ELITE – The Centre of the Yelpiverse

I had zero expectations coming into this event, considering I hadn’t even researched the Centre Club until 10 minutes prior to leaving for the event. That being said, even my non-​existent expectations were not met.
I feel a bit ridiculous complaining about free drinks and food, but considering how every other Elite event has been incredible, this one just completely missed the mark. When you have a group of people who love to spread the word about great local businesses gathered in your business for two hours, you might want to tell them what your business actually does. I still have no idea what Centre Club does.
I love fried food as much as the next fat kid, but the paltry selection of fried apps served left me wanting more. This was the only time after an Elite event I had to go out for a real meal afterward.
Most of the event was spent discussing what was going to happen next. Is someone going to try and sell us a timeshare? Are we going to be moved into another room where we’ll get real food?
Shout out to the bartender, though. He was super friendly and quick. I really can’t fault Centre Club for providing us with free drinks for 2 hours, but I did get a little too tipsy on my empty stomach.
Thanks to Brett for organizing this, as I’m sure putting it together was a lot of work. Unfortunately we’ve been so spoiled at other Elite events (and even CMYEs), that this one felt completely sub par.

I’ve finally thought of a plus about this particular event, it’s location. Since Tampa Bay has such vast real estate the time of day of an event limits the attendance. It was great to meet fellow Unilocalers I’ve only seen online. Although, I feel like all I need to say is I concur with previous posts.
The adult beverages and sodas were flowing, great for a happy hour after work. The Centre Club chose fried this, fried that and friend something else all of which tasted as though they all used the same frying baskets.
The building was beautifully decorated. I could use my imagination fill rooms with elegant parties and corporate lunches but, it would have been nice to hear from a brand ambassador to fill in my blanks.
Brett once again did a bang up job getting us all together and I had a great time but I was left confused on how to best utilize this geographic heart of the Unilocal community.
I’m sure they’re wishing the had a mulligan.

As many of the other reviewers have stated, the expectations of this event were a lot greater than what it turned out to be. I came to this event not really knowing what to expect but came with an open mind. It was nice to have an event in a venue that I’ve heard about many times in the past, but never really had the opportunity to experience.
The room we were in seemed to be an area where we should have been housed as it appeared to be a bit small to allow everyone to openly roam once the event started. My fellow Elites who I was with and I all thought that there would eventually be someone from the Centre Club who would lead us to another area or at least speak to what this facility really does or offers. The only interactions were with the servers who worked the room and the bartender, who had a knack for remembering what everyone was drinking. That was entertaining in itself.
Overall, this ended up being alike to a happy hour held on the 8^th floor of an office high rise with some fried apps to go along with the drinks. I won’t ever complain about those types of freebies, but something more would have definitely added to the expectations of an Elite event.

Ugh! I hate writing poor reviews for Unilocal events because I know how much work, energy and effort Brett N puts into these. The disappointment is no reflection of him, but this event was quite sad.
Fried apps? Sure. Maybe 1 offering but every single thing that came out of the kitchen was a fried frozen item. Centre Club-​this is a group who enjoys GOOD food and you completely let us down. If this is a true representation of what comes out of your kitchen then that is sad.
Yes, there was a nice variety of beer and wine, but come on! Produce some decent food. Oh and btw, 2 measly fries mozzarella sticks per person is not sufficient enough.
Also, what exactly is it that you do? This is a group of professionals in a wide array of industries and you missed the mark on this one. No one came in to tell us what makes you different from the other private clubs in the area, no one left info for us to read, and finally no one in upper management came in to say hi. Bad business. You should never miss the opportunity to sell or for someone to buy. I’d say «next time» but I doubt any of the Unilocalers who attended this past Thursday would be rushing to RSVP for another Centre Club event.
I hope this is a learning experience for the Club, and like I said, this is no reflection on Brett.
I thought it was pretty funny that A LOT of people went elsewhere to eat and drink. That rarely happens after an elite event.

