My fabulous, booming neighborhood has yet another newcomer. After many months of anticipation O Cocina & Flights opened recently and I was very anxious to try it.
The beautiful front succulent box.
O, as the waitress affectionately welcomed us to, is an upscale Mexican-inspired restaurant that refers to itself as the third space, not work or home, but a place that you can go to relax, refill, and recharge.
The very first thing that you notice when you walk in is the beautiful bar. A wall of succulents lines the back of the bar and continues on the ceiling. The patterns and colors are arranged beautiful and it is truly a work of art. I’m sure that photos of succulent walls will be showing up all over Tampa’s Instagram accounts (#OinspiredWallArt?). The gorgeous metal bar stools were the perfect accent to the bar wall.
Isn’t that the prettiest bar wall that you’ve ever seen????
Luckily I had made a reservation and we were seated in one of the lovely circular booths in the center of the restaurant. We started with cocktails from the lovely cocktail menu. We started with a delicious smoky cocktail and a margarita. They were both delicious and smooth. Although I am not usually a tequila fan, these drinks had just the right amount of tequila and tasted perfect. If you are in to tequila, they also a menu of tequila flights. I saw a few people at the bar trying them and they seemed to really enjoy it. They also have a really good beer list (the husband was impressed) and a wine list.
They brought over chips and salsa and they were both really good and tasted homemade. We began dinner with the guacamole made table side. A nice young man brought a cart over and began preparing it, catering to our specific spice preferences. The result was one of the most flavorful guacamole I’ve ever had! You have the option of adding chicken or crab, but I wanted to try it in its most basic form first. Next time, I’m trying it with crab.
Next we tried the traditional ceviche. It was fresh and flavorful and full of Gulf snapper.
Then I switched to the New York Ninny and it was beautiful and fantastic.
Next we shared the chicken enchiladas. It came with two enchiladas, one with mole sauce and one with tomatillo verde sauce. They were pretty good, but not as fantastic as the guacamole and the ceviche. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t bad by any means but the appetizers really set the bar high.
We saved room for dessert and I’m so glad that we did. We ordered the chocolate chip cookie baked in a cast iron skillet and topped with ice cream. It was warm, gooey, and brought me back to my childhood. It was perfect.
My favorite part was how the check came. They use a cute little clothes pin to attach it to a beautiful stationary card! Everyone who knows me knows about my obsession with paper, so I really appreciated this little touch.
Isn’t that the prettiest check?
I would definitely recommend O for date night or a special occasion. I know that I’ll return every time I have visitors in town.
Restaurant Rating
(Zero being the lowest, ten being the highest)
Quality of Food: 10
Drink Selection: 10
Cleanliness: 10
Friendliness: 10
Experience: 10
Parking: N/A, I walked over. But there is a large parking lot so I imagine it’s not a problem
Value: 7
Location: 10+++++
Overall Rating: 9