Eleventwenty Cafe Bistro

This is a great place to sit outside and enjoy the breeze, or sit inside and feel like you are in an upscale restaurant. The prices for pastries range from $ 1 – 3 and the prices for sandwiches and salads range from $ 6 – 8.
I was not super hungry so I ordered a cinnamon roll, which was very tasty and not dried out like a lot of places. Since it was hot out, I opted out of coffee and just drank water. My friend had the yogurt parfait, which looked heavenly, two croissants, and a frothy cup of coffee. (tip: their desserts look AWESOME!)
We were walking our dogs so we sat outside and our waiter brought our dogs water and even put ice in their bowl to cool them off!
I would definitely come back and try a dessert!
**update**
I went back for dessert the next day and tried the snickers cake. It was very rich, and very very good. I was disappointed that it was $ 5 for a slice though! My husband had an iced coffee and it was less than $ 2. Worth it? I think so!
They also gave my dog a treat and iced water in a bowl, again. I love that they treat him like a customer too!

Great breakfast sandwiches. Just like homemade, but better!

Let me start by saying that I read the beginning of Jane E’s review and she mentioned breakfast. If it’s the weekend I’m sleeping in. If it’s the work week I’m squeaking in about :30 before I’m supposed to be in. I’m not a morning person and don’t do breakfast often. BUT I live in channel side and have heard a lot of people mention they have great breakfast options! So, if you’re not lazy like me check it out.
Now onto lunch/​dinner. I have only had two things at 1120. When they opened I scanned the menu and became giddy with excitement when I saw they have grilled cheese on the menu. I’m a child and love a great grilled cheese. So I mosied (ran) on over to give their’s a try. I wasn’t disappointed. The sandwich was delicious. It’s got bacon, tomato and approximately a block of cheese. Let’s start with the bread. It’s toasted perfectly and the process definitely involves butter. There’s a bit of crunch but it’s golden, not dark brown. As your teeth pass through the crunchy bread they are rewarded with the ooey gooey goodness of melted cheese. The bacon adds some crunch and the tomato adds a little sweetness and some moisture to help get it all down. The reason I’m not giving Eleventwenty a 5 is that I also got the tomato soup and it was not very good. I prefer my tomato soup smooth. This was chunky and really watery. It was pretty bland too. This is pretty typical of tomato soups. I’m not really holding it against them.
The interior is warm and welcoming. They also offer some comfy outdoor sofas. The owner and his staff and always very nice and super helpful.
They also have delicious looking gelato that I’ve heard great things about.
I have seen that they run beer buckets specials on Food Truck nights but I’ve yet to partake.
I will update this when I get over there and resist the temptation of bathing my taste buds in cheesy goodness.

This is in my neighborhood and I have gone to it almost three times already. The breakfast is always wonderful. My only qualm is that the potatoes are extremely dry maybe a little bit of grease will make them not so hard to go down. Love the fact that the bread choice contains croissant! Also, I always go outside to eat on the comfy furniture. It is just perfect on a beautiful Sunday morning. Last time they had a band playing and there were so many people around.
It is a breakfast/​brunch place but has a nice clean upscale feel to it. I highly recommend this place to anyone that is in the neighborhood. I don’t believe you will be disappointed. Also, the desserts are divine!

On my first visit, I had a meeting in Tampa in the afternoon, and since Tampa is such a hike for me, I thought I’d kill two birds and have lunch with a friend named Jay that I hadn’t seen in a while who lives in Tampa. Since Jay is the local, I let him pick the restaurant, and I was glad he chose this one for our lunch. I waited a while to sit and write the review, and by the time I was going to do it, the memories of the food weren’t fresh enough in my mind to do the review justice so I thought, darnit, I’d better go again, you know, for the whole journalistic integrity aspect. I swear, it wasn’t just for more of the Red Velvet Cake…
Background Info on the Restaurant
The Eleventwenty Café Bistro is a small lunch spot so named for its address at 1120 E Kennedy Blvd in the Channelside District of Tampa. There is a convenient parking garage right nearby, so getting there is a cinch.
The Bistro opened recently back in January and the owner and chef Terry Riner gave me a few tidbits about the place. The menu has gone through some iterations over the past few months as they are settling into their groove. Terry has planned things to be a mix of the sorts of meals he likes with his own twist along with completely new creations for this restaurant. I’d say they are hitting their mark. Jay and I met at around 12:30 pm to see what the lunch rush would be like, and it wasn’t extremely busy, but several of the tables were filled. The area didn’t seem too busy as far as lunch traffic goes, so they probably get the appropriate amount of traffic for their location. The second time I went, though, there were more people.
The idea of the bistro is that you go up to the counter and order off the menu on the boards behind the cash register. You pay and then take your number and drinks to a table where the rest of the meal is brought to you. Then it’s pretty much waiter service from that point on. The décor is nice enough that you feel like you’re in a regular restaurant setting, but still casual enough for in-​and-​out lunchtime traffic. Word on the street is that they might start serving dinner at some point in the near future as well, so that’s something to look forward to!
Appetizer Course
Jay and I both ordered the Turkey Corn Chowder. I must preface this by saying that Jay considers himself an expert on soup; it is his favorite thing in the world to eat, so when he said that he really liked this soup, I knew it was a hit. It was creamy and rich with substantial, textured bits of turkey and just the right amount of roasted corn that even has grill marks — great texture! It was a great start to our meal. I probably could have had just this soup and been satisfied, but no, I sacrifice for YOU and keep trudging on!
Main Courses
For my main course, I asked the nice guy behind the counter for some suggestions on what was really popular. I was in the mood for something light and lunch-​y, and when he suggested the Seared Salmon Salad as one of the customer favorites, I knew I’d be getting that. Jay is deathly allergic to nuts and so has to be very careful about what he ingests. He decided to get the Meatball Sub which was on special that day, but opted out of the French Fries that went along with it because they are cooked in peanut oil.
Jay’s Sub arrived and other than it looking a little lonely on the plate without its French Fry friends (a little garnish would have helped), it did look pretty delicious — though maybe it could have used a bit more meatballs compared to the hoagie it was served on. I was granted a «Reviewer Bite» as well, and deemed that he’d made a good choice. The tomato sauce was the kind I like — not too sweet.
When my Salmon Salad arrived though, I mean, there was no comparison. First of all, it looked beautiful on the plate — piled high with so many bright colors and different textures. And the salmon looked so juicy and tender, I couldn’t wait to dive in.
My visual suspicions were true; it had such an amazing mix of flavors, all the right ones in a salad that I like — some sweet, some cheesy, some good-​for-​you. It was just the right blend and there was not too much or too little of any one thing. It had mixed greens, red onions, cheese (I think feta), candied pecans (perfect touch), heirloom tomatoes and a perfectly cooked salmon fillet right on top. I was so impressed with the way the salmon was cooked (both times I visited) that I asked Terry how they did it, when he’d stopped by just to ask how we were doing…