this is the norm). Our waitress was wonderful. Very attentive, knowledgeable of the menu items, cooking techniques, and ingredients. She also was not pushy with up selling when my boyfriend stated he wasn't super hungry and was only going to get the soup du jour, or that we split dessert.

We split the oysters stuffed with crab. Having nothing with which I could compare this restaurants version, I thought they were HEAVENLY. They arrived piping hot, and for me, the combination of the texture of the oyster and the hot, sweet crab with the dab of sauce on top? Awwww! Just melted happily in my mouth.

My BF had the tomato bisque soup, spicy, thick, and served in a LARGE bowl. This is definitely not an appetizer size, but an entree size. I tried it and thought it lacked a little something, but was nonetheless satisfying. I ordered the crab crusted salmon in dill sauce. It. Was. HEAVENLY!! The crab crust is breaded and lightly fried crab placed on top of a thick cut of salmon. This is placed ontop of a small grained rice flavored with mushrooms, to give it a very earthy flavor. The whole thing is drizzled with a fine layer of this nummy dill sauce. It was soo good and I enjoyed it IMMENSELY. Never had salmon with a crab crust. I will say, however, that eaten alone, the crab is amazing but eaten with the salmon, it gets a bit lost.

The final stage of this eating experience was the key lime "tart" that my BF and I split. It was a more like key lime cheesecake. Very good, nothing super unique or original.

All in all, I would definitely eat here again if I were to go back or recommend a place to eat to a friend who was in the area.

This place was a surprising find in St. Petersburg.

The decor is perfect, very French bistro. There was even a man playing the accordion in front, and when he took a break, "La Vie En Rose" played overhead. This is a nice place for a not-too-fancy date night. Staff was friendly and reasonably efficient.

The wine list is full of younger wines, but everything is very reasonably priced. We had a 2010 Mount Veeder, and it was $69, which is a good deal in a restaurant. The waiter was kind enough to decant it for us.

We started with the cheese plate. I was a little disconcerted that there was only one French cheese on the plate (3 of the 5 cheeses were English/Irish), and I thought it was funny that everything on our plate was a cow milk cheese. A nice goat or sheep cheese would have been nice. I did like the sweet Stilton, though.

For my main, I had the cassoulet, because I'm hooked on duck confit. It was okay, but not the best I've had. I would have liked to have the whole duck leg rather than shreds of duck meat. My husband had the pork belly, and he really cleaned his plate.

For dessert, we shared the creme brulee trio. I really liked the coffee creme brulee.

Strange place to be at? We had no reservation but they managed to sit us across on the other side of the restaurant (outside the bar across the hallway). I can't seem to think what was my appetizer, it was blurred or maybe I didn't care for it? I ordered the rib eye steak, it was pretty good for $30 plus but not exceptional. The vege (asparagus) was soggy and soft, it was over cooked.
My roomie had salmon, she said, " not bad!" The wine selection was good, not too pricey yet enough to satisfied my dates thirst.
I highly recommend this place for couples that are dating, anniversaries, birthday party..but not for drive by, it will get expensive.

I do plan to return just to see if it was me that gave this 3 star or maybe they deserved higher.

Don't ask me why, but in all my years of eating out in St. Pete, I never made it to this place. As chance would have it, the place we were intending to visit on this night was too crowded (Outback - gah!) so we decided to give St Pete Brasserie a try. And I'm so glad we did!

The place is small, but just enough to feel intimate, not crowded. The decor is a nice convergence of modern and that of a traditional French bistro. When we walked in and were seated, we felt like we'd been transported to another place -- in a good way. The lighting, art and music created a really charming atmosphere.

Our server was Dan. Very friendly and attentive but not obtrusive.

Now for the food. The bread - very obviously made from scratch (on premises?) -- was delish. A couple of loaves with butter would make a great appetizer (meal?) on their own, but we decided to splurge and split the seared scallop appetizer.

It's a good thing we split it. The appetizer was two enormous scallops (almost the size of my fist). They were served on a bed of pasta. The scallops were perfectly cooked and topped with a crunchy, peanut topping and a slightly spicy/sweet sauce. It won't sound appetizing when I describe it this way, but it was like a riff on pad Thai and it was fantastic! Trust me - try it. You won't be disappointed.

For my entree I had the seared tuna (rare). It came atop an udon noodle salad with a savory, broth-like sauce and veggies, including mushroom and (I think) baby leeks. I have never seen such high-grade tuna anywhere else in town or in other cities I've dined in. And the chef treated that beautiful piece of fish with the care and respect it deserved. Magnificent. I had to remind myself that licking the plate is frowned upon in polite society.

