R Bar

Not nearly as much of a dive as described by some. No longer under the same owner (waitress told us the place changed ownership a couple months back). Therefore, they no longer make their own craft brew! Big time let down, but some good selections from other larger breweries.
The place was packed. Drinks were good. Prices were beyond reasonable. Food was better than you might expect for a «dive» bar. I would definitely recommend 100%

This is another place that you shouldn’t judge by outside appearance. My wife had peel and eat shrimp and I had the raw oysters. Both were good. Most people were getting the all u can eat fried chicken. Most of the crowd were locals, that in itself says a lot about there food. The chicken looked very good. It came with a salad and 4 pieces of chicken for starters. Price was$ 12.99. The portion was so big no one was ordering seconds. The locals we talked to said it was the best fried chicken in town.
We returned for breakfast and found it reasonably priced and very good.
I would recommend this for breakfast.

Great time, Buddha the Manager, server, all around fun guy is, Super. Food was delicious, big portions.
If you want a casual eating atmosphere, this is it.
Do not go by exterior appearance, go in!!!

I had to write this review because I was sad to see all of the negative and stuck up comments on here. Yes, this place is a little hole in the wall, it’s not fancy and it’s not a 5 star restaurant. So take it for what it is. They have great food and a nice staff! We went on a Tuesday for all you can eat crab legs. I don’t have a single complaint. After reading other Unilocal reviews, my expectations were pretty low, but after arriving here I feel like the reviewers were being stuck up and snobby. It’s not a bad place at all! I would definitely return.

We stumbled across this place while shopping at the local liquor store (which is located across the parking lot) and decided to stop in. I ordered their coconut shrimp which was out-​of-​this-​world good, and the Ohio nachos which were also delicious but ended up being too much food for me to finish. They ARE kid friendly!!! Although I wouldn’t recommend bringing your children along after dinner hours (it IS a bar after all)
The only negative moment we had was when my husband finished his drink and the bartender made him another without asking. Otherwise, It’s a super cute sea shanty sort of bar/​restaurant definitely a cute affordable place to check out while you’re in town!

We decided to google the best crab legs in Tampa bay and this spot came up for a Sunday Funday destination.
It was perfect and delicious! Ratings back this spot up– Kathy our server was sweet and kind and we felt welcomed. The food was great! Oysters spot in and the crab legs were delicious. If you don’t need the ocean view and you want the seafood– come here for a spell. Relax and enjoy!

Divey locals bar. Seems to have bar food but from the looks of the kitchen I wouldn’t eat anything out of it!
Cold beer, friendly bartender but I wouldn’t hazard to eat there.

I was looking for some jalapeño poppers, and decided to get the jalapeño poppers and fish and chips meal. When they came out, they look like they’d been over cooked, but what I think happened was they try to get too many fry cycles out of the oil and the oil was very old. Yhe food was kust nasty. I felt like I was tasting flavors from people’s meals from a year past. If a place is going to offer a lot of fried foods, the least they could do for customers is maintained fresh oil. I am a local and I will never go back to this dump.

What a great little local hangout! We went two nights in a row for $.50 wing night then all you can eat crab legs. You have to check it out!!!

Total dive, but I love it. All you can eat snow crab on Tuesdays and Thursdays — delish! All you can eat fried chicken or catfish on Monday. Servers are friendly… I’m becoming a regular…

The reviewer who stated this place looked like a dive and a bit scary from the outside failed to mention that it looks just like that on the inside too! The bartender looked and acted annoyed. The one waitress was the only pleasantness in this otherwise dark and deary bar. It was 12:30 PM on a Friday and the place was practically vacant. I stayed for a beer and left right afterwards. I did look at the menu and was surprised by the prices which in my opinion were higher than a place like this could command. With no view of the bay or waterways, there is little to look at inside — that is if your eyes can adjust to the limited lighting to make anything out. My suggestion would be to head a little further south and go to Woody’s — at least for a local dive it does not pretend to be anything more pretentious.

