The Rooftop Eve Presents Midnight In the Garden

Our first impression was pretty positive. It had a very cool party atmosphere. There was great energetic music. Nice view outside on the 10^th floor and hot guys in Togas!
It was quick to get champagne and other basic mixed drinks like cranberry and vodka, but really it stopped there. The price for these tickets were atrocious. If this is all you got, that’s all she wrote. Yep, leave it at that.
At least we finally went to our first New Years Party in Florida! We had been to many where we previously lived. We payed a pretty penny, but there was everything included. Not here, nada just basic basic!

The 2 things impressed me about this event were 1. The cool looking body builder bartenders dressed in Greek toga costumes. 2 So many beautifully dressed up men and women participated in this party.
The band and the rooftop views were nice. There were plenty of drink stations and lady’s rooms so not much waiting on lines. After dancing couples songs, walking around, people watching, talking to friends, still a lot of time left till the new year counted down. We kind of got bored hanging there waiting for the firework. If they had provided desserts, appetizers, other entertainment or TV, it could be more fun.

We had an awesome time at The Rooftop Eve’s Midnight in the Garden on New Years Eve 2016! Rooftop Eve Midnight in the Garden was located for the 3^rd year in a row on the very top 10^th floor of the Ft. Brooke Garage Facility in Downtown Tampa at 107 N Franklin Street with stunning views of the Tampa Downtown skyline and amazing views of fireworks from both Jackson’s and Channelside! This New Years Eve party had the distinction of being the highest New Years Eve Party in the Southeast USA! The $ 175 advance /​$ 200 General Admission Tickets included Premium Open Bar with Top Shelf Liquor including Elijah Craig Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky, Tito’s Handmake Vodka, Cruzan Rum, other liquors, Beer, & Wine, Premium Nicolas Fuillate Champagne Bar All Night, and Entertainment from a live Band and DJ 9PM-​2AM! Past themes included City Nights in 2015, Cabaret En Rouge in 2014, Masquerade Noir in 2013, Hollywood Glam in 2012, and Black and White in 2011. There was plenty of parking available in the garage underneath the venue for $ 10. We ended up taking advantage of the complimentary shuttle which made stops at the Howard CVS, Irish 31 off Swann, Harbour Island Athletic Club, and 220 East on Davis Island every 30 minutes. In previous years, rooftop eve has been held in Hyde Park in the parking garage next to LA Fitness. I think the downtown location offers better views and is a better venue by far. Bartenders were friendly and pretty quick for how busy it was. Lines for drinks weren’t too bad as there were tons of drink stations throughout the venue in the 3 rooms and patio areas. It was great to see and talk to fellow Unilocal Elites Boon, Grace, and Rachel! There was a pretty good crowd of people in their 30’s and 40’s with a lot of guys in tuxedos or suits and girls in sparkly dresses. Considering that this event was in a pop up parking garage I dreaded going to the Porto-​potties, but these were the nicest Porto potties I’ve ever seen in my life! They had huge trailers with wood floors, AC, and real toilets! Yard of Ale with their «luxury» Porto potties in the back could definitely take some notes from these guys! Lol The theme of the event was based off the movie Midnight in the Garden of good and evil with John Cusack and was pretty much just a black tie event with grass floors everywhere, tents, and some chandeliers. I liked their masquerade theme they did a couple years back at the rooftop in Hyde Park better.
Cons: The bars did not have enough basic mixers that most people are accustomed to. No pineapple juice, orange juice, Margarita mix, or Mojito mix. There was only 1 beer option available and only 1 type of champagne available. The promoters touted ordering 840 bottles of champagne straight from Champagne, France which sounded awesome, but the champagne was a bit too bitter and dry for my tastes. I would have preferred an extra dry champagne, which is sweeter than brut. The music went from a hit current song to an obscure 60s song I’ve never heard of. So we only danced for one song at a time. It would have been better if they would have had a hit songs room, classic 90s and 80s songs room, and rap room. Some portable AC Units would have been nice considering the attire is dressy black tie with tuxedos and it was a warm winter. For the price, they could have had horderves or the dessert bar they originally promised as in previous years. I just rechecked their website, and they mysteriously deleted any mention of the desserts… Otherwise it was a good time! :)

This time of year supposedly very nice out. However, this year weather is cook up in the high temperatures side. This is a special event to welcome the new year ahead of us. The name is midnight in the garden, it is funny we are actually at the top of parking garage. Nice name to attract. We can said finally see the beautiful people of Tampa who dress up. I would said it is the top 80% beautiful people who attend this party. You know who is included :)
It does have the stunning skyline for the Tampa. A good view to fireworks. You can see two fireworks in the horizon. I would said the fireworks is at least half mile from the city river walk fireworks and 1.5 mile from channelside. The night include all you can drink bar and party live music. The music selection is upbeat and current. This is the positive. My friend warn me about the bathroom and drink line. This year they improve it.
However, the party is a bit over price for the face value. The reasons follow. 1. The drink is not the your typical mix drink place with great mixologist. 2. The drink do not have a good choice. Even for beer and wine. 3. The fire work is actually still far away. 4. No food!!! 5. Security is lack off. No check on the purse.
I do have the good times with some of the Unilocaler.

«I love how all the women are out tonight in long beautiful gowns. I’m all for bringing classy back.»
«Oh yeah? What are you gonna do when you have it back?»
«Hmm I don’t know! I guess I haven thought that far ahead!»
This was a lovely classy event atop the 10^th floor rooftop of a parking structure.
The good:
–classy environment with beautiful people
–mixed aged group, mostly under 35 but some older
–men with ties (bringing classy back!)
–women in gowns and classy dresses
–photo op with backdrop and photog
–included free flowing drinks and not bad lines
–shuttle from area hotels but we ended up taking a $ 6 cab cuz it got really slow after 10pm for pick ups
–live band with real talent especially the male and female lead singer. The male could rap really well! Music was all the Mainstream stuff you would get at weddings
–REAL champagne imported from France! Served by a handful of shirtless dudes in Roman robes
–DJ later in night that played house music
–9pm until 2am, pretty good hours
–chandeliers and garden décor were nice!
The bad:
–overpriced. Paid $ 150 plus $ 8 in fees. I felt it was more of a $ 100 experience. Prices went up to $ ¹⁷⁵⁄₂₀₀ and I bought mine months in advance.
–views of the bay were distant. We saw better fireworks driving into Tampa then at this party
–not a lot of New Years giveaways (216 tiaras and blowers) as there were only a few tables
–we were promised a dessert buffet and there was none. Really really bummed about this one