As others have mentioned, it takes a lot of footwork to get these things going and hats off as usual to Brett and Justine for running a great happy hour event. My rating is adjusted upwards on behalf of the great bartender service we received and friendliness of the staff — otherwise it would drop a star.
Apart from that, that appears all this was — a happy hour. All of the staff on hand were friendly, welcoming you as you walked in the hallways, bartender did an awesome job, and food runners (if you spotted one) were friendly. The only things I saw being passed around were Sysco Supreme Tier 3 mozzarella sticks, pot stickers, and although I was not able to try one, a zucchini finger… fried of course with a sauce. This was Centre Club’s chance to show what they offered apart from nice empty rooms in an office building. Their website shows their membership fee is approximately $ 1500-​$ 1800 per year and that gives you access to the venue where they serve corporate breakfast/​lunches/​dinner. I wish someone was on hand to speak for the place so we really knew what their deal was and who to thank for the hospitality — but alas, I went to their website and got the skinny.
Unfortunately, walking away all I know is that I have to spend $ 1500-​$ 1800 a year for fried cheese sticks. In their defense, I was informed later that a higher up who may have been supposed to be there had a family emergency/​event and could not make it, but nobody else did either. I have heard the food they do serve is good, but we just didn’t get the chance to try it. Alot of Unilocalers are corporate types who may have used this service/​venue but this was an opportunity lost.
It was a great happy hour, we saw our Unilocal friends, Kelly & Sean, Bob B., and others, and met some new ones… Melissa and Todd. Great to see all of you, great to consume libations and chat, but just wish we were offered more information, and food offerings so we could have formulated a proper review — perhaps in the future we’ll get another chance.
Unilocal !!!

Many thanks to Brett for organizing this event and thank you to the Centre Club for hosting. That being said, having been to the Centre Club for other events, I was rather underwhelmed. I had amazing food at the Centre Club for other events I’ve attended (sushi, ahi slices, banging mac n’cheese). At other events, I had even heard the 10 minute little sales spiel. Oddly, none of that happened at this event. The Centre Club is a very niche venue offering dining and meeting services for professionals. However, I have never had the sense it has the prestige of something like the Citrus Club in Orlando. Sadly, they did nothing at this event to improve my thoughts on the relative utility of the club.
The free happy hour was lovely and I always enjoy the view from the Centre Club. Being very familiar with this venue and the garage having done many business events at the InterContinental — I made sure my +1 had excellent directions but I can understand how many people got lost. One star for booze and the view. One star for the joy of getting to spend time with my fellow Unilocalers. And one shining star for Brett being made of awesomesauce. Thank you, Brett!

Just reiterating what everyone else said. We were expecting a business-​y networking event and soon realized it was more just a happy hour in a random but cool location. Not complaining about a free happy hour though! Always appreciated. I got to catch up with some Unilocal friends, which was nice, but after an hour or so we were feeling awkward and not sure what to do, playing the «guess what that person is thinking» game. I would have been up for a tour or some kind of challenge.
The Centre Club is very cool though, with a beautiful view. I noticed the women’s bathrooms each have their own sink and counter… I have literally never seen that before. More places should do that.

I’m a fan. I realize we didn’t get a presentation, etc… but this event allowed me to meet other Unilocalers and socialize, which I noticed that I don’t really get to do when we are milling about at other events because we are checking stuff out.
I’m a social person! I like to meet new people and this event allowed me to do just that. Free happy hour with people that all have a common interest in a nice place with a great view? Priceless!
Met some super friendly people that allowed me to crash their table, had great convo with a few additional others, an eager to please bartender… YAY. I’M A FAN.
Thanks Brett N. & Centre Club :)

This was my first experience with an Elite Unilocal event. I was invited as a plus one to come and see what this was about. I have seen the other reviews and understand why the current Elite members are posting about a disappointment.
Now, don’t get me wrong, free alcohol and delicious fried finger foods always makes for a fun event in my book, but having heard such great things from my friends, I was expecting more. I found myself looking around the room and thinking of ways to improve the ambiance. Music, banners, interactive games perhaps.
It was a great chance to get a better understand of what the company offers it’s elite members and wet my appetite enough to want to know more about becoming an «elite». A highlight for me were the containers of Unilocal propaganda around the room. So, not all was lost. With it being my first event, I did enjoy myself. I am holding out for the next one so that I can add two more stars to it.
Thanks for a fun night, and for the Unilocalstick!

