Rialto Theatre

Cute old theatre in Tampa Heights.We were here for my daughter's piano recital. The space feels like a blank palette, and I think it'd be a neat venue for a wedding or holiday party. High ceilings, white washed brick behind the stage, nice hard floors. It can get cold in the winter. There's street parking, and there are some private lots. The neighborhood is up and coming but still has rough patches.

We recently got married in February 2023, and we couldn't be happier with our decision to choose The Rialto Theatre as our wedding venue. Living in Florida, we wanted something different from the typical beach, barn, or hotel ballroom weddings that are so common in the Tampa area. Inspired by the electric vibe of cities like NYC, we envisioned a downtown wedding with a touch of vintage charm. With our ceremony taking place at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, we needed a venue conveniently located nearby. The Rialto, a converted 1920s theatre, perfectly fit the bill and offered a truly unique experience for our guests.One of the standout features of The Rialto is its stunning architecture. The giant archway and brick wall in the back add an incredible amount of character to the venue. Stepping into the theatre, it felt like we were transported back in time. The atmosphere was absolutely enchanting, and it created a memorable backdrop for our special day.We were pleasantly surprised by the affordability of The Rialto compared to other popular venues like Armature Works or Oxford Exchange. The fact that it came as a blank canvas was actually a blessing in disguise. We had the freedom to handpick each vendor and bring our vision to life. This allowed us to stay within our budget and find vendors that perfectly matched our preferences.While The Rialto doesn't come fully equipped with everything, they do provide a small inventory of tables, chairs, and vintage furniture, which we found to be quite helpful. However, one limitation we encountered was the inability to hang anything on the walls. The rest of the walls, apart from the brick wall, were a bright stark white, which gave the venue a somewhat sterile look in our wedding photos. In hindsight, we would have invested in draping or finding creative ways to decorate the walls to add more visual interest.Another aspect to consider is that The Rialto does not have a kitchen, which meant we were unable to have a seated dinner. As we had a 115-person wedding and utilized the entire main area for seating, the lack of a pop-up kitchen posed a challenge. We opted for a buffet-style dinner, which ended up being cost-effective, but it's something to keep in mind if you have your heart set on a seated dinner.One concern we initially had was the feedback we heard about the owner from other vendors. Many of them expressed their frustrations with working with the owner of the venue. However, we had a completely different experience. Throughout our planning process and even on the wedding day, we had no negative interactions with Hope, the owner. Our wedding planner handled any potential issues that may have arisen, and we didn't encounter any problems ourselves.All in all, The Rialto Theatre provided us with an extraordinary wedding experience. Its vintage charm, unique atmosphere, and affordable pricing set it apart from other venues in the Tampa area. While there were a few limitations, such as the white walls and lack of a kitchen for a seated dinner, the overall experience surpassed our expectations. We highly recommend The Rialto to couples looking for an unconventional and vibrant wedding venue that will leave a lasting impression on their guests.

So I have seen a lot of negative reviews which we are quick to post. However, as humans we don't take the time to out to post about the good things. It becomes a task and an inconvenience. So I decided to take time out of my schedule and thank the venue for such an awesome experience and opportunity to experience this historic venue. Rialto has a lot of character and allowed us to "Set the Stage" for an unplugged experience

This venue has such great potential. The cons outweighed the pros so much that I would not recommend this to anyone.Pros:Beautiful main hall and entrance.Tables and chairs were already set out.No breakdown of tables or chairsNo cleaning necessaryCons:Hot! There were 5 plug in ac units and a loud big plug in fan to cool the place down (that never cooled down)The owner was very sarcastic and rude when she spoke to anyone.Upon leaving the owner said if you have anything you can call or text me. We told her we didn't have her number and her response was " I like it that way". Then gave us her card.Owner kept mentioning how she was watching us on the cameras.Owner kept pushing her way on the layout and floor plan. After we moved tables around, she would keep throwing indirects of how that's not what (Her) floor plan said.The bathroom stalls were extremely small. If you had to sit down. Your knees would almost hit the door that was a piece of painted plywood with a handle.We had to set up in the dark. The owner said she would be by before the start of the event to turn on the lights. To only turn on half of the lights.

We rented out the space for a big event. 100-150 people .. I wish I read the reviews before spending thousands of dollars for our event. Hope has known about it and She has done nothing. There is a huge air-conditioning problem there. From the time my party started to the time I left .. 5:30 till 10 o'clock ... myself and all the guests especially the ones that showed up dressed in business suits were drenched in sweat. It was cooler outside on a Florida evening than it was inside the venue. After reading these reviews, Hope knows full well of this problem! She knew we would be sweltering. She then lied and blamed the front door being open at times as if we were in an apartment. But again it was cooler outside ... people would go out front so they would stop sweating so profusely. Do not rent this space for a big event unless she fixes her air conditioning.

My son recently got married there and the owner was very difficult to work with, we had a fear about being able to cool the place down and we were right, it was soooo hot that guest started leaving early drenched, and the owner disappeared.I had a Aunt who went there as a child and the owner had said she would love to speak with her and when I tried to introduce them she was rude and blew us off. I'd think twice, no kitchen, just empty building with so many rules, it makes it hard to plan.

