So What IS the Best Restaurant in Largo?

We recently listed the top-ranked Largo restaurants from Urbanspoon.com. But many Largo Patch readers begged to differ.

When we shared with Largo Patch readers the Top 10 list of Largo restaurants by Urbanspoon, many readers were quick to point out other dining spots that they thought should make the cut. Many readers wanted to see their favorite restaurants recognized. They included repeat requests for: Melissa A. wrote: "Amish Country has the best macaroni salad I have EVER HAD. We buy it by the bundles when we have parties." The Deli Diva herself wrote in to say "We're sitting at a 96% rating on urbanspoon. I would love to know how this survey was conducted." A few others that Patch readers mentioned: Sounds like there are lots of personal favorites out there. So we're asking Largo Patch readers: What are your favorite restaurants? Post your choice in …

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Taste Buzz: Food Reviews and Cheap Eats

Restaurant Review: Wung Thai

Wung Thai may be the most affordable Sushi joint in Largo. With a killer $1 sushi deal, it's hard to go wrong, or break the bank here.

It's hard to resist discounted dining deals. What better way to try some professionally prepped food for not a lot of dough, right?  Groupon, Living Social, in store specials; all these work to bring people into dining establishments they might not otherwise dine at just out of the sheer principle of a good deal. Wung Thai is one of these places.  A prominent "$1 Sushi" decal emblazoned on their storefront is enough to make anyone fond of sushi hit the brakes and make a sharp right into the shopping complex it's housed in, myself included. Walking in, you're greeted with all the typical ornate fixings found in many Thai restaurants.  It's tiny, but comforting, boasting a small sushi bar and rows of high-backed booth seating.  On a Tuesday …

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Taste Buzz: Food Reviews and Cheap Eats

Restaurant Review: Beach Pizza

Beach Pizza serves up some delectable pizza in the Largo Mall. Enjoy traditional and more inventive selections like their steak and cheese pie.

Every once in a while you stumble across restaurant food that epitomizes the phrases “hits the spot” in every sense of the word.  When it comes to pizza, this phrase and Beach Pizza in the Largo Mall will be forever tied in my eyes.  From the outside, there’s nothing too special about Beach Pizza. A few animated paintings on the wall and a cartoon-y beach theme throughout the shop make it a fitting joint to take the kids after the movies (which is right next door) or just pick up a pie on the ride home from work. The pizza, quite unexpectedly though, is a drool-worthy work of culinary art not soon to be forgotten. You know the pizza commercials where a woman’s dainty hand ever so gently lifts a slice from the pie much to unwillingness of …

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Sunde Farquhar

9:56 pm on Thursday, September 29, 2011

That is a great photo! Makes me want to grab that slice of pizza and eat it up!   more ›

Taste Buzz: Food Reviews and Cheap Eats

Restaurant Review: DeLosa's Pizza and Italian Family Restaurant

Delosa's is one of many New York style hand-tossed pizza joints in Largo. Read more to see if they're a cut above the rest or hanging in the middle.

It seems like an establishment would really have to try to screw up a pizza.  The classic Italian comfort food, in all its simplicity, is just inherently good.  Heck, as humans we’re hard wired to crave carbs and fat, both of which make up the majority of all pizza.  That’s not to say that all pizza joints are the same, of course.  More that, pizza restaurants, at least in this book, lie on a critical spectrum from ok to mindblowing-ly delicious. Delosa’s is just one of many in the pantheon of Largo pizza restaurants.  As a family-owned Italian eatery, Delosa’s opened in 1983 and found success with their first location in John’s Pass later expanding with two more locations in South Tampa and here in Largo. DeLosa’s Pizzeria is your typical…

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Taste Buzz: Food Reviews and Cheap Eats

Restaurant Review: Golden Star Chinese Restaurant

Golden Star Chinese is a prime example of fast, tasty and affordable Chinese food. Perhaps the best Chinese food in Largo.

After a long, hard day at work, when the energy’s drained and cooking up dinner is just a laughable prospect, there’s few things better than a heavy cellophane bag with a hulking meal of classic Chinese takeout resting inside. Call up any strip-mall residing Chinese joint in town and a Far East feast is ready for pickup in light speed.  It’s almost suspect how fast many of these places can cook up a meal and have it ready to go to fast, but with food on point, those become minor, forgotten details as you stuff yourself with an array of grease-ified Asian chow. Golden Star Chinese is a prime example of this and, I think it’s safe to say, the best Chinese food I’ve tried in Largo thus far. This is can be attributed to a number a things. …

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Taste Buzz: Food Reviews and Cheap Eats

Restaurant Review: Thai Pan Alley

Thai Pan Alley boasts a huge menu and is surprisingly affordable. Read more to see how the rest stacks up.

