Big Jim’s Famous Steaks, Tavern & Tap

Attitude, mediocre food, and management make rude comments to other staff about customers. Just some of the treats to be had at Jims.

So why am I giving this review 5 stars?
Atmosphere: this location used to be a restaurant I went to as a child a whole lot being as it was right down the street from my parents home. I was happy to see a thriving restaurant move in since it hasn’t done well since the previous restaurant left. The interior can be a sports bar/​nicer restaurant whichever you prefer. They have a bar area but it is kind of opposite from the seats. It’s not bad, nothing fancy.
Drinks: we didn’t get any alcoholic beverages, but the menu looked impressive. A lot of beer on tap, and cool looking martinis and mixed drinks. Looked as though they had a happy hour during the week.
Food: so we ordered the wood fires wings. We are pretty picky with wings because there’s a place we absolutely love, and not many wing flavors can compare. These wings were the closest we have found to our favorites. The only thing different was the crispness. I would have liked them to be a little more crunchy on the outside but seeing as they were smoked and then grilled they were excellent! I will definitely get them again ! My husband ordered the famous Philly cheesesteak and fries, and I ordered the burger in special (burger topped with onions mushrooms shaved beef, cheese, crispy onions, and aujus gravy) and a side of veggies. (Because the veggies offset the unhealthyness of a huge burger ;).) both were very good. I would say 4.5 out of 5 stars. The burger meat alone didn’t have much flavor but the toppings gave it what it needed. I couldn’t imagine ordering a plain burger though and enjoying it. Too bland. The Philly cheesesteak was really good and a lot of it. My husband only ate half and took the rest home. It wasn’t as good as a real Philadelphia tony Luke’s cheesesteak but it was pretty darn close. Fries were average. Nothing special. And veggies were carrots cauliflower and broccoli. Again, nothing crazy.
Price: our total bill for all food and two iced teas was 40 $ before tip. Average price for a meal like that. Burger ran me 14 $, sandwich was 10 $ wings were 10 $. I would say the sandwich was the best bang for the buck as it was so large.
Service: service was good. We got sat right away, server was very attentive and always filled our drinks back up. Granted we were there at 4:30pm so we beat the dinner rush. Every time I drive by its packed!!! So be careful with that. Guess that’s a good thing though.
Overall, I gave it a 5 star because of the overall experience. I will definitely be returning because their menu was very large and had a lot of options. I would recommend for sure!!! I want to try their BBQ next! Enjoy guys!

Mixed review on this occasion. My girlfriend had the sirloin. It came out over cooked and tasted like lighter fluid. I had the rib eye which was prepared correctly and tasted good. The manager did make it right by exchanging the sirloin for a rib eye for my girlfriend. Our waiter was accommodating but he appeared stoned and out of it.

Went on a busy Friday night and sat at the bar with my husband. Wood smoked wings were so-​so but the reason I’m giving 2 stars is because we both witnessed bartender sipping a customer’s drink (from the guest’s glass!) prior to passing it to server. He said he was making sure which one was flavored vodka vs the other glass with clear liquid. Disgusting!

Beef on a Weck is really really insane. Nice new establishment, and also across the street from home. I truly liked the old one on ulmerton, but the food is still exactly the same and if anything, more items were added to the menu. This is a great spot to drop by and kill a sandwich and run.

From the minute we walked in and saw the loaded mac/​cheese, we knew this was going to be a good place! We had a great waiter named Dick and he was on top of anything we asked him. We had the Meatloaf with mashed potatoes, the Antipasto salad, the Ahi Tuna, a burger and the Philly Cheesesteak. They all were amazing and enormous portions. We had to go boxes! They have an outdoor seating area with fire pit and huge umbrellas. We will be making this a favorite stop for sure. TRY IT!

We regularly frequented the old Jim’s until they started changing the menu prices on the fly. Just 50 or 75 cents on a sandwich, but an annoying thing, and my wife said she would never return.
Fast forward a year, and we try the new location. Same crap in nicer surroundings.
We dined twice in the past month. The first time was passable. The next time we ordered corned beef sandwiches, chicken fingers with fries, and a pitcher of Budweiser.
Now we frequently get draft beer when we do a sandwich or pizza place, and although we are not brew masters, we have a good appreciation of what it should taste like.
We each poured a glass, and the beer was flat. We called the waitress, and she asked if we wanted it or should she take it away. She didn’t have the mental alacrity to remember the first rule of customer service businesses, THE CUSTOMER IS ALWAYS RIGHT
She could have offered to replace it with another pitcher, offer an alternative brand, or taken it off the tab. I’m not cheap, but I really wanted the beer and would be happy to pay even a bit more for an alternative.
The manager came over with a taste of the beer in a glass, declared it ok, and charged us for a glass each.
We had a pitcher at another place the next night, and it was perfect. We weren’t crazy
By the way, the sandwiches were passable, the chicken fingers were cold and greasy, and the fries were greasy and awful. I shouldn’t have ordered beer, but a janitor in a drum to cut through it.
Suffice it to say, Jim’s is again officially off the list.
Good customer service could have smoothed over the glitch, but it is a lower end mentality.
As they say, it isn’t helpful to put lipstick on a pig. That’s what you have here

I went with a big group and we had to wait forever almost an hour because they don’t take reservations. No food is worth that kind of wait.

