The Mazzaro’s coffee bar is one of the best places to eat in Tampa Bay

ST. PETERSBURG — The second I pulled into the Mazzaro’s parking lot, I began to question everything.

The iconic Italian market off 22nd Avenue N was “stalk people walking out of the store and hope they are leaving” full. I waited longer than I should have for a couple to very meticulously load groceries into a cooler in their trunk and pull out.

But I persisted, even as others gave up, and remembered why I was here: to find a seat at the coffee bar. It seemed even more far-fetched than finding a parking space, but I’m not one to abandon a mission without trying every option.

Nestled in the middle of the main room with the deli counter, right next to the glorious bakery, the U-shaped bar is sneakily one of the best seats in Tampa Bay.

Here’s another secret: When you go on a day like I did, and the deli counter is more crowded than Main Street at Magic Kingdom, feel free to skip it entirely. Head to the bakery and grab a slice of pizza, thick-crusted focaccia-like squares they sell right near the bread. Get a salad and a tub of bruschetta from the cooler near the deli, and maybe a cannoli or a biscotti.

If you’re anxious about finding a seat at the bar before you go look for food, place your drink order to stake your claim then tell the person behind the bar you’re going to forage. They’ll put a little Reserved sign on your seat, which feels more decadent than it should. I snagged one of two seats left.

You can order coffee at the bar, even espresso drinks and hot tea. But you can also order wine, the house red or white, which is served as a generous pour for $6. Six! dollars! That won’t even get you half of a cocktail at most trendy bars these days.

With childcare secured for this afternoon and nothing on my to-do list for the next couple hours, I settled in for a light lunch and a large wine — and some incredible people-watching.

To my right, there was a rotating gaggle of shoppers ordering coffees and teas, most of them visiting family in the area. It was a real-time “we live where you vacation” moment, as group after group sidled up, clutching loaves of bread and talking to the bartenders about how this spot was a treasured destination on their trip.

Mazzaro’s opened in the 1990s and has expanded over the years to a couple buildings along 22nd Avenue N, filling every cranny of the main building with everything from imported olive oil to fresh ricotta cheese to prepared foods. People come for lunch, ordering sandwiches from the bustling deli counter in the back, and to shop, crowding the aisles to pick up produce or specialty vinegars or fresh pasta. Coming here on a Saturday is only for customers with the strongest resolve. There’s an entire separate room dedicated to wine and cheese, and a bakery case where you can order a single biscotti or an entire cake. It smells just like the Italian grocery stores I wandered into during a college trip to Florence, that musky mix of ripe Parmesan and fresh tomatoes.

To my left at the coffee bar was a row of four men in their early 20s, gigantic sandwiches in front of them and an open bottle of wine on the counter to share. By the time I had finished my pizza square, I knew everything about them. One lived at home with his parents near the beach; another was back in town from his Manhattan apartment. They all seemed to have jobs that took them often to far-flung locales, from Thailand to California to Italy.

An older man overheard them talking about their travels, and joined in. Turns out, they had all recently visited the same small city in Tuscany, and talked passionately about their favorite cut of beef there. They nodded in agreement between bites of chicken Parmesan and gulps of red wine, and declared Mazzaro’s the closest they’ve come to recreating that Italian experience.

I’ll cheers to that.