400 Beach is a great new addition to the restaurant scene along Beach Drive in downtown St. Pete. The inside of the restaurant is huge with large windows overlooking the park with glimpses of the bay beyond the park. For our dining experience, we opted to sit outside, which I thought turned out to be a lovely choice.
This was our first time dining at 400 Beach, and we opted to go for drinks and appetizers. The restaurant has a good choice of beers with over 20 beers on draft and a large selection of bottled beers. There is also a nice selection of wines by the glass. I decided to go with the Tucher beer for my meal and my husband selected a glass of the Oyster Bay Pinot Noir. On their list of starters, the restaurant offers soup by the cup or bowl. My husband and I ordered a bowl of the Beachside Clam Chowder and the Island Seafood Chili. We thought both of these were really yummy and the seafood chili really had a nice little kick. We also tried the Cajun Fried Rock Shrimp that was served in a cup of lettuce in a stemmed glass with capers on top, which was real tasty. And finally, we had the Artichoke Fondue with crab and served with blue corn tortilla chips and the was scrumptious. As if this wasn't all enough, they serve cheese bread along with the meal. Although we ordered appetizers, this turned out to be quite the substantial meal and the appetizers are more than sufficient for two to share.
Although we did not order from the dinner menu, we did notice that they offer a wide choice of entrees from sea and land. Also, they offer a selection of Beach Baskets for the budget conscious diner, which I feel is important in today's economy and I am glad the restaurant seems to realize this, too.
Finally, I cannot close without giving a special thanks to our server David G. He was very courteous and attentive throughout our meal and always made sure we had drinks on hand. Thanks David G.!
400 Beach Seafood & Tap House
400 Beach Drive NE
St Petersburg, FL 33701
727-896-2400
2 comments:
I've been to 400 Beach about 6 times now since they opened.. 4/6 times, I've had HORRIBLE service. The other two times have been mediocre service. I'm not planning on going back to 400 Beach for quite some time after today.. I called YESTERDAY for a reservation at lunch since we had family in town and wanted to assure that we would have a table with minimum wait. We showed up and they "lost" the reservation. They then sat a group of us, apparently forgot that our table existed (8 of us), after 30 minutes we finally got menus and could order drinks.
We ordered our food.. an hour later, everyone's drinks completely empty.. they brought the food, and FORGOT TWO DISHES! They apparently didn't remember two of the orders at all... sat around another 10 minutes to get the remaining orders.
Then to top it off, they "accidentally" charged us for extra drinks.
Total time for two tacos and two beers at LUNCH TIME.. 2 hours 45 min.
Great view, good food - HORRIBLE SERVICE. On top of that, the staff often comes off as being snobby and unaccommodating. On average I pay $100 for two people (dinner and drinks).. guess they could care less about my money and tips.
I had a nice experience when I was there. However, I have to admit I was only there once and that was for appetizers and drinks. Why haven't I been back? Well, it really has to do with my feelings regarding Beach Drive in downtown St Pete, and it is not particularly directed at 400 Beach. Whenever, I have made an attempt to visit one of the restaurants on Beach Drive, I find it is impossible to get a table due the large number of tourists.
I am happy the tourists are keeping the Beach Drive restaurants busy and I think they are great for the economy. However.....I sometimes feel that restaurants that are tourist driven are a little too casual about their service and food because they know that tourists are here for a short time and then they will be gone. Is this a right attitude? NO. On the other hand, are tourists lousy tippers because they know they won't be around long and they don't care if they deprive someone of their livelihood (restaurants pay servers below minimum wage). It all can create a rather vicious cycle. Again, no excuse for the restaurant that may or may not have that attitude, just a little theory of mine.
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