Founded in 1905, Columbia Restaurant in Tampa’s Ybor City is Florida’s Oldest Restaurant. Other locations include Sarasota, St. Augustine, Sand Key on Clearwater Beach and Celebration; Columbia Cafes are located at Tampa Bay History Center and Tampa International Airport.
The restaurants are part of the Tampa-based 1905 Family Of Restaurants, which has been family owned for five generations. Other 1905 Family restaurants include Ulele and Casa Santo Stefano in Tampa and Cha Cha Coconuts in Sarasota. Cafe Con Leche Ybor City operates at Tampa International Airport.
The company is owned and operated by President/CEO and “fourth-generation caretaker” Richard Gonzmart, as well as his daughter Andrea Gonzmart Williams and his nephew, Casey Gonzmart, Jr., both of the fifth generation.
The menu of the “Gem of Spanish Restaurants” features a mix of Spanish and Cuban favorites, including paella, sangria, tapas and an extensive Spanish wine list as well as ropa vieja, picadillo, empanada and boliche.
The Columbia Restaurant is famous for its Original Cuban Sandwich, which uses a recipe more than 110 years old, and the Original “1905” Salad, which is prepared tableside. One taste of either is like time travel. USA 
Today once said the “1905” Salad was one of the best meals in the United States to make a meal out of. Southern Living Magazine named the Cuban sandwich the best in Florida.
Table dining is offered indoor in a large, ornately decorated dining room with authentic Cuban and Spanish flair as well as outdoors on a covered patio overlooking beautiful Lake Rianhard and the Town Center fountains. Private dining also is available, as well as takeout ordering by phone and takeout catering. Or guests may sit at the bar and enjoy dining with full service.
The restaurant is open 365 days a year, including offering special menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
The company began on Seventh Avenue in Tampa’s historic Ybor City neighborhood in 1905 when Casimiro Hernandez, Sr., opened a restaurant after the previous Saloon Columbia burned down across the street. He named the restaurant after the patriotic song, “Columbia, Gem of the Ocean.” Columbia also was the name of the first ship from the United States to circumnavigate the globe.
Casimiro, Sr., grew the restaurant dining room by dining room over the years with his son, Casimiro, Jr., and, later, Casimiro’s daughter Adela Hernandez Gonzmart and son-in-law Cesar Gonzmart. The restaurant in Ybor City now occupies an entire city block.
Columbia opened on the corner of Front and Sycamore streets in Celebration Town Center in 1997.
The story began in 1996, when Richard Gonzmart heard from a party that wanted him to open a Columbia Restaurant in Celebration, Disney’s upscale planned community. It was the latest in a series of pitches many developers had made with claims of a Disney pedigree.
“So many people always said, ‘We’re with Disney World and we have a project for you.’ They’d call and call. Finally, I went to Kissimmee. I introduced myself and they took me to a room called the Goofy Conference Room. That’s about how I felt, because I wasn’t prepared for a real serious group.”
Richard returned to Tampa convinced that the company should open a restaurant in Celebration. Like his Columbia ancestors, Richard snapped at opportunities as they presented themselves.
“It’s been a tremendous success,” he said. “Everybody in my family and the company didn’t agree with me, but I felt I had took over, going with my gut feelings. I felt in Disney World, the pulse of what was happening in Florida. Anything Disney was involved with would be a success. I said, ‘How could we fail?’ I didn’t want to put a Columbia in a tourist-oriented location. I wanted to put it in something where residents would come, and still would have allure of the tourists.”