What Midtown is
Midtown is the stretch running north from downtown along Thomasville Road and North Monroe Street, before the city gives way to the residential canopy roads. It is Tallahassee’s densest concentration of independent restaurants and bars, and it is walkable in a way most of the city is not.
It was not always. When Kool Beanz opened here in June 1996, this was simply a stretch of road. The neighbourhood filled in around us over the following decade, and one national magazine has credited the restaurant with being at the forefront of that revitalisation. Thirty years later, Midtown has a name and an identity, and we are still in the same building.
Getting here
From the Capitol it is roughly a mile and a half up Monroe, then bear right onto Thomasville. From Interstate 10, take the Thomasville Road exit and head south for about three miles. From Florida State, head east on Tennessee to Monroe and go north. Full directions, including parking advice, are on our directions page.
Planning an evening
If you are visiting for one night
Come at 5:30 when the doors open, eat, then walk the Midtown blocks afterwards. You will avoid the wait entirely and still have the evening ahead of you.
If you are here on business
Lunch, Monday to Friday, 11:00 to 2:30. Tell your server you have a meeting and you will make it. This is why the room fills at noon with people from the Capitol, the courts and the hospitals.
If you are here for a graduation or a game
Book early or come very early. Midtown fills on those weekends and we do not take reservations for ordinary-sized parties. For a family group of 8 to 12 we will take a booking; for 20 to 30, book The Room.
If you live here
You already know: walk in on a Tuesday, sit at the bar, ask what the kitchen is proud of tonight.
Around the neighbourhood
Midtown itself is bars, restaurants, coffee and small independent shops — the sort of district best explored on foot without a plan. Within a short drive you have the Florida State Capitol complex and the Museum of Florida History downtown, Cascades Park, the Alfred B. Maclay Gardens State Park to the north, and the canopy roads — ancient live oaks arching over country lanes — that are the single most photographed thing in Leon County.
Florida State University and Florida A&M University are both a short drive south-west.
When it is busy
Three times of year fill this neighbourhood: FSU home-game weekends in the autumn, graduation weekends, and the Florida legislative session in the spring, when the population of downtown roughly doubles. Add fifteen minutes for parking on any of those, and expect the dining room to be at capacity.
A word on the weather
Tallahassee summers are hot and humid, and the covered patio is a better proposition in spring and autumn than in August. Hurricane season runs from June to November; if a storm is forecast, check Facebook for closures before you travel.
Visiting Midtown — questions
Where is Midtown Tallahassee?
Roughly the stretch of Thomasville Road and North Monroe Street between downtown and the Betton Hills area. It is walkable, dense with independent restaurants and bars, and about a mile and a half north of the Capitol.
Is it walkable from the Capitol?
Comfortably, in about half an hour, in decent weather. Many people working in state government drive up for lunch instead and are back at their desks within the hour.
When is Midtown busiest?
FSU home-game weekends, graduation weekends, and during the legislative session. Add time for parking on any of those.
What else is there to do nearby?
Midtown is bars, restaurants and small shops. Within a short drive you have the Florida State Capitol, the Museum of Florida History, Cascades Park, the Alfred B. Maclay Gardens and the canopy roads that Tallahassee is known for.
Make us part of the evening
921 Thomasville Road. Lunch from 11, dinner from 5:30.