Founded in 1905 by a Cuban immigrant, the Columbia is Florida's oldest restaurant and still a working institution rather than a museum piece. The kitchen turns out Spanish-Cuban classics — paella, ropa vieja, the original 1905 salad mixed tableside — across a warren of fifteen rooms decorated with hand-painted Spanish tiles. The Flamenco show in the Patio Room, performed several nights a week, has been running since 1989.
Reservations are essential at the weekend. The bar at the front serves the same food in less ceremonious surroundings if the main rooms are full.