Columbia Restaurant
Columbia celebrates 120 years as Florida’s oldest restaurant in 2025 and is still owned and operated by the fourth and fifth generations of the Hernandez/Gonzmart families. Its tile building occupies an entire city block in the heart of Ybor City. Tourists flock here to soak up the ambience, and so do the locals for the Spanish bean soup and original “1905” salad. The boliche criollo (eye of round stuffed with chorizo) is also outstanding; as is paella a la Valenciana with more than a dozen ingredients ranging from shrimp to calamari, mussels, clams, chicken, and pork. And it’s so much fun to clap along during the fire-belching Spanish flamenco floor shows Monday through Saturday evenings ($10 per person additional charge besides dinner charge). Dining rooms are graced throughout with hand-painted tiles, wrought-iron chandeliers, dark woods, rich red fabrics, and stained-glass windows. There are Columbia locations in various forms throughout the state: Sarasota, St. Augustine, Clearwater, and Celebration, as well as in airports.
Columbia celebrates 120 years as Florida’s oldest restaurant in 2025 and is still owned and operated by the fourth and fifth generations of the Hernandez/Gonzmart families. Its tile building occupies an entire city block in the heart of Ybor City. Tourists flock here to soak up the ambience, and so do the locals for the Spanish bean soup and original “1905” salad. The boliche criollo (eye of round stuffed with chorizo) is also outstanding; as is paella a la Valenciana with more than a dozen ingredients ranging from shrimp to calamari, mussels, clams, chicken, and pork. And it’s so much fun to clap along during the fire-belching Spanish flamenco floor shows Monday through Saturday evenings ($10 per person additional charge besides dinner charge). Dining rooms are graced throughout with hand-painted tiles, wrought-iron chandeliers, dark woods, rich red fabrics, and stained-glass windows. There are Columbia locations in various forms throughout the state: Sarasota, St. Augustine, Clearwater, and Celebration, as well as in airports.
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