TAMPA | Floridan Palace Hotel | 20 stories | 213 hotel rooms | Restoration | Completed

[kmthurman]

Originally Posted by John F

The Floridan Palace Facebook page announced that the Sapphire Room (or, as they termed it, the Sapphire Bar) will be open tonight.

Hopefully the service lives up to the redecoration. I was disappointed in the drinks i ordered at that bar. Both the gin and tonic and the scotch (ordered with no ice) came back tasting watered down. But I am still excited to check it out

[HARTride 2012]

Hopefully I will be able to make a visit soon. Perhaps sometime in 2013, I may end up staying a night in a standard room.

[tampasteve]

I was finally able to make it to the Floridan this past weekend. We went the the Sapphire Room and had dinner in the restaurant. Overall I was VERY impressed with the whole building, they have really done a great job. The lobby is stunning and the restaurant looks great. We were a bit underwhelmed with the food. Apparently there was a large party (50 people), so dinner took over 2 hours. I had the pork chop and it was good, but a bit dry and over done. My wife had the salmon which was good. The paintings look better in person, less garish.

They seem to be ironing out the kinks still. The menu had several items blacked out (by hand) and was incorrect on some things. For example, the menu says "Entrees come with a choice of baked potato, rice, or fresh vegetable of the day" when in fact it comes with the vegetable, a salad, and a choice of rice or the potato.

The Sapphire room was a bit of a let down. The piano was very loud and the decor left something to be desired compared to the rest of the hotel. The white stucco walls just were not as nice as the marble elsewhere. It was OK, but not the glamorous bar I had envisioned. Incidentally, the piano player is the same guy that used to play at Valencia Gardens before they closed.

Both bars and the restaurant seemed to be doing a good business. I cannot say about the rooms though.

All of that said though, I will be back this weekend so I will try and get some better pics. These are a little blurry and the lighting was not great.

The Lobby:








Lobby Bar:




Ball Room:


Restaurant:













Sapphire Room:

[HARTride 2012]

Neat photos!

[Del Mayberry]

Originally Posted by HARTride 2012

Neat photos!

Indeed. But what we haven't seen yet is the rooms and views. Hint.

[Jasonhouse]

Surely there are some online by now? If not by the hotel marketing itself, then by guests who have stayed there?

[rmaddrey]

One would think, I had suspected to see something coming out of the RNC but nothing as of yet.

[tampasteve]

Originally Posted by Jasonhouse

Surely there are some online by now? If not by the hotel marketing itself, then by guests who have stayed there?

There are two reviews on Tripadvisor, but no pics....not even from the Floridan staff. That is an oversight, IMO independent hotels MUST be well represented on that website.

Originally Posted by rhythmnation2004

I am proud to be the Floridan's first overnight guest since 1989! I checked in today and was told I was the first. The lobby bar has been fairly busy, that seems to be the main hangout place with the Sapphire Room still closed. The restaurant seems to be picking up in business, so I'm surprised that no one else has checked in.

Are you Georgiabird778 on Tripadvisor? If not then that person is also claiming to be the first person to stay there. Although, the review reads very similar to yours.

Steve

[tampasteve]

Got some more pics of the Sapphire Room this past Saturday:










And, the lobby bathroom:

[rmaddrey]

Beautiful restoration work, I continue to be more and more impressed with all that they have accomplished given it's former status as a flop-house. My only concern is that they need more going on outside, my wife and I were downtown checking out the Kress Block post RNC Sunday afternoon and the Floridan almost didn't look open. Needs to be made more inviting to bring foot traffic in.

[tampasteve]

Originally Posted by rmaddrey

Beautiful restoration work, I continue to be more and more impressed with all that they have accomplished given it's former status as a flop-house. My only concern is that they need more going on outside, my wife and I were downtown checking out the Kress Block post RNC Sunday afternoon and the Floridan almost didn't look open. Needs to be made more inviting to bring foot traffic in.

Very true. I have been there the past Friday and Saturday a week apart and the Sapphire room was crowded both nights. Those pics were taken Saturday around 5:30, so it was still early. I would be interested to hear what it is like on a weeknight.

Steve

[rmaddrey]

I think just making it look open, and open to the public could go a long way. We noticed many people out milling about (something you would never see downtown 5-10 years ago on a Sunday afternoon) and while people would look in through the windows, no one actually went in. They need to make that ground floor more visible and more active.

[rhythmnation2004]

Yes I'm georgiabird- although I am not from Georgia. I used my friends account to write the review

[Tampa on the move.]

Considering what it was.. What a great job of restoring the Floridian... Hopefully that part of DT Tampa will get more desirable....Happy with this hotel and that menu made me hungry...


Didnt see any of the Tampa cuban classsics though..

[ATampaArnold]

I have pictures of some rooms while they were being constructed. They are big but kinda underwhelming considering how nice the lobby is.