El Oso Blanco Restaurant

Great hot food selection, meat and 3 style. It has that certain carribean vibe we've all come to love in Tampa. The grocery store part is fairly standard when it comes to ethnic markets. Chances are they will probably have what your looking for unless its a really rare item.

This place has great food rice was perfect chicken was juicy, succulent and well browned. Coffee amazing!!! A great place to stop and pick up food on the way home from work, that's how I do it.

The restaurant is still opened, if you want to enjoy typical Dominican dishes this is the place to go. The staff is friendly and the owner is super nice. Thank you!

Ordered takeout. Food was delicious, enormous portions. Will definitely order again.

John West

The restaurant is still opened, if you want to enjoy typical Dominican dishes this is the place to go. The staff is friendly and the owner is super nice. Thank you!

K.Z.

Ordered takeout. Food was delicious, enormous portions. Will definitely order again.

Go here if you want the BEST in spanish food. Platters are huge and they really hook you up. Love that the last time i was here was 6 yrs ago but when i went back they still had my fav dish...6 stars if i could and a huge thumbs up for serving me what i been missin from back home. You all are the best!!

This restaurant is amazing i love it!!! The portions are big… Love the prices and delicious food!!! I eat here almost everyday 100% recommended

Under new ownership food is great and the service excellent

Been going to this spanish store and cafetería for years and even during renovation to the store, the cafetería still open and I just noticed their new addition, a smoke shop

Delicious food and grate services

Leidy Vidal

Under new ownership food is great and the service excellent

Yolaure Jimenez

This restaurant is amazing i love it!!! The portions are big… Love the prices and delicious food!!! I eat here almost everyday 100% recommended

Pedro Ortiz

Been going to this spanish store and cafetería for years and even during renovation to the store, the cafetería still open and I just noticed their new addition, a smoke shop

Rosendo

Cuban born in Cuba here. Have not eaten there since 2019. There must be a lot of haters here giving negative reviews. We both ordered roast pork, moros. I had mangu, she had yuca. The food was cooked/seasoned as expected and was delicious. Ate there at one of the booths. At $9/entrée, a bargain and we got 6 meals out of the 2 entrées. Bought guava & cheese bread and it was also delicious.

Shannon Gantert

Go here if you want the BEST in spanish food. Platters are huge and they really hook you up. Love that the last time i was here was 6 yrs ago but when i went back they still had my fav dish...6 stars if i could and a huge thumbs up for serving me what i been missin from back home. You all are the best!!

Great food for fair cost. Better than eating lunch or dinner at a fast food restaurant. You can even do your grocery shopping done at the same time! Great prices in both; the restaurant and the market adjacent to it.

This has been our spot for 10yrs I can’t say anything negative, we Love the Oxtails, my hubby always get a bandeja of it and the moro rice.... QUE RICO!!!

Chicken was a little dry but otherwise it was decent for the price. Nice people and family run. I’d go back again

Oso Blanco is a good lunch stop. I wish our was around years ago when I lived and worked in the area years ago, but it is here now.😋😋😋

okay so I showed up late so there was not many choices to be found because of course everybody's addicted to their food so everybody already came early to eat dinner so I had whatever was left and to be honest with you it would still delicious I'm happy I choose the beefstew with potatoes and they gave me a big helping the only thing that I thought was a little bit too much was the price. The price was $9 for bowl of meat.

Good food but attitude stinks big time! I have been there about 4 times in the last year and it is always something. If you don't mind driving 1 more minute to go eat then i much rather recommend Pollo Tropical. Actitud Horrible. A los empleados al parecer les molesta tener customers y cumplir sus peticiones. Mejor vayan a Pollo Tropical q queda a un minuto de aqui

Was in the area and stopped to check it out. Ordered great food at the hot food counter, girl working was very helpful telling me what everything was. It was delicious and affordable, you get your money’s worth! Store is nice too, decent variety of items. Would definitely recommend if you’re in the area.

