The Chattaway

The Chattaway has been feeding St. Petersburg since 1951, which puts it among the older continuously running restaurants in the city. It is the kind of place locals point to when out-of-towners ask where the “real” St. Pete eats, not because it is trendy but because it has quietly stuck around while newer spots have come and gone. According to the restaurant’s own history, it has been part of the community in one form or another for more than 90 years, and the current incarnation as The Chattaway dates to the early 1950s.

The menu leans into old-fashioned, down-home cooking: burgers that the restaurant markets as award winning, fried catfish, and daily comfort-food specials like sloppy joes and spaghetti that rotate through the week. It is unpretentious food served in an unpretentious setting, which is a big part of the appeal. The restaurant describes its outdoor seating area as a “Garden Oasis Patio,” a shaded, plant-filled space that is also explicitly dog friendly, so this is a reasonable stop if you are out walking a dog around the neighborhood and want to grab a burger without leaving your pup in the car.

One detail that surprises first-time visitors: The Chattaway also runs a proper afternoon tea service, with sandwiches, scones, crumpets, and English tea, available by reservation with 48 hours notice. It is a strange and charming juxtaposition, a burger-and-catfish joint that also does formal tea service on the side, and it tells you something about how this place has managed to stay relevant for over seven decades by not being afraid to do its own thing. Tea reservations run through a separate booking system, so if that is what you are after, plan ahead rather than walking in.

For a regular lunch or dinner, hours run into the evening every day of the week, with a slightly later close on Fridays and Saturdays. Because it is a beloved neighborhood spot rather than a downtown destination restaurant, parking is easy and the vibe is relaxed, more picnic table than white tablecloth. If you want a sense of what St. Petersburg dining looked like before Beach Drive got its wine bars and brasseries, this is a good place to start. Go hungry, order a burger or the catfish, sit out on the patio if the weather cooperates, and do not be surprised if the table next to you has been coming here for decades. That kind of loyalty is not manufactured, it is earned one plate of comfort food at a time.