Is Forbici at Sundial Worth It? An Honest St. Pete Review

The Short Answer

Forbici Modern Italian at Sundial St. Pete is one of the most legitimately exciting restaurant openings downtown St. Pete has seen in recent years — handmade pasta, a wood-burning oven, an Italian wine list that actually goes somewhere interesting, and a room that makes you feel like you're spending money well. For anyone asking whether it's "worth it," yes, with caveats that depend entirely on what you're expecting.

But there's a secondary question buried in the search data that I want to address directly: restaurants like Forbici don't open in a vacuum. They open in neighborhoods where people are paying $450,000 to $750,000 for condos and walk-up bungalows, and their presence is one of the most reliable signals that a downtown micro-neighborhood has crossed a certain threshold of density and investment. If you're thinking about buying in downtown St. Pete, the arrival of Forbici at Sundial is worth factoring into your calculus.

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What Is Forbici, Exactly?

Forbici (pronounced for-BEE-chee — Italian for "scissors") is a modern Italian concept that opened at Sundial, the retail and dining complex at 153 2nd Ave N in downtown St. Petersburg. The restaurant was developed by the same hospitality group behind several other high-profile Tampa Bay openings and occupies one of Sundial's anchor dining spots, facing the courtyard.

The concept centers on:

• House-made pasta cut and shaped daily — hence the name
• A wood-burning oven for proteins and pizza-adjacent dishes
• An Italian-focused wine program with depth in Piemonte and Campania
• A bar program that pulls from Italian aperitivo traditions — Negroni variations, Spritz builds, Amaro pours

The physical space is upscale without being stiff. The open kitchen lets you watch pasta being made. The room seats roughly 120 with additional patio seating in the Sundial courtyard, which becomes genuinely pleasant from October through April and manageable even in June with the bay breeze and fans.

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Is the Food Worth It?

Straight answer: yes, if you're ordering right.

The pastas are the main event. Cacio e pepe, tonnarelli with black pepper and aged pecorino — when it's on, it's as good as anything you'll find in Tampa Bay not called Bern's pasta room. The rigatoni alla vodka has been consistently excellent based on multiple visits. Portion sizes are honest for the price point, which runs roughly $22–$38 for mains, $16–$22 for pasta courses.

Where some guests get tripped up: Forbici is not a red-sauce Italian-American spot. If you come expecting chicken parm or a house salad with a bread basket, you'll be confused. The menu is Italian-leaning without trying to replicate a neighborhood trattoria. Think elevated New York Italian — minus the attitude, plus a much better sunset view.

The bar is legitimately good. The Negroni Sbagliato (with Prosecco, not gin) is one of the better versions in the city, and the Aperol-adjacent cocktails work well in the St. Pete climate. Happy hour at the bar is worth knowing about.

Bottom line on the food:

• Pasta: 9/10 when the kitchen is firing
• Proteins from the wood oven: 7.5/10
• Wine list depth: 8/10
• Service: 7/10 (can be stretched on busy Saturday nights)
• Ambiance: 8.5/10
• Value: 7/10 — it's not cheap, but it's priced correctly for what it is

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Sundial as a Location: What You Should Know

Sundial has had a complicated history as a retail complex. Opened in 2014, it went through a period of high vacancy and identity confusion that plagued it through the late 2010s. By 2024–2026, the tenant mix has stabilized considerably — Forbici is part of a cohort of stronger F&B tenants that have filled the ground floor.

The complex sits at 2nd Ave N between 1st and 2nd Streets N, two blocks from the St. Pete Pier and a six-minute walk from the Central Arts District. It's surrounded by:

• The Sundial courtyard — open-air, fountain-centered, hosts events
• Ruth's Chris Steak House (legacy anchor, still doing volume)
• Bar Taco and several smaller concepts
• The AC Hotel connected to the complex

Parking is validated in the attached garage. Street parking on 2nd Ave N and 1st St N is metered but usually available on weeknights.

For the full downtown dining ecosystem, Forbici competes directly with Birch & Vine (also Sundial-adjacent), Meze 119 off Beach Drive, and newer entrants on Central Ave. It's differentiated by the pasta-forward concept and the wine program.

