211

Stayed at the Hilton for a conference. It is awesome to have a nice lounge and restaurant on premises! The lounge is warm and welcoming and the restaurant had a great blackened grouper sandwich with awesome fries! I look forward to visiting Tampa again and I’m sure I’ll be back to 211

Cute little spot in the lobby of the Hilton, but service is lacking.
We were there on a busy Saturday night, but a lady came to take our drink order and simply never returned. We never saw her again. After about 20 minutes we finally realized she wasn’t coming back and my fiancé just went up to the bar to order drinks.
We asked a few times if they could turn the Lightning game on, and when someone finally got around to changing the channel, there was no satellite feed. By then it was already halfway through the second period, so we just stayed and watched the game on our phones. If the service was faster, we could have found out at the beginning of the game they couldn’t play it and gone elsewhere.
The drink prices are steep ($ 9 for a Jai Alai draft) but that’s to be expected in a hotel lobby. I was pleased that they had some local drafts available.

When Hilton renovated their lobby, restaurant, starbucks and bar area they knocked it out the park. It is much more inviting place to eat, drink, get connected and/​or just hang out.
The new restaurant 211 is sleek and elegant. This is my third visit.
They have a buffet everyday, but it is not a regular old buffet. The buffet is themed everyday. On Thursday when I was in for a business meeting the buffet was an Asian themed buffet with wonton soup, Asian salads, and a chef station with pastas, chicken, shrimp, vegetables and the works. the chef will make you a pasta bowl according to your wishes. You can still order from the menu if you do no want the buffet. I had the wonton soup as my cup of soup. It was truly the best wonton soup I had ever had. I also had the blackened grouper with fries and it was delicious. They blackened it well and it was cooked just right. The flavor was great and the sandwich was large.
I will definitely going back again.

In the context of hotel restaurants, 211 is probably 4 stars.
In the context of the «real world» i.e. a restaurant you’d actually «want» to eat at: 2 stars.
Average: 3 stars
Our service was really good — attentive and proactive. The prices are high, but that’s to be expected for a hotel. The food was definitely ok for a hotel but nothing special when there’s 20+ choices just a few blocks away.
Nice day in Tampa? Walk a few blocks.
Raining like the devil? 211 is just fine.

While staying at the Downtown Tampa Hilton, we didn’t really want to go anywhere during the convention we were at, so we stuck to dining at the Hilton’s restaurant 211 for 2 of the nights we were there. Call me unimpressed.
The first night was crazy busy; there was live music and a ton of folks just hanging out. We sat in the bar area, and it took over 10 minutes to come to our table, even though one server made eye contact with us and notice that we were there basically twiddling our thumbs. Food to ages to get to our table, drinks took even longer.
The second night we were there was much quieter. They had a buffet open, so we opted to do that. The food was horrible. I would have rather ordered off the limited and over priced menu than pay $ 20 for a buffet filled with flavorless, overcooked food. And then there was our server. Oh god. She was… not good with timing? She basically hovered over us the entire time. We requested to get seated away from people so we could talk privately, so what does she do? Interrupts us to strike up conversation any time she brings over water. Really?
The menu is very limited. The drinks are over priced. The food is meh. Do not recommend.

Not bad for a hotel restaurant, but I prob wouldn’t venture to 211 on it’s own. The menu is limited, but it is awfully convenient when you are staying in the hotel.
As others have mentioned, the prices are a bit much, and the food tastes ok. They do put a fun spin on things, such as the homemade chips dipped in melted gorgonzola! Yum!
It’s a place that tries to feel fancy schmancy, but really doesn’t need to. It would do better as a cool sports bar within the hotel.

We stopped here for breakfast after being rebuffed at Jackson’s. Jackson’s needs to get a lesson in customer service from these guys.
The breakfast buffet is small, but very high quality. The cheese blitzes where awesome. They will cook eggs and omelets to go. The fruit jam is in some nice crystal containers and not the cheapie little disposable containers most other restaurants use. They have beautiful muffins and bagels. And the price ($ 17) included coffee or juice (our our preferred diet cokes).
The food was good, the service was great, and the price was not outrageous. I’m a fan.

Adequate is the best word to describe this restaurant. The service is good. Food is average. If you don’t want to leave the hotel to get food it is fine. The pricing is a little high for sub-​par food, but it’s in line with what you would see at other similar hotels. Lets just say I wouldn’t go out of my way to eat here.

This is a hotel eatery.
The whole place has been remodeled since I was here last year and it’s absolutely gorgeous. However, with the bar just out front, the traffic pattern is really wonky.
Since I was staying in the hotel for a convention, this was the easiest place to grab our food, however the prices were a bit exaggerated. I don’t do buffet eating most of the time so I had to order off the Ala-​cart menu and found that coffee and oatmeal for $ 9 was a bit out of line. That being said, the service is incredible.
We had a bad go of things our first visit: We came in as they were transitioning from breakfast to lunch and tried to order off the breakfast menu. I wanted a specialty omelet and my date, the Belgium waffles. While we waited what seemed a long time, our waitress finally came out and told us that the waffle iron had been turned off and they had no waffles to be given out, could he order something else. Ok, that’s fine but why wait 15 minutes to tell us.
While he was perusing the menu once more, my food came out. My omelet was missing the ham, had spinach on it and when I got to the center, uncooked egg whites came rolling out. That about turned my stomach. I get it, things happen and when it does, the management takes care of things. And take care of things they did. I can not fault them at all for their response!
Sherri the manager came over to make sure that my date’s order was placed and then she found out my issue and apologized profusely. She asked me if I wanted something new, I opted for the Lunch menu on this go round. I ordered a spring Mozzerella salad, and my date the pancakes. In the end, both of these came out perfect and we were told it was on the house. Like I said they took care of it promptly and without complaint. The service was AMAZING.
On my stay, I visited two more times: Once I had their french style chicken with gouda mashed potatoes and spring vegies. This was just a tasty baked chicken. And I tried their tail-​gate buffet. It was alright if you weren’t aware most of the things were Sysco frozen offerings. Certainly not worth the $ 20 price tag.
TL:DR? Service is amazing, Prices are too high for this area.

Adequate, but it feels like they really nickel and dime you. For instance, ordering wine by the glass — you can pay $ 11 for a 6 oz pour or $ 16 for a 9 oz pour. Come on. For $ 11 a restaurant should give you a serious pour and not up-​charge for it.
And it continues. I ordered a pasta dish that comes with mussels, shrimp and some kind of cheap white fish. I asked if they could substitute the mussels for shrimp. (I don’t like mussels). So the waitress tells me, «the chef said ‘sure, but it will be a $ 6 up-​charge.’» Really? Since I was traveling on business and I was well within my per diem allowance, I paid the up-​charge — and the dish was good. But the bill came in at $ 50. And it was not a $ 50 meal.
Breakfast was a rip too — $ 13.91 for coffee and Oatmeal. Other Hiltons include this kind of breakfast for HH members. Not here.
Obviously 211 is taking every advantage of weary business travelers.
So to sum up, 211 gives you three star dining at four-​five star prices.