I really hate having to give an Elite event 2 stars. I know that the Centre Club is the one that slacked on this event and not Brett or Unilocal.With that being said: man did they drop the ball.
I’m going to start with the positive notes from the evening: The Bartender was fantastic. He was friendly, he knew what he had available and he was nice to talk to. The Centre Club did offer up a decent enough selection of beer, wine and soda to keep everyone happy. They even had some Cigar City beer. The Bathrooms were also really nice. I giggled over some of the things in the bathroom like the fancy mouthwash container with little plastic cups beside it. Last but not least, the Unilocalers are freaking amazing! I loved hanging with my friends and seeing some people that I only get to see once a month. It was really nice chatting with Justine B. and finally getting to meet her.
On to the bad… It is a major mistake of any place to invite foodies into their «house» and then serve them crappy food in very small quantities. What were they thinking? The mozzarella sticks were good, but they are mozzarella sticks. The zucchini was the worst fried zucchini I ever had and we were noticing that after the first round most people were not touching it. My potsticker was cold and undercooked. My Husband’s was crunchy (and they were from the same serving tray). The absolute worst part of the food though was when I went to grab a piece of shrimp (the last one on the plate) and it had a hair on it. I started to pick it up, noticed the hair and said «maybe not» and put it back. This earned me a very nasty look (and no apology) from the waitress that was passing the food out. Really? After that they didn’t even attempt to bring any more food out (which was probably a good thing).
I still have no idea what the heck the Centre Club is, but I know that I never want to go back. This event gets two stars solely for Brett’s hard work, free booze and that awesome Bartender. On to better events in the future. :)

Thanks for the wine and beer, Centre Club, but if those fried frozen apps were indicative of your kitchen’s best work, then I’ll pass next time. Most Unilocalers here were probably wondering what this mysterious, well-​hidden club was all about, but you could only discover that by doing your own research. I wandered down the somewhat sterile hallway and found a cocktail lounge in full swing with far better appetizers which I filled up on, including delicious wraps, fresh fruit and veggies and a range of tasty dips. None of those appeared at our normally food-​oriented Unilocal event, however. A nice older retiree, who described himself as an «ambassador» for the club, said the place is generally packed on many nights, and especially weekends, when multiple raucous events are held throughout the 8^th-​floor space in the same S. Westshore building that houses Shula’s Steakhouse and the Intercontinental Hotel. That’s where opposing NFL teams always stay when in town to play the Bucs.
I did have a hard time picturing this weird place as lively, since it has all the ambiance and décor of a Holiday Inn in Nebraska, circa 1978. It does possess a spectacular view of the tree canopy over Westshore Blvd. If you join and pay about $ 150 a month, you gain access to several other, nicer private country clubs around Tampa, as well as a national network of the same, geared to young business travelers. Hey, I guess it beats hanging out at airports.
Kudos to our friendly bartender, who kept the drinks flowing, and raved about working there. Centre Club: Been there, done that. Now, it’s on to the next Unilocal event.