Great food and a uniquely Hispanic, awesome selection of products and vendors but there's one negative issue, service from one of the fresh food service section (dine-in/to-go) workers. Unsure of the name but seemingly in a perpetual state of unhappiness, consistently rude and making services blatantly obvious that she's being spiteful, a blonde lady with Cuban accent will provide less than adequate service and professionalism. Avoid her at all cost. We have had stellar service from the other lady with dark hair working the food serving area. Management should step in as this negative experience has happened to others because of this one worker.

This little spanish has decent enviroment but the food is worth going if you're looking for a different taste.

Just stopped in to get some Cuban sandwiches and a few things from the store. It's an authentic Hispanic venue. We stop in whenever we're in Tampa and have done so for quite a few years. Staff is always friendly, food is always good.

Scott Basnett

Just stopped in to get some Cuban sandwiches and a few things from the store. It's an authentic Hispanic venue. We stop in whenever we're in Tampa and have done so for quite a few years. Staff is always friendly, food is always good.

AP

Was in the area and stopped to check it out. Ordered great food at the hot food counter, girl working was very helpful telling me what everything was. It was delicious and affordable, you get your money’s worth! Store is nice too, decent variety of items. Would definitely recommend if you’re in the area.

jaciuro

Great food and a uniquely Hispanic, awesome selection of products and vendors but there's one negative issue, service from one of the fresh food service section (dine-in/to-go) workers. Unsure of the name but seemingly in a perpetual state of unhappiness, consistently rude and making services blatantly obvious that she's being spiteful, a blonde lady with Cuban accent will provide less than adequate service and professionalism. Avoid her at all cost. We have had stellar service from the other lady with dark hair working the food serving area. Management should step in as this negative experience has happened to others because of this one worker.

This place is just okay. I come here on Monday and Wednesday only because it's a place where I can sit down and eat after work just before going to school. The prices are pretty high for a bodega. I can go down the road 2 blocks and get the same portion for $3 cheaper, but there's no place to sit there. El Oso Blanco has the same food all the time, although it's not bad, It gets old.

Antonio Huertas

This place is just okay. I come here on Monday and Wednesday only because it's a place where I can sit down and eat after work just before going to school. The prices are pretty high for a bodega. I can go down the road 2 blocks and get the same portion for $3 cheaper, but there's no place to sit there. El Oso Blanco has the same food all the time, although it's not bad, It gets old.

The food, portions and prices are all good, but the place seems a little dirty. The restaurant area tables are usually filthy, so I almost always get it to go.

Didn't like the food but apparently I'm not Dominican or Spanish enough even though I eat Spanish food every day and I'm Puerto Rican

I stopped buying cooked food there when I had to ask an employee to cover her mouth when she coughed. She then covered her mouth with her hand and went back to touching food with her soiled gloves. If you risk it I suggest you put the cooked food in the fridge immediately. It will spoil faster than home cooked food. Sign it's not the freshest. The meat section is kind of sketchy. You can tell they reheat the rice because it always has that day old dry texture. Most of the staff is friendly. They make sandwiches but you will have to guess which ones they make since they don't have signs of what they offer.

Food taste pretty good, I wouldn’t come back after noticing my chicken still had small feathers and hair on it shows how much they clean their meats. Also the (Cuban) cashier lady at the food bar is SUPER rude and when manager I guess came to tell her about two customers complaints she said she can careless what people say! Very unprofessional since theirs customers still around! Don’t know how she still has a job customer service is EVERYTHING!

Food always looks stale and bland. The white rice usually has a weird yellowish color to it. This place used to be so good but I’m not sure about that anymore

AU Makkari

Food always looks stale and bland. The white rice usually has a weird yellowish color to it. This place used to be so good but I’m not sure about that anymore

Cindy Bonilla

Food taste pretty good, I wouldn’t come back after noticing my chicken still had small feathers and hair on it shows how much they clean their meats. Also the (Cuban) cashier lady at the food bar is SUPER rude and when manager I guess came to tell her about two customers complaints she said she can careless what people say! Very unprofessional since theirs customers still around! Don’t know how she still has a job customer service is EVERYTHING!

