Centro Cantina

Talk about a bad manager. We come walking in and are immediately greeted with attitude from the managing bartender. He failed to know that the side gate (which we thought was the entrance, as did many more people after us) was wide open, so he grabs a megaphone in an EMPTY bar and says “To the group who just decided to walk past the closed gate, come here for ID check.” A friend of mine who is visiting from out of town asks the other (friendly) bartender if he could show her photos/a scan of his ID since his was stolen a day prior, and before she even has the chance to respond the managing bartender grabs his megaphone and point it directly at our faces, while we are standing not even 3 feet from him, and says “pictures of IDs are not allowed!” So my friend left but we didn’t want to stay anyways with treatment like that. As we left the manager yelled at 3 more girls who walked past this “closed” gate even though it was wide open. Thankfully they called him out and told him “it’s wide open…” and he replies (like they are supposed to know this already?) “Well it’s supposed to be closed so you need to go around the other way!” I’ve truly never experienced such a bitter person in my life. And the use of the megaphone when it’s not necessary, and especially doing it right in people faces is just pure human disrespect. None of the issues we faced were of our own making, if you’re going to be so mad about people not following your rules and entering the way you want, then maybe make sure those rules are clearly stated and the side entrances aren’t wide open and unattended. I can see why this place was so empty. And I hope whoever this man was learns to not rain on people parade so much. I’ve worked in the bar industry, and you need to be nice to people unless they explicitly give you a reason not to be, otherwise you’re going to have an empty bar. Other than that, the other bartenders and staff seemed very sweet, and I am sorry they have to deal with him as a boss, pushing away any customers and therefor income they may have made. Like I said, we’re fine being denied entry due to my friends ID situation, but maybe have a little more discreetness and respect to customers. The last thing you need is other patrons hearing you be so rude to people who just walked in and were just asking questions kindly.

Went today for lunch. We sat down at a balcony table and patiently waited. A server/bartender walked by and didn’t make eye contact or say anything to us. Same person passed us again and cleaned the table next to us. Never once did she make any attempt acknowledge us with a simple “hello” or even “I’ll be right with you”. She left and we sat for another 10 minutes and a single person acknowledged us and the place wasn’t even busy. Unbelievable.

The best part about this place is the location and view which makes it a great place to people watch and drink. Other than that, it’s nothing special. The drinks are just ok, although the prices are pretty cheap. I took off stars mainly because they automatically added an 18% gratuity to our party of 4. We had only ordered one round of drinks. From what I’ve noticed, when places do this automatically for everyone (even small parties) it’s because they know that their service sucks and are trying to ensure their servers get tips. I’m just glad we only had one round. Considering there’s so many other drinking options in Ybor, I’m not sure it’s worth going here anymore.