At the door of 808 N. Franklin St., the word "taqueria" is hand-painted in bold red block letters with yellow drop shadows. Rreal Tacos opened there on Tuesday, Oct. 13, already decorated for Halloween, after an eight-month buildout that cost more than $2.5 million, according to the Tampa Bay Times. Ten months earlier, the same address was a closed restaurant with an empty patio and a lockbox hanging from the door.
The same thing is happening up and down the blocks around North Franklin Street, North Ashley Drive and Water Street. This fall's best-known downtown openings come from operators doing something for the first time: a first Florida location, a first Tampa Bay café, a chef's first counter of her own. Each one is moving into a room where someone else already cooked.
| Address | Previous tenant | New tenant | The first |
|---|---|---|---|
| 808 N. Franklin St. | Haiku, open from early 2021 to late 2025 | Rreal Tacos, opened Oct. 13 | Atlanta operator's first Florida location |
| 1202 N. Franklin St. | Fisk, then Stop-BKK | Naree, open by Sept. 1 | Chef Naree Boonyakiat's first counter of her own |
| 777 N. Ashley Dr., Unit A | Taps, in the space since 2008 | Nomibar, announced for late October | New izakaya; owners not yet named |
| 1038 Water St. | Dwell & Company | Pura Vida Miami, opened Sept. 10 | Chain's first Tampa Bay location |
808 N. Franklin St.: the Atlanta taqueria in Haiku's old room
Haiku opened at the start of 2021 and served izakaya-style food like ramen, sushi and grilled skewers. The Tampa Bay Times reported it had closed in December 2025, after almost five years in business.
The new tenant spent heavily to make the room its own. Rreal Tacos is the 13th taqueria from owners Damian Otero and Miguel Hernandez and the Atlanta company's first in Florida. The partners don't franchise and don't take venture capital or private equity. They choose every design element themselves, down to the live mangrove trees around the patio. Hernandez told the Times that real things give off a different energy, and that it is someone's job to keep those plants alive.
Inside is an eight-tiered floating tequila wall at the main bar, plus more floating shelves at the outdoor bar. The tortillas are corn and made in-house, and the restaurant added about 120 jobs downtown. The partners are also working on a second Tampa Bay location in the former Red Mesa Cantina building in downtown St. Petersburg, with three concepts planned for that building.
1202 N. Franklin St.: a counter on its third concept
Ebbe opened at this address in May 2023 and earned a Michelin star in April 2024. The space next to it, on the other side of a thin partition, has changed hands faster. According to the Times, Fisk, a Nordic seafood spot, lasted about a year and made Michelin's recommended list. Stop-BKK, a Thai restaurant, lasted barely three months.
Naree is the third concept to use that counter, and the first run by someone else. It belongs to Thai chef Naree Boonyakiat, and it is the first counter she has had of her own. There are eight seats and 14 courses that change with the seasons, built from Thai, Japanese and Florida ingredients. The first course on the online menu pairs Key West shrimp with roasted rice and basil. Dessert is matcha, sakura and sesame ice cream.
"The eight-seat format allows us to cook carefully, reduce the distance between chef and guest, and take responsibility for every course," Boonyakiat told the Tampa Bay Times.
Here's the price for scale. The Times priced a weekend dinner for two, booked through OpenTable, at just under $600 with tax. With eight seats a night, reservations are tight. The details are at nareetampa.com. Axios Tampa Bay listed Naree as open by Sept. 1.
777 N. Ashley Dr.: Nomibar takes over a 2008 address
Taps was one of the older addresses on this list. It moved into the ground floor of SkyPoint, the 32-story, 380-unit condo tower Novare Group finished in 2007, back in 2008, when downtown's revitalization was just getting started, the Business Observer reported.
Nomibar is set to open there in late October. The Oct. 5 announcement didn't give an exact date or name the owners. Like Haiku on Franklin, it is styled as an izakaya, a casual Japanese pub that serves drinks with small plates for sharing. So the format downtown lost last December comes back at a new address.
According to the announcement, it will work like this:
- Open daily at 4 p.m., with later hours on Fridays and Saturdays
- Happy hour every day from 4 to 6 p.m., plus what the release calls a "Rare Menu"
- Reservations for groups of six or more, with private events up to full buyouts
- Guests 12 and older welcome during regular dining hours, 21 and older only after 9 p.m.
Nomibar is still working toward a late-October date, so check before you walk over.
Water Street and Encore: the daytime side of the same pattern
The pattern holds outside the dinner crowd too. Pura Vida Miami opened Sept. 10 at 1038 Water St., in the former Dwell & Company space. It is the chain's 57th location and its first in Tampa Bay, at 3,400 square feet. The menu is seed-oil-free, with avocado toast, protein plates, smoothies, açaí and matcha. Hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday, according to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
A few blocks east, TOTUM Market & Eatery fills a need in the Encore District that wasn't a restaurant at all. It sits at Nebraska Avenue and Ray Charles Boulevard, between Channelside, downtown and Ybor City, next to several apartment complexes. It mixes prepared meals and local brands with a café, coffee bar and bakery. Its soft opening came the week before Sept. 22, and a grand-opening weekend was set for Oct. 10 and 11, Tampa Newsroom reported. In FOX 13's coverage, a shopper called the market "a destination instead of a place where you just stop and pick up a couple of groceries."
Planning around the new rooms through December
Downtown's holiday events come next. The Winter Village Tampa site lists all three dates below.
- Shop Small Weekend, Nov. 27 to 29. Local vendors and artists set up at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park from noon to 4 p.m., with a different group of six vendors each day.
- Santa Fest and Tree Lighting, Dec. 5. The 1 p.m. parade starts at Morgan and Madison streets, heads west on Madison, turns north onto Ashley Drive and ends at Ashley Drive and Cass Street. Free park activities run from 1 to 5 p.m., seven trees light up at 6 p.m., and a free movie follows on the lawn.
- Holiday Lighted Boat Parade, Dec. 19. Boats leave at 6:15 p.m. from near the Lighthouse off Davis Islands and pass Sparkman Wharf, Harbour Island and the Tampa Convention Center. Details are on the Tampa Riverwalk event page.
The Santa Fest route runs along the same Ashley Drive corridor as Nomibar's address. The last hour of Nomibar's 4-to-6 happy hour falls in the gap between the 5 p.m. end of the park activities and the 6 p.m. tree lighting.
Rreal Tacos spent more than $2.5 million rebuilding a room that had sat empty since December. At Austin Marks Group, we watch downtown addresses change hands the same way we watch homes change hands, because what moves into a space shows where the block is going. If you own near Franklin, Ashley or Water Street and want to know how this fall's openings could affect what your home is worth, get your free home valuation.
