7th + Grove

In the heart of historic Ybor City, 7th + Grove has become one of Tampa's most talked-about tables, and one of its warmest. Founded in 2019 by Dr. Vondalyn Crawford, Dr. Jamaris Glenn, and Khalilaa McDuffie, the restaurant grew from a simple observation: Tampa had all the soul of the South, but few places serving truly authentic Southern cooking. Their answer is a menu of elevated comfort food threaded with Guyanese influence, plates that feel like a family gathering and look like art. The kitchen leans into the classics and then pushes them somewhere new. Braised oxtails, the dish guests come back for again and again, arrive fall-apart tender. Collard green egg rolls, fried catfish and Gulf shrimp, smoked gouda grits, and pimento cheese fritters round out a menu that treats Southern staples with real care. It is food meant to be shared, lingered over, and remembered. The space matches the plates. Bold murals, teal velvet seating, and an open kitchen give the dining room an energy that carries from a weekday lunch into a late-night weekend crowd, where a thoughtful cocktail program takes over. The name says it best: Eat. Vibe. Flourish. 7th + Grove is Black-owned, women-owned, and LGBTQ+ owned, and it wears that identity as an invitation. Community sits at the center of everything here, from the way the room fills with regulars to the owners' belief that food is a universal storyteller with a way of bringing people together. Whether you are stopping in for shrimp and grits at midday or gathering friends for oxtails and cocktails after dark, you are welcomed like you belong, because here, you do. Next door, the same team runs Roast on 7th, a coffee shop and bakery, making the block a small hub of Southern hospitality in Ybor City.