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What Forbici's Opening Tells You About Downtown St. Pete Real Estate

This is where I shift gears, because the people searching "forbici sundial" aren't all just hungry — some of them are researching what kind of neighborhood this is.

A restaurant like Forbici doesn't pencil out unless the neighborhood supports it. To make the numbers work on a 120-seat concept with scratch pasta and a curated Italian wine cellar at Sundial, you need a resident base within walkable distance who will come back multiple times per year, not just once as a tourist. That resident base exists in downtown St. Pete in 2026 in a way it didn't in 2016.

Per Stellar MLS data, median sale prices in ZIP 33701 (downtown St. Pete) have held at approximately $535,000 through Q1–Q2 2026, with waterfront-adjacent condos at The Residences at 400 Beach and similar high-rises running $650,000–$1.2M. The 33701 ZIP saw 3.1% year-over-year appreciation according to Pinellas County Property Appraiser records as of Q1 2026. Days on market have stretched slightly from 2022 peaks — averaging 34 days in 33701 as of May 2026 — which actually creates better buying conditions than the panic-bid environment of 2021–2023.

A few blocks from Sundial, you have:

• The reimagined St. Pete Pier district (completed 2020, still driving foot traffic and residential demand)
• The Edge District along Central Ave, one of the most walkable corridors in Florida
• The Grand Central District further west, where prices are lower and density is increasing

For buyers considering downtown St. Pete, the restaurant ecosystem is a leading indicator of neighborhood investment, not a lagging one. Forbici opening at Sundial in 2025–2026 is the kind of data point that shows up in neighborhood analysis five years before it shows up in appreciation numbers.

If you're trying to understand what downtown St. Pete property is actually worth right now — not what Zillow's algorithm spits out, which carries a documented 7–12% error rate in Florida markets — you need a comp pull from Stellar MLS, not an estimate based on recent sales of fundamentally different units.

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The Practical Details: Before You Go

A few logistics worth knowing before your reservation:

• Reservations: Highly recommended Thursday–Saturday. OpenTable and Resy are both live; walk-ins are possible early in the week and at the bar any night.
• Dress code: Smart casual. Downtown St. Pete is not a jacket-required city, but Forbici draws a dressed-up crowd on weekends.
• Best seats: Request the counter overlooking the open kitchen if you're a food nerd. The courtyard patio seats are better for groups.
• Parking: Sundial garage off 2nd St N, validated with your server. Free for 2 hours; after that, $3/hour.
• Hours: Dinner nightly; lunch service varies by season — check directly before visiting.

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How Forbici Fits Into the Broader St. Pete Food Moment

St. Pete's food scene in 2026 is legitimately one of the better small-city dining environments in the Southeast. Within a 10-minute walk of Sundial, you can eat at Forbici one night, walk to Mei the next, and hit Central Ave's wine bars on a third night without repeating a concept.

That density of quality is a recent development — 2019–2026 is when downtown St. Pete crossed the threshold from "cute Florida city with a few good restaurants" to "a place where serious chefs want to open." The Pier redesign, the EDGE District buildout, and the ongoing repositioning of Sundial from mall to urban dining hub are all part of the same story.

For anyone evaluating whether to buy in downtown St. Pete versus somewhere cheaper in Pinellas County, this food/walkability premium is real and quantifiable. Walk scores in the 33701 ZIP average in the low 80s — higher than virtually any address in Pasco or suburban Hillsborough. That's a harder thing to put a price on than flood zone exposure, but it's absolutely priced into the market.

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The Bottom Line on Forbici

Go for the pasta. Book ahead on weekends. Order the Negroni Sbagliato and let the server steer you toward whatever shape the kitchen is running that night. It's one of the better Italian restaurants currently operating in Tampa Bay.

And if Forbici is part of why you're thinking seriously about the downtown St. Pete market: that instinct is sound. Walkable, amenity-rich urban neighborhoods with authentic restaurant density have consistently outperformed suburban St. Pete in appreciation per square foot over 2019–2026, and there's no obvious reason that trend reverses.

If you want to know what your specific address is worth — or what a downtown condo you're eyeballing is genuinely valued at versus what Zillow says — I'll pull 3 real MLS comps and text them to you within 24 hours. Free, no pressure, no commitment. Request your comp pull here.