My husband and I had our wedding here this past October and goodness the space really is gorgeous. Photos do not do it justice!!! It was as breathtaking on our day, as it was the first day that I stepped into it! The bridal suite is also a great new addition to the space! It was a great spot for my husband and I to hang out in the quiet for a little bit. It was also the coldest room in the building! However, I am giving it 4 stars because we booked it with the alley way in mind only to find out 3 weeks before our wedding that it couldn't be used due to some issues the Rialto owners are having with the brewery behind them that shares the space. Had I not shared my layouts with the owner, I would have never known about the new changes. It made our cocktail area very tight! Not a huge deal but I definitely would have preferred having the alley way, especially considering we had booked a food truck for our food. Instead, we had to have the truck out front which made the experience cheap in my opinion. Not to mention, we couldn't get any bridal party photos under the arch or in front of the doors because of the whole ordeal.I will also say that the AC is lacking for 160 guests. Our wedding started at 4:30PM and ended at 11PM and the weather was a high of 86 and a low of 72. It even rained and still, all of our guests were sweating. Some even changed out of their clothes to keep cool! If I could do it again, I would definitely book this location in the Winter.All in all, its a great location. SO unique and historic and just absolutely breathtaking, the AC just needs some updating which is expected for an old building.

This is a cool old theater space. It's been lovingly restored as an event space. Tampa Heights on the rise.

Stay away, far away from this place!!I can not give 0 stars or I would!This venue was not what we thought it was. My daughter chose this venue for her wedding and from the beginning it was a torment for me. Working with the owner, Hope, was very challenging. She disrespected me every step of the way. I told her to email the contract to me because I was the one paying for the venue, but she ignored me and emailed the contract to my daughter and made my daughter sign it.I was courteous enough to keep the communication through my daughter's email, to not make the process difficult for us. I now understand her idea of doing that, was just to keep me away from any issues that will arise later on, since the contract was not under my name.She would not allow my wedding planner to do her job but interfered in every step of the way including even making changes to the floor plan. Hop made it difficult for the vendors, the caterers, the bartenders, and the DJ.After so many complains from vendors and guests, we had to go in to her office to talk to her about her nonsense and how she was treating people. Again, what is she doing at the venue? Why is she supervising my event? Really? Even after the event, the pain continued. Three weeks later, my daughter contacted her for the security deposit refund and Hope replied by saying that we destroyed a wall, wait! A wall? And claimed she had to make repairs to the place and repaint for what we did. Keep in mind that during the walk through that night, her associate said that everything looked fine. She ended up keeping our deposit for entirely made up reasons.This review could be ten times as long if I went into every detail, but I hope it is enough to keep others from having their special days ruined the way my daughter's was. All I can say is shame on Hope and it is a shame that people like her are in business at all.

I am a filmmaker/wedding videographer who has shot at this venue tons of times in the past 5 years. However, last week I thought it would be a good idea to rent out the space for 3 hours for a corporate interview/testimony filming set. BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER. It started last week when only a few days after booking I get an email from the owner "Hope" that and I quote, "you are late on your invoice payment, my kids depend on these payments and it means a great deal to us". First off, After initial deposit I received ZERO emails regarding a payment was due. As soon as I received this email I sent the payment over asap, $80. It was unnecessary to make a comment about "her kids depending on it".For an individual like Hope to have SO many specific rules to follow she sure seems to match it by her professionalism. We rented to space from 3p-6p for a specific reason. One because of lighting at that time and how the inside of the space looks with that lighting and two because Hope has a specific rule on being out of there RIGHT at time you're scheduled for. She even came down to the shooting location to start turning off things 15-20 mins before our scheduled departure.We arrived at 2:50 (10 mins before start of our reservation) we get an email from Hope stating "I'm running late" I then ask how long behind and she says "5 minutes". Well, 20 mins later after our scheduled time Hope opens the side door with a baby in her hand. Welcomed in with no Hello, no sorry I'm late dipping into your start time, just opens the door. We quickly try to setup all of our equipment for the interview and start getting ready to film. There was an odd yellow painting leaning against a wall in the background that I myself, gently picked up and moved 1 foot over to the right to remove it from being seen in the shot. As soon as I could get back to my camera to begin filming, Hope sends me a text stating "Do not move paintings, I will be looking to make sure no damage is done". Like what?...Why is that necessary to write an email like that 30 seconds after I moved it, and what are you doing monitoring us on video 24/7?The worst part of the entire experience is when we were in the middle of an extremely intimate moment in the interview with our guest, and Hope comes inside from the MAIN doors with not ONE but TWO kids now. Door slams, running up stairs back and forth which is EXTREMELY loud and is terrible for our professional audio we are capturing. I specifically told Hope in email AND in person that I needed the space to be absolutely quite and no disturbances. I text Hope right away as I interrupt my guest from continuing to start over, "Please do not run upstairs, it ruins our audio". She then replies "I can enter whenever I want, there was no running." For someone that is monitoring the camera 24/7 I'm sure you can clearly see our setup and that should be respected and taken seriously since we rented out the space accordingly. We get it, you're in control, but respect our setup we rented.This was the absolute worst experience ever, and is extremely sad that this woman is an owner of a establishment. After reading other reviews, I can clearly see this isn't a first occurrence with this woman. Do not make the same mistake we did, there are TONS of beautiful locations to book instead of this one.