We wanted to explore the supposedly more ethnic neighborhood of Ybor City, but found that the area has been so gentrified, most of the Cuban residents moved away in the past several years.
Regardless, the streets are lined with many bars (reminiscent of New Orlean's Bourbon Street, but with a lot less flair), a few restaurants and small shops - antiques, cigars, and second-hand stuff. Besides these, there is a new outdoor mall and theater, patronized by the students of the local community college.
With the recommendation from a guidebook, we dined at a wonderful restaurant that served Cuban sandwiches, delicious steak, and my favorite - fried sweet plaintains. Service was friendly, "natives" filled the restaurant, the bar area looked fully stocked and ready for weekend partiers, and the fish decor was quite amusing.
Although not quite as much the cultural corner of town we thought it would be, Little Havana is a neat area to stroll around for the afternoon, and experience the nightlife of Tampa Bay.