Maestro’s at the Straz Center

You cannot beat the convenience and food if you are going to an event at the Straz Center. We walked in on Saturday, which happened to be during Gasparilla and the restaurant we planned on going to was packed with a long wait, but it worked out perfectly. It is about $ 44 per adult for a first plate buffet, an entrée of your choice and a dessert of your choice. The buffet was fabulous! Meats, cheeses, salad and some soup on the end and everything I had was great! We had the prime rib and the chef special, which was veal with Brussel sprouts and cous cous and both were very fair portions. And for dessert I had the peanut butter cheesecake and my boyfriend had the chocolate mousse one and both were terrific!
We sat at the bar since we walked in with no reservation and the service was mediocre. The drinks were great though. We ordered our entrée and went to the buffet I sat down with my plate and my boyfriend was still getting his and the entrees were brought out and placed next to us so we sat with 2 plates the entire time. Then getting a refill was a little difficult. For desserts the bartender pulled out his phone and for a full minute was clicking on things trying to pull up a picture of the 4 desserts of the evening. He showed us on his phone pointing out each one and they all sounded great, but he was getting Twitter updates and such the entire time. There should be an iPad with the picture owned by the restaurant that employees can show guests if they want them to have a visual. At the end we sat with empty plates for 15 minutes before we could get the attention of the staff to ask for the check.
I assume service at a real table would be better and I would go again since the food was great and the convenience of already being at the straz center was also a huge plus!

Excellent service from the time we were seated until we left. The staff was constantly attentive to our every needs. Every course flowed from one to the next.
The highlight of the evening was when the executive chef personally came to our table to talk to us about his personally selected menu to compliment the show we see that evening, The Sound of Music.
Our waiter was superb in making sure we always had everything we needed and when the meal was over, our appetites had been appeazed. A definite repeat when we see the next show.

This is a great restaurant. You do need to make a reservation as soon as you purchase your theatre tickets. The quality of the food and the professionalism of the service staff is fantastic. I will definitely be going there again.

Disappointing is the word that sum up the experience. For two people out bill was a little over $ 100 including tip. We each had dinner and one glass of wine. Dinner came with unlimited trip to a salad bar. The salad bar itself was fresh but had very limited selection of options, not to mention that many popular items for salad toppings like eggs or chick peas were missing. Only 3 salad dressings were available, which is again very limited selection. I had seafood bisque which was flavorful and rich.
Main course had about 7 options, all carefully themed to go with show Once we were about to see. The show takes place in Ireland and has many Czech characters, so the dishes had cute names like «Czech, please». I had snapper and my boyfriend had a fillet. Both plates were cooked very well but had absolutely no flavor. None! They were bland, not even salt or pepper was added. We had desserts as well. The cakes were overwhelming, super sweet. All in all, for $ 100 in Tampa area one can enjoy much better meal with wider selection and better flavors. You won’t see me again at Maestro’s.

If you are looking for a special night of theater and great food, this is where you need to come. Forget going out to dinner at a normal restaurant you can always go to and then rush off to the show. Here the staff insures you are fed, satisfied and get to the show on time. Not to mention the food is STELLAR. In fact I the past 2 times I’ve gone the food stole the spot light of the entire evening. Dinner starts out with a semi-​buffet style with soups, salads and cheese and cracker type items (which is great becuase we are always starving by the time we get there and can graze at our leisure). Also, prepare to make a serious decision when it comes to your entrée… Everything always sounds so good, and you just wish you could get a sample of it all on one plate. Chef goes the extra length to customize each dinner for the show theme. It is such a wonderful way to get to try new types of food that you may not have the opportunity to try else where. Then of coarse there is dessert… no matter how full you are you don’t leave a bite behind. TRUST ME! Then, after all is said and done have your server bring you a drink TO-​GO! so you don’t have to wait in line at the bar ;), grab your seats and relax for the remainder of the night. Maestro’s never disappoints!!!

This place is AWESOME! I’m actually mad at myself for not coming here sooner. The menu changes per show, and did not disappoint.
I went before Momma Mia and everything was Mediterranean themed.
Dinner opened with a the large salad bar in the middle of the room. This is not your typical lame salad bar with wilted iceberg lettuce. It has high quality salad fixings + pasta salads, olive trays, meats, cheeses, fruits, hummus, dolmades and two soup choices.
I’m vegan, so usually it’s hard for me to dine out at seasonal and rotating menu places but I found out Maestro’s always has a 100% plant based dish! (Not to mention a gluten free dish too) Following the Mediterranean theme, they had a spinach spanakopita that was out of this world. Portions were just right with the salad bar.
The rest of my party ate meat, and equally raved about there dishes.
Desert there were four choices, and my waiter brought out lemon sorbet for me — a very attentive and kind wait staff.
I’ll be back for the next show!

