The Outpost Tap House + Tavern

Had a great lunch recently and for what is supposed to be a college hangout, the food is fabulous. Fries to die for. My spinach wrap on my grilled cod was so fresh, I swear they just made it. Had a very fresh salad as a side and the homemade ranch dressing was thick and creamy. Sabrina our waitress was great too. Will go back and try something else.

Trivia: fun. Food: Decent, although i like their beer selection and buffalo sauce. Service had a tall order to keep up with the good trivia crowd. There was about 6 good size parties. But, i came in at 8:00 and was served my food at 9:20 after ordering at approx 8:30. No apology. Just a defensive manager that gave me a military discount for my troubles of waiting close to an hour for my food (I’m estimating). I’m military. When they picked up my check with their 20%tip, in cash she laughed. Down and dirty, that’s what happened. We bring a group here every Wednesday and this service was not acceptable.

This place is right next to my college, and one of the times I visited this joint it was good. The beer special kept the check low, and the appetizers were a decent greasy compliment to the alcohol. However on my last visit I was sorely let down, and it was the last time I’ll ever visit the outpost. Late one evening after being carded (still happy that happens sometimes) I sat down and waited to be served, since I had my school bag on me I pulled out the book I was reading and began to wait. After some time I looked up, and noticed I was one of three customers there and thirty a minutes had passed by. No one had approached my table for a drink order, or even just to say they would be back in just a moment. I simply decided at that time to just leave, and haven’t been back since.

Probably my least favorite bar to go to. For starters the parking is awful, theres probably a total of 10 spots, and the lip getting out of the parking lot is a guaranteed bottom-​out for the front bumper of your car. Second, the security guards are the farthest thing from welcoming. They do-​what feels like-​a 20 minute procedure in checking Identification. Personally if a person can’t identify a fake ID to from a real ID, they probably shouldn’t be a bouncer. But needless to say, the drinks are made with practically no alcohol, and the food is absolutely awful. The wings I ordered wasn’t even cooked all the way through. I think the only decent thing about this place is their fried Oreo sundae! The service is another awful aspect. It took 20 minutes for my family to get utensils, so you can only imagine how long it took to get our food. Don’t waste your time here!

***WARNING!*** Avoid The Outpost on Tuesday Nights after 9pm UNLESS you are a college kid getting primed for their All You Can Drink Hour at 10pm! They take stools away from bar at 955, so I had to finish my sandwich and beer standing up. After the kids started piling in, I had to use the bathroom, and was not able to get any bartenders attention to close my tab and leave a tip. I’ve never had to do that, but the place gets so busy so fast. I wasn’t about to wait around 15 minutes to beg someone to close my tab. I’ll swing back in and leave my tip another time.
Service was good from Lauren, I think her name was. Funky Attitude and attentive, even though I learned the staff was preparing for the college kids at 10.
Food was good, as I had a salad with jerk chicken, and a fish sandwich, which I ordered blackened, but it came fried. I didn’t feel like complaining, since I wanted to avoid the onslaught of kids.
I didn’t have a cocktail, but tap beer/​bottle selection was good with 40+ options. I drink Cigar City Jai Alai IPA when available. Wished it was on tap, but can was good.
All in all, decent joint if you prefer a place that leans towards divey sports bar. Obviously, I unknowingly picked the wrong night to have the best experience. I’ll go back as long as they keep offering their $ 20(food only) Living Social deal for $ 10.

This place has good food but waiting an hour for ten wings is horrible. Will
Never be back.

Went in Monday night at 10 PM. Ordered a Burger from Lauren and a Vodka cranberry. From Tony. The food was incredible, Drink made perfect and quickly. The service from Tony and Lauren was Amazing. I will make this one of my weekly dinner spots. Thanks Scooter. Class a place with Great help!
Joe C
DTS

Wings are good. Solid. Used to have those UT kids there every Tuesday night but no more. Beer selection plenty but don’t have enough bottles and cans in my opinion. Too many draft options may be a $$ loser but who knows. TV angles bizarre. My buddy couldn’t properly watch his game 7 right but I love the wings so if you want that and a nice beer this is the place

I went to The Outpost with colleagues on a business trip. This place had by far one of the best bar trivia nights! We all had a great time. We stuck mostly to beer so I can’t review the cocktails. The appetizers were better than you’d expect from a bar, but the fries were perfect.
The service was slow, but the server was pleasant. My water wasn’t refilled the entire time I was there and my colleague had to fetch her twice to get another beer. That may simply have been because it was an event night and the bar was pretty busy. I’m told that’s not typical. If you’re in the area, and looking for a casual bar with decent food and great trivia nights, this is the place to go.

Great place to watch sports. Full bar, great service, lots of great bar food to choose from. We had the mini corn dis and chase quesadillas. Both were delish. His bloody Mary was awesome and my Moscow Mule was string and tasty. Will def be back.

We ordered the Cuban with fries and a chef salad without onions. The Cuban was very tasty, a solid-​made sandwich that will get ordered again. However, the salad did contain some onions, so I spent quite a bit of time going through the entire salad to ensure none were consumed. The fries were well seasoned and exceptionally crisp.
Each time we’ve been here, the food has been better than average bar food.
We’ll definitely be back.