The Centre Club is one of a select few venues of this sort found in the Tampa Bay area. It offers private meeting space for presentations to networking events to celebrations, a dining room where people in business attire seem intent on talking business and the lovely view from its eighth floor perch (lovely at least when weather permits). It is supported by memberships.
This is a nice and very versatile venue that has probably hosted some great gatherings over the years and it seems to be extremely well kept up and maintained.
Since it had been awhile since I last set foot on its premises I hoped to get a good overview of what was happening (any recent renovations etc). but our group gathered in one of the meeting rooms well distanced from the main dining area and had a pleasant evening chatting, toasting and tasting but did not get any insights into what makes this venue special.
If I get back for a lunch or dinner I will be able to share thoughts about that aspect of the Centre Club. It seemed odd not to have had someone on hand representing the Centre Club to answer questions or at least give anyone interested a quick walk around.

I know the Centre Club from other events — even my own wedding reception… I know what this Club CAN DO.
However, for this event, it was unclear as to what we were doing there.
My husband and I met some cool people! We love meeting new folks at these great Unilocal events!
The food was scarce and only a couple of little apps to choose from. The shrimps were good, the mozz sticks were good, the dumplings were good, not so fond of the fried zucchinis.
But the wine was great, the beer selection — good variety! The bartender was great! I think the serving staff was very nice too.
What I think failed us here was the lack of varied food goodies. And although I know what the Club is about, I didn’t even notice the table with all the info laid out until after the event…
Additionally, as having been a guest here and having my own event here, I know the parking situation. And really, we should have been told to park on the 6^th floor of the garage (we did)…it’s the best place to get the elevator to the 8^th floor.
And if you didn’t know how to get into the parking garage already, it can be a real mystery…
No one to blame here, just pointing a few things out.
All in all, I know this Club can do better, we’ve experienced it multiple times. If I were just basing my experience off this one event, I would have been a bit disappointed. But we had a great time with our newly met table mates.

Couple comments about a fun night.
I have trouble rating something that really amounted to a free happy hour less than 5 starts. I enjoyed good, free beer, had a couple snacks (Brett did say not to expect dinner), had a nice view, and met some new friends.
I did walk around the Centre Club just to see what else was there. Yes, a ‘tour’ or speech about the place would have been nice, but they didn’t seem to mind that I was checking it out.
I had fun for a couple hours after a very long week, and I appreciate it.

This was my first event as a Unilocal Elite, though technically speaking, I was another Elite’s plus 1. I would have liked to have given this better reviews, but there were a couple of issues:
1-​hard to find. There are no signs on the street, so you have to pull into the intercontinental hotel’s parking lot until you see the first sign. Then, like other I believe, I got on the wrong set of elevators.
2-​Food. There were literally 2 trays of appetizers that quickly disappeared and nothing else was served. I thought they really dropped the ball on this. When you’re serving free alcohol, having some food there to compensate is usually a good idea — something to soak up the wine in your stomach. The food itself wasn’t anything special either — fried zucchini and mozzarella sticks that I could get at TGI Fridays that would have been just as good and dumplings that were no better than those you can get in the freezer section at a grocery store.
So, a couple of problems. If it wasn’t for the fact that I had a genuinely good time though, I would have trashed the event for these reasons. Centre Club — the 1 room we saw — wasn’t anything spectacular, wasn’t particularly nice or any nicer than any other place. Felt like a cross between an office conference room and a hotel ballroom.
However, like I said, I really enjoyed myself. We met a bunch of other awesome eliters (elitests? Elites?) and grabbed dinner at Grimaldi’s afterward with Chet and Dawn, which was an awesome suggestion on their part. Also, the cheap wine they were serving was good and the laughter flowed freely from there.
My girlfriend and I are not the most outgoing people, so it was great to be at an event with so many friendly and good people. In spite of the problems at this one, we’re both looking forward to the next event.

Thanks for the beer and wine, another fun event Brett and Unilocal!
Typical fancy hotel conference/​meeting rooms in a highrise building, nice property. Friendly staff.
Even after a brief description of what the Centre Club is from the sales gal at the table ‘It’s like a country club without the country’, I’m not sure why someone would benefit from a membership there so it’s obviously something for people who are not me ;) Were we supposed to wear masks a la Eyes Wide Shut to understand?
Limited apps were typical frozen warehouse club items — somehow the zucchini sticks were completely horrible and I never saw a shrimp that other Unilocalers have mentioned.
But I can’t complain too much about a few drinks and a view.

