We visited La Teresita Restaurant at 3246 W Columbus Dr on 20 July 2009. La Teresita has a web site at http://www.lateresitarestaurant.com. We’ve been to La Teresita a bunch of times for lunch, but this was our first time for breakfast. I mean “desayunos!”

This was a special Tampa Bay Breakfast as we had our favorite person ever join us … Mom!

La Teresita is one of the best-known Cuban restaurants in Tampa and is considered a must on the Tampa Tour for out-of-town visitors. It’s a vibrant, bustling, exciting place and the prices are as low as the food is good. And it’s almost all lunch counter, which we think is pretty neat. Everyone, on both sides of the counter, is very friendly and welcoming. You get the feeling that folks have been coming here and sitting on the same stool for 30 years. That’s a good place.

Before we go any further, I’ll have to let you know about our morning challenges. Marek was being two years old, hollering and throwing cars around and generally not being interested in breakfast. We made the best of it but I’ll admit that I considered selling him to the La Teresita staff for the price of a cafe con leche.

The menu is a bit limited for desayunos. No pancakes listed, but when we asked they were very happy to make us some.

So we had pancakes. And while they were small, they were remarkably good. Nice and crispy on the edges.

And Mom had a tasty omelet made in a unique way, sort of like a frittata.

I had the scrambled eggs and bacon, and our breakfasts came with tostadas, which was a unique Cuban touch to this breakfast.

Marek proceeded to mostly ignore breakfast and alternate between playing cars and wondering if someone would save him from Dad.

Usually Marek pays the bill, but today he just wasn’t interested. So I took the opportunity to slip in an extra coffee at the end, and ordered un presso when I paid. Now that’s good coffee!

We had a nice time with some incredibly friendly people who enjoyed speaking Spanish to Marek. We had some tasty and unique food in a classic Tampa landmark. Aside from the fact that Marek woke up on the wrong side of Toddlerville this morning and caused chaos for all, it was a breakfast well worth repeating. Oh, and the three of us had breakfast for ten bucks and change. That’s a value!

We’re pleased to give La Teresita a Tampa Bay Breakfasts rating of three and a half pancakes.