This is an okay place to come for a drink or basic bar food. Do not expect great food.
They have a very decent list of beers on tap, and they have even more available by the can. They also have a full bar, although I don’t necessarily recommend their cocktail offerings.
Food is fine, but not great. The burgers are okay, most of the sandwiches are okay, although they can be overwhelmingly salty. Last night, I had the Chicken Parm, and it was served on stale Cuban bread (untoasted). Ugh.
The fries are good. So is the guacamole.

So, the more I actually sat inside this place, the more I decided it wasn’t the absolute worst place to have a drink in Hillsborough County.
That said, there were three very legitimate reasons:
1. We stopped in for two rounds of drinks, therefore we clearly had an exit strategy from the beginning
2. Our server named Chelsea was really cool and deserves a much better fate than working here during her college days
3. The DJ and AYCD began at 10pm and we knew we’d be out of there at least 20 minutes before that fiasco commenced and all hell broke loose
This was definitely a calculated trip and I’m not sure there will be another one.
I’m significantly beyond the age of the UT crowd, so the advertised All You Can Drink for $ 10 option for two hours on a Friday night screamed train wreck.
When we arrived shortly after 8pm, there were actually a number of random guys showing way too much enthusiasm for a tape-​delayed rugby match. Sorry, but that’s almost as bad as the STD’s (South Tampa Douchebags) who live for those meaningless UFC telecasts where the main event participants have already tested positive for cocaine, steroids, etc.
Chelsea convinced us that we had the right idea by leaving before 10pm (also because we could afford to spend more than $ 10 on alcohol on a Friday night), but went out of her way to claim the kitchen actually made decent food even if we didn’t order it.
No offense, but I doubt I will ever test her theory, simply because there are 100 other places within 5 – 10 miles where I would rather dine.
Oh, and a visit to one of the non gender-​specific bathrooms proved more interesting than usual as the sink featured a small video screen constantly advertising specials and other national brand marketing whether you wanted to see it or not.
The Outpost is a less than charming dive and unless you’re a UT student, don’t possess more than $ 10 for alcohol on a Friday night or think this season’s rugby final carries more audience than a rerun of Family Feud, this really isn’t your spot.

I actually like this place for day drinking, but today is the second time I have ordered food from here and feel like I have seriously eaten a bag of salt. Today I ordered the taco fries and I felt like I should have asked for some extra fries to go with my salt.
So, drinks… yes. Food… no!!!

They should re-​name this place The Kindergarten, since everyone who works here looks to be about that age. Okay, they did have a decent rail of craft beer, even though the Cigar City Jai Alai that I ordered blew the keg mid-​pour, and the excruciatingly young female bartender had absolutely no idea what to do with all the suds that kept foaming onto my glass.
I almost gave up and ordered something else, but after she dumped at least 7 – 8 pints of the $ 6 brew, she finally managed to bring me a glass that was only 25% head.
To be fair, the food looked tasty, although fried to a fare-​thee-​well and greasy. Like I said, tasty.
The only reason I ventured here was because their phone app said Tuesdays were $ 1 beers and karaōke. But upon arrival, we learned it was now a DJ night. So, $ 1 beer turned into $ 20 beer after 3 pints. Memo to management. Update your page.
Apparently, the DJ started at 10pm, but it was only 9. We did observe a crew of scary-​looking dudes arrive wearing «Security» T-​shirts, which made me wonder exactly what happens here as the night goes on. Our young girl bartender informed us that it became a «college kid crowd» after awhile. But don’t you have to be 21 to drink alcohol? And don’t you usually graduate from college on or before your 21^st birthday? I was a bit confused. I might return to eat some grub here one day, but not any time soon.

After distribution of worthy credentials to slave trades, tampa’s asphalt led me to the revived outpost. I remember when this spot boasted many ostentatious nights near channelside where they were initially established.
Granted that my recent visit was during the day time, the all female front staff seemed delightful at first. I was greeted implicitly by a blue eyed Eastern European with a blond mane.
Then I was mesmerized by an Amazonian. mountain gene possessing, brunette. Her demeanor was as dry as the many deprived females that loiter the south Howard grazing fields.
Nevertheless the skinny soft spoken bartender presented my stout and fries while hounding for stripper Dollars and had the audacity of assuming the change was all hers when I was planning to allocate $ 1 for her labor intensive beer bottle opening and pouring.
In any case my focus remained on the Amazonian which sent pints of hemoglobin. SAdly her presentation and presence were as superficially as aluminum rust.
This place should have remained as Mr Ts pizza with a good facelift décor.