My fellow Unilocaler Amy B suggested this location for dinner during my visit in Tampa, so off we went. This location is in a small shopping center and can be missed if you are not on the look out for it. Upon arrival in the entrance, you notice how the front entrance is different from the upgraded back area. We were instantly greeted and seated by the hostess. Big Jim’s seems to be pretty popular because it was quite crowded on a Saturday night. After we were seated we reviewed the menu — which has a pretty extensive selection; the prices for this joint are also pretty amazing. When our waitress arrived I decided to order the Rolling Thunder drink. In my opinion this tasted like a rum punch but it was pretty good and did the trick. Next, I decided to order the chicken Philly without the mushrooms. Amy ordered the fried macaroni appetizer for us, which I thought was just ok– it taste just as it sounds macaroni with a fried shell around it. This would be a great appetizer for the kids, I just wasn’t to impressed. After about 15 minutes or so our order came out. My chicken Philly was just ok tasting. I guess I should have had the sweet peppers removed because my sandwich was too sweet for my taste buds. I also was hoping it was chicken I was eating because my meat was the same color as the Cheesesteak Philly Amy’s hubby ordered. My side of onion rings were also quite massive and tasted ok as well. Another plus about this place is the portions are pretty huge, so when you go be ready to eat!

Great food&service, I will definitely be back for more. I keep thinking about that steak & cheese!!!

I enjoyed this place quite a bit! Their fried mushrooms are amazing; you should definitely get them if you’re looking for an appetizer. I had the sirloin steak, which comes with a salad and a side. I got the Caesar salad and a loaded baked potato. The Caesar salad was the same as it is everywhere, nothing special but I liked it. I asked for the sirloin to be cooked medium but it was rare to medium rare when I got it. Not bad enough to send back though. It was a wonderful piece of steak. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The baked potato was huge and the bacon in it was delicious. My entrée was $ 15.99, which I find reasonable. The atmosphere was fine, a little nicer than a typical bar/​restaurant combo. It was pretty loud in there though.
I think I will probably be back again sometime to try the shrimp scampi. My step-​father-​in-​law ordered it and the one bite I had was pretty amazing.

Had some wings with some mead by Madeira beach and black fox Meadery — great treats when you can get them on tap here.
Ordered the Bbq platters and were great. Reuben’s looked awesome and I’ll go back for one. Entrance is a but wierd to me and kind of taverny with all the high top tables.

Great atmosphere for family and friends. Food was hot and service was fast and friendly. We went on a Sunday so we could watch some football. They had a TV on the patio in case you wanna smoke & watch the game. It was a warm comfortable restaurant!

If you’re looking for good bar food and ok service then Jims is ok… Saying that I find myself returning over and over. Great beer selection and it really is good food. What can I say good foods and great beers, and yup the owner is always there and he cares… A must stop for us locals… Don’t tell those notherns or they’ll never leave

Atmosphere is great, service was really good and the food was average. Steaks had a hint of smoke… that’s it. Nothing else, just a tiny hint of smokey flavor. Might come back for the service and atmosphere but I will have a burger or something else, won’t spend the money for steak here.

The food can be great at times, then other times it’s not good. Most recent had cold food on the inside, sent it back, by the time I got it the other 3 people at my table were done eating, bar area table was so cold my hand were numb.

Great experience! Wonderful clean atmosphere with tons of tvs if you’re trying to catch a game! Everything we ordered was delicious! My one regret was not getting our servers name for Unilocalers, amazing service, catered to our 3 kids and went out of his way to make it a nice dinner! We will be back!

