Green Iguana Bar & Grill

Good drinks but food is pretty bland. Best to stop for a cocktail while you wait, and get a Quiznos sub to eat.

I ate at Green Iguana while on a layover in Tampa airport — this place is basically the only place you can sit down and have some food at a table while in the terminal.
The food is just typical Mexican, with anything you really want. It was sort of Tex-​Mex to me, even though we were in Florida.
The nachos we ordered were just super generic, and everything was from a can. Not the most delectable thing to just look at a pile of canned jalapeños. I sort of figured it was going to be food like this, so I waited until I got the appetizers to see if I wanted any more food. The appetizer didn’t impress me, so I didn’t opt for any more food.
I will say that our waitress was super energetic and positive. She didn’t rush us even though we weren’t ordering any more food. I really liked her.
Overall, if you want to sit down during a layover in Tampa, you’re kind of stuck with Green Iguana. It’s just mediocre Mexican, but there are some good views of the airplanes.

This place looked so promising from the front with the palm trees but it was so disappointing. Service was by far the worst, we first got seated in a tiny table for our group of 5 and then service was terrible. Our server was just unhappy to work there which I don’t blame her I would hate it also.
Then I was looking forward to some good Mexican food but yup it was more warmed up take out. I think next time I will just stick to the Pizza Hut personal pan next to this place.

Ah, the GREEN IGUANA. A lizard with skin resembling the sun-​scarred epidermis of your typical parrot head. A Tampa staple. I love how the Tampa Airport is finally integrating local business into the airport. Better late than never!
The food here is your typical, generic, Applebeesqian fare. Quesadillas, burgers, that sort of thing.
BUT, they have an IPA on tap! That is huge for Florida! Finally you can get something racier than a Sam Adams at the Tampa Airport!
Oh, and you can even get it TO GO. Seriously, I got an IPA and then I took it on the freakin’ plane. That is awesome. Where am I? Tamp Vegas?

Not a bad airport spot for drinks and food before a flight. I like that this is set up like an actual tiki hut Green Iguana. The food was pretty comparable to other Green Iguana locations (bar food) and the beers were well priced. Our server was very nice and we were able to enjoy an affordable meal before jetting off on vacation.

Walked in asked if i should sit or does someone seat me to a superviser making a floor plan. She looked up grumbled something i couldnt quite understand. I felt awful for the only server working. Full bar and tables… running around as this «manager» is filling out a floor plan. Help your customers and servers. When I was getting ready to leave she was standing on the phone texting. Ridiculous

Probably the worst food I’ve ever had at an airport. I knew from the moment I sat down this was going to be a Hell’s Kitchen disaster. The menu looked like it hadn’t been updated in 10 years and your only really choices are just giant portions of crap. Case and point, I ordered the «Nacho Mountain». Yes, a Nacho Mountain.
I think the server could hear my hesitation in ordering this because I honestly just wanted some simple, clean nachos, but instead I seriously got a disgusting piling of crap.
I should also preface this by saying when you are in the Tampa Airport and these respective terminals, your choices are limited — so I went to 1 of 2 sit down places waiting for my flight for 2 hours.
This was seriously just a pile of nachos with bagged cheese, canned jalapenos, no fresh lettuce or ingredients, the chicken was so dry and it looked like it had probably just been all pre-​cooked and sitting in a bin in the back all day. What I honestly did was just look for the nachos that had nothing on them. So I may have well just paid for a $ 15 bag of plain chips.
I would be ever-​so-​curious to go look back in the kitchen and see the assembly line for these nachos. Just keep piling crap on top from cans, squeezing cheese out of a nacho machine and dump chicken on that has been out all day. Disgusting.

As airport restaurants go, this one is pretty good. We stopped in for a bite before our flight and were very happy. The prices are in line with your typical airport spot, but the food is pretty good. We had a few drinks and were going to order the wings to split amongst 3 of us when the waitress recommended that we did 2 orders of the chicken fingers as they were a much better portion for sharing and she was spot on. The fingers were basically large, breaded filets of chicken. Cooked perfectly (crispy outside and moist inside). Definitely a good spot.

When you think of the Green Iguana, breakfast is not normally what comes to mind. However over the past few weeks I have found myself at Gate A at TPA and have really enjoyed the breakfast at the Green Iguana. My favorite is their Western Omelet with a side of bacon. The Omelet is Cooked to perfection and the bacon is crispy. This place has great coffee at a fraction of the cost of a Starbucks.

Surprisingly good salads for airport — we had salads with grilled tuna and blackened mahi. Friendly service, reasonable prices. Will eat here again when traveling

I have to say, for airport fare, this was A-​OK. Eating at airports is something I generally try to avoid but, since I spend so much time at them, I’ve become a bit of an expert.
The service was friendly and professional. Our burgers and salads were properly prepared without any hassle. Certainly, this food is far superior to some prepackaged sandwich that may have been there since the airport first opened. Note, the food is extremely what I would term «safe» but if Americanized Caesar salad, burgers, tacos, etc are your thing, it will work out fine.
Even better, they have a full bar and they know how to use it! Take advantage!

