La Segunda Central Bakery
Order Long Cuban bread with palmetto frond
La Segunda in Ybor City has baked Cuban bread daily since 1915, with 18,000-plus loaves a day and the palmetto frond baked into the top loaf for steam.
40 cheap eats places in Tampa, editor-picked. The best low-budget spots in Tampa: the places editors actually return to. All Tampa food.
The cheap eats list
40 places
Alessi Bakery
- ★ 4.8
- Bakery
- $
- West Tampa
Order Hand-carved Cuban sandwich
Alessi Bakery on West Cypress has run an Italian and Cuban bakery in Tampa since 1912, with famous hand-carved Cuban sandwiches, deviled crabs and cannolis.
Oxford Exchange Coffee Bar
- ★ 4.8
- Café
- $
- North Hyde Park
Drink Buddy Brew flat white
The Oxford Exchange coffee bar is operated by Buddy Brew, pouring espresso classics alongside the TeBella Tea bar inside the Kennedy Boulevard bookstore.
Book food experiences in Tampa
Buddy Brew Coffee SoHo Roastery
- ★ 4.8
- Café
- $
- Hyde Park / SoHo
Drink Pour-over single-origin
Buddy Brew's roastery cafe on Kennedy Boulevard runs both the flagship cafe and the in-house roasting operation that supplies all five Tampa locations.
Wat Mongkolratanaram Thai Temple Sunday Market
- ★ 4.7
- Thai
- $
- Tampa Heights
Order Pad thai from the noodle line plus mango sticky rice from the dessert tables.
Wat Mongkolratanaram on Palm River Road runs a Sunday Thai market every week from 9am to 1pm, with food cooked by temple volunteers under live-oak trees.
Wat Mongkolratanaram Thai Sunday Market
- ★ 4.7
- Thai
- $
- Tampa Heights
Order Pad thai from the noodle line plus mango sticky rice from the dessert tables.
Wat Mongkolratanaram on Palm River Road runs a Sunday Thai market every week from 9am to 1pm, with food cooked by temple volunteers under live-oak trees.
Mauricio Faedo's Bakery
- ★ 4.7
- Bakery
- $
- West Tampa
Order Daily-baked Cuban bread
Mauricio Faedo's Bakery on North Florida Avenue bakes Cuban bread, breakfast Cuban toast and deviled crabs daily, with the family running it since 1955.
La Segunda Bakery and Cafe Kennedy
- ★ 4.7
- Bakery
- $
- Hyde Park / SoHo
Order Pressed Cuban sandwich
La Segunda's Kennedy Boulevard cafe brings the 1915 Cuban bread tradition to South Tampa with table service, Cuban sandwiches and pastelitos.
Buddy Brew Coffee Hyde Park
- ★ 4.7
- Café
- $
- Hyde Park / SoHo
Drink Cortado
Buddy Brew Coffee on Kennedy in Hyde Park opened in 2010 and now anchors Tampa's specialty coffee scene with locally roasted beans and espresso classics.
Wat Tampa Thai Noodle Line
- ★ 4.7
- Street food
- $
- Tampa Heights
Try Pad thai and noodle soup
Wat Mongkolratanaram's Sunday market runs Thai noodle counters under the live oaks, with pad thai, guay tiew and mango sticky rice cooked by volunteers.
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Wat Tampa Sunday Noodle Counter
- ★ 4.7
- Thai
- $
Try Pad thai
Wat Mongkolratanaram's Sunday Thai market noodle counter sells pad thai, guay tiew and curry plates for under $10 each. The bar is a great spot for solo.
Brocato's Sandwich Shop
- ★ 4.6
- Caribbean
- $
- West Tampa
Order The Cuban sandwich with a deviled crab on the side.
Brocato's on East Columbus Drive in Tampa has built Cuban sandwiches, deviled crabs and stuffed potatoes since 1948 from a neighborhood storefront.
The Salty Donut Hyde Park
- ★ 4.6
- Bakery
- $
- Hyde Park / SoHo
Order Maple bacon donut
The Salty Donut on Swann Avenue in Hyde Park serves artisan donuts and specialty coffee in an enclosed indoor-outdoor living room with custom Tampa motifs.
Hole In One Donut Shop
Order Oversized apple fritter
Hole In One on North Florida Avenue has run a classic donut shop in Tampa since 1980, named one of Yelp's 50 Best Donut Shops in America in 2026.
Buddy Brew Coffee Armature Works
- ★ 4.6
- Café
- $
- Tampa Heights
Drink Pour-over
Buddy Brew's Armature Works location pours specialty coffee inside Heights Public Market, with Riverwalk views and a constant Tampa Heights crowd.
Blind Tiger Cafe
Drink Single-origin espresso
Blind Tiger Cafe in Ybor City pulls specialty coffee with rotating single-origin beans, a quiet morning room and a strong brunch menu on weekends.
Brocato's Devil Crabs
- ★ 4.6
- Street food
- $
- West Tampa
Try Cuban deviled crab
Brocato's on East Columbus has fried deviled crabs since 1948, the Italian-Cuban version with peppers, onions and tomato inside the Cuban-bread crumb torpedo.
La Segunda Counter
- ★ 4.6
- Street food
- $
- Ybor City
Try Cuban sandwich and pastelitos
La Segunda's Ybor counter sells fresh Cuban sandwiches, guava pastelitos and quesitos all day, with the same 1915 Cuban bread base baked across the street.
Brocato's Cuban Sandwich Shop
- ★ 4.6
- Caribbean
- $
Try Cuban sandwich + deviled crab
Brocato's on East Columbus has built Tampa's most affordable Cuban sandwich and deviled crab combo since 1948, under $15 for a meal. The room fills early.
