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As Ybor Changes, So Does Restaurant's Clientele

Tampa Tribune staff photo/Greg Fight.

Dean Del Riccio is one of the co-owners of at the newly opened Rock-N-Sports Bar & Grille in Centro Ybor.

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 6, 2008

Updated: 02/04/2008 09:34 pm

YBOR CITY - Dean Del Riccio and Franja Eastling almost gave up on Ybor City for their Rock-n-Sports Bar & Grille.

They opened on a corner of 15th Street and Eighth Avenue in July 2005, but within 18 months the business partners were facing six months of torn-up streets courtesy of a stormwater project.

They hung on through the disruption but recently moved to a top perch in the Centro Ybor complex, with a large wraparound balcony on Seventh Avenue.

Del Riccio said the change from a smaller spot to a 172-seat restaurant and bar, plus 100 seats on the patio, also changed his clientele. Now patrons are mostly families rather than college students. He said he's also seeing regulars as Ybor City changes back into a working neighborhood, as it was when cigar workers filled the streets.

Del Riccio, 38, who commutes from Pasco County, said Centro Ybor's owners have helped with the move and with promotion. He was disappointed to see Big City Tavern close recently but is excited about the complex's growing office portion. Grafx Design of Tampa is moving in across from Rock-n-Sports, and Tampa Digital Studios also is a new tenant.

The restaurant has installed 30 televisions and a 140-inch projector screen above the bar.

"When a game is on, it just echoes throughout Centro Ybor, so people come from all over," Del Riccio said.

Rock-n-Sports Bar & Grille is in Centro Ybor, 1600 E. Eighth Ave., Suite E200. For information, call (813) 242-6220.

Janis D. Froelich

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