Haiku Tampa

I highly recommend this restaurant! I dined there in September, and it's the best place I've tried in Tampa. Everything, from the food to the live music, was perfect. The service was incredibly fast; our food arrived in just 10 minutes. Our waiter was exceptional, and the entire staff was fantastic. They even surprised me with a little birthday note on the table. If you're in the area, you definitely don't want to miss this gem!

We had a lovely time at the restaurant, although it was smaller than we anticipated. We chose to sit outside, but they had heaters, making it quite comfortable. The drinks were a bit weak for the price, but overall, we had a great experience and we'll definitely be returning!

The highlight of our meal was the appetizers: steamed gyoza and tuna and salmon tartare. Regrettably, they arrived before our drinks. For our entrées, one person ordered sushi (which came out much earlier than the others), while the rest of us had the wagyu short rib and the Kobe steak for two. Unfortunately, everything was quite disappointing. The Kobe steak was bathed in oil on the hot stone, the short rib was mostly fat, the mashed potatoes seemed store-bought, and the sushi was excessively overpriced. The spicy tuna roll contained more cucumber than anything else, although the blue crab roll was tasty but not worth its price. On a positive note, the service was good, and we received a complimentary beer because we had to wait so long for the short rib that the rest of our party finished their meals before it arrived. Overall, this was a letdown as we were eager to try this restaurant. The menu appeared promising, but the execution fell short. I would recommend looking elsewhere.

Had to ask the bartender for everything, he was not attentive enough. I told him this as well. Nice guy, but not on the ball. Also they took the egg rolls off the menu, I was shocked, that was one of the best apps they had. The vibe here is great, but the food is really not that great. The fried rice, the rice was like Indian rice, not Japanese style rice and it was not that good. I feel like Haiku used to be better. Very hard to find good restaurants downtown Tampa now to be honest.

I’ve been here once before for dinner and really enjoyed it. I stopped by tonight just to grab a drink before a show and the service is absolutely terrible. It took 10 min before anyone spoke to me as I’m sitting at the outside bar. After waving a server down, he said he would get someone. And while someone came out to greet me, they brushed me off. I could barely get the person to grab menus so I could be ready to order when they finally got their stuff together. And while it wasn’t a long wait to get my drink, I had enough time to write this review.