A new upscale, late-night cocktail lounge is being developed at 2756 Central Avenue, at the western edge of St. Petersburg’s Grand Central District. 

Tampa Bay Drinkery is the brainchild of Wellington Moto, who’s part of the management team of Grumpy Gringo Liquors, located next door to the new establishment. He told St. Pete Rising it’s about two months away from opening, but when it does welcome patrons, it will add something different to Grand Central’s nightlife scene.

“We’re looking for a more mature crowd,” he said, adding that Tampa Bay Drinkery, which will be open from noon to 2:30 a.m., seven days per week, will feature a piano player who takes requests on weeknights. On weekends, a small three-piece band might play. During daytime hours when business tends to be slower, he plans to have a jukebox-like vinyl record player so customers can choose their own music. 

The menu, Moto said, will feature “a selection of French, Spanish, and Italian wines. We have a small distributor that brings in special wine from France. So, the wine that we’ll be serving is not wine that you're going to find at ABC Liquors or Publix Liquors. Everything will be exclusive, and we’ll have a lot of craft cocktails featuring fresh herbs and a lot of infusions — coffee, cacao, things like that.”

The bar’s sour mix, he added, will be homemade with fresh lemons and limes.

Despite appealing to a more sophisticated clientele, Tampa Bay Drinkery, Moto added, will keep prices reasonable — probably $8 to $15 for a craft cocktail. “We don’t want to rip people off with $25 drinks,” he said.

The 2,000-square-foot space will be able to seat a maximum of 90 people. Moto also plans to install a walk-up window and bar so customers can order drinks and sit outside without going into the lounge proper.

There will eventually be a food menu, he said, but that’s probably a year away, at least, to give him time to build out a full-scale commercial kitchen.

“The food will be very different … it will be bar food, but not the typical bar food that you typically see,” Moto said. “It will be upscale bar food. I'm a chef originally, and I used to be a chef in New York City for 18 years for different catering companies. I'm trying to bring some of that upscale, Upper East Side, Hamptons type of food into St. Petersburg.” 

Moto also plans to differentiate Tampa Bay Drinkery from the competition by offering an elevated standard of service. He said nothing is more frustrating to him, as a bar patron, than having to stand around for 10 minutes or more while trying to get the attention of a bartender, and he’s going to require his bartenders to acknowledge customers — by at least making eye contact — within five seconds of them approaching the bar. 

“Look at their face, look at their eyes, blink or something — let them know that you know that they're there,” he said. “When somebody acknowledges you, you don't mind waiting 10 minutes.” 

Follow Tampa Bay Drinkery on Instagram at @tbdstpete.