San Carlos Tavern

Awesome Colombian/​latin music it brought me back to the 90’s. Family atmosphere causal dress code. We order a picada it was delicious nice size 4 people can eat from that portion for only $ 14. We also got Empanadas they were not so great. Just to b in the save side arrive early to find table. It is a small place.

I don’t really think I can give a fair assessment of this bar since this place was CRAZY PACKED due to the fact they were airing the Colombia versus Ivory Coast World Cup game.
It was great to see the passion of the fans for their team. They were so passionate that instead of buckets of beer, they were ordering buckets of tequila from the liquor store next door.
The waitresses were trying their best to accommodate everyone, were very friendly, and nice eye candy for my guy friends. The owner, was also the DJ and was playing great music during timeouts and halftime.
There wasn’t really too much of a selection of food since they were trying to get food out quickly. Well. actually, there was only one choice and they were the empanadas. They were meh… very small and full of more potatoes than beef.
I didn’t get to stay for the whole game because, I have this life obligation called work. My friends said it was even more crazy when Columbia won the match! The whole bar was up dancing and celebrating!
Would I come back to have a drink? Possibly during another World Cup game. Would I come back to try the limited cuisine? Not so much. There are so many other places in West Tampa that I would be willing to try.
This bar would probably be great for a nice salsa night on the town for those who enjoy that genre of music.

Stopped for lunch. Do yourself a favor when passing this place. Keep going. The food was bad. Service was poor. Nothing about this experience made me want to come back for dinner or dancing.

Have visited twice around dinner-​time and were lonely. This is not a happy-​hour, after-​work, before-​dinner bar. It is very nicely designed & decorated inside, plus a wooden deck, but it is clearly a late-​nice place. Although the website provides a menu of mostly Colombian-​inspired dishes, there was no sign of cooking when we visited, so not sure about actual availability at meal time. or method of prep. The bar also has a small liquor package store facing Florida Ave, but no traffic there in daylight that I have noticed.
The website indicates that this is a Colombian music/​dancing club, and lists 4 major categories of Colombian music and over 30 sub-​sets. So they take their music seriously, going well beyond the common salsa, rumba, bachata, cumbe, etc. They also advertise live music for special events, but the place is fairly small. So we may try again some night after ample injections of expresso coffee to witness what is likely to be some impressive, if not downright intimidating dancing skills.
And even if this is not our favorite night-​place, it is great to see such diversity blossoming along the main N/​S corridor of Tampa… and not just SOHO.