I recently dined at Big Jim’s with my brother and his room mate on their recommendation. Now, let me start off by saying that what I saw of the décor was nice and everything appeared clean and tidy. We were dining on a Friday night around 7:30 PM so the place was crowded but the staff appeared to be on their toes and making sure customers were seated promptly. We were told that there would be around a 10 minute wait if we wanted an inside table, but that we could be seated right away if we didn’t mind a high top near the bar or a table out on the patio. As it was a nice night out, we opted for the patio. Our server was very friendly and attentive save for one hiccup which I will get to in a bit. The beer selection was excellent and I applaud any restaurant that will bring you a sample of a beer you are unfamiliar with. My Brother ordered the Meatloaf, his roommate ordered the wood fired chicken wings and I was in a mood to splurge and decided to have the New York strip which was the special of the evening. I also had the house salad and was pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was. Most house salads are pretty bland and the greens usually pretty limp. Not so here, the salad was excellent. The food arrived in good order and within an acceptable time frame. So, everything had, so far, been excellent. Since I have only given this establishment two stars, you know things are about to go wrong. My steak with a loaded baked potato arrived and the first thing I noticed was something spread across the top of my steak. It looked like a butter and herb mix, but the lighting on the porch was poor and I didn’t pay it much mind, at first. The potato was baked to perfection and even the skin had an excellent crisp to it without being coated in salt as so many restaurants tend to do these days. Now, on to the steak, and here things start falling apart. First off, I ordered my steak medium rare. My first cut into the steak was not promising as it was brown nearly all the way through with very little pink at all. Then I tasted it and it got worse. Not only did the steak have that grainy texture you get from (what I would consider) overcooked steak, the stuff they coated the steak with was nasty and unidentifiable. My brothers roommate took a taste and said he thought it might be bleu cheese. Nowhere on the description of the steak did it say anything about herbs, cheese, or anything else on the steak. Whatever it was, it was just foul.
So, I’m thinking, this isn’t a deal breaker yet. Let’s see how it gets handled. So far our server had checked on us regularly, and I figured I would catch her on her next swing by. This is where the service hiccup come in. I picked at my potato and waited,…and waited,…and waited. By the time our server returned, my fellow diners were already done with their meals. I pointed out how overdone the steak was and she agreed that it was medium well to well done as opposed to the medium rare I ordered. She also had no explanation for what it was coating my steak. She did apologize and wisked my plate away to fetch me a fresh steak. In doing so, she also took my potato away which I had only eaten a bit of because I wanted it with my steak. Mind you, at this point, my fellow diners also asked her to bring back take home boxes for what they did not finish of their own meals. This left me feeling guilty of holding up my party as they were already done and I hadn’t even started. When our waitress returned with a second steak, it was noticeably absent the potato and only had a couple of slices of bread with it. It looked much better though and had no goop coating it. She asked me to cut into it before she left so she could verify it was okay. I looked down at the table and then back at her for a few seconds before finally asking, «I would love to oblige, but you took away my silverware.» She apologized and fetched me some and I cut into the steak. This time they went the opposite direction. The steak was so rare it would be considered a blue steak in just about any restaurant. Now, I don’t mind this too much, provided the steak is good quality and it is at least warm through the middle, which this was. Still, how hard is it to cook a medium rare steak in a restaurant that has, «famous steaks» in its name? So, I pretty much wolfed down the steak, never did get my potato back and was charged full price for everything even with all the issues.
Now, please understand that my brother and his roommate had no issue with their meals and, based on what I am seeing, I hope that this is an isolated incident. Unfortunately, I can only judge based on my personal experience. I hope you all have better luck than I did.

We have eaten here several times and loved what we had. But today we were very disappointed. My husbands brisket was very fatty and cold. My beef was cold and so were my French fries.

Heard so much about Jim’s and was literally across the street, so had to try it! HUGE menu with great choices. My son, an expert in pulled pork (being born in GA) was not impressed and not only didn’t finish it but wouldn’t bring it home. I ordered their famous Big Jim’s Philly Cheesesteak which for 9.99 was beyond huge. But, sent it back because it was the shaved steak instead of thin sliced rib-​eye as the menu stated and although I ordered it without cheese there was a small area that had cheese. I can’t stand when a restaurant makes a mistake and then tries to fake fix it (especially when allergies are involved). The server was gracious, apologized and suggested the Beef on a Wreck which was a great sandwich with very tender roast beef on a delicious roll with such jus for dipping. Would return for this. Definitely think the prices are too high for the main dishes/​Tavern favorites, (not the sandwiches, flatbreads etc) in this environment.

This gem *gets* it. The Special Sandwich served cold with pastrami, corned beef, slaw, and 1k island between two sturdy pieces of marbled rye is outstanding. There were also 2 thumbs for steak n cheeses, and a highly regarded shepards pie. One hundred beers on tap, an impressive assortment of traditional appetizers and five over the top handmade desserts we just couldn’t squeeze in. The televisions seem stealth which was a pleasant surprise. We were able to hear our normal volume conversation 10 feet from the bar. Nicely done, Jim’s. We’ll all be back soon.

We sat at the bar for dinner. The food was overcooked (baked potato was way overdone and burger was well not med-​rare). Both bartenders (although nice enough to us) were very rude on multiple occasions to a server who had a table asking for one beer sample each. This made us uncomfortable and we will not be likely to ask to sample new beers here if we return at all! The manager was not engaging and stirred different kinds of beers that had been sitting too long at the bar with the same straw to make them look fresh (hope no one at that table has allergies to wheat or gluten as he haphazardly uses the same draw over and over to stir up the beers!).

