I’ve been to this restaurant several times and have had mixed experiences – one quite good, the second disappointing, the third acceptable but not outstanding. This time, knowing I would be offering an opinion on the restaurant to strangers, I tried to channel Gordon Ramsay. What would he think of the decor? Would he take exception with a particular dish? Did something need more salt? Even though I’m the furthest thing from a Michelin star chef, I am nevertheless a customer who wants that same impeccable dining experience. I want to come away from a meal wowed by the tastes and impressed with the service. So here we go.
Iavarone’s is a bit dark and moody. That may simply be the result of the popular decor at the time the restaurant was built in 1948 but I wish it were a bit lighter and brighter. Dark to me reads as “heavy,” and tends to carry over into my take on the food as well.
But not with the bread. It was light and flavorful. The warm bread with its herb-infused side of olive oil was a good start. But let’s talk about the soup and the salad. I’d never had “tomato parm” soup and decided to give it a try. I was afraid it would be gluey with the parmesan cheese mixed into the tomato soup but it was delicious. That said, it sort of looked like they lost the soup ladle and someone said, “Just dip the bowl in the pot. Who cares?” Fortunately, the taste was sublime so I ignored the soup all over the rim of the bowl (well . . . except to tell you about it).
And then there was the house salad. What I saw was a big bowl of celery-green lettuce with a tiny olive nestled in the middle. Again – not particularly visually appealing. After digging around, I discovered more olives and a few grape tomatoes so that helped, but if the dressing was meant to be oil and vinegar, I think they forgot the vinegar. I ate a few bites and abandoned it. Instead of telling my waitress I found it flavorless, I told her I didn’t want to fill up on salad. Why do we do that? I should’ve just told her I hadn’t particularly enjoyed it. The truth is, without the olives it would’ve tasted like a crunchy 8×10 piece of printer paper.
Let me answer my own question about why we don’t speak up. It’s all those stories about offended waiters adding horrid things to plates sent back to the kitchen or baristas in coffee shops spitting in coffees. And truth be known, I’m just as guilty.
Needing supplemental income during my college days, I took a part-time job at a local pizza parlor. A colleague forgot to include hot pepper flakes on a pick-up order. The customer called in once he got home to complain. I apologized and said we’d be happy to add the pepper flakes and reheat it. In his best I-am-the-man-and-you-are-the-stupid-college-kid voice, he told me that no, I would remake his pizza. Oh really? Rebel that I was, I put a layer of pepper flakes under the base cheese and another on top. Although he called back and asked for my supervisor, somehow I didn’t get fired.
Anyway, I digress. Back to Iavarone’s.
So mixed results so far. Good bread, delicious soup, less than satisfying salad. Now we get to the Crab Enchilau.
The menu described it as “blue crab claw meat with a spicy marinara sauce.” But what, you ask, is enchilau? Yeah, me too. At first I thought it was supposed to say “enchilada,” but Candler, my waitress, clearly said “enchilau” when describing it to me. I worried a bit about the degree of spicy, but it was just right. That said, I could’ve done without the bits of crab shell that added that je ne sai quoi to the dish. Trust me, it’s not a pretty picture in a pricey restaurant to have a senior citizen digging bits of food out of her mouth and bundling it surreptitiously in a napkin.
So the verdict? Tasty but the shell was off-putting. Would I try it again? I’m not sure.
That brings us to coffee and dessert. I opted for my usual cappuccino and then settled on Bananas Foster for dessert. The cappuccino was the best part of my dining experience. Coffee is sometimes hard to get just right so after the bland salad and crunchy crab shell, I was concerned it would taste burned or be too strong. It was perfect.
Bananas Foster. Yes, yummy and my favorite thing – a sugar overload. But once again, sauce dribbling over the sides. I’m not quite sure why food that looks like it’s been slapped on the plate seems less appealing but somehow it does. In any case, it tasted good.
I think the only thing I actually finished from this meal was the soup. The flavors, for the most part, were good. It was the appearance and the added “extras” that were not. I enjoyed the meal overall but Iavarone’s doesn’t make my top 5 list.
- 3617 W. Humphrey St., Tampa, Florida
- 813-932-5241
- http://www.iavaronessteakhouse.com
- Hours: Closed Mondays / Tuesday-Thursday 11:00 AM to 10:00 PM / Friday 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM / Saturday 4:00 PM to 11:00 PM / Sunday 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM
- Wheelchair accessible
Lisa Browder 
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