Maestro's at the Straz Center

The primary reason this is four stars is because of the convenience if you're seeing a show at the Straz. You can get there early, use the valet parking, have a nice sit down dinner and some drinks and then go see a show. So the location is 5 stars, the experience and service is 5 stars, and the food is decent, but nothing I would rave about. The salad and soup bar, which comes with the prix fixe meal is good. I really enjoyed the wild rice soup. The mains were edible and dessert was the best part of the meal, which is saying something for someone that does not have a sweet tooth. I would never come here specifically to dine, but will definitely be back the next time I have tickets to a show at the Straz.

I went there for dinner prior to seeing a show at the Straz. The price was as expected, the food was fine, the drinks were expensive, but the convenience of being right there at the Straz to have dinner prior to the show is unbeatable. Had it not been a last minute show for me, I would've probably done a little more research and gone somewhere else to dine. It's rare that I am in Downtown Tampa, and I have a list of places to visit nearby. Overall, the service was great and the company amazing that helps make the evening more enjoyable.

we were greeted by the hostess, taking to our table, our server was excellent. She explained every step of the menu and make sure our food came out on time and hot. I am the ambience of the restaurant was outstanding. We sat at the window, perfect view of downtown Tampa, and up the Riverwalk.

Stopped in here for dinner befor our show and have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The food is really good and the cost was extremely reasonable. The drinks are pricey though. Overall I think this is a solid choice for dinner before the show and you not be hungry when you leave. If you do it is by choice

We were more than pleasantly surprised!We were attending the opening night of Fiddler On The Roof and our friend suggested the restaurant. The restaurant, by design, has a number of major challenges. With a large number of theatre subscriptions the restaurant has a large number of fairly demanding regular customers, reservations fill up pretty quickly, EVERYONE wants a very specific time, and most want a specific table or to be near the salad bar. On top of this, the menu seems to change with every show which is pretty demanding on the kitchen and wait staff.With that said, the hosts are very accommodating with seating. Our hostess appeared to be new and left several groups, including ours standing in the middle of the dining room to go back and check on table assignments. Our server came over right away and offered drinks gave us the lay of the land and she was very on top of the timing to make sure everyone was finished to get to the 7:30 show on time.We started with the Salad Bar which is included with the price of the entrees. It offered an assortment of meats and cheeses, hummus, roasted vegetables, a tossed salad with condiments and several dressings, as well as a good number of composed salads and two soups.The featured soup, to go with the Fiddler on the Roof theme was chicken and dumplings. It was excellent with a nice mix of diced carrots and celery, plenty of good-sized pieces of chicken and lots of dense, spaetzle like, dumplings.Being raised around a lot of older Eastern European, Jewish women I was skeptical about the quality of some of the entrees which included Brisket, Chicken Paprikash, Sea Bass and a Lamb Porter House as well as a vegan Stuffed Cabbage that sounded amazing.I could not have been more wrong!The Brisket was a good as it gets, nice size slices that were super tender but not falling apart, a rich tomatoey gravy, sauteed root vegetables, and roasted baby potatoes.My husband had the Sea Bass which was cooked perfectly, moist and flakey with a light lemon butter sauce, green beans, and a rice blend.One of our friends had the Brisket and the other the Lamb, which also had rave reviews.They ordered a bottle of wine with tier entrees and the manager who had been very visible in the dining room checking on tables stopped by to open and serve the wine for our server.The desserts, also included with dinner, were on display as we entered but we must have walked right past them. I, with some hesitation, ordered the Apple Kugel dessert. It blew it out of the park! The noodles were cooked just enough to blend with the apple and egg filling but still have some texture. The apples were seasoned well and the caramel drizzle was a great addition.I also tried a bite of our friends Glutenfree Chocolate Cake, it was made with a rich chocolate ganache, walnuts, and seeds (sesame?) It was dense, rich and delicious.My husband, who loves cheesecake, heard cheesecake and seemed to glaze over the blintze part. Asking for the pear sauce on the side, I was sure he was going to hate it. To my surprise, he raved about the creaminess and texture.For opening night, I think the staff did a great job with the service and the kitchen was amazing!

I had never even really heard anything about Maestro's, but it seemed like an obvious choice for a date night at the Straz. I'm very glad we chose it as it was a nice treat.You have to have reservations and they theme the menu based on the show. We were not seeing "Hello Dolly", but were actually there for another show in a smaller theatre. Regardless of that, we enjoyed the menu greatly.Our waitress visited our table when we sat down and let us know that her goal was for us to enjoy our meal and not be rushed to get to our show. It was a nice touch that they kept on top of the meal with the show time. They have a full bar and drinks are priced as they would be at any nicer restaurant.It is a flat price that includes salad bar and dessert. The salad bar was awesome. On top of salad, there was meat and cheese, pasta salads, and 2 soups to choose from. Everything was fresh and I had to watch myself to not fill up before my meal.As for our meal, I got a steak dish and my spouse got a chicken with a cream sauce. We enjoyed both so much that we ended up sharing them. For dessert I got Devil's food cake and my husband got Tiramisu cheesecake. Both were lovely!We had a great time and commented that we would def dine there again. Although it is pricey, it includes a lot and the service was awesome!

My husband and I live right across the street from the Straz center, but we had never been to my Maestros...so when we bought our tickets to see Wicked on Valentine's Day we made reservations for dinner. We walked over and we're seated by the hostess immediately and our waiter Brody (super cool surfer name) greeted us only a moment later, told us about the specials, explained the menu and took our drink order. Soup and salad bar is a good option for only $25 per person if you don't want to fill up with an entrée and there's a huge selection of antipasto type offerings. My sweetheart and I opted for an entrée along with the salad bar since we had two hours to linger before our show. Brody took our entrée order but was kind enough to not place it with the chef until we gave him the OK which I thought was very thoughtful. The food was good, not five stars, but good...The service was a solid four stars. I've seen some reviews balk at the price but it's the convenience you're paying for and I felt that the cost was justified. And I almost failed to mention that you can take your adult beverage to go!!

So dissatisfied with our meals tonight. The Antipasto bar was good not great. The meals were not edible. My wife's scampi was so salty her lips were tingling and my Osso Buco was very tough and the sides tasted as if they had been prepared days ago. We saw at least 2 other meals go back to the kitchen. Manager came over and basically apologized but not....tried to say the shrimp were salty because they were local shrimp and the Osso Buco was his favorite dish and I must have gotten the 1 bad piece. Customer service should have dictated our meals comped...but we still got charged for the antipasto bar at ~26/pp. Waitstaff was great...that's why I'm giving 2 not 1 Star.

My husband and I went here before our show on a Sunday afternoon. We weren't sure what to expect, they were serving a buffet style brunch which was great I love brunch. Much to my disappointment we could have had the same meal at a Holiday Inn Express for free and it would have been better. The food was terrible and Luke warm at best. We paid $90 (with tip, the waitress was great) for 2 of us to share a made to order omelette, the only edible thing there. And the table was so wobbly I almost had a plate in my lap a couple of times. I can count on one hand how many bad reviews I have ever left but I felt people need to be warned. It was my birthday celebration and I sat through a 2 1/2 hour show starving. Even the pastries were tasteless, it was really bad.

Went to dinner before a show. Food was absolutely fabulous!! Service was also wonderful! Will definitely be back