After just two years, The Wine Bar Cafe in Seminole Heights is no more. Located at 6428 N. Florida Ave., the spot officially closed last Saturday, May 25.
In a Facebook post last week, owner Wes Miller thanked his employees and guests and pointed to personal health concerns as the reason for the closure.
“I'm very sad to announce that– because of health reasons– this will be our last week of being open,” read the post. “I want to personally thank all of our customers that have been so loyal to us, as well as employees. Our last night will be Saturday May 25. We will be deeply discounting all of our wine by the bottle and craft beer. Once again, thanks to the entire community for their support.”
Wine Bar Cafe opened in the summer of 2017, and was a lifelong dream fulfilled for Miller. “This is something I wanted to do for years,” said Miller to the Tampa Bay Times. “Four years ago I put together a focus group from the Seminole Heights Bicycle Club and discovered there was a need for a wine bar and different places to eat. Some years ago if you wanted to eat somewhere you had to go outside of Seminole Heights, and now more restaurants are popping up, but there wasn’t a wine bar cafe.”
Over its brief two-year run, Wine Bar Cafe was well-received. Creative Loafing food critic Jon Palmer Claridge called the establishment “excellent across the board” in his February review, and the space was often a popular choice for local music acts and book signings.
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This article appears in May 23-30, 2019.