The Story
BELLEAIR BLUFFS — Eight hundred fifty-four days.
That is how long it took the Pappas family to turn an idea into Tavern in the Bluffs, and the number is on the menu to prove it: The 854 Margarita, the new sports bar and grill’s signature drink, is a winking nod to the wait.
It ended July 24, when the family opened the doors at 2890 W. Bay Drive for a friends-and-family soft opening, bringing life back to a Belleair Bluffs Plaza storefront that has been dark since Cody’s Roadhouse closed in March 2024. The Pappases also own the Backwaters restaurants in Sand Key and North Redington Beach.
“That’s how long it took from the time they came up with the concept until we opened the doors today,” said Katherine, a member of the opening-day staff. “So a lot of people have been waiting for this day for a long time.”
Anticipation had been building since June 2025, when the Pappas family went before the Belleair Bluffs City Commission to ask for later closing times. The commission granted an extra hour on weeknights and two more hours on weekends so the bar could carry NFL games and other late sporting events.
“I’m all for this,” Mayor Chris Arbutine said at the time. “We’ve been talking about making something happen in that shopping center as long as (Cody’s) has been empty.”
The vibe
So was the wait worth it?
On the evidence of opening night, yes.
“They did a great job with the place, and the food and the service are excellent,” City Administrator Debra Sullivan said over dinner with City Clerk Alexis Silcox and their spouses. “We’re so happy for the Pappases and for the Belleair Bluffs community.”
The transformation from old-school steakhouse to sports bar is a thorough one. An open floor plan splits the space between bar and dining room, 41 televisions line the walls and can run individually or in tandem, and framed jerseys of local sports figures, Mike Alstott and Tom Brady among them, hang on the brick.
Constantinos Pappas, a co-owner, said the screens are visible from every seat but are meant to recede.
“There are TVs everywhere, and they can operate individually or all together,” he said. “But they’re not overwhelming. If you want to tune them out and talk to your companions, you don’t even know they’re here.”
On a July night with only baseball on, that held up. It is harder to imagine come the Major League Baseball and NFL playoffs.
The food
The bar pours beer, wine, sangria and cocktails, including a bananas Foster old fashioned and a cucumber gimlet.
The kitchen runs from salads, sandwiches and burgers to steak, seafood and pasta, mixing sports bar staples such as wings and mozzarella sticks with a few curveballs: chicken Parmesan pasta, mussels, shrimp scampi and coconut-crusted mahi-mahi.
Two standouts: the ribeye steak sandwich, which should be a hit, and a handmade cannoli that can hold its ricotta against any Italian kitchen in the area.
The service
The staff, hired from what the owners describe as a deep pool of applicants, was knowledgeable and attentive on opening night, from the servers to the bussers.
Good service on a soft-opening night is table stakes. Pappas said it will stay a point of emphasis.
“We know that service is a big reason why people want to come back to a place, or why they don’t,” he said as he worked the room during the six-hour event. “So we want to make sure that everyone gets great service every time they come in here.”
Tavern in the Bluffs, 2890 W. Bay Drive, is open from 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday and until 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.