The city drank from this building for most of the 20th century. Built in 1903 as Tampa Heights’ original water works pump house, drawing from the natural Ulele Spring on the property, it sat abandoned for decades before the city tapped the Columbia Restaurant Group and Metro Bay Real Estate in 2012 to bring it back — a renovation that kept the structure’s historic red brick façade intact while turning the inside into an 8,800-square-foot restaurant, beer garden, and brewhouse.
It opened in August 2014 as Ulele (oo-LEE-lee), named for a legendary Native American princess whose bronze statue now stands on the grounds. The restaurant is the personal project of Richard Gonzmart, fourth-generation head of the Columbia Restaurant Group, whose family has run Tampa’s Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City since his great-grandfather Casimiro Hernandez Sr. opened it in 1905 — Ulele is his take on what Florida food looked like before that.
The menu leans into that idea: Florida seafood, beef from Florida cattle, local produce, dishes built around the restaurant’s centerpiece 10-foot barbacoa grill. On-site brewer Tim Shackton keeps a rotating lineup of house beers on tap, including Rusty Red and Water Works Pale, brewed a few dozen feet from where they’re served. Outside, the restored Ulele Spring still flows into a lagoon behind the building, part of a small waterfront park the city built alongside the restaurant.
The setting is most of the draw. Ulele sits directly on the Tampa Riverwalk in Tampa Heights, at the path’s northern end, with indoor and outdoor seating overlooking the Hillsborough River — around 385 seats total between the dining room, bar, and patio. It’s an easy stop if you’re already walking or biking the Riverwalk from downtown, and a legitimate destination if you’re not.
Good to know: Ulele is at 1810 N. Highland Ave. in Tampa Heights, open 11 a.m.–10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m.–11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Reservations are accepted and recommended for dinner, especially on weekends — call (813) 999-4952 or book online at ulele.com.