Thanks to a killer deal from Creative Loafing ($ 5 for $ 20 worth of food, yes!) I finally was able to check off the Outpost on my list of places to try in Tampa Bay.
The Outpost is a sports bar so expect a lot of TVs, beer and sports bar food. AKA don’t expect five-​star dining here, because it’s not what you’re going to get.
I had my dog with me so I sat outside on the patio. The patio has a decent amount of chairs but I felt like the service was not great out here since my drink was empty for most of the meal and my server only came to see me to get my order and bring me my food. Oh, she also came to see my dog but my drink was still empty after she did that.
I ordered the Barn House burger, which is a burger with cheddar cheese, bacon and BBQ sauce. The burger itself was rather unremarkable, though the cheese was melted perfectly on the patty. But the burger was just okay.
I ordered cauliflower mash (a $ 2 upcharge) and was very pleased with this as my side selection. You can also choose to get the cauliflower mash «fully loaded» with cheese and bacon, but I just got the regular kind since I wasn’t sure I wanted to be too overwhelmed by it. The mash was great — definitely a unique side option which isn’t offered at many restaurants, so I liked this aspect.
I paid with my CL deal and since I had extra money left over, I ordered the funnel fries. This is part of why I’m giving the place 4 stars instead of 3, because those funnel fries were really good. Think funnel cake with caramel drizzled on top and you’ve got yourself a recipe for awesomeness.
Service was okay but I felt I was there for way too long. I had to ask for a bowl of water for my dog since he was hot, and it was nice that I got a bowl of water, but I did have to ask the manager since my server was kind of nowhere to be found.
I would come back for some trivia or alone so I could sit inside and experience the place for its interior service.

Doesn’t look like much from the outside but it’s more upscale that you’d expect inside. It’s a nice low key bar if you don’t want to deal with Soho.
They have a good beer selection. I went here for trivia so can’t speak of the food. The atmosphere was great — lots of friendly staff and patrons. I’ll be back and next time plan on trying some grub.
The only con I can think of is the one-​stall bathrooms are unisex, so expect to have to put down the toilet seat, ladies.

Pretty good, put much room for improvement.
The beer: They offer some craft beers (do not expect a WOB or Brass Tap). They seem that they have a standard set of beers then also rotate maybe 5 taps of different or seasonal beers. Price of beers is about typical like other beer bars. Definitely better selection of beer, especially when compared to Chilis or Applebees but nothing to write home about. I ordered a christmas inspired beer (can not remember name) which was good, the problem is when I ordered the beer I asked the server if the beer was pint or chalice. I was told it was a pint, but when it showed up it was a chalice. Definitely different amount of ounces. The sever explained that she was sorry and if i ordered another, she would have it filled in a pint. Sadly I was only having one beer and food then leaving.
Food: We ordered the beer pretzels, chicken wings (ridiculously hot) and boneless chicken wings (with sweet heat rub). All of which was unimpressive and borderline standard bar food. The pretzels did not taste good at all. They did not taste like pretzels, they had a funny taste like they were burnt, even though they were not. The sauces that come with them were explained to us like they were custom made, special for that bar, They definitely were not, the honey mustard was Kens honey mustard. The garlic ranch did not taste garlic and was plain ranch dressing that you can by as a restaurant in the gallon containers.
My wings which were the bone in wings with ridiculously hot sauce were good, but I also got them during happy hour ($ 0.50 cent wings). The sauce was definitely not ridiculously hot (I would compare them to maybe hot wings at hooters/​winghouse/​beefobradys). My fiancé had the sweet heat, which I tried, and it was like eating salty rub on top of wings. Definitely not pleasing. We have had sweet heat chicken at Lee Roy Selmons, which is very delicious, but this is nothing like it. The rub ruined it, maybe if the seasoning was in the batter this could have improved it or if the rub was finely ground then sprinkled on it.
The service was not bad, it was alright. Nothing to write home about. She did mess up on the beer order and then my chicken wings were delayed. It was explained to me that she put the boneless wings (which were not happy hour special) instead of bone in wings (which were happy hour). So instead of giving me boneless (which I could care less about) they let me wait another 5 mins and I assume they threw away the food or ate it for themselves. Sadly when the food arrived I was already full from the beer and mediocre pretzel bites so I only ate 3.
Luckily we used a Livingsocail deal to eat here. It made the experience a little better. The food wasn’t bad but it is definitely nothing special. The only thing this place has going for it is that its walking distance from UT.

So we were at The Patio and ran into one of the owners and noticed he was wearing an Outpost shirt. We asked about it, and he said he had a stake The Outpost as well. Then, he whipped out his cell phone and showed us a live video stream of what was going on over there, so we decided to hit it up after leaving The Patio.
We weren’t really hungry, so we just ordered a Tampa Cheesesteak, which was just a cheesesteak, but served on Cuban bread. We had them quarter it for us so we could just sample it, and it was damn good. Why hasn’t anyone thought of serving a cheesesteak on Cuban bread sooner? It came with a side of fries, which were probably some of the most crispy fries I’ve ever eaten. Delicious.
We also got some Korean BBQ chicken wings. They were excellent in taste, but could have been a little crispier. Maybe coat them in whatever those fries were coated in.
Only downer was that they didn’t have a full liquor bar, beer and wine only.
Will definitely go back though. I’m interested in the Cuban burger, which is basically a Cuban sammich with all the traditional fixins, plus a freaking burger patty. I gotta have it.