Boulon Bakery
- ★ 4.5
- Bakery
- $
- Water Street
Order Almond croissant
Boulon Bakery at Water Street is the grab-and-go counter of Boulon Brasserie, with Pastry Chef Summer Bailey baking French viennoiserie and croissants.
Michelle Faedo's On the Go
Order Spicy deviled crab
Michelle Faedo's On the Go is the Faedo daughter's deviled crab food truck plus a small Ybor City counter, with three branches running the spicy recipe.
Blind Tiger Cafe Tampa Heights
- ★ 4.5
- Café
- $
- Tampa Heights
Drink Honey lavender latte
Blind Tiger's Tampa Heights cafe runs specialty espresso, work tables and a small brunch menu, anchoring the North Florida Avenue revitalization corridor.
Mauricio Faedo's Bakery Counter
- ★ 4.5
- Street food
- $
- West Tampa
Try Cuban bread and deviled crab
Faedo's Bakery on North Florida Avenue bakes Cuban bread daily and fries deviled crabs at the counter, a fourth-generation family operation.
West Tampa Sandwich Shop
- ★ 4.5
- Street food
- $
- West Tampa
Try Cuban sandwich
West Tampa Sandwich Shop on North Armenia Avenue serves what Obama once called Tampa's best Cuban sandwich, in a hole-in-the-wall Cuban diner.
Alessi Bakery Deli Counter
- ★ 4.5
- Street food
- $
- West Tampa
Try Cuban sandwich and deviled crab
Alessi Bakery on Cypress has hand-carved Cuban sandwiches and fried deviled crabs since 1912, with a 100-year-old yeast culture and the Italian-Cuban shape.
La Teresita Cuban Counter
- ★ 4.5
- Street food
- $
- West Tampa
Try Palomilla steak with rice
La Teresita's counter side runs around the clock on weekends, serving Cuban breakfast plates, palomilla steak and yellow rice with black beans.
La Teresita Counter
- ★ 4.5
- Caribbean
- $
Try Palomilla steak plate
La Teresita's counter-side palomilla steak with yellow rice and black beans runs $13 since the Capdevila family opened in 1972. A welcoming dining room.
Hole In One Apple Fritter
- ★ 4.5
- Bakery
- $
Try Oversized apple fritter
Hole In One Donuts on North Florida Avenue serves Yelp's top-50 oversized apple fritter for under $5 each morning. Open year-round with a steady local.
Alessi Bakery Counter
- ★ 4.5
- Caribbean
- $
Try Hand-carved Cuban
Alessi Bakery's hand-carved Cuban sandwich runs $12 since 1912, plus deviled crabs at $4 each from the same West Tampa bakery counter on Cypress.
Armature Works Food Hall Bowl
- ★ 4.5
- Food hall
- $
Try Heights Public Market plates
Heights Public Market plates across Ling's Dumplings, Han Hand Roll and The Fold run $10 to $18, a sit-down option that beats the SoHo prices.
The Salty Donut Seminole Heights
- ★ 4.4
- Bakery
- $
- Seminole Heights
Order Brown butter salted dulce de leche donut
The Salty Donut's Seminole Heights store anchors the North Florida Avenue food strip, with the same artisan donuts and Counter Culture Coffee program.
La Caridad Bakery
- ★ 4.4
- Bakery
- $
- West Tampa
Order Guava pastelito
La Caridad Bakery on West Columbus Drive has run Cuban bread, pastelitos and Cuban breakfast toast for West Tampa for over four decades. The kitchen leans.
The Grove Bakery
- ★ 4.4
- Bakery
- $
- Seminole Heights
Order Country sourdough loaf
The Grove Bakery in Old Seminole Heights runs naturally leavened sourdough loaves, country breads and weekend pastry boxes from a Florida Avenue garage.
Kahwa Coffee Downtown
- ★ 4.4
- Café
- $
- Downtown Tampa
Drink Cortado
Kahwa Coffee's downtown espresso bar at the Element pours house-roasted specialty coffee, a tidy work-friendly room just off North Tampa Street.
Buddy Brew Coffee Bay to Bay
- ★ 4.4
- Café
- $
- Palma Ceia
Drink Single-origin pour-over
Buddy Brew's Bay to Bay store on Henderson Boulevard in South Tampa runs the most relaxed of the Buddy Brew locations, with a quiet work-friendly room.
Kahwa Coffee Armature Works
- ★ 4.4
- Café
- $
- Tampa Heights
Drink Vanilla latte
Kahwa Coffee at Heights Public Market roasts St Pete-based beans, with espresso classics, pour-overs and a steady Armature Works work-from-cafe crowd.
Buddy Brew Coffee Bayshore
- ★ 4.4
- Café
- $
- Hyde Park / SoHo
Drink Iced latte
Buddy Brew's Swann Avenue cafe in Hyde Park sits across from Bern's Steak House and pours specialty coffee from morning into the steakhouse pre-dinner.
Wright's Cuban Sandwich Counter
- ★ 4.4
- Street food
- $
- Palma Ceia
Try Tampa-style Cuban sandwich
Wright's Gourmet House on Dale Mabry has pressed Cuban sandwiches since 1963, with the Genoa salami included and a steady Tampa lunch counter line.
Streetlight Taco Counter
- ★ 4.4
- Street food
- $
- Palma Ceia
Try Heirloom-corn tacos
Streetlight Taco's South Tampa counter serves Michelin Bib Gourmand tacos on house-nixtamalized heirloom-corn tortillas, with rotating salsas.
Gorkhali Kitchen Thali
- ★ 4.4
- Indian
- $
Try Nepalese thali platter
Gorkhali Kitchen's Bib Gourmand thali platter runs $14, a full dal-bhat-tarkari meal in New Tampa's strip-mall room. A Tampa table worth booking ahead.
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