Haiku Tampa

I highly recommend this restaurant. I visited back in September. It's the best one I've been to in Tampa. Everything from the food was perfection to the live music. Service was so quick that our food was out in 10 minutes. We had an outstanding waiter and the staff in general was amazing. They even left me a little birthday note at the table. If you are in the area, you can't miss this gem.

It was very nice it was smaller than expected. We sat outside but they had heaters so it wasn't uncomfortable. The drinks were a little weak for the price. But overall great experience we will be back!

We had high hopes but sadly were disappointed. Had a reservation for 6:15 for 4 and there were 2 empty tables inside that we could see: a 6 top and a 4 top. We were told our table was getting up and we would be sat in a couple minutes. Finally at 6:35 we were sat at the empty 4 top. Didn't make much sense. Then the highlight of the meal was the appetizers steamed gyoza and tuna and salmon tartare. Unfortunately, they came out even before our drinks. Then the entrées. One of us ordered some sushi for the entree (came out waaaay before the other meals) and we got the wagyu short rib and the Kobe steak for 2. All I can say is it was all disappointing. The Kobe steak was swimming in oil on the hot stone, the short rib was all fat, the mashed potatoes are out of a box, and the sushi is extremely overpriced. The spicy tuna roll was more cucumber than anything and the blue crab roll tasted quite nice but not worth the price. Service was good and we received a beer on the house because we had to wait so long for the short rib that the rest of the table was almost done eating by the time it came out. Really disappointing as we were really looking forward to trying this place. The menu looks great but execution was poor. Try somewhere else.

Had to ask the bartender for everything, he was not attentive enough. I told him this as well. Nice guy, but not on the ball. Also they took the egg rolls off the menu, I was shocked, that was one of the best apps they had. The vibe here is great, but the food is really not that great. The fried rice, the rice was like Indian rice, not Japanese style rice and it was not that good. I feel like Haiku used to be better. Very hard to find good restaurants downtown Tampa now to be honest.

I’ve been here once before for dinner and really enjoyed it. I stopped by tonight just to grab a drink before a show and the service is absolutely terrible. It took 10 min before anyone spoke to me as I’m sitting at the outside bar. After waving a server down, he said he would get someone. And while someone came out to greet me, they brushed me off. I could barely get the person to grab menus so I could be ready to order when they finally got their stuff together. And while it wasn’t a long wait to get my drink, I had enough time to write this review.