I could've stopped after the entree but since I was so blown away by everything we'd eaten so far, I insisted we share dessert. While the lava cake looked tempting I feared it would be too heavy, so we went with the creme brûlée trio, which consisted of small portions of rich brûlée in traditional, coffee and chocolate flavors.

In some places dessert seems like an afterthought, but not here. It met the same high standards as every other aspect of the meal.

If I had to point out "downsides," they would be that the food doesn't come out super quickly. If you're in a hurry, skip this place. But if you can take your time and savor the whole experience, do so. The other downside is that there are only two booths in the whole place. The rest are tables and are close together, so you're going to hear a lot of your neighbors' conversations. The acoustics add to the din, so it's a little noisy. If you're looking for a very quiet, private dinner, go for the booths if possible or try another place.

My BF will tell you that if there's even the slightest misstep in service or food quality, I'm going to find it and rant about it. At the end of this meal, we were both astounded that I'd found nothing to complain about, and that's really saying something!

Overall, St Pete Brasserie was a surprisingly delightful experience with unexpectedly spectacular food and service! We'll definitely be back.

This place is FANTASTIC. I went here with my parents and everything we had was delicious. I had the filet mignon, which was very reasonably priced and tasted amazing. We ordered the onion tarte for an appetizer and it was also delicious, full of flavor and great to split.

The best part of our dining experience was the fantastic service. The owner of the restaurant came by several times to make sure we were having a good time and when we left he yelled out the door "Have a great night!". On top of that, our waitress was quick and attentive.

I would definitely recommend stopping in and having a bite to eat. The added bonus: it is inexpensive enough not to break the bank!

In my opinion, this place is extremely underrated. I went here a couple weeks ago and was blown away. I went in with low expectations and those soon dissipated once I walked through the door. The service was amazing. Our server was very attentive and knowledgeable. Her wine recommendations for our meal couldn't have been more perfect.
I got the chicken dish while my friend got the pork belly. Both dishes were out of this world! There were no complaints from either of us.
I would definitely recommend this place for any small, intimate occasion. It's definitely one of the best restaurants I've been to in St. Pete.

I went on Friday night. It was absolutely F'ing insane.

We were greeted at the door with bright smiles and seated immediately. Our server Ashely was all-star.

For an appetizer we ordered the escargot. This was prepared in a wine sauce that was so tasty you could drink it. Perfect for dipping bread.

For dinner I chose the special, which was 12oz NY strip topped with lobster. It was only $32. The taste is indescribable. We'll stick with insane. The meat was exceptional quality, no fatty edges and cooked perfectly. Desert was equally impressive. We had a flour-less chocolate cake with mint ice cream.

Just a great experience all around.

For a special occasion spot in downtown St. Pete, you can't go wrong with the Brasserie on Central Avenue. With a robust menu consisting of delicious European style dishes and great service, this is a lovely restaurant. I sampled a number of dishes (thanks to dining with a big group) and felt that the food was very hit or miss. I think the next time I come back here, it'll be for the impressive Happy Hour specials and dessert menu.

I have to commend the service I had - our server was funny, knowledgeable, and helpful.

Here's what I tried:

Happy hour special included $5 small plates & 20% off bottles of wine. The onion tart and mussels were excellent appetizers, but the crab stuffed oysters failed to impress - I found the flavors to be too overwhelming.

For main courses, I enjoyed the bites I had of the lamb, chicken, & beef bourguignon dishes. The beef bourguignon was my favorite, though it is extremely rich so be prepared to bring some home with you!

Unfortunately, my crab-topped salmon did not live up to the expectations I had for it based on other Yelpers' reviews. I wish I had gone with one of the French specialties instead.

I do have to say that St. Pete Brasserie does dessert extremely well. We tried both the lava cake & a delicious crepe cake, with the latter blowing my mind it was so good - perfectly light & airy with subtle sweetness that still satisfied even my sweet tooth.

I can't wait to go back to Brasserie! Four of us ate here for the first time last night and everyone left happy.

Cozy and relaxing atmosphere. Tables against the wall are too close together for my personal taste, but they have separate four-tops that aren't as cramped.

Farm-to-table fresh food makes this place a winner for us.

Try:
Veggie risotto. Not gluey or mushy, the way it can often be in restaurants.

Red Snapper special. Fish cooked and seasoned to perfection. Yum.

Mussels special in Provencale sauce. Flavorful and rich.

Two reasons it doesn't get five stars:
House salad was a little bland. Just lettuce and dressing.
Premature plate-busing. Especially since none of us are slow eaters.

Still, great experience overall. New St. Pete favorite!

On a rainy Friday night without reservation we found this lovely spot. Crab encrusted salmon was one order and the duck was our second plate. Very nice house salad and strong gin, cucumber and lime cocktail.
Nice service and a great meal!