Was stuck in Tampa Airport with a 2 hour delay. Had the wings w Chipotle sauce, which were actually really really good. I like how this spot is in the middle of the airport, not hidden away inside another room. Beer was good too, don’t remember what I had sadly…

Good food, convenient, and friendly staff kept us hydrated and fed while we waited for our flight. The breakfast portion of the omelet, toast, and fruit was huge and we decided to split it. They served it to us already halved on two plates, which was very nice for them to do. The bartender was a lot of fun and attentive to us.
It’s a great place to relax and sit to kill time between flights. The drinks are large, strong, and affordable.
One thing… the morning sun can blind you if you’re sitting in just the right place at the bar, so bring your sunglasses. =)

Not much of a selection and expensive but I wouldn’t expect much from an airport place the service was quick and scrambled eggs with bacon was ok. My kids however lived the French toast … Thankfully since it was ten bucks a plate. Overall not a bad place to kill time

The Green Iguana at this location is now the Green Gator. It looks the same, just a new name. We arrived when the band was setting up and they were moving all the tables out. They have a BIG couch that is really deep and has no back cushions. We tried sitting there but it was really uncomfortable, but now that I think about it I bet it would be great for a nap.
Due to being there at a transition time, we did not stay long. I did talk to one of the bartenders and it sounds like it is pretty much going to be business as usual and not much is changing except the name.
Odd, if it wasn’t working? I don’t think a name change will turn things around, but hey… what do I know. Wish I could report more, I’ll have to go back and investigate at a better time.
What’s a girl to do? I love to investigate and get the flavor on places!

Don’t Eat the Food
Yeah, uh, don’t eat the food at this place. If you want to have a few drinks, maybe eat some appetizers just to kill time, then that’s okay. They had some televisions playing sports events. One was playing college women’s fast-​pitch softball. I like women’s sports.
Precious saw that they had black bean soup on the menu so she wanted to go in. We had some extra time to kill before our flight. I saw that they had a Cuban sandwich which I love. I should have noticed the danger sign when the waitress brought the food out about 30 seconds after we ordered. That’s a bad sign.
The black bean soup, Precious reported, wasn’t even soup. It was just some black beans in a bowl. The Cuban sandwich was the worst Cuban sandwich I’d ever had. And there are some bad Cuban sandwiches out there. At one place I had one that had pepperoni in it instead of the pork. Anyway, this Cuban sandwich had at this place had what I think might have been at one time pork, but it had been cooked a few days ago, and they didn’t even bother to heat it up in a microwave. They just left it there cold.
We looked in the back and saw that the cooks [sic] were using the microwave a lot (not a sign of a good restaurant).
I was sick. You know how you get sick after eating something and you wish you could throw up but you can’t and you have to have it there sitting in your stomach. Then the guy sitting next to me on the plane smelled of something. I don’t know if it was his clothes or what. So I had a really bad afternoon.
The high point of this was the hostess. She died her hair red like Ariana Grande, but it was curly, and she had an attitude, not a bad attitude, but an attitude like «Hey, I’m me and I know I’m cool» type attitude. It was nice to watch her walk around leading people to tables. If I was young again and single… Oh who am I kidding? I was too shy to approach girls like that when I was young. So the second star is for the cool hostess. After we left, we saw her going to a vendor asking for plastic cups. That tells you that the place is poorly managed. They didn’t even have enough cups to serve customers, and it was only 1 p.m.

Here, customer service and cheerfulness are not priorities. The average server is disinterested & serves you with the enthusiasm of a zombie. It’s the airport so my food service expectations are quite low. I ordered the Smoky Burger with french fries for about $ 11. After ordering it took 15 minutes before food was brought out. The french fries were crinkle cut and delicious. The burger was actually pretty good and topped with bacon & fried onion. The other party at my table didn’t seem very happy with his taco order. It seemed quite small for the price — around the same price as my burger. He picked up a snack afterwards to hold him over. The drink options looked great even though I didn’t order a drink this time around. If I saw this place at another airport I would dine for a burger and drink but wouldn’t be eager for any taco/​Mexican food because of the less than ideal portion size on those items, from what I could see.

Well frankly it’s a fair bar. The food on the other hand is a disaster. Fish tacos came out after about 20 min and it was not that busy. Our server was completely uninterested in doing a single bit of work. He stood and chatted up the other servers and bar folks. I give it 2 stars because it’s an airport with a captive audience. The management of the site has some work to do.

LET’S GET REAL, there are no good options in the airport. All are fake … pizza hut, quiznos, fake smoothies, starbucks, meh… so I’m giving this place the benefit of doubt and giving it 3 stars, when it barely deserves 2.5.
A picture is 1000 words. So check it out.
It has an estimated 30 tables. Roughly 28 available.
Me: Can I have a table by the windows?
Hostess: «Sorry, not available as the server that serves that area is on break»
Me: «Is it really too much trouble for someone to serve me over there»
Hostess: «yea»
Fortunately, a kind lady overheard the conversation and asked the manager if I could sit by the window, so once I ordered, I went over there.
On to the food. The pork tacos sounded healthy, so I got that. I was pleased to see a big potion. The pork tasted good, and the vegetables seemed there, although could have been a touch fresher. The avocado pieces were small and slightly off… normally, I would think the cook should have cut that off so I didn’t see it. I expect better from Florida.
I liked that you could add the sour cream and salsa separately. Not bad.
Really the meal was fine, although a bit salty. The manager, I think who served my table was friendly.

Awful service, even for an airport restaurant.