Columbia Restaurant

Overview

The Hernandez/Gonzmart family opened the Columbia Restaurant in Tampa's historic Ybor City in 1905. Today it is Florida's oldest restaurant and, by its own description, the world's largest Spanish restaurant, with more than 120 years of history. Located at 2117 E. 7th Ave., the restaurant covers 52,000 square feet and an entire city block, seats up to 1,700 guests in 15 dining rooms, and has been named one of Florida's top restaurants since 1967. It earned the Distinguished Restaurants of North America Award of Excellence from 2005 to 2008.

From Corner Saloon to City Block

The Columbia began as a 1903 corner saloon, which became the Columbia Restaurant in 1905 and kept the same iconic bar. That first room is today's Cafe Dining Room. Over the decades, the restaurant grew room by room:

• La Fonda — once its own restaurant next to the Saloon Columbia, it became a Columbia dining room at the start of Prohibition.
• Don Quixote Room (1935) — Tampa's first air-conditioned dining room, with colorful tiles depicting the windmill-tilting hero of Cervantes' classic novel. In 2001, fourth-generation caretaker Richard Gonzmart rebuilt its original mezzanine.
• The Red Room (1935) — opened with the Don Quixote Room and known as the Red Lounge bar in the 1960s and '70s, it once held entrances to the restaurant's secret speakeasy.
• El Patio (1937) — with a colorful mosaic-tiled fountain topped by "Arion and the Dolphin," a replica of a sculpture found in the ruins of Pompeii, and a balcony decorated with hand-painted tiles.
• Sancho Panza Room (1937) — named for Don Quixote's faithful companion.
• Kings Room (1937) — a private dining room with a dance floor for banquets and ceremonies, hung with portraits of past and present kings and queens of the Krewe of the Knights of Sant' Yago of Gasparilla.
• El Siboney (1955) — opened on New Year's Eve 1955; today this ballroom hosts flamenco performances and large banquets.
• La Familia and Andalucia (2001) — La Familia, named in honor of founder Casimiro Hernandez Sr., is designed to resemble a Spanish wine cellar; the Andalucia room seats up to 80.

Beyond Ybor City

Columbia restaurants also operate at St. Armands Circle in Sarasota, in the historic district of St. Augustine, at Sand Key near Clearwater Beach, and in Celebration near Orlando, along with a Columbia Cafe on the Tampa waterfront near the Tampa Riverwalk and a Columbia Cafe at Tampa International Airport, opened in 2012.

Visiting the Columbia

The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Reservations are not required but are recommended; parties of 10 or more should contact the restaurant directly. The gift shop is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Everyone is welcome, but the restaurant asks that baseball caps be removed and that men wear sleeves indoors.