Grillsmith

Loved the Red Sangria. Wonderful Filet Tip Eggroll appetizer.
Great atmosphere for visiting, and the food it perfectly prepared.
I had the Fit chicken breast and it was perfect, juicy and tender.
Wish we had one closer to Chicago.

Why the heck do I keep forgetting about this place? Especially when I pass it about five times a week on Dale Mabry?
I’ve come here about once every so often for years now and need to make it more of a regular thing because the experience is consistently good.
For as long as I can remember, they’ve done Happy Hour on Wednesday from 4pm until 10pm and there are plenty of food and drink options available.
On this most recent visit, we had two cosmos from the Build Your Own Martini section of the Happy Hour menu as well as a couple of vodka cocktails.
The bill was a very modest $ 17 and change with no complaints about the pours, the service and the comfortable, casual atmosphere around the bar.
Also, this is one of the very few restaurants around that offer one of my favorite side dishes: Smashed Cauliflower.
No, I don’t like Cauliflower either… but don’t knocked the «Smashed» until you try it. Think a combination of grits and mashed potatoes for the texture.
Grillsmith, I’m sorry I don’t come more often. I promise to see you more in 2015, especially on Wednesdays after 4pm.

I’ve eaten dinner during happy hour at the Wiregrass Mall location in New Tampa/​Wesley Chapel, so I already had a good impression with this chain.
This location is also very pretty and well decorated. Atmosphere is lovely. This would be a great location for a birthday dinner or other celebration. The outdoor seating area looked great.
We arrived here past 9pm on a Saturday night and were seated right away. The hostess and our server were friendly and attentive.
We ordered:
Crab Bisque Soup: this was delicious! It had a nice kick to it. Spicy and sweet flavors.
Chicken Lettuce Wraps (small plate): Note — this is not like PF Chang’s version. I should have read the description more closely. It was ok, but I would not order this again.
Surf & Turf: $ 18.99 special. Came with a house salad (this was great btw). Steak was cooked perfectly. Salmon was decent; normal/​plain. Mac n’ Cheese was the side choice. The BF liked this. His dessert choice was Key Lime Pie. Very good. I’d like to try their signature decadent dessert next time though.
Complimentary bread basket: the Olive Garden type breadsticks and crunchy cracker-​type bread were very good.
We were both stuffed, and the bill came out to $ 30. Can’t really beat that.

Decent Americana food with a few tasty twists. Lots to choose from on the menu. Huge bar so it looks like happy hour would be pretty cool. Sort of reminds me of a Bennigan’s or Houlihan’s on ‘roids with a stepped up décor and some extra menu items. My wife and I had a good service experience and the food was pretty good. I’m going to have to go back again and try to figure this place out. It SEEMS to have great potential especially with the outdoor patio. Not too sure I agree with all these Elites gifting it 5 stars! Going to an «Elite tasting» does not qualify as a 5 star review when the restaurant is not seen in it’s true form! For shame, for shame!
I’ll follow up on my next experience to give everyone the skinny on this place…

Disagree with a lot of the Unilocal elites here, but I can’t quite go to 5 stars based on my first visit to Grillsmith. It was good, but I’d actually probably only go to 3.5 if Unilocal would give me a ½ star to play with. I just wasn’t as enthralled as others seem to be. However, it certainly has potential and deserves the extra ½ star in rounding due to that potential, and also for the creativity of the dishes, even if the meal itself didn’t live up to the expectations.
So we were there at around 3ish on the weekend. Maybe one other table, and just the shift-​lead for lunch still waiting tables. Service was okay. We had two issues with the service. First is that our waiter was Fred Fenster from Usual Suspects. If I asked him to speak English, he might have responded with, «whatthef***Iamspeakinenglish.» Alternatively, I could have treated him like the child in the original Willy Wonka, «you should open your mouth wider when you speak.» Anyway, mumbling aside, we also ordered the VooDoo fries for an appetizer. These are french fries with creole seasoning, BBQ sauce, and cheese (and sausage, but we got that on the side). It took nearly 10 minutes to come out. French fries. 10 minutes. Unacceptable.
The fries themselves were underwhelming. Spice wasn’t very spicy — in fact, it seemed like half the fries didn’t have seasoning on them. They were good, but I expected better. Still, a creative way to do fries, so they get an A for effort, but a B– for delivery.
I then got the crab and shrimp burger for my entrée. Essentially, a crab cake with shrimp, too. Again, good, but I expected something much better. Not sure if it just tasted too greasy or too much filler in the crab cake, or what, but another A for effort, B for delivery.
I will give them credit for the bread service. Good warm garlic bread sticks and crackers. That was yummy.
This is a good menu, and a nice restaurant. Perhaps my expectations were too high though. Perhaps I just didn’t order the best things on the menu. My girlfriend loved hers and went with 5 stars, so perhaps a followup visit is in order and I should try something else. We shall see, dear readers. We shall see.