Excellent! The Beef on a Weck absolutely melts in your mouth as does the pulled pork that my aunt had. My husband ordered the Cuban. He loves Cubans and said this was the best one he ever had. Ofclose, the Philly cheese steaks are awesome. And John provided fantastic service!

We love Jim’s! We used to go to the old location all the time so we had to stop in and try the new one! The atmosphere is so nice and everyone who works there is awesomely friendly! The food is always delicious, I usually have the chicken philly but Brandon goes back and forth between the cuban and the reg philly. I wish they opened earlier is my only complaint the last two times we were there we either showed up right as they opened or last Sunday we went at 11:30 and they didn’t open until noon for Sunday hours :(We had to go else where because we were starving!

I have eaten at Big Jim’s at least 20 times over the last couple of years at both locations, but I will not be back. After writing an honest review of their new location, I received what I consider to be a threatening email from Jim’s father. I will quote it here:
Subject: Your personal comments about my son
«My name is Jim from Big Jims, In your recent review on Unilocal you made some very untrue comments about my son who you know nothing about. While you are free to review my restaurant there is no need to slander my family, we are working very had to make our new restaurant a success. In the future if you feel the need to verbally attack someone direct it towards me or better yet stop by and do it in person, I am sure that would get some good reviews»
I reread both of my reviews of the restaurant and now, unless «Jim’s» son is a french fry, I’m not sure how he interpreted my review of the restaurant to be a personal attack on his son. However, let this be a warning to anyone considering patronizing their establishment-​BEWARE!!! DO NOT DARE to write an honest review if it contains anything critical of their place (which is nowhere near as good as the old one).
Jim-​I want you to know that I have forwarded your veiled threat to Unilocal!and to the police. You have a problem, sir, and I take your threat seriously.

This was my first visit to the new location. I was mostly pleased with my experience and the new food items.
They’ve expanded the tap selection to 50 and there were several beers I would drink. Unfortunately, I found the beer prices much higher than expected. I would expect to pay $ 6 for 25 cl of Southern Tier’s Crème Brulee at the tap houses around town (Dunedin House of Beer, for example). Jim is selling that same beer fro $ 8.56 (a good 30% higher). Yikes.
New menu item — Smoked Chicken Wing. These were AWESOME!!! There’s a good amount of spice on the outside and a great smoky flavor to the meat. They also top them with sauteed onions. That was a unique. I wound up mixing the onions with our other food instead, so they didn’t go to waste. My wife and I really loved these wings. There are many places that are doing baked and smoked wings lately. These are our favorites, by far.
I was a little disappointed to see the small cheesesteak sandwich disappear from the menu. They still have a cheesesteak, but it’s a foot long and comes a side and a much bigger price. Their cheesesteaks were decent before (not quite Delco’s, but pretty good) and I’m sure they’re about the same at the new location. Anyway, we opted to try some of the BBQ instead.
We got a sampler with 4 ribs and about a ¹⁄₃ pound of brisket and ¹⁄₃ pound of pulled pork.
The ribs were very good. Nice smoky flavor and the meat came off the bone nice and easy. It was good with the sauce provided, but would have been fine without sauce as well. The brisket was pretty good. Usually, I prefer pork, but in this case the brisket was tastier. The pulled pork was a bit of a let-​down. It was much drier than expected and had very little flavor. We brought some of the pork home as leftovers and the mediocrity of the pork really came through the next day.
Our server was pleasant and we didn’t have to wait long for anything. The building looks nice and is much easier to get to without the construction that plagued the old location.
We’ll be going back for more smoked wings and to try some of the other foods. We’re hoping that the gouging on the beer was unique to that one specialty brand and not an across-​the-​board 30% increase over regular prices. I’m sure I’l update this review as we continue to patronize this place.
UPDATE —
The beer prices for other offering were much better — $ 5.50 for a pint of CCB Maduro, $ 6 for Bold City Duke’s Brown. Apparently, the Crème Brulee from our last visit was an anomaly.
We got the smoked wings again. They were not seasoned like the first time. They only seemed to season the sauteed onions that they put on the wings. They were still really good, but not as mind blowing.
We tried the Boom Boom Shrimp this time. They were decent, but the $ 9 price tag for about 15 tiny shrimp was a bit much. You can get twice as much at Longhorn for the same price and the quality is as good, if not better.
The service was still good and fast, despite being very crowded for St. Patrick’s Day festivities. We’ll continue to go back and try more of the new menu.

Outstanding! Great addition to Seminole
Two wines for my wife and I under $ 8
Great «Boom Boom» shrimp
Philly Cheesesteak and grilled Rueben and awesome Onion rings
Wait staff couldn’t of been any better