Over 50 Tampa

Midtown Tampa · italian, cuban, bakery, sandwiches

Alessi has been baking in Tampa since 1912, working from 'family recipes passed down through four generations'. It is a Sicilian bakery that grew up alongside the Cuban and Spanish bakeries of West Tampa and Ybor, and it sells both traditions ... Italian pastries and cannoli on one side, fresh Cuban bread and scachatta on the other, plus a deli counter, custom cake studio and rotisserie chicken. The business has moved into a single new building on West Cypress Street that puts the bakery, cake studio, deli and cafe 'under one roof'.

East Tampa · cuban, italian, sandwiches

Brocato's opened in 1948 and has worked its way through three businesses in the same family: grocery store, then meat market, then sandwich shop. Its own site puts the arithmetic plainly, that nearly eighty years later 'countless restaurants, diners and sandwich shops have come and gone' and Brocato's has not. The counter is known for the Tampa trinity of Cuban sandwiches, deviled crabs and stuffed potatoes. It sits on East Columbus Drive in East Tampa, closes at 5:30 in the afternoon and is shut on Sundays, which tells you it is a working lunch counter rather than a destination restaurant.

Citrus Park · cafe, sandwiches, coffee, cuban

Citrus Park Cafe is a small morning and lunch counter on Ehrlich Road whose whole identity is its address: it sits on the Upper Tampa Bay Trail, so its regulars arrive on bicycles. It pours Peet's coffee and makes custom subs, salads, Cuban sandwiches and smoothies, and it closes at 2:30pm. It is shut Monday and Tuesday, and it posts its holiday and vacation closures on the front page rather than leaving people to find out at the door.

North Hyde Park · sandwiches, italian american

Cousin Vinny's Sandwich Co. is a single-location sandwich shop on West Cass Street, started by what its own site calls 'a group of paisans originally from New York looking to share their passion for quality New York inspired sandwiches with the Tampa Bay community'. The shop was added to the MICHELIN Guide in the 2025 Florida selection and kept its place in 2026, and Creative Loafing reported it would appear on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

University Area · asian, chinese, vietnamese, filipino, korean

MD Oriental Market is the large pan-Asian grocery on East Fowler that the rest of the USF food corridor shops at, with its own departments for fresh produce, live seafood, a bakery and a hot deli. The hot deli and bakery counters are why it belongs on a food list rather than only a shopping one: people come in for roast meats, mochi and custard cakes without buying groceries. Its own recipe section is organised by country, running China, India, Japan, Mongolia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, which is a fair description of what the aisles carry. Local chefs and food writers named it to Creative Loafing's guide to Tampa Bay's best Asian markets.

University Area · german, swabian, deli, brewpub

Dunderbak's has been serving Tampa since 1974 and sits in the Oak Ramble Shopping Center on Bruce B Downs, which is a plain strip plaza and exactly the point: this is a German beer hall, brewery, deli and European market behind a strip-mall storefront. It started as one of about 30 franchise locations nationally, and co-owners James and Christina Ellis bought this one in the 1990s; the franchise folded and they turned it into a brewery with a dozen or so house beers on tap, told to That's So Tampa. The kitchen cooks from family recipes, with the potato pancakes made fresh every morning from James's Oma's recipe and the coleslaw from his mother's. Live polka plays on weekends, the beer hall room on the left seats 32 for private bookings, and the site's own parking advice is to arrive by 6pm on a Friday if you want a space.

Live music some nights. Go before the band starts if you want to talk.

Downtown · sandwiches

Supernatural Food & Wine is a small daytime counter on East Polk Street in downtown Tampa, built around sandwiches at breakfast and lunch with a short list of sides and salads and wine alongside. That's So Tampa calls it the city's hotspot for sourdough donuts and breakfast sandwiches. It has been a MICHELIN Recommended entry in both the 2025 and 2026 Florida selections.

West Tampa · cuban, sandwiches

The West Tampa Sandwich Shop calls itself the "Home of the original honey cuban sandwich", and the honey is the local argument: a Cuban sandwich of ham, roast pork, pickles and mustard with honey added, pressed on fresh Cuban bread. It opens at six in the morning and closes at three in the afternoon, six days a week, which is a working West Tampa schedule rather than a restaurant one. It sits on North Armenia Avenue in the middle of West Tampa, the other cigar-era neighbourhood, and it is one of the shops That\u0027s So Tampa puts on its list of the top Cuban sandwiches in the city.

Palma Ceia · sandwiches, deli, bakery

Wright's opened on 20 April 1963, started by Marjorie and Pete Wright, who thought Tampa needed a gourmet shop. It has stayed on South Dale Mabry ever since as a counter-service deli, bakery and caterer, and it is the sandwich most long-time Tampa residents name first. Breads run to pumpernickel, rye, whole wheat, buttercrust white, onion rolls, wraps and Cuban. It closes on Sundays and shuts at 5:30 on weekdays, which tells you it is a lunch house, not a dinner one.