TJ’s Italian Cafe

My husband and I went to TJ’s for dinner a few days ago. We heard it was good and it certainly was. Portions are big and prices are great. We had stuffed mushrooms and fried raviolis as appetizers and they were delicious! I had scallops over pasta and my husband had the veal. Both were fantastic! We had a bottle of wine reccomended by our server that was very good. Highly reccomend this restaurant.

My wife and I dined at TJ’s tonight for date night and were extremely disappointed, disappointed on many levels. One level being the service (server 7021 on the receipt), she should never serve again. She spoke like we were an inconvenience to her, never told us her name, and had a demeanor as if she did not care about anything. She was short with every response and uneducated on the menu, she did not even ask how our food was that we barely touched. Second the food was terrible. We had ordered the calamari as an appetizer, way under seasoned, red sauce was bland and tasted like canned marinara. I had dumped one cap full of table salt (probably ¹⁄₈ tsp) from the salt shaker into our 2 oz portion of red sauce and it barely helped. Calamari tasted just like fryer oil with no seasoning in the flour. I had the sausage Parmesan sub and my wife had the meatball Parmesan sub. Terrible choices. Meatballs tasted like a frozen product, with canned marinara sauce. My wife ate ¼ of her meal and set it aside. The sausage Parmesan was even worse. Sliced Italian sausage with, maybe peppers covered with slopped sauce and cheese, on the best part of the entire meal, the bread. When we picked up our subs they immediately fell through the bread onto the plate. Annoying to all sandwich lovers. Oh, the beer battered onion rings, awful. Nothing else to say about those other than we ate 2. Server 7021 never asked us is everything was okay, or if we enjoyed the meal and clearly from the almost full portions of food that we denied to go boxes for didn’t send a message, I do not know what else would. My wife and I will never return to TJ’s nor recommend this to anyone. This was the worst $ 56 I have ever spent on food.

This is my favorite place for pizza in Florida, when I am within a 30 minute radius of Indian Rocks Beach I always stop at TJ’s. The White Cheese Pizza rocks. I’ve been coming here for 15 years and never been disappointed.

Came here on a Friday during «season». Walked in to a sign that said, «Please wait to be seated». No one here at all, so we sat at the bar. There was a guy drinking a water and playing on an iPad. We ordered 2 glasses of wine and 4 appys. Said guy sat there with his head engrossed in his iPad. I asked the bartender if we could change the channel on the tv. She gave me the remote. Suddenly the guy drinking water says don’t change that I was watching it! He claimed to be a «paying customer». He’s looking at an iPad and counting a wad of money. He obviously works there! He was very rude. Then he gets up and goes behind the bar and into the kitchen! Bartender was awesome, but that person, who I am is assuming is the manager, needs work. Food was awesome but I can’t remember so much now because the experience left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Mind you no one was there and it was season. Every other restaurant around was busy.

I went there with my sister and brother-​in-​law. They ordered the chicken Marsala and the chicken Alfredo dinners and shared them. I ordered an Italian hoagie (wasn’t that hungry). First the hoagie: wow! It had a lot of meat, a lot of flavor, and a wonderfully soft bun. Full value for the money for me. The two chicken dinners were very well made, wonderful flavor (according to my sister), and a good sized portion. The service was top quality as well. The weather was wonderful that day, so we sat on the patio and watched the sun set over the gulf. Class A experience all the way from this classy establishment! Thanks.

The meal, service and beers were great!
TJ’s is in the kitchen making things happen.
Locally owned & operated. A gem on beach…

I am a local and eat here all the time with my family and never had a complaint… until now. To start my girlfriend, her mother and I went there for dinner and ordered an appetizer. The appetizer took very long to be served when there were only three tables. The bread tasted like a slice of white bread. After we received our appetizer we ordered our entrees which again took a very long time. The waitress was horrible and completely ditzy, seemed like she had no idea what she was doing as for the rest of the staff. At the end of our meal the tab came along, I left a 15% tip. A couple days later the bill was processed and 8 dollars extra was charged. When I called, the so called owner, Kim, did not believe me, but I kept the receipt where I added the tip and total. I went in and they acted like it wasn’t a big deal and Kim came up to me and was very rude and didn’t want to give me the money back so she got TJ the real owner involved and he gave the money to her to give to me and no one ever apologized for this inconvenience. How rude! This restaurant went downhill when his staff became high school girls. I do not recommend at all!!!

My wife and I had our 21^st anniversary dinner at TJ’s last evening. The food was spectacular. From the dinner special, I had the Lobser ravioli and my wife had Lobster Fra Diavolo. Both dishes had great and the taste was incredible. The lobster in both dishes was cooked perfectly. We partnered with a couple of glasses of good Pinot Gregio and Dancing Bull Zinfandel. To our surprise, the Ries Brother’s from Clearwater were playing on this particular Thursday night. Great food-​Great music — Good Times
We are local

The service was good it was quiet lunch time. Sitting out on the patio with the tablecloth was very lovely and the music was nice as well.
The soup of the day with chicken noodle extremely average the crackers were stale. My girlfriend had the eggplant rollatini, it was very average.
With so many other places on the beach I doubt we will go to this restaurant again

Great place for lunch or dinner. Service is a little slow but didn’t matter. Food was great.

