Taste buds can easily turn into viciously passive-aggressive taste frenemies without proper attention. Keep your tongue from gossiping behind your back with today's Groupon: for $12, you get $25 worth of contemporary American fare and drinks at Ciccio's/Lodge on Tampa Palms Boulevard. Today’s deal can be used for happy hour and all weekly dining specials at Ciccio’s/Lodge.

Once two separate restaurants, Ciccio’s/Lodge has combined its mouthwatering California cuisine and classic American bar fare into a single lunch and dinner menu. Indecisive diners and beloved comic-book supervillains can flip a two-faced silver dollar to choose between a Ciccio brick-oven thin-crust Tuscan pizza ($5.95/half) or a Lodge country-fried chicken slider ($3.50). Pick-your-own Lodge-style TV dinners (one entree plus three sides, $9–$16) can combine fresh ahi sesame tuna wraps with tater tots, sweet 'n' spicy cucumber salad, and a fudge brownie ($11), and will also make reality's canned laughter seem less eerie. Adventurous appetites can exit their comfort zones thanks to new-fangled American sushi rolls such as the Hillsburger, an artful amalgamation of hamburger, bacon, spicy french fries, onions, lettuce, and cheddar cheese sauce ($7). Ciccio's/Lodge also serves up a variety of stir-fry selections, crispy salads, Cali bowls, wraps, and flame-grilled burgers. Any meal can be capped with a postprandial sweet such as house-made tiramisu ($5) or chocolate madness extreme cake ($5), which pulls back the thin veil of our reality to reveal a terrifying abyss of darkness—rich, creamy darkness sprinkled with darkness chips and topped with a thick layer of darkness-cream icing.

Ciccio's/Lodge also accommodates Tampa's large population of hardboiled private eyes with a streamlined menu of late-night noshing options paired with a worthy array of beer, wine, and mixed cocktails. Happy hours and weekly dining specials make it easy to sample the restaurant's finest with Monday's $5 Sushi Night or Tuesday's $2.50 Slider Night. Thursday's Ladies Night fills the Lodge with a clinking chorus of $4 sangria and synchronized party "woooos," assuming the evening's live music act isn't filling it with a chorus of its own. Otherwise, retire to Ciccio's/Lodge outdoor patio with a bucket of PBR cans ($10) and become instant friends with every passerby.

Reviews

The Tampa Tribune featured the merging of Ciccio's and The Lodge. Eighty-one percent of Urbanspooners like Ciccio's/Lodge.

• While both restaurants share the same menu, loyal Ciccio's customers will find plenty of their favorite entrees included, he said. The same is true for popular appetizers served at The Lodge. "It's a complete fusion of the two; and the menu is available all day," said Garofano, a Tampa Palms resident – Kenneth Knight, Tampa Tribune
• Have been back twice since first visit and will keep going back now and again for the laid back feel, food and the folks. Also a nice place to watch the game that is not too crazy. – Gulf Coast Guy, Urbanspoon