Monday, November 14, 2011

Nordstrom Cafe Bistro - International Mall, Tampa





On a recent shopping expedition to International Mall in Tampa, my family and I needed a break from the shopping madness and decided to stop in for lunch at Nordstrom's Cafe Bistro. I didn't know whether or not to expect good things from a cafe inside a store, but I was more than pleasantly surprised at my experience. I was worried for a moment when we had to place our order at the cash register before being seated, but after that everything was perfect. After placing our order, we were seated by the hostess and then our server stopped by our table to look at our order receipt and to let us know he would be back with our drink orders. A short while later and he was back with a lovely chardonnay we had ordered.

So, we enjoyed our wine and while waiting for our food, we observed other food orders coming out and thought the fries looked really good and we wanted to order some, but I wasn't sure if we would need to go back to the register to order or if we could place an order at the table. When our server stopped by, he assured us that any further orders could be placed at our table. Soon, our food arrived. We had ordered the crab bisque, margarita pizza, and the yummy looking french fries. The crab bisque was amazing with the perfect spicy kick to it. The margarita pizza was delicious with a nice tender crust. Then there were the fries, which we were glad we ordered. They were wonderful and they had a lovely aioli that tasted like kalamata olives were one of the key ingredients. Finally, we ended our meal with the white chocolate bread pudding, which was pure decadence. The bread pudding was topped with shaved white chocolate and surrounded by a white chocolate sauce, raspberry coulis, and a generous dollop of whip cream. What a perfect way to end the meal. The service there was great and we didn't want for anything. This is a great little oasis to enjoy a great meal when you are ready to get away from all that hustle and bustle in the mall.

Nordstrom Cafe Bistro
2223 North West Shore Blvd #300
Tampa, FL 33607
813-875-4400



Nordstrom Cafe Bistro on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

the international is my favorite place to shop and the cafe bistro is the best place to eat there, hands down. everything tastes fresh and delicious, especially the fries and the aioli.