{"id":153564,"date":"2026-02-12T22:08:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T22:08:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/153564\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T22:08:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T22:08:10","slug":"iconic-south-tampa-restaurant-haven-is-closing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/153564\/","title":{"rendered":"Iconic South Tampa restaurant Haven is closing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">South Tampa restaurant Haven will close, capping more than a decade in business, the restaurant group behind the happy hour hotspot announced Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">A new seafood concept led by longtime Haven executive chef Chad Johnson will replace the iconic restaurant, according to a press release from the group, which also owns nearby Bern\u2019s Steak House. The new restaurant does not yet have a name, but has been in the works for several years, and reflects \u201cthe restaurant group\u2019s long-held belief that great hospitality is grounded in continuity and thoughtful evolution,\u201d the release said.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/6953acfeb671e85a1eb0edb80f8c143f.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Haven opened in March 2015 inside the space formerly home to SideBern\u2019s, at 2208 W. Morrison Ave. Over the years, the restaurant received rave reviews, including from former Tampa Bay Times food critic Laura Reiley, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tampabay.com\/things-to-do\/food\/dining\/review-haven-in-sideberns-old-spot-sets-high-bar-from-the-start\/2225277\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:who wrote at the time;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">who wrote at the time <\/a>that she was \u201cover-the-moon in love\u201d with the spot, which sported a much more casual approach than both its predecessor and Bern\u2019s. The restaurant became a popular happy hour destination, praised for its robust cheese and charcuterie program, edgy cocktail list and envelope-pushing small plates menu.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Bern\u2019s Steak House owner David Laxer said in the release the restaurant \u201cplayed an important role in our community.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">\u201cWe dig deep to learn, source and execute the best techniques and offerings the industry has to offer our guests,\u201d Laxer said. \u201cThat commitment will carry forward into a new concept building on the foundation, lessons, and culinary stewardship that have shaped this chapter.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"rounded-lg\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/30bc1831dff40d400075723e5f81b08d.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The new seafood restaurant will open in fall 2027. According to the release, Haven will stay open until the summer season, and employees of the restaurant will be \u201csupported throughout the transition.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Tampa restaurant Haven will close, capping more than a decade in business, the restaurant group behind the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[74095,74096,62605,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-153564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-chad-johnson","tag-iconic-restaurant","tag-seafood-restaurant","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}