Before the fall is over and we start heading into the winter/christmas season I have to tell you about a little secret!  If you are ever in the Tampa Bay area and looking for a cool, family friendly place to have a meal you have got to check out Datz!

I first learned about Datz a year ago from my brother and his wife Denise who blogs over at RunDMT.  We had met up with them for the annual Gasparilla Arts Festival and spent a gorgeous day together checking out the local art and letting our kids play and take part in all the festivities.  As the day was winding down we decided it was time to find a place to eat and ended up at Datz.  We instantly loved the place! They had a great atmosphere, fantastic food, great prices and they were family friendly!

*Photo courtesy of Datz

My husband ended up loving their Roger’s Rockin’ Reuben sandwich and we all left fans of their famous Datchos!

Mmmm… Datz potato chips, chili, cheese, jalapenos, sour cream, and scallions topped with a little blue cheese drizzle… Mmmm!

Where was I?

Oh yes… Datz!

We decided to visit Datz again after we did our first walk/run for epilepsy in support of my 10-year-old daughter who has battled epilepsy since she was a month of age!  There was only one place we wanted to go where we knew we’d get good food and great service… Datz!

Again our experience was fantastic and our waiter Josh shared with us his sister’s personal battle with seizures.  Datz was definitely awareness friendly and Josh even posed for a picture with us and our Talk About It sign!

So of course a few weeks ago when I heard our next Tampa Bay Blogger meetup would be at Datz I was definitely going and boy was I in for a treat!

Datz put together a special fall menu for our group and they definitely didn’t disappoint!

Chef Jason came out and introduced himself to the group and then took us through our menu course by delicious course!

First up was a Butternut Squash and Apple Bisque topped with a ginger cream.

 This isn’t something I would typically order, but I honestly couldn’t put down my spoon and now that I’ve had it I’d definitely order it again.

The next dish was one of my favorites of the night…

 The Figgy Piggy Salad!

A baby spinach salad topped with dried mission figs, blue cheese, bacon (everything’s better with bacon), red onions, pumpkin seeds, and a side of warm bacon vinaigrette.

It was so delicious and the flavors just seemed to melt in my mouth!  This is something I would absolutely order again and again!

If that wasn’t enough we were also served a Roasted Beet Salad!

It was a beautiful salad topped with beets, pickled onions, goat cheese and a balsamic glaze!

All of our dishes tasted amazing, were fantastically presented and the portion sizes were fabulous!

In Chef Jason’s words “Datz does everything big!”

We all took to Twitter and Facebook as our taste buds danced around all the different flavors put before us.

This was not lost on Datz, they are definitely on top of their social media!

Shortly after we began tweeting Roger, one of the owners,  was at our table thanking us and making sure we were being taken care of, which we absolutely were!

Oh and if you think our menu stopped there you would be mistaken!

 Our main course was up next…

Harvest Ravioli!

*Photo courtesy of Datz

A squash ravioli generously covered in a sage brown butter cream sauce and topped with shaved parmesan.

Chef Jason recommended topping it with scallops, but I thought it was amazing just the way it was!

We were feeling overly satisfied and full, but as you know there’s always room for dessert!

I mean seriously the food was amazing so the dessert menu must be to die for!

Umm… well… You be the judge!

Does this Peanut Butter Explosion cake look like it tastes good?

Well I can assure it does!

Everything was fantastic and I think we all left there a pants size larger and extremely happy with our experience!

I can’t wait to see what they put on their Christmas menu!

(Top left to right Running Betty, Gone Bananas, Fit Kids Playground, Digital Running and Run DMT)

 Datz is located at 2616 South MacDill Avenue  Tampa, Florida 33629.

If you decide to head there, which I highly recommend you do, tell them the Tampa Bay Bloggers sent ya!