Great Salad bar and soup.
Not so good on entrees. Pricey for food quality.
Service «excellent».

I didn’t have the buffet, I ordered from their a la carte menu. The outside seating is very pretty as long as the weather is good. The burger was excellent, although a few more veggies would have been nice. My friends had the Ybor panini which was also pretty good. The price is more than fair for a restaraunt that is connected to a theater. Overall, I was very satisfied with the convenience and the food.

My dinner tonight was outstanding: local snapper with a Parmesan crust over a sweet potato mash with asparagus. The snapper was so soft it was like butter! The sweetness of the mash was a wonderful contrast. And their soup and salad bar was excellent as always. I had the seafood bisque which had a lot of sherry — nothing wrong with that! Considering the meal includes the salad bar and the dessert, the price is well worth it!

Went here during the week before watching a show at Straz. This place is just so so. When entering it looks very nice, good décor, nice bar, pleasant ambiance. The service was on the slow side and the wait staff was fair. Our waitress took way too long to get to us, Infact two other waiters asked us if anyone had come to the table and then they said they would let our waitress know. When she finally arrived she wax nice and bubbly but had no handle on the menu.
The food itself was average, the description on the menu makes everything look so tasty. I had the 5 hr beef stew my wife had crab stuffed trout, we were not impressed. Guy at next table over had salmon and even he said it was just ok. Salad bar was good, soups lacked flavour.
The only reason to come here is for the convenience of going to the Straz after dinner. This helps out during the week when rushing from work and the heavy traffic at that time of night. But if you can dine somewhere else and can make your show, do it.
Food 2.5
Service2.5
Ambiance 4.0
Convenience 5.0

We’ve been a member of the Straz Center for a number of years but have not utilized any of the restaurants associated with the center until this year. We’ve been to Maestro’s 3 times this year before 3 of the shows. It is set up as a semi buffet in that the soup and salad bar are set in the center of the restaurant and you can get up and go back a number of times before your main entrée. There are usually two soups, lobster bisque and and a second one that is different each time. They pride themselves on their lobster bisque. It is about a 7 – 8 on a scale of 10. Not the best I’ve had but close. The salad bar is difintely complete with breads, salads, humus, cheeses, pickled this and that. They offer you 4 – 5 different entrees and for children they have chicken fingers. I’ve had beef entrees and one time their pork chop entrée. The entrees are fairly large and decent. The last time, I had the Beef Wellington which came with a dark beef gravy and a mustard based sauce on the side. I remember mentioning to my wife that it was probably one of the best combination of flavors I’ve ever tasted, second only to a well done Chicago Hot Dog.

Went to the restaurant for dinner before Wicked. I didn’t have high expectations because of the other reviews, but the food was pretty good and the service was excellent. My lamb was overcooked, but the manager saw it and was extremely nice about getting a new plate out within minutes — I didn’t even have to ask. And he bought us a round of drinks! The café may be overpriced, but a 3 course dinner for $ 34 at the Straz Center is a deal as far as I’m concerned. Especially since you are paying for the convenience of having your last drinks poured into a to-​go cup and being able to walk down to the show with them. I would definitely recommend it. But make reservations if you want a table — they were booked weeks in advance so we had to eat at the bar.

Coq au vin was very good. Better than my short ribs which, quite frankly, weren’t. Short ribs that is. It isn’t that the preparation was bad, although mine at home are better, but that there was no rib, and no fat, hence no taste.
Short pours were the order of the evening. For their prices it is disappointing. I said something and got a little extra on round 2, but still…
The salad bar was very good, with nice variety, and the lobster bisque was awesome!
Service was ok. It is less than an ideal situation with everyone coming and going at the same time. Having waited tables in my youth I empathize, but they still could have done a better job with attitudes.

I’ve come here several times before shows at TBPAC, and my experiences have been meh… Maestro’s is trying hard to be a 5 star restaurant, but it misses the mark by quite a bit.
The entrees here are nothing special, and with a semi-​fixed menu you usually only get a few choices. They are always plated beautifully but are really nothing to freak out about. For the most part they’ve been okay, but this last visit I ordered the chicken florentine and my chicken was incredibly dry. The dessert bar always looks promising, but what it really turns out to be is a buffet of frozen desserts that are too sweet for my tastes. During this last visit the lady manning the bar wasn’t even sure what most of the plates were, and at least two of the cream pies were still frozen in the middle. Major disappointment.
Maestro’s gets an extra star for their salad bar, because frankly, it’s amazing. A wide variety of fruits, cheeses, crackers, breads, and salad mixings, plus usually two soup choices that have always been delicious (if it’s an option, go for the tomato basil bisque — superb).
Overall though, I’d say Maestro’s is all talk and little action. It is convenient if you’re looking to have an early dinner before catching a show at TBPAC (no battling Tampa traffic to make it to curtain time). But most nights, it’s definitely not worth the high price.