Anise Global Gastrobar

Sit bis was my first time here and man I don't know why it took me so long to come here. I have been missing out.
To start we had the truffles tater tots and crab Rangoon Dip. Omg they were amazing the truffles tots were light and crispy. The crab Rangoon Dip was creamy and rich. We had the spicy crispy Korean bbq wings. Man that sauce is perfect not too spicy, their crispy, and juicy.

The. We went all in and got The lobster Mac and cheese!!!

If you get one thing get this. It's was so rich, so creamy, and chalk full of lobster we could not stop eating it.

Lastly hubby tried the chicken and waffles. The waffles are made with potato and chive so definitely more savory take. The wings have a red curried coconut glaze and man were they good.

I've visited this place once before and had an amazing experience. We ordered a few things to try, the bao buns were pretty tasty.

My second visit was last night on my way back to Orlando. The place is never very croweded and I don't see why because the food is really good.

Sitting at the bar, you can get a good view of the whole restaurant. They sat us at a two top even though the remaining dinning area was empty. I know we are only two but it's nice to have some space. We got here right after happy hour and sadly missed it. The menu had a few select cocktails on the normal menu but priced a little lower $7 instead of $11.

For drinks my friend ordered the blackberry sangria $8. It was good but fair warning it's a little on the tart side. I tried a gin basil cocktail that said it came with hard cider but it only had a lemon basil taste. I wanted to like it but I told our server and she was nice to let me try a different drink. I decided to try The Girl Next Door instead ($11) it was really good, tasted strong and was pretty to photograph (we all know that's a thing and it is for me too).

Onto dinner, I was really hungry at this point and wasn't really thinking things through. I ordered the beef bowl with coconut rice ($12.50). Although it was good, it tasted really saltly folr what it was, not sure if it was the sauce on the beef or something else. My friend ordered the chicken and waffles which were quite amazing. They have some sort of honey spice on the fried chicken and the waffles($12.50) already have the necessary syrup. We shared the truffle tots ($6.50), based on other yelp photos it seemed like we only got the side order but these were good and the truffle was not overwhelming.

Good location in downtown, good drinks and tasty food.

Dined here in the past for lunch and felt like it was just okay. Tried the stinky buns that are bao buns with various meats. Pretty good bao, but didn't find it too exciting. Fast forward a year and I came to Anise for dinner while staying in downtown tampa. Yum, it really hit the spot! Tried the beet salad with arugula, pine nuts, and goat cheese for a starter. Fell in love with it, sweet beets, rich pine nuts, decadent goat cheese, and fresh arugula tossed in a citrusy vinegarette. Perfect meal starter. It was pretty ample, so would have even been good for two people if entrees were being ordered too.

For my main entree I tried the beef tenderloin with mashed cauliflower. This came with brown mushroom gravy, it was perfect! Don't eat a lot of starchy things and the mashed cauliflower was a perfect alternative to carby potatoes. The tenderloin comes out sliced and it was cooked to medium perfection as requested. Had a great dinner here and would come back again anytime. Service was great at the bar.

I came here for a meeting with my book club & had so much fun. The vibe was very nice & intimate. They also were playing r&b music which was nice. Perfect for our event. We were there during happy hour & enjoyed discounted apps & cocktails.

I had the veggie spring rolls & 5 cheese Mac with added sriracha candied bacon. I also had 2 old fashioneds. The food was great. The Mac n cheese was ooey gooey & the bacon added a nice heat & crunch to the dish. The old fashion was strong.

Overall, I'd recommend for your next small event or date night. We really enjoyed ourselves.

I've only been here once. I was looking forward to trying this place for quite some time, and I really wanted to like it more than I did. I had dinner with several friends recently (two hours) before a show, and it wasn't very busy.

After we were seated we were presented with menus (which we found out toward the end of our visit were limited "show" menus).

I was excited to try the pork belly that so many reviewers had raved about it, but it was not on the menu. I insisted we try the deviled eggs based on previous reviews... no one was impressed. I ordered the lobster BLT based on a few recommendations provided by our server. I didn't care for it. It was served on a hard dry roll, and tasted mostly of roll and fried green (hard) tomatoes.

The drinks were pretty good, and the atmosphere is pleasant. But the service was slow and left a lot to be desired. I did see items being delivered to other tables that looked very tasty (stinky buns) and might possibly give this place another try.