Only ate here a couple times. The clam chowder is good and today the soup of the day was chicken veggie rice, very tasty. Wings are good. I guess it is a dive bar but I like dives. Live music. They also serve breakfast which if I get up early enough I will try.

I live less than a mile away, but it took me way too many months to try the food. I ordered food for pick up and it 1) was hard getting someone’s attention to actually pick up my food and 2) took forever to get my food. But, they definitely redeemed themselves for the quality of food. The bacon cheeseburger was delicious (would have been even better with a toasted bun!) and the BLACKENED TATER TOTS (YES! Blackened tots!!!) were by far the best tots I’ve ever had. They made the meal. Definitely a great price for less than $ 10! I’ll be back for more tots next cheat meal :-)

I am genuinely surprised by all the positive reviews for the R Bar. We were VERY disappointed on a recent visit.
We had just arrived in town and were starving for some good seafood. Unfortunately, this is not the place to find it. The coconut shrimp were the exact same thing I get in the frozen section of the grocery store and heat in my oven at home. (Only they left them in too long here, and they were charred.) The fish my husband ordered was also a frozen concoction and WAY over cooked. The side salad was the saddest thing I had ever seen. Wilted, super pale, iceberg with raw white onions. (Why does anyone serve salad with raw onions, I ask?) All of this was truly disappointing, considering the proximity to the ocean and easy accessibility to fresh produce.
This is a dive, as others have mentioned. Ambiance doesn’t usually carry big weight with me, but this place is particularly dive-​y, to the point of being dirty.
I would rate with zero stars, except Unilocal doesn’t allow for that! Plus, our waitress was nice, so there’s one good point.
During the rest of our visit to Treasure Island, our measurement of a passable restaurant was «well, at least it was better than the R Bar!»

Got there early evening, sat down at a table. No hello from the waitresses or eye contact. Man singing with guitar. Place was not busy, had maybe 20 – 30. Waited 15 – 20 minutes, no nothing, left and went to a more accommodating establishment (sea hag).

We ordered 2 cokes and a Diet Dr. Pepper but they didn’t have Diet Dr. Pepper so I mentioned I had one in the car. We ordered shrimp, blackened catfish and fried catfish. The blackened catfish was good but the fried shrimp still had some veins in them and not as much cornmeal so they were a bit soggy. The fried catfish also was a bit soggy as it was a flour based batter as well. Baked potato was okay with average onion rings. I guess what ruined this for me was the $ 2 charges for the drink we brought in — I tried to order one from them but when they didn’t carry it and I mentioned I would get one from the car it wasn’t mentioned there would be the same fee without the benefit of refills. So I would say slow service mixed with average food and a bad policy towards non disclosure of a bad policy would mean that I won’t be back. I would say if you want decent blackened catfish and don’t mind slow service this place us okay. But the non-​disclosure of a fee for a diet drink they don’t carry and it’s not my policy flippant answer probably soured me. It is the only thing my wife drinks and 3 meals and 2 other drinks didn’t mean I was trying to stiff them. We won’t be back.

Biggest turnoff — being served a drink with someone else’s lip gloss all over the rim.
And this was at BREAKFAST! Won’t go back.

Another one of those businesses that I meant to visit earlier but the parking lot was always full and a line outside. Finally was in the area on a week night and managed to take advantage of their all you can eat catfish special. Fried, blackened or grilled definitely a dish to order when you are hungry,
One of the treats you get when you visit this establishment is that there is a very talented brewer in the back. His finely crafted suds are a delight to sample, it’s worth stopping even if you are not hungry.
A great local bar and eatery and I understand why it get s so busy

