Bern's Steak House

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

A Tampa Institution Built from Scratch

The story of Bern's Steak House begins not with a grand vision but with a salvaged sign. In 1956, Bern and Gert Laxer purchased a beer bar on Howard Avenue, pieced together letters from the existing signage, bought a single "S," and quietly launched what would become one of America's most storied steakhouses. They had no investors to speak of, no culinary pedigree — Bern had actually vowed never to enter the restaurant business after watching his aunt labor away in hers. What they had was an uncompromising commitment to quality and the willingness to work seven days a week, Bern as cook and dishwasher, Gert as waitress, hostess, and second dishwasher.

Over the following decades, the Laxers bought up the adjoining shops on the block one by one, expanding from a single room to eight dining rooms and from 40 seats to 350. The philosophy guiding every decision was simple: "We Do Things Differently."

The Steaks, the Cellar, the Dessert Room

At its core, Bern's is a steakhouse, and the beef is treated with rare seriousness. All strips, Delmonicos, porterhouses, and T-bones are U.S.D.A. Prime, cut to order by in-house butchers and dry-aged on the premises for five to eight weeks, then charbroiled over natural hardwood lump charcoal. Every steak entrée arrives with French onion soup, house salad, baked potato, onion rings, and the vegetable of the evening — a full meal, not just a cut of meat. For guests who want to go further, the menu extends to A5 Japanese Wagyu, a dry-aged rack of lamb, and an extraordinary caviar selection spanning 22 varieties.

The wine program is, by any measure, extraordinary. Over half a million bottles and 6,500 labels are stored across an on-site 50-degree working cellar and a dedicated temperature-controlled warehouse. Guests can choose from more than 150 selections by the glass on any given evening, including rare older vintages, dessert wines, ports, and sherries. That depth earned Bern's the Wine Spectator Grand Award — a distinction held continuously since 1981 — and a 2016 James Beard Award for Outstanding Wine Program.

Dinner ends, for those who wish, upstairs in the Harry Waugh Dessert Room. Built using California redwood wine casks, the room comprises 48 private booths where guests can work through nearly 45 desserts, 15 flavors of housemade ice cream and sorbet, and an extensive list of dessert wines, ports, madeiras, and sherries.

The Family Continues

Bern passed away in 2002 and Gert in 2020. Their son David Laxer now leads the restaurant as owner and president, personally approving beef orders, wine purchases, and spirit barrel selections. He is supported by Executive Chef Chad Johnson, Chef de Cuisine Brent Hunt, Director of Wine Chris Belk, and Pastry Chef Hannah Thomas — a team that, as the restaurant puts it, is "a true family, just the way Bern intended it to be."

Nearly seven decades on, Bern's Steak House remains a place where the details — the age on the beef, the vintage in the glass, the private booth at the end of the meal — are treated as anything but incidental.