Neighborhood Restaurants

here in Tarpon Springs are just awesome!

The menus vary.  There are some dishes you'll find at most of the Greek or Mediterranean restaurants, but each has it's own unique recipe for those items.

Our three favorite restaurants in Tarpon Springs are:

1.  Jimmy's Neighborhood Restaurant

Not more than 4 blocks from our home, this small, family owned and run restaurant has a great menu of fantastic pizza, sub & grinders, seafood, pasta, salads, soups -- you name it, they have it.  And they have the BEST.  My personal favorites are the avgolemeno soup, fried calamari, Greek salad with delicious potato salad,  any shrimp dish, any grouper dish, and the artichoke, feta and onion pizza.  Their chicken or pork souvlaki is really good and I love their tzatziki sauce, too.   One of the best things about this place is that it is just a very short drive from the restaurant back home!

2.  Hellas Restaurant and Bakery

Hellas is on the Sponge Docks.  We love Hellas for their wonderful "Saganaki" -- the flaming cheese that everyone yells "Opa" when the cognac or other liqueur is set on fire.  The Greek salad is very good and I love their Greek hamburger and souvlaki platters.  The bakery next door has scrumptious desserts.  We often take a chocolate kok (pronounced "coke") home with us to eat later.  It is a cake with a cream filling and a chocolate glaze. They are so rich that my husband and I usually split one and save the other for later!

3. Rusty Bellies

Rusty Bellies seafood restaurant is owned by the folks who own Pelican Point Seafood next door to the restaurant.  You cannot get fresher seafood anywhere.  Their oysters, stone crab legs, and shrimp are all outstanding.  My favorite dish at this restaurant is "Carly Sue's Shrimp & Cheesy Grits."  And, if I am in the mood for fried oysters, Rusty Bellies is where we go.  Their hush puppies are terrific, too.  Never had a hush puppy?  You need to head to Rusty Bellies to try them.  They are served at every table while you wait for your meal.  The view of the Anclote River is stellar from the big windows and deck of this restaurant.

I named these three restaurants in particular because they offer the best of my favorite dishes, but there are many more I really enjoy: Spirou's, Toula's Trailside Cafe, Tarpon Tavern, Dimitri's on the Water, Ballyhoo's, Gusto's, Paul's Shrimp House, Mykonos, Mr. Souvlaki, Plaki's, Zante's. Magnolia Grille (just a couple miles down Alternate 19 in Palm Harbor) -- and I have probably left out others I really do like.

My point being -- they are all local, not part of a chain, with local owners who offer great food and atmosphere at reasonable prices.

Whoops -- just remembered the Plum Tomato -- they come in at number 4!   See?  I told you there would be some I forgot to mention -- but not because they aren't good restaurants!

No wonder I am a perennial member of Weight Watchers!