It was interesting getting a glimpse of a swanky gathering place I had never heard of. Just one week prior I attended a bloody fantastic CMYE at Whole Foods and it was hard for me not to compare that event to this one. While I left the CMYE with a big smile on my face I left this event with a confused look on my face. I didn’t know what the Centre Club was before this event and I still don’t. I only saw the one small room we were in so I really don’t know what else the place offers. I thought that someone that worked there was going to show us around or answer questions. This is also the first Unilocal event I’ve attended where I left starving. I was offered a mozzarella stick when I arrived and a piece of shrimp right before I left. I will admit that I didn’t make the effort to hunt down any of the servers that had food because I was enjoying the conversations I was having. I had fun catching up with Unilocal friends and making new ones, but I didn’t think that this event matched up against some of the other great Unilocal events I’ve been to.

Classy and a great atmosphere. Each appetizer they served was so delicious. I would say my favorite was the coconut shrimp… the marinara sauce was light and delicious. The wait staff were friendly and accommodating. A great introduction I had never heard of yet I have been in that building many times. My friend also had a great time. Nice way to wind down after a crazy week. Thanks for organizing all this!

Thanks for taking the time to organize such an elegant venue for this event. It was lovely to watch the storm roll in from eight stories above the city. The Center Club is a grand place, the ballrooms are lovely and the décor is fresh with interesting light sconces on the walls. And don’t forget to check out the restrooms, they’re incredible.
Like another reviewer, I had hoped to rate this event higher, but sadly I find that I can’t. When I first arrived, my Plus 1 and I were greeted by who I think was the General Manager and told where to go, we were wished a fantastic evening, this was a great personal touch, that was where that ended.
I found that the wait staff seemed to avoid our table. We were a table of six in the back corner, they would offer their array of food to those before us and behind us, but we were often over looked. If we turned to follow, as one of my table mates did, she was given the stink eye. Only one waiter actually went over to our table.
The food itself was tasty; I especially enjoyed the beer battered cheese sticks and the pot stickers, the savory soy dipping sauce was really good. The breading on the zucchini was spicy and the coconut shrimp was flavorful.
It seemed that the wine and beer was flowing quite liberally, and they had a nice selection of Pepsi products to choose from for those of us who don’t drink.
I am a bit bewildered as I still don’t know what the Center Club offers, or what they do in their ballrooms. I’m not exactly sure what they were offering out to us other than a small, crowded ballroom. I had hoped there would be someone who could tell us a bit about their business, but perhaps I left before that happened?

It very much pains me to give an Elite Unilocal event 2 stars– as I know a lot of people work hard to make events like this happen.
However, this event was the first Unilocal event I’ve attended that fell way below expectations. At first arrival, I thought the room was just a cocktail hour room, and that we’d be escorted somewhere else for a presentation/​other food.
This was also the first Unilocal event where I felt like the company was only participating to sell us something. While that’s the implicit goal of any company who hosts an elite event– they usually try to wine and dine you with what they have to offer. I felt like the Centre Club stuck us in a small vacant ballroom, fed us their cheapest fried appetizers, and gave us a lot to drink– so we’d feel less inhibited to sign up for their membership.
After leaving this event– I still have no idea what exactly the Centre Club offers. Is it ballrooms? is it meeting spaces? Is it free alcohol? Catering? I’m not sure.
My plus one, who is a local DJ for weddings and special events, was excited to see what the Centre Club had to offer, was equally as disappointed. This was also his first Unilocal Event.
The bartender was great– super friendly and remembered what everyone was drinking. And the waitstaff was friendly as well– though it was hard to catch them sometimes.
As usual, I appreciate the hard work that Brett puts into making events like these happen. I just felt like Centre Club didn’t pull their weight to be up to the standards of our usual Elite Events.