Rarely do you leave a dive bar smarter than when you walked in, but then again, R Bar is a rare gem and highly unusual for a dive bar. In fact, I hesitate to even call R Bar a dive bar, because they have sweet deals on great food, but it is beach-​ish bar food, so lets just call it a dive bar and move in.
I drove past this place on multiple occasions the past few years and never once desired to go inside. WHAT A HUGE MISTAKE!!! About a year ago, my boss mentioned this place and said he remembered it being good last time he stay on the beach, specifically, he remembered oysters and the rest of the sea food being very good.
I only recently moved back to St. Pete and I was looking at places on Unilocal that were relatively close to my house with good reviews and then I stumbled across R Bar. I instantly heard my boss’s advice and knew that I had to go.
We had just wrapped up a professional meeting at St. Pete College and I was still in my suit and tie from the work day. When we pulled up, my fiancée demanded that I at least take off the tie, because suit and tie did not appear to fit the casual nature of the bar. I took off the tie, but still stood out like a soar thumb, oh well.
We were helped by… er…um…I should say educated by Buddah. He is not a small guy and when asked for food advice he strongly encouraged the all you can eat crab for $ 30 (it may sound steep, but trust me, if you are a big eater it is WELL worth it!) He followed his advice up with this quote: «DON’T TRUST A SKINNY WAITER!» Buddah was really really really awesome, and his service bumped up what would otherwise be a 4 star review to a 5 star review.
R Bar makes their own beer. I saw this on Unilocal and it drew me in, but I forgot this fact upon arrival until Buddah reminded me. My fiancée and I tried all 3 home brews. $ 5 a piece, pretty good deal for something crafty. The IPA was smooth with only a small hint of hopsy-​ness. While I don’t mind the really hopsy IPAs, I am definitely a fan of the smoother lighter less hopsy IPA that R Bar makes. The Porter was good and strong, I was a fan. Perhaps the most impressive was the beer they called Toast. Perhaps it was a wheat beer, that makes sense for calling it Toast. I really enjoyed the flavor. You will be making a right decision no matter what beer you choose, but Toast was quite tasty (if you want my advice).
We asked for oysters, they were out of oysters, but it is a good thing, because we ended up going with the all you can eat, well not quite, let me explain. Thursdays have all you can eat ribs for about $ 15 and all your can eat crab for about $ 30. However, regular rib dinner was $ 10 and the crab $ 20. My fiancée and I are not huge eaters and we were concerned we may not want the all you can eat, there was a chance 1 plate was enough. Buddah assured us that he would bring one plate and if we wanted more then he would just upgrade us later to the special. Great way to work it, it is not fair to make the customer decide beforehand. I was very impressed.
So the crab came out with a big huge beach bucket for scraps. My fiancée dug into the deliciousness but was having some trouble getting good shell cracks. We asked wise Buddah for some tips. He leaned over the table and without using the cracker snapped off a leg, grabbed the claw and with the twist of his wrist pulled the whole tendon out and then with two quick taps on the plate the entire piece of juicy crab meat slid right out onto the plate. Amazing!!! Buddah has just endowed us with amazing crab eating knowledge that I will use and appreciate for the rest of my life. R Bar you are better than most academic institutions insofar as you teach important lessons that cannot be forgotten. Such a great name for our waiter, Buddah! I left full and satisfied from my plate of ribs, they melted in my mouth, and when I woke up in the AM, I still felt great (not always the case with bar food).
We will be back, many more times in the future, and cannot wait to check out the brunch! A+ Service; A food; and C for ambiance (yes it is a dive bar and looks a bit dated with cheesy tropical décor); but that C for ambiance is a good kinda C, almost like a C for classy! Because R Bar is Classy like Ron Burgundy! R Bar on Treasure Island is 5 stars, it is so great it makes all the pirates go ARRRRRRG!

Brandon and I came here for date night last week and I was seriously surprised… I mean yes total dive type place but really good food. I ordered the fried chicken and Brandon had the blackened catfish both were very good. The prices were so cheap and the portions were massive. They also brew their own beer now and Brandon really enjoyed it. I’d almost give five stars but the service wasn’t too great and it was soooooo loud I could hardly hear myself think.
Overall definitely recommend trying this place.