I came to Grillsmith a few months ago as part of a Unilocal event and decided to make my way back for dinner recently.
I had been really wowed by Grillsmith at the Unilocal event, and this trip was no different! With the cool fob/​keychain that allowed me to capitalize on happy hour specials at any time of day, I headed here looking for a reasonably priced dinner that would leave my tummy happy.
I ordered the lemon feta chicken and decided to be adventurous and get the cauliflower mashed potatoes. I wasn’t quite sure if I would like them, but my server told me if I wasn’t happy with them to just let him know and he would swap them out for another side. I was sold!
The chicken came out and it was SOO tasty. It had the perfect variety of flavors with the lemon and feta cheese and wasn’t dry, a problem that can happen all too frequently with chicken.
And the cauliflower mashed potatoes? Really, really good. They tasted pretty much just like regular mashed potatoes so I was happy. The green beans were great too.
I’d be back to get some more of those filet egg rolls and the flourless chocolate cake, since they were so amazing at the Unilocal event!

Another great Grillsmith experience under my belt. I’ll start off by saying that I’ve never been disappointed at this location or any of the other locations in the area that I have visited. I was here most recently for a happy hour/​dinner with some friends. We had a really great server who was tending to our group of about 10 or so. He was very attentive and running around making sure everyone had their drinks. he also made sure to let us know before the happy hour specials were ending for any last minute orders we wanted to put in.
The drinks were pretty standard fare and the happy hour specials for food and drink are pretty decent for this type of restaurant. I ended up having the Grillsmith Burger, which did not disappoint. The surprise ending came when my bill was brought out. Given the happy hour specials, I had a pretty decent evening for not a whole lot of cash!

It doesn’t get much better than this neighborhood gem. My first visit and I’m a huge fan because of the stellar food.
One of the best veggie burgers in Tampa. They are house-​made and it is 5-​star quality. They really take care to ensure that this is no whimpy bland vegetarian fare. They load this burger with a ton of flavor and a hint of spice that leaves your mouth watering for more. They serve it on a warm brioche bun that is bakery-​fresh. Save the calories and fat, chose the veggie burger and you won’t regret it.
I also love the setup here. It’s a large place with tons of tables and booths. Fancier than an Applebee’s but just as casual. The outdoor patio area is awesome. Red draperies set a loungey relaxing mood.
The service we had was awesome. He offered us multiple rounds of free bread without having to ask. Oh and that garlic bread is sweet-​carby-​slap– Dr. Atkins deliciousness.
They have a killer happy hour til 7 too. Discounts on their appetizers as well as discounted wine, Martinis and beer. Can’t be beat.

Ok. Grillsmith may be my new favorite restaurant.
I think I was skeptical of visiting Grillsmith for so long because I assumed it to be a chain– and while I love my chains– whenever thinking of where to eat, I always try to hit up local businesses.
However, after a recent Unilocal event here, I was intrigued to return. While there are several grillsmiths– they are exclusive to the tampa area– so they are still local! That being said, I thought it’d be a great place to take my semi picky mom for dinner while she was in town.
Everything was delicious! The crunchy tuna appetizer… my lemon feta chicken… and the bananas foster! Our service was great as well. My mom had such a hard time deciding on what to get– and finally settled on the fish of the day mediterranean style. She raved about that as well.
Prices and atmosphere are similar to a Carabbas or Bonefish.
At the aforementioned Unilocal event, we got to taste a bunch of other items– all were delicious– and I look forward to returning and enjoying more of them!

There are few places where I go that appeal to such a broad cross-​section of people I know.
But this particular Grillsmith seems to really have made fans of a lot of folks, whether I am in need of a place for friends to meet for drinks, a family get together, a place to dine and talk without competing with a lot of noise, a lovely lunch spot and more.
The staff always seems to be pleasant, primed and ready to help, attentive without being intrusive and upbeat.
The food seems to be consistently as good as it looks and no matter how hungry I am when I get there, I always seem to leave with some leftovers.
The interior is attractive and seating arrangements are spacious, comfortable and not too close together.
It isn’t a surprise when someone suggests Grillsmith but I am still pleasantly surprised when I go there and am reminded that eating out should — and could — be about good food, good company and a good time.

Why 5 stars? Because I have been back numerous times and now see the light.
— — —
Two words that will help your experience to be more pleasurable:
Salmon Bruschetta.
After Grillsmith has hosted two Unilocal events, I have had the extreme pleasure in seeing so much more that they have to offer:
–Pumpkin Crab Bisque
–Spicy Thai Shrimp
–Crunchy Ahi Tuna Nachos
These four items (including the holy salmon bruschetta) tickle parts of my belly that I didn’t even know were ticklish.
God bless you GS, and carry on.

I love Grillsmith, yes I do! This is the first Grillsmith I ever visited and every experience at this location has been great (including the Unilocal event I recently attended here).
My favorite dish that Grillsmith offers is the chicken with artichokes and sun dried tomatoes (can’t remember the name of it at the moment), but it is SO good. If you are looking for something healthy, the fitness chicken is really good. Grillsmith also has a great happy hour (especially on Wednesdays). This is a great spot to go for a nice meal that won’t absolutely break the bank.