Went in to get some food. Everything looked amazing. I got stewed chicken red beans and white rice. My boyfriend got pernil white rice and red beans and yucca. The pernil, smelled spoiled and tastes like it too. When he told the woman behind the counter that it was spoiled, she just asked him to get something else and continued to serve the pernil.... I won't eat here again

Their food is good and it's a place with a lot of potential. However; their customers service is TERRIBLE. Their employees are very rude. They don't greet you, they never say thank you, overall they have a nasty attitude towards customers.

The owner, the workers and the treat I received, stink. The sold me some items and then charge for other items, and all the time they said they were right. They are unrespectful. They do not know what honesty is, they do not know how to treat the people. I will not visit that place ever in my life.

The meat is dark black brown, expired meats, gross. The Latino people of Tampa told me to go there to shop and I went home tempting to perp the food until I notice the ground meat is an awful color nasty 🤢

WARNING!!!!!!! I bought meat SEVERAL times at this place. And unfortunately I dint realized how they handle there product intill one day I needed to get an exchange for 3 pounds of GROUND BEEF that they had sold me. I knowtest when I took it home it was brown. The next day when I took it out of the freezer it was black/ brown in color. I went to get it exchange for new meat and he told me there was none ready. But went to the back, me following behind, and told one of the young guys to ground meat for me. At that precise moment he had a white bucket and told the manager he was just getting ready to grind some meat. The manager left and I watched the young man drop the meat in the grinder and I knowtest that some big pieces were dark brown mixed with fresh red meat. I stoped him IMMEDIATELY and told him to show me the bucket. He was hesitant! Then proceeded to show me the meat by lifting a piece up. I said no! Show me inside the BUCKET. And he tilted the bucket and what I saw made my stomach turn. It was NASTY OLD DARK BROWN MEAT MIXED WITH A COUPLE OF FRESH RED MEAT. I instantly marched to the front and confronted the manager in what I saw. He was trying to justify himself but when I told him what I saw with my own eyes he stood silent. I demanded my money back and at first he dint want to give it to me. But when he saw that I kept making it very clear he was busted by selling old meat. And other people were standing there in amazement he wanted to shut me up so he ran gave me the money and told me to leave. I went home and RETURNED to the store and gave him ALL THE MEAT BACK. DONT BUY MEAT THERE NOR EAT THERE!!!!!! 🤢🤢🤢🤢🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

When you were expecting Arroz y gandules but it was made with parboiled rice. Baked chicken taste like wood. I couldn’t be more disappointed.

Very rude and very disrespectful my older mother went in there in order the same type of meat that she's been ordering for 10 plus years from there she comes home in the steak is not even steak and all she asked for was steak bangs out to where it's not paper it wasn't even banged out at all still small and little steaks not bang out I called the manager and explain over the phone like a cam human being instead of her going up there and causing a scene the manager literally said to me what the f*** do you want me to do about it give you free meat first of all you don't cuss at your customers who are trying to be respectful and not show their ass in front of your customers inside the store second of all you don't cuss at all to your customers third of all you are the most rudest manager I know I hope you get fired

I went for the food, and it really wasn't good at all. The pasteles smelled spoiled and there was no flavor in them at all. The rice was too dry and the chicken didn't have much flavor either. The one thing I can say is their beans are good. But I wouldn't come back for the food.

Only got a 1 star bc I had to give a star. White rice was undercooked. Pernil was dry, also didn't give any chicharron. Sweet plantains was overcooked and didn't give yuca as ordered. Totally disappointed. If it had been my money I would've asked for it back

The worst Cuban food I’ve ever had. And the ladies are so nasty and rude. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone. Threw out my whole plate

Mariyah Lucca

The worst Cuban food I’ve ever had. And the ladies are so nasty and rude. Wouldn’t recommend to anyone. Threw out my whole plate

That was the place I used to go every time I didnt bring food to work. until one day a white chubby lady(cuban), was using her cellphone and I ordered some chicharron and she was trying to give it to me with her bear hands. I told her no to touch my food with her hands and she told me “ my hands are clean” and proceeded to get a piece of paper to grab it, with tongs just seating in front of her. Is that was in front of me, I can’t imagine whats happening in the kitchen🤮🤢

Horrible. No matter what time you show up, it seems they are always mopping the floor in the dining area while you are ordering or eating. Yes, a mop that doesn't seem too clean. Seems they are remodeling but it's always so crowded of stuff; hardly any space to walk.

