Pinellas County restaurants were eligible<\/a> for the prestigious awards: Before 2025, only restaurants in Tampa, Orlando and Miami were in the running, the result of a paid partnership between the guide and tourism agencies in those cities. Last year, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, announced they, too, had entered into a marketing deal with the brand and would pay Michelin $180,000 over two years.<\/p>\nThis year\u2019s upset mirrors the guide\u2019s decision last year, when not a single Tampa or Pinellas County restaurant received new stars or Bib Gourmand status.<\/p>\n
Arguably the most well-known and respected restaurant ratings system, the Michelin Guide is known for attracting international accolades, in particular for restaurants that receive its highest three-star rating.<\/p>\n
In the absence of stars, restaurants are eligible for slightly less prestigious awards: Bib Gourmands, which are given to restaurants that present a meal for the \u201cbest value\u201d; and \u201crecommendations,\u201d which recognize \u201cabove average\u201d food that\u2019s not quite at the star or Bib Gourmand level.<\/p>\n
Last year, several local spots received \u201crecommended,\u201d including four Pinellas County restaurants: The Tides Market in Safety Harbor and Fortu, Il Ritorno and Sushi Sho Rexley in St. Petersburg.<\/p>\n
The four Tampa restaurants that already had Bib Gourmands held onto their distinctions: Gorkhali Kitchen, Psomi, Rooster & The Till and Streetlight Taco.<\/p>\n
The Michelin inspection process is notoriously secretive. Inspectors do their visits anonymously and judge restaurants on five criteria. Generally, chefs, restaurateurs and diners across the world have welcomed the guide\u2019s presence wherever it lands. But until just a few years ago, that didn\u2019t include Florida.<\/p>\n
In 2022, Michelin published its first-ever guide in the state after locking in a lucrative deal with Visit Florida and tourism agencies in Orlando, Tampa and Miami. Collectively, the agencies shelled out at least $1.5 million over three years.<\/p>\n
Over the past few years, the guide\u2019s revamped funding structure has favored these kinds of partnerships, and Michelin\u2019s expansions are now frequently due to hefty investments. It\u2019s a shift from when the guide, founded by a French tire company in 1900, would rate restaurants in places on its own dime.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the guide announced it had secured partnerships with Pinellas, Broward and Palm Beach counties, at the behest of yearly buy-ins. Visit Florida, for its part, paid $90,000 for 2025 and $150,000 for 2026, when restaurants across the entire state became eligible for inclusion.<\/p>\n
During a livestream of the Visit Florida board of directors meeting on Thursday, Craig Thomas, the chief marketing officer and general counsel for Visit Florida, praised the statewide expansion, calling it a \u201cbig milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working towards statewide coverage since the guide first came to Florida five years ago, and today we\u2019re finally here,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichelin recognition is a big deal in the culinary world and having that presence helps the Florida culinary brand,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s good for our tourism, especially internationally, and it also helps us recruit new chefs to open new businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tourism officials in Tampa Bay have touted the area\u2019s rapidly expanding culinary footprint and said that Michelin recognition can help attract visitors from across the globe in search of a good meal.<\/p>\n
In a prepared statement, Visit St. Pete-Clearwater president and CEO Brian Lowack congratulated the restaurants who were recognized by the guide Thursday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen demonstrable growth among visitors who are seeking out our dining scene as a reason to visit our destination, and we will continue to showcase our award-winning culinary excellence and amazing cultural experiences that help define our amazing beach culture,\u201d Lowack said.<\/p>\n
Visit Tampa Bay president and CEO Santiago Corrada said his team was thrilled that Tampa restaurants received a Green Star and Young Chef award but \u201cdisappointed\u201d that Lilac lost its star.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never want to see any of your friends go through that,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hate losing a star, but then again, we don\u2019t know the process but we know it\u2019s very rigorous. You\u2019ve got to stay positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
In recent years, the guide has ramped up its recommended distinctions. In 2025, Michelin invited recommended restaurants to the award ceremony in Orlando and sent them the company\u2019s signature bright red plaques.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear what will happen now that the additional two-year contracts with Michelin are reaching their end, but representatives for Michelin have said in the past that once a guide has established itself in a destination, the \u201cintent is for it to remain there,\u201d with continued financial investments.<\/p>\n
Jason Latimer, the director of public relations for Visit St. Pete-Clearwater, said there has \u201cnot yet been any conversations with the Michelin Guide beyond the 2026 announcement.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Once again, Pinellas County restaurants got snubbed by the Michelin Guide. For the second year in a row,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":291422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[100726,596,687,199,39610,135,1526,137,136],"class_list":["post-291421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-michelin-star","tag-pinellas-county","tag-restaurants","tag-st-petersburg","tag-star","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291421","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=291421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}