Where is the Best Place to watch a Tampa Bay Rays Game

Where is the best place to watch a Rays Game? As I was getting ready to sit down and watch the Rays on TV I figured since they were out of town I would find a place to watch the Rays game and enjoy some company and a little additional fan excitement by watching the Rays game at a local bar, sports establishment or eatery. If they were at home I would be in my season ticket seats at the TROP! But since they are not home lets find a place so I looked online and found nothing that said "THIS IS THE PLACE" so I decided to make my own list. I am from Tampa so it is probably "Tampa Centric" however if you leave comments to this post I will make sure to approve them for posting.

1. Fergs! (yes not Tampa But if your going to watch the game this is by far the best place to do it.)
2. Beef O'Bradys (Good because its local and pretty sports oriented.)
3. Wing House (another local place and pretty good)
4. Lee Roy Selmons (Another local place good food good prices and sports Oriented)
5. The Press Box (Dale Mabry, Never been here but they have Celebs and specials during games)
6. The Cop Shop (Oldsmar hangout that is pretty good, lots of tv's and drink specials)
7. Buffalo Wild Wings (Lots of TV's and WINGS)(They also turn the sound up for the Rays Games
8. The Long Bar (The owner Francis is a Rays Fan and he has Great Pizza, Good Wings and a Great Crowd)
9. Varsity  near Tarpon

10. Hattricks (Downtown Tampa, great sports oriented bar even better for Lightning games.)

After thoughts.

-- Any Applebees shows the game
-- City Fish (Oldsmar)
-- Rumbas (Oldsmar)
-- Bostons on Anderson Road
-- Most local bars will show it.
-- MacDintons Tampa Westchase area
-- Champps in the International Mall
-- Courtside in Oldsmar
-- Hooters (as you can tell I like wings)

So if your headed out and find a great place send a comment to here and I would love to have more choices....for now I'll just stick to what I know....GO RAYS!!!

RUMBA's Island Grill - Valentines Day

My wife had been going to Rumba's at lunch with her work friends and she finally said lets go there for Dinner on Valentines Day. We decided to go to the new one we knew of on Tampa Road in Oldsmar. I went on Urban Spoon read the reviews there and decided despite some of the bad reviews the majority were GOOD. So off we went at about 5:45pm wanting to beat the Valentines day rush. However when we got there it was already pretty packed and when we went to the front desk to ask for a table they asked if we had a reservation. NO, at a Island Grill and Bar? Anyway they said it would be 25 minutes. So we decided to wait at the bar and found two seats and sat down. Immediately the bar tender "Jessica" got us drinks. It went from being a wait to a fun time sitting at the bar watching all the people.

At $1.49 a Beer and two for one drinks it was actually a great time just waiting. At almost to the minute the front desk girl CAME to us where we were sitting and told us our table was ready. We sat down the waitress "Gabrielle" came to our table and took our order. This is where it got very good. the food was excellent. Great flavor, outstanding presentation and an excellent price. It wasn't  over the top with SUPER hot plates you can't touch or all crowded on your plate to make it look like a lot, it was just prepared well and then delivered well. I was very surprised. It was very busy in the entire restaurant, with a band outside all the tables full the bar full and the inside full but the manager I think her name was Tracy made it a point to check in on us as well .

A very good night and when we were done we made our way back to the bar had a few more drinks and met some great people that said the place is even better on a Friday Night. My recommendation is that when you try a restaurant and you have a bad experience and you want to make that your only impression of a place make sure you return and give it a fair chance, MAYBE just MAYBE you were more stressed out then you thought and part of the experience was your own creation. I couldn't find fault with anything done at this restaurant and on one of the busiest nights of the year for going out they made it a pleasant and enjoyable evening.

Square 1 Burger - gourmet burgers with a south Tampa attitude

This is a nice off the beaten path restaurant. Burgers are gonna cost about the same as most sit down places but the kicked back service and the choices are what set this place apart. 20+ burgers and the choices of kobe, turkey and buffalo give them all a uniqueness of thier own. The Red wine and bleu is a good choice.