We have been coming to this place for quite some time, but haven't been in a while since there are so many other places that have opened up in the meantime.
However, we had seen pictures of Stinky Buns in a magazine and thought...we need to head back to Anise for theirs. They literally have the BEST ones in Tampa. We always order one of each just because we like them so much. Of course, their other food is just as great, but these keep up coming back for more. It's very easy to sit and eat all 6 varieties on your own. Here's what you'd get: Seared Pork Belly with Kimchi, Fried Zucchini with garlic and shallots, Panko Fried shrimp with papaya slaw and aioli, Duck Confit with pickled Daikon, Red Curry crispy chicken with cucumber mint yogurt, and last but not least...the Chinese bbq Pork with pickled relish. Is your mouth watering yet?! We were being bad and ordered their Lobster Mac n cheese made with Gruyere cheese, white cheddar, Parmesan and panko. And wait...topped with candied BACON! HOLY MOLY! For dessert, we ended up trying one of their specials, the Key Lime Brûlée. Eh...was ok. I wouldn't recommend that one. I would suggest trying something different.
The cocktails they serve are also one of a kind. I enjoy going to a bar and having a completely different variety of cocktails than what the norm is at all the other bars. Service has always been pretty good. We tend to sit at the bar more often than at the tables.
This place gets pretty busy on the weekends, so if you're hungry, then come early. I wish we were able to make reservations through Yelp or even Open Table.

Stopped here before an event at Curtis Hixon with friends. The location is right in the middle of downtown so parking is tricky depending on when you visit. On the weekends parking is free but if there is an event it can be difficult to find it.

The decor of the restaurant is a old school classy feel. The menu is an Asian fusion menu with kind of 1920s style drinks. I was hungry and was in the mood for a burger. Luckily they had them on the menu. You can either build your own or order one of theirs. I opted for the Greek burger because it sounded different. It was decent and reminded me of a Greek salad in a sandwich.

They have different drink cocktails and I got the hibiscus margarita. I thought it was good and it was strong. Not too sweet which I appreciated because I hate sweet drinks. I think this place is ok but I feel like it's better at night time.

I really like the drinks, i do! Especially the "till 7, happy hour for the $7 drinks". Bartenders are friendly and quick.

The two star deduction is for the food. After reading all the mixed reviews about a bunch of the menu items, i decided to go with pork ramen. But it's definitely not authentic ramen (as i expected) and very sub par. First the noodle and the soup tasting like a slightly better packaged convenient noodle. Second, it says has shitake mushooms in it, there's none. You cannot have an asian noodle ball without any veggies either. Third, instead of a soft boild egg, there's a weird poached egg? I didnt even want to eat it. And lastly, is this really worth $14? When i see the ramen, i immediately regret ordering it, should've at least try something like a lobster BLT that you don't usually get elsewhere.

Oh well! Not sure if I would come back again for the food, but yes to the drinks!

Come here for the drinks and not the food. I ordered the pork ramen ($13) with a poached egg (+$1) and was so disappointed. For a similar price point i could get ramen from ichicoro ramen or ramen back in NYC with much better quality. The pork belly in the ramen here at Anise was dry and tough, the broth lacked a lot of flavor, the poached egg was not runny (it was cooked all the way through) and the ramen worst of all was still sticking together from being frozen. I dont expect a gastrobar to handmake ramen, but at the very least dont serve noodles without having checked if the noodle strands have detached from each other after coming out of the freezer. It just looks bad on your part especially when its the main part of the dish.

Service was also lacking. It took us about 10-15 minutes to be seated (not a lot of time in reality, but when half the restaurant's tables are empty/clean and the reason for our wait is that "theyre cleaning tables" when we only saw them saw them serving those already dining...you get my drift). My friend and i both thought it was obvious they were understaffed.

My friends and I were in downtown Tampa area for the evening so we were gonna grab some food. Found Anise and decided to give it a try.

There's street parking in downtown which is free after 6:00 pm. It's pretty difficult to find a open spot on the street, we parked 4 blocks down and walked over. There are also parking lots or garages, but these charge money, if you don't mind spending a little extra then go for it.

When we walked in, I noticed the ambiance is very nice and romantic. I got seated by the window facing outside, so I had the view of University of Tampa minarets as well as the water fountains at the park across the street.

I ordered a shrimp sticky bun as well as a bowl of noodles with grilled chicken. My sticky bun was good, but It cost $4.5, which I think was a little much for a bun with one shrimp in it. It didn't specify what kind of noodles I had, and I guess it was sweet potato noodles. The noodles were well cooked, maybe just a little over sauced. I personally don't like my food too salty, the sauce brought out the salty flavor very much. But hey, we all like different tastes right!

Our waiter was very nice and responsive. He kept making sure we had enough water in our cups and was always around.

This place deserves a five star!