Columbia Restaurant is a restaurant in

Ybor City Ybor City ( ) is a historic neighborhood just northeast of downtown Tampa, downtown Tampa, Florida, United States. It was founded in the 1880s by Vicente Martinez Ybor and other cigar manufacturers and populated by thousands of immigrants, mai ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. It is the oldest continuously operated restaurant in Florida, as well as the oldest Spanish restaurant in the United States. The 15 dining rooms cover 52,000 ft seating 1,700 customers. It is the largest Spanish restaurant in the world and occupies an entire city block. Founded in 1903 as Saloon Columbia, it was renamed in 1905 to Columbia Restaurant. The landmark has been owned by the Hernandez-Gonzmart family for five generations and serves Spanish and

Cuban cuisine Cuban cuisine is largely based on Spanish cuisine with influence from India, African and other Caribbean cuisines. Some Cuban recipes share spices and techniques with Spanish, Taino and African cooking, with some Caribbean influence in spice and ...

. In addition to the original location in Ybor City, there are Columbia restaurants in

Sarasota Sarasota () is a city in and the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida, United States. It is located in Southwest Florida, the southern end of the Tampa Bay area, and north of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda. Its official limits include Sarasota Ba ...

(opened in 1959); in

St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; ; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430) was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Africa. His writings deeply influenced the development of Western philosop ...

(opened in 1983); on Sand Key (1989); and in

Celebration, Florida Celebration is a master-planned community (MPC) and census-designated place (CDP) in Osceola County, Florida, United States. A suburb of Orlando, Celebration is located near Walt Disney World Resort and was originally developed by The Walt Dis ...

(1997). There are also smaller Columbia Café restaurants located at the

Tampa Bay History Center Tampa Bay History Center is a history museum in Tampa, Florida, United States. It is a Smithsonian Affiliate and has been accredited by the American Alliance of Museums since 2015. Exhibits include coverage of the Tampa Bay area's first native in ...

(opened in 2009) and at

Tampa International Airport Tampa International Airport is an international airport west of Downtown Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (HCAA)., effective May 15, 2025. The airp ...

(opened in May 2012).

Wine

The original restaurant's wine list contains more than 1,000 wines with an inventory exceeding 50,000 bottles. The restaurant features several private-label wines and liquors created to honor family members. The popular house

sangria Sangria ( , ; ) is an alcoholic beverage originating in Spain and Portugal. A punch, sangria traditionally consists of red wine and chopped fruit, often with other ingredients or spirits. Under EU regulations only Spain and Portugal can ...

is mixed tableside, and the recipe has dozens of posts on the internet.

Activities

Music

In the early 1950s, César Gonzmart traded his career as a musician for one as a restaurateur, but after he became general manager, he regularly serenaded his guests with his violin and orchestra. Until illness prevented it, he performed regularly and music has always been key to the dining experience. There is still live music on weekends.

Flamenco

Maria Esparza began performing

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

dance shows at the Columbia Restaurant in 1988. She has been the show's director since 2008. She says that flamenco is not only a dance, but also art. The dancers tell the story of Spain's culture through their dancing. Esparza explains, "It's really hard what we do. The coordination is like no other. We work with our hands and the footwork, we're doing percussion with our footwork." There are dinner shows Tuesday through Saturday. La Columbia Restaurant - Courtyard dining room

La Columbia Restaurant - Courtyard dining room

Community Harvest

Beginning in 1997, the Columbia Restaurant has held a monthly ''Community Harvest'' campaign during September. The chain donates 5% of all guests' lunch and dinner checks, allowing patrons to designate the charitable organizations of their choice. As of 2015, the event had generated more than $1.8 million for Florida nonprofits.

1905 Day

For Columbia's 75th anniversary in 1980, they held a street festival, "Back to Ybor City" with an art show, entertainment with

dancing and "food prices of yesterday". The restaurant celebrated "1905 Day" from 1980 to 2013. On a random September or October day, a special menu with 1905 prices was in effect from noon to 7 p.m. Hundreds of diners lined up outside before the restaurant opened for the opportunity of a great bargain. In 2014, the restaurant announced it would celebrate "1905 Day" in the future on significant anniversaries. The next 1905 day may be in 2025 for their 120th anniversary.

Cesar Gonzmart Memorial Golf Tournament

The annual Cesar Gonzmart Memorial Golf Tournament (CGMGT) began in 1995 by Columbia Restaurant owners Richard and Casey Gonzmart in memory of their father, who died of pancreatic cancer. Proceeds from the event benefit educational programs in communities where the Columbia Restaurants are located. Columbia Restaurant, through funds raised during the 2001 CGMGT, and the Sant 'Yago Education Foundation gave $5,000 to support the

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate Heart, cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability ...

's American Heart Heroes Week project, an initiative that provides camp experiences for children with

cardiovascular disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina, heart attack), heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, rheumati ...

. The 2003 CGMGT raised over $55,000 for the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

Athletic Association, and a donation to the USF Latino Scholarship Program.

Awards and recognitions

In 2009, the Columbia Restaurant was recognized as one of the 25 iconic restaurants of the Tampa-St.Petersburg area by the

St. Petersburg Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', called the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It is published by the Times Publishing Company, which is owned by The Poynter Institute f ...

. It was also listed in ''

Nation's Restaurant News ''Nation's Restaurant News'' (''NRN'') is an American trade publication, founded in 1967. NRN covers the foodservice industry, including restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Me ...

'' in the "Top 50 All-American icon category." The 2022

Michelin Guide The ''Michelin Guides'' ( ; ) are a series of guide books that have been published by the French tyre company Michelin since 1900. The ''Guide'' awards up to three Michelin star (classification), stars for excellence to a select few restaurants ...

for Florida rated Columbia as "Recommended".

Books

*''The Columbia Restaurant: Celebrating a Century of History, Culture, and Cuisine'', 2009 *''Best-Loved Recipes from the Columbia Restaurant'', 2014

References

Florida Heritage website: Great Floridians 2000 Program-Cesar Gonzmart
Tampa Chamber of Commerce/Inside View: September/October 2003-The Cesar Gonzmart 8th Annual Memorial Golf Tournament

External links

*

* ttp://digital.lib.usf.edu/?C57 University of South Florida Libraries: Columbia Restaurant Oral History Project{Dead link, date=December 2023 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
University of South Florida Libraries: Columbia Restaurant/Gonzmart Family Collections, 1903-
Companies based in Tampa, Florida Cuban-American culture in Tampa, Florida Cuban restaurants in the United States History of Tampa, Florida Landmarks in Tampa, Florida Restaurants established in 1905 Restaurants in Tampa, Florida Spanish-American culture in Tampa, Florida Spanish restaurants in the United States 1905 establishments in Florida