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All entrees come with French Onion soup, onion rings, a choice of various salads, vegetables of the day, and a loaded baked potato. It is still family owned (Bern and Gert’s son), and clearly a passion project. I will absolutely eat there any time I go to Tampa, I may go back to Tampa sooner just to eat there.
Harry Waugh Dessert Room
Bern's Steak House takes home 2016 James Beard Award - Creative Loafing Tampa
Bern's Steak House takes home 2016 James Beard Award.
Posted: Fri, 15 Mar 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
Marisa is well-versed in exploration as she travels a good majority of the year in her self-converted Sprinter van. Her articles have been featured in various notable publications over the years, she has a published collection of short stories, and three completed screenplays under her belt. If your requested date or time is not available, you are welcome to check back periodically either online or by phone, however due to the volume of requests, we do not have a call back/waiting list. If you're a fan of French Onion Soup, you will really enjoy this one.
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These places are typically expensive and very much a la carte. All of that comes with each steak, which are priced lower than almost all other top steakhouses to begin with. A 12-ounce dry-aged NY Strip is $60 with all the extras, and two weeks earlier I ate at a high-end chain steakhouse where a not as good one was $72 with nothing. Bern’s perennially wins the highest possible Wine Spectator Grand Award of Excellence, which less than 100 places in the world receive, and has won it ever year for more than four decades. They also won the James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Program, and the cellars are so extensive and impressive that they offer guests guided tours with dinner, something that stopped in the pandemic and is being re-introduced shortly. Bern Laxer was a World War II vet and passionate gardener who visited his aunt in Tampa with his new bride, Gert, and never left.
The Bern's Experience
I just returned to Tampa for the first time in years to catch a couple of Yankees spring training games, and even before I bought airline tickets I made a reservation for Bern’s way in advance, because they are always really hard to get. But if any travel takes you to Tampa, it is absolutely worth the effort. Have you ever been to Bern’s Steakhouse in Florida before? Or if you’re looking for more information about this iconic steakhouse and its decadent desserts, check out the website or Facebook Page. A New Jersey native with over 15 years of writing experience, Marisa has studied at both New York University and Florida International University. She has lived all over the country, including a decade stint in South Florida.
All reservations require a credit card to hold the reservation at the time of booking
So, the wine list itself is reason to go, and one of the standout features that elevate Bern’s above its peers, but that’s just one. Waugh was a famed British wine merchant and on one trip, Bern visited him for dinner in his London home. After the entrée, Waugh suggested they adjourn to another room for dessert, port and cigars, and Bern loved the idea. He loved it so much that when he returned to Tampa he turned the upstairs into the Harry Waugh Dessert Room, with 48 private booths, each made from a repurposed redwood wine cask. Today when you first take your seat at dinner, the waiter asks if you would like to book a booth upstairs for dessert and you simply must say yes.
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Bern's Steak House is a local favorite and has been around since 1956. I know you are probably thinking this is going to be a typical steakhouse restaurant review but let me reassure you that it is more than just a steakhouse. Even I had my doubts but was blown away by the meal and the entire experience. Dessert is a very special thing at Bern's, which also offers an incredible array of dessert wines, ... [+] fortified wines and specialty cocktails and coffees.
Bern’s Steak House reopens after undergoing renovations - WFLA
Bern’s Steak House reopens after undergoing renovations.
Posted: Fri, 28 Jul 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
If you plan on visiting on a weekend at prime time, make sure to reserve a table a month in advance. I called the restaurant almost three weeks in advance to make a reservation and the earliest available time they had was 9PM on a weekend. They informed me that in order to get a table at a decent time at their restaurant, I would have to book at least one month in advance. After our meal, we were kindly escorted to take a tour of the kitchen.
Experience the difference of award-winning standards
The guide gave us a tour of their oldest to most expensive wines and some other interesting tidbits like how they keep a backup generator just in case the electricity goes out during hurricane season. In addition to the Prime standards, they offer Japanese wagyu and grass fed beef from specialty ranches as well as the now trendy ultra-aged option, 100-days. Besides steak there is lamb, quail, chicken and plenty of seafood. The upstairs is 48 private dessert booths, each crafted from wooden wine vats. Tampa’s most famous restaurant, Bern’s Steak House, also makes this list.
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While gardening and producing a gardening newsletter he and his wife opened a small luncheonette which served juice, coffee and cold sandwiches. It was a hit and soon they eventually added hot breakfast and lunch. All of this was in the early Fifties, long before anyone had coined the terms “farm to table” or “localvore,” but from the beginning, Bern and Gert emphasized the best ingredients possible including fresh veggies and fruit from his own gardens. 70 Years later Bern’s is still doing what has recently become trendy among top chefs elsewhere and growing its own. A few years after opening, they moved to a new space and added steaks, and the rest is restaurant history. What is now the Bordeaux Room in Bern’s was once the entire steakhouse, and it has been added to and expanded again and again.
The experience and food was truly something we have never encountered before. We later learned that their waiters train for one year working at almost every station in the restaurant. Then they train for another 8-12 weeks in the dining rooms before they become a full-service waiter on their own. It's incredible and we can definitely tell that the service from these waiters are far different from any other restaurant we've been to. The in-house cellar actually isn't able to house all of their wines, so they have a second storage unit off their premises down the street.
I have covered restaurants for decades and especially steakhouses, and there are a lot of great ones in the U.S., where cities like New York, Las Vegas and Dallas each have a dozen or more that would qualify as exceptional. But nonetheless, there are several things that make Bern’s notably different from every other venerable steakhouse you can visit, and puts it in a very elite group atop the red meat pantheon. The “special request” section is NOT accessed until the night of your reservation so please do not use this section to request a change in time, number of guests or any other information you need the restaurant to be aware of in advance of your reservation. All Bern’s waiters are highly trained and very competent servers, however if you have a favorite, please make your request for this waiter when you make your reservation by phone. We will note it in your reservation and do our best to seat you at a table in their section. However, we cannot honor all requests due to scheduling and volume in the restaurant.
There is a ton of history in this building and while we were waiting to be seated, the host gave us a brief history of Bern's Steak House. Non-members can add the privileges at checkout through our 30 day free trial, cancellable at anytime.
Please make sure to notate the occasion when making your reservation or let your dessert room server know the occasion the evening you dine with us. Videos are not allowed in the dining rooms or any portion of the tour. If you're in Tampa, this is definitely a reservation you'll want to make and don't skip the dessert room. Once you step inside the restaurant, you feel like you're in an ancient mansion with tall red walls and various portraits hanging on the walls (similar to Disney's Haunted Mansion).
Be prepared to reserve 3-4 hours of your time for this dining experience if you are going to the dessert room (and a Bern's experience is not complete without ending the night in the dessert room). We had reservations at 9PM and did not leave Bern's until 1AM. Bern's Steak House takes their last reservation at 10PM on the weekdays and 11PM on the weekends but they will stay open until the very last customer has fully enjoyed the entire Bern's experience.
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