Columbia Restaurant occupies an entire city block here in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida. This is the oldest continuously operated restaurant in Florida and the oldest Spanish restaurant in the United States. Inside, 15 dining rooms cover 52,000 square feet and seat 1,700 customers — it is the largest Spanish restaurant in the world and occupies an entire city block.
It began in 1903 as Saloon Columbia and was renamed Columbia Restaurant in 1905. The landmark has been in the hands of the Hernandez-Gonzmart family for five generations, and it serves Spanish and Cuban cuisine. Beyond this original location you can trace its growth: Columbia restaurants opened in Sarasota in 1959, in St. Augustine in 1983, on Sand Key in 1989, and in Celebration, Florida in 1997, with Columbia Café outposts at the Tampa Bay History Center in 2009 and at Tampa International Airport in May 2012.
The original restaurant's wine list holds more than 1,000 wines with an inventory exceeding 50,000 bottles, including private-label wines and liquors created to honor family members. The popular house sangria is mixed tableside. Notice the building filling the entire city block it occupies.