From Joe's Stone Crab which was the first restaurant to serve stone crabs, to Blue Heaven, with their famous mile-high key lime pie, Florida has a lot of notable food to offer. One Tampa restaurant has its own claim to fame, with two titles including the state’s oldest restaurant as well as the world’s largest Spanish restaurant.

Columbia Restaurant in Tampa’s Ybor City is hard to miss. The restaurant takes up an entire city block, occupies 52,000 square feet, and can seat 1,700 guests across multiple dining rooms, each beautifully decorated with vibrant colors, patterned Spanish tiles, and art paying homage to historical Spanish figures.

Columbia began in 1903 as Saloon Columbia, a small café opened by Cuban immigrant Casimiro Hernandez. After working in a local brewery, Hernandez was inspired to open a watering hole that catered to the area's blue-collar workers, and by 1905 the humble café had become Columbia Restaurant, with an ever-expanding building and brand.