Tampa Bay’s first Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks will open next month near USF

Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks Credit: Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks

A popular West Philadelphia-style cheese steak chain is coming to Tampa this summer.

Big Dave’s Cheesesteaks plans to open a new location in late August in the former Little Greek space at 2548 E Fowler Ave., which is the same plaza as Dave’s Hot Chicken, Chipotle and Mojo Books & Records.

So yes, the plaza will now have two Dave’s.

This will be the first Tampa Bay outpost for the fast casual chain, which is actually not based in Philly. Big Dave’s currently has a total of seven locations across Georgia and the Carolinas, as well two Florida locations in Oviedo and Orlando.

For the unfamiliar, the chain serves up a variety of Halal-certified cheesesteaks served on Amoroso’s rolls. Guests can choose between beef, chicken, salmon or veggie cheesesteaks. There’s also “Cheesesteak Egg Rolls,” “Philly Fries” and banana pudding up for grabs.

This is now the second popular chain to debut near the USF Tampa campus this summer. A couple weeks ago, North Carolina-based fast food chain Cookout opened its first Tampa Bay outpost down the street at 5501 E Fowler Ave.

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This article appears in July 23 – 29, 2026.

Colin Wolf has been working with weekly newspapers since 2007 and has been the Digital Editor for Creative Loafing Tampa since 2019. He is also the Director of Digital Content Strategy for CL’s parent…
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