Go figure… we don’t do carbs but we love coming to TJ’s Italian! We come here pretty often because it is in our neighborhood. But our neighborhood has a lot of good restaurants. We always end up here. Food is good, the gals at the bar are attentive, and they always are willing to customize a dish for us. We order the proteins over spinach rather than pasta and we love the antipasto, which is generous. Brandon created a chicken Sorrentino over fresh spinach that looked fantastic and tasted even better. Thanks TJ and crew… watched a World Series game with a nice bottle of wine and a great dinner at the bar. We will be back soon!

I personally only really come here for the eggplant sub. They have the BEST eggplant parm. My only complaint is that it doesn’t come with a side so it’s rather expensive for what you get. Pastas here are also great and they have some good early bird specials.

Ambience was good. Nice patio porch. Loved the pizza, but food otherwise has been spotty — sometimes good, sometimes not. Service also hit or miss. Would be a 5 star if they can achieve consistency.

Last day here and I was craving some Italian food. Family agreed with going out, decided to come here as the pictures made a couple of the entrees look pretty good we decided to try it.
Service was excellent, was always nearby and everyone’s entrees were on point. It’s Friday night at 7:25pm and we sat immediately no need to make reservations.
The food was just okay. I really had high expectations coming in based on the photos that others took. We got a chicken Marsala, chicken parm, eggplant parm, fett alf, and veal.
The chicken was cooked very tender, the veal was good and the pasta on point. The sauces defiantly were the most disappointing. They had hardly any flavor across the board.
Over all, it was a good night out, service was excellent, and if I ever came back again, the eggplant Parmesan would be by far the best pick.

Food was yummy! Staff was pleasant. Olivia was our server and was excellent and attentive to our needs. The manager Shelby, came to check on us and was very personable; suggested good items to try out & very young but so knowledgable about wine selection. Worth the try ask for one of them if you dine in.

We were disappointed. On an evening when the other neighborhood restaurants had long waits, we were immediately seated at TJ’s. This should have been our warning.
Our server was apologetic but clearly in over her head. Service throughout our dinner was slow and inept.
Pricing for wine and fish entrees are very much on the high side.
Complimentary bread was served. Unfortunately, it wasn’t fresh.
Our group mostly ordered pasta dishes. Nothing was beyond ordinary.
We won’t return.

My family and I ate at TJ’s on a recommendation from our hotel. I did check pizza places out on Unilocal before visiting but didn’t take enough time to read them in detail. The recommendation was so strong that when my son mentioned it only had three stars we were surprised.
Believe me when I say I wish I would have read the reviews!!! Another patron wrote of bugs. It’s true. There was a roach in my daughter’s water. I couldn’t believe it. I told the waitress. She picked it up with a napkin and said she’d take it to the owner. The owner never came out. Instead the waitress apologized and asked if we wanted a box since we obviously stopped eating the food.
We paid the full check and left the food there. I did get a photo of the bug to share as a warning for anyone who doubts this. I only hope people don’t get sick from this filthy restaurant. Seems like they don’t care even if you do.

We frequent TJs and I do think they have very good food. I have had a few issues with asking for small changes in the menu items, but not a deal breaker.
the steak is great, but pricey– so I usually stick with chicken, veal or pasta.

My family and I sat down thinking this was going to be a pleasant family dinner for our last night vacationing in the area. Never have I been more wrong in my life.
First of all, the waitress offered soup or salad with my father’s chicken Marsala. Oh wait. They ran out of soup and only have salad.
Alright so we all had salad: me with my grilled chicken salad and the rest of my family with side salads ordered with vinegar and oil as the dressing. As our food came, I thought to myself, «Wow, that vinegar has some kind of seeds floating in it… Must be very authentic. Probably even homemade!»
No. Those were bugs. Unfortunately, I am not Timon from the Lion King and I don’t eat grub from rotting trees, so hopefully you can understand how disgusted we all were. Left with such great appetites, my father ended up finishing his side salad sans dressing.
Now for the main course: Spaghetti with meatballs and a side of HAIR. Long, dark brown, hair. I’m bald, my dad is bald, my brother has a buzz cut, and my mom with a cute little trim, which is why I can say with great confidence that the hair was not from our scalps. Greeeaaatttttt.
My brother ended up eating nothing and my mom barely touched her chicken Parmesan considering the hairy bugs and all. How I downed my grilled chicken salad, I’ll never understand.
As I was finishing, a lovely couple brought their two dogs up on the deck to sit at the table next to us. Lady and the Tramp? If I wanted to watch a Disney movie, I would have just pulled out my old VHS tapes. Never in my life have I gone to a restaurant that allowed animals. Maybe that’s where the bugs came from? Who knows, but if you’re in the mood for Italian food, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

We stopped by TJ’s for dinner. It was a nice night so we ate on their outdoor patio. They have a great menu with a lot if tempting options. We ended up ordering pizza and salads. Everything was delicious. I saw several other diners eating spaghetti and meatballs, which were huge and what I plan in ordering next time. Shelby, our server, was great. We’ll definitely come back.