If you follow this column, you know we’re no strangers to Thai cuisine in and around the Largo area.  This Far-East fare has a special allure that draws you in with a variety of exotic, aromatic spices and overall light fare that straddles that beloved line between healthy and delicious. Thai Pan Alley on Indian Rocks Beach is one of these Thai eateries sitting amongst some stiff competition around the Largo area.  Serving up an expansive variety of uber-affordable Thai classics with speed and flavor in mind, Thai Pan Alley is definitely a suitable option if you’re craving this particular food, but it’s not quite in the top ranks. This tiny beachside (like, literally next door to the beach) has an old-world charm likely making it a nice, …

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Taste Buzz: Food Reviews and Cheap Eats

Restaurant Review: The Pie Factory and Toucan's Coffee House

Find ridiculously delicious pies and many more sweet delicacies at the Pie Factory and Toucan's Coffee House.

Of all the popular desserts one can get out there, nothing quite takes the cake (pun intended) like a big ol’ slice of pie.  From sweet apple to savory chocolate and seemingly every flavor between, it’s quite apparent that we Americans love our pies. Finding a quality slice though can be somewhat of a tricky endeavor if you’re looking for a version of this after-meal treat that’s truly out of this world.  Grandma’s generations-old, absolutely perfected pie recipe aside, to find a good pie outside the confines of a restaurant or mega-chain grocery store, you’ve got to know the lay of the land when it comes to your town’s culinary landscape. We’ll help you beat the system here and tell you the Pie Factory and Toucan’s Coffee House here in …

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Restaurant Review: Thai Coconut

Feast on award-winning Thai cuisine and sushi at Thai Coconut.

It must be great for a local, independent restaurant to win an award for their impeccable service or delicious food.  All the hard work they put in, finally recognized by a big publication or some authority on restaurants in the area. It’s got to feel pretty good, especially when you’re competing with an endless sea of asian cuisine restaurants.  Awards though, especially when it comes to an experience as subjective as dining, can come at a cost.  All the sudden, notoriety is heaped onto an establishment and expectations naturally increase with every praise and accolade the critics give it.  Thai Coconut in Clearwater is a shining example of the previous sentiment.  Awarded numerous “Best Thai Restaurant" since it’s inception in the mid-…

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Taste Buzz: Food Reviews and Cheap Eats

Restaurant Review: Philly's Famous Cheesesteaks

Head over to Philly's Famous for, arguably, the best cheesesteak in the Largo/ Clearwater area.

After last week’s review of Seminole Subs and Gyro’s, I’d realized the hole-in-the-wall sandwich bug had bit hard and had not quite let go yet. Upon hearing from a friend about Philly’s Famous Cheesesteaks, the craving hit and it couldn’t be shaken. Something about a philly cheesesteak, even a terrible one, just perks the ears up and gets the mouth watering. The grilled steak melting and melding with gooey provolone, grilled onions and peppers, on that soft roll; it’s simple, but perfect that way. It awakens our hard-wired desire for savory fats, delectable protein and cheap carbs. You’ve probably seen this place on the South side of Bay Drive in Largo.  It’s tiny, almost too tiny, but stands out with a vibrant roadside signage listing all…

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Taste Buzz: Food Reviews and Cheap Eats

Restaurant Review: Seminole Subs and Gyros

Head to Seminole Subs and Gyros for a wide variety of Greek and American comfort food served with speed and affordability.

No matter how tiny, run-down, or just plain questionable they can be, there’s a special charm old city sandwich shops hold that can never be taken away.  The greasy brown bags, even greasier food, the minimal, if any, décor that looks straight out of 1987; it all melds to give places like these a like it or leave it attitude you can’t help but admire sometimes. Seminole Subs and Gyros definitely fits this profile nicely. Serving up an assortment of quick-prepped American and Greek cuisine including sandwiches, gyros, salads, wings, and more, Seminole Subs and Gyros is the place to go if you want your food quick, cheap and a step above typical McChain fast food fare. Hot subs seemed like their main attraction and the pizza sub was a …

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