Priority Pass - TPA
 

TPA - Tampa/St. Pete finally has a PP anything!

THE CAFÉ BY MISE EN PLACE

Menu here

I stopped by this evening before my flight back to Houston. For those unfamiliar with TPA, it has 3-4? separate airside piers that are not connected each with their own TSA checkpoints. This restaurant is located in the F gates which is home to AA, BA, and a bunch of random airlines. I went over there and was through security in about 60 seconds and the restaurant is immediately after TSA. I sat at the bar and was going to order the steak sandwich, but was told they had run out of the bread for it, so I ordered the burger. It was really good, and ordered medium was really juicy. The $28 credit will cover a sandwich and an alcoholic drink, but not much more. My beer and burger came to ~$25 after tax. I tabbed out and headed back to the main terminal to go over to the United gates.

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They're new to the airport opening early 2018 and joined PP 3 months ago the hostess said.

Are you able to use them on arrivals ?

IF not flying from F gate you have to go through security twice ?

Still bummed PP has zero at Fort Lauderdale

I haven't tried to use it on arrival, no reason you can't unless the PP website has wording prohibiting it, but I doubt TSA would let you through without an onward TPA-XXX boarding pass if you land somewhere other than the F gates. And yes you'll have to go through security twice. As I said in my original post, all of the gates at TPA have their own checkpoints and there is no way to move airside.

I'll probably have breakfast there next week before my flight on Southwest, so will comment on the breakfast menu a bit later.

Anyway I had the Breakfast Cuban, which was really good. Eggs, ham, cheese, and a tasty green sauce on good bread with a side of white cheddar grits. There is a hard stop on breakfast orders at 10:30 am and the kitchen switches immediately over to the rest of the day menu. The breakfast menu is also generally less expensive so my sandwich and 2 adult beverages came to ~$30 after tax.

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Excellent breakfast this morning at Mise En Place at TPA. I normally just hot foot it to the AA lounge but had a little extra time and was going to buy myself a breakfast anyway, Pleasant surprise to find it covered by my Priority Pass card.

Another visit to the PP here for a late lunch. Ordered the flank steak sandwich which was excellent, not just by airport standards, but simply excellent. Nice thinly sliced and layered beef, fresh bread, nice side salad. Together with a large Jai Alai IPA came to $27 after tax, so fully covered by PP. ^

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Is THE CAFÉ BY MISE EN PLACE currently open for dine-in? I'd like to stop by and actually use my PP membership. I'm not flying out of that terminal though so I'd like to know ahead of time so I don't waste time going thru TSA twice.

Just go check the TPA website day of/day before you travel. The airport has been doing a good job at updating which food outlets are open and which are still closed.

Yes but it does not specify if it is open for DINE-IN or takeout only. I've looked at yelp/google/etc but I can't really trust those to be up to date

Quick COVID esque update from today. The restaurant re-opened after a 6-7 month absence but with a drastically reduced menu as pictured below. It's open for dine in and take out and breakfast is served all day now. I had the breakfast cuban (again). Was good, not fantastic (which was my memory of it). Great service from the bartender. I was flying Southwest so I preempted the "you're at the wrong gates" comment from the TSA guy and even he was like, "glad you're coming to eat there, they're great folks and serve good food".

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Glad to hear it's operating again, thanks for posting.

Went here today for lunch. Menu is the same, they also had key lime pie and cheesecake. Crowded so slow service but nice to have the option. Food is not bad for airport food.
FYI, it took me exactly 10 min to get from the restaurant to A9 with TSA pre. Without would have taken MUCH longer. So keep an eye on time if service is slow

Note, there is now a barrier before getting on the train to F which requires you to scan your BP. This wasn't there in November. Since I was flying out of A, I had to sneak through (not recommended). I guess the airport added this restriction, TSA doesn't care.
Later, I looked it up and you can request a pass 24hrs ahead of time but the are suspending passes "due to COVID" (I'm sure someone can make up a reason). I suppose you could buy a refundable ticket to get a BP depending on how bad you want to eat there.

So even with a BP, those gates only allow access to the terminal that one is departing from?

Correct, when I scanned my BP, it said something like "Wrong Airside" thus I had to sneak through to get to F. I believe this is an airport restriction as TSA does not care about where you are departing from.

Apparently, you're supposed to get a pass (which they don't give out anymore): https://www.tampaairport.com/tpaallaccess

If you really want to get thru I guess you can buy a refundable ticket and cancel it. Though that may be against some airline coc too.

What were the hours Cafe was open? PP lists it as 5:30-14:00. Need to go into TPA for a one night trip and was going to try and plan accordingly as times aren't to specific.

Is it still possible to access after arrival? The all access pass seems to be for those with out a BP to still access airside. Been many years since going through TPA so not familiar with how things are currently.