Have eaten here for many years and every so often I try to see if things have gone back to the good food they used to serve... it hasn’t. The food is overly salted EVERY TIME, and never tastes Spanish style. The best thing is their cafe con leche, y un sandwich cubano.. Aparte de eso la comida tiene mal sabor. I’m sorry , I spent too much money and threw away too much food from you guys. Get a cook that knows how to cook and tastes what they’re cooking!?!?

El oso blanco has to be the worst place I’ve ever bought food in my life. I had bought a chicken empanada from there and as I’m eating it, the meat was tasting old and it had a foul smell to it, and then I take another bite and there’s a huge chicken bone in there. I started gagging when I felt it. These people don’t know how to cook chicken and anytime you go there the food always looks old and never tastes fresh. They re-use food that’s days old. This place needs to get health inspected immediately. And don’t even get me started with the customer service, they treat you like they want you to leave as fast as possible and when you tell them how you want your food they get frustrated because it always has to be their way. This place needs to go out of business.

Worst Mangu I have ever had ! I’m from 2 hours south and staying in the hospital so I was super excited to find somewhere with food I like and I even expected it to be better since my small town isnt as diverse as Tampa is … It was horrible . 2 small pieces of salami and the tiniest piece of fried cheese … no pickled onions? It was skimpy , bland.. and just not what I had hoped for .

Paper Diction

El oso blanco has to be the worst place I’ve ever bought food in my life. I had bought a chicken empanada from there and as I’m eating it, the meat was tasting old and it had a foul smell to it, and then I take another bite and there’s a huge chicken bone in there. I started gagging when I felt it. These people don’t know how to cook chicken and anytime you go there the food always looks old and never tastes fresh. They re-use food that’s days old. This place needs to get health inspected immediately. And don’t even get me started with the customer service, they treat you like they want you to leave as fast as possible and when you tell them how you want your food they get frustrated because it always has to be their way. This place needs to go out of business.

Paige Brayshaw

Worst Mangu I have ever had ! I’m from 2 hours south and staying in the hospital so I was super excited to find somewhere with food I like and I even expected it to be better since my small town isnt as diverse as Tampa is … It was horrible . 2 small pieces of salami and the tiniest piece of fried cheese … no pickled onions? It was skimpy , bland.. and just not what I had hoped for .

Jimmy Turbi

That was the place I used to go every time I didnt bring food to work. until one day a white chubby lady(cuban), was using her cellphone and I ordered some chicharron and she was trying to give it to me with her bear hands. I told her no to touch my food with her hands and she told me “ my hands are clean” and proceeded to get a piece of paper to grab it, with tongs just seating in front of her. Is that was in front of me, I can’t imagine whats happening in the kitchen🤮🤢

E. M.

Have eaten here for many years and every so often I try to see if things have gone back to the good food they used to serve... it hasn’t. The food is overly salted EVERY TIME, and never tastes Spanish style. The best thing is their cafe con leche, y un sandwich cubano.. Aparte de eso la comida tiene mal sabor. I’m sorry , I spent too much money and threw away too much food from you guys. Get a cook that knows how to cook and tastes what they’re cooking!?!?

Joan Rodriguez

Horrible. No matter what time you show up, it seems they are always mopping the floor in the dining area while you are ordering or eating. Yes, a mop that doesn't seem too clean. Seems they are remodeling but it's always so crowded of stuff; hardly any space to walk.

Jennifer J

I went for the food, and it really wasn't good at all. The pasteles smelled spoiled and there was no flavor in them at all. The rice was too dry and the chicken didn't have much flavor either. The one thing I can say is their beans are good. But I wouldn't come back for the food.