Wow. It is easy to see why Charlie Gitto's has garnered 4 1/2 stars overall on this site. It was…read morethat good. I was taught by brother that you should book your first dinner reservation as after flying all day, one is tired, and not able to make good decisions...hence eating at a TGI Fridays in New Orleans on our first night. I have heard about that since. Charlie's had the perfect vibe going as it has a great reputation. Wendy was also simply amazing and shared may stories of St Louis and was just a tremendous server. The only thing that tricked us was the Toasted Ravioli. It has meat in it, and my wife is vegetarian. The Arancini was terrific and the table bread was also quite tasty. My wife had the Manicotti and I had the Chicken Lemonata. So great. The bottle of the house Gitto's Red was the perfect wine as well. A great experience at a restaurant that is a legend in St. Louis and I am glad it was our first meal in the city.

Any St Louis trip I make, Gitto's will always be a stop for me and my guests. An absolute top…read morenotch / great experience for Italian. We've had so many of the dishes and special items....every one of them delivers great flavor. The atmosphere is perfect. The service is on point always. An old school approach to a tremendous dining experience. Special Note: Suzanne - an owner along with her brother: she always makes the place for me. She somehow always remembers me, even though I don't live in Stl. She always sends an antipasti to my table....and makes the night start off great! Suzanne and that little laugh and smile she has - she's a gem!

We came from Kansas City and we enjoyed this place!! The…read morefood was great, the stuff is friendly and the cocktails tasty.

The food was fabulous: fresh, hot, flavorful. The service was top-notch. Andres was our amazing…read moreserver but you could see well-trained professional staff from the hostess to the kitchen team & expeditor who brought piping hot food to our table as soon as it was ready. The restaurant is traditionally lovely casual with wood beams, rock details & outside dining. An excellent dining experience!

Respectable Americanized-Italian restaurant on The Hill…read more.. I was in town for work with the ole ball and chain, and we met some friends at MOTH for dinner on a Friday... Quint lil restaurant nestled in the middle of the STL Italian district. The restaurant looks like a big Italian family room and smelled like my G-Ma's kitchen. The staff super super friendly and accommodating. As for the food, it was solid Italian but I wouldn't call it "authentic", but more Americanized Italian fare (albeit the toasted raviolis were as good as advertised). We really like that the staff didn't rush you... Good pacing with dinner and no pushiness to turn tables. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was the price... $250 for 4 people is expensive regardless of it being STL. While I still contend Gian-Tony's is the best Italian restaurant OTH, MOTH was good and offers an enjoyable dinner experience with friends and family... It's easy to see why they've been a successful family run business for so many years.

I've been craving a true vodka sauce pasta for months, and this absolutely delivered. After dealing…read morewith a house flood and being without a kitchen for nearly three months, this meal honestly felt therapeutic. The sauce had the perfect consistency... creamy, rich, and with just the right amount of kick. I skipped the peas, added a meatball and paired it with the recommended Koha Sauvignon Blanc. Easily the best vodka sauce I've had in St. Louis! Already dreaming of the day we meet again. We sat on the patio and had wonderful service with Connor. Music was great, bread and oil was fantastic and they were able to seat us and get our food out to us so quickly even at 7 pm on a Wednesday.

The vibes of this place are immaculate. It's part restaurant, winery, baked goods, and your Italian…read moregrandma's house all in one. The hours are tight but the focaccia will make up for it (so good OMG). We had the classic sandwich and pasta. The sandwich has really fresh ingredients and the pasta was cooked perfectly. The menu changes every week, but the sandwiches stay the same. Food came out very fast and the owner was very kind in answering our questions. Would recommend this place to anyone wanting amazing Italian food.

I was amazed, how excellent and authentic the homemade pasta is at Vicini Pastaria. I went there…read moresolo on a Friday at noon for lunch and have been wanting to try the Pici Cacio e Pepe pasta plate especially since that's a food staple in Rome and wow! It was so flavorful and on point. Also, as an appetizer I ordered the focaccia bread and a small sample of the olives that was an awesome lunch maybe the best pasta I've had in St. Louis which is really saying something. I can't wait to return with family and friends. I loved the interior of the restaurant and they also have an outdoor patio off to the side of the block of businesses there. It was very friendly and is in a beautiful old building in Lafayette Square.

This was a little hidden gym for me to try out recently for dinner. You have to utilize street…read moreparking so that can be a little difficult to find depending on how busy it is. On the outside it looks smaller, but there's a lot of dining space inside the staff is very friendly and helpful with menu suggestions. They also have a small patio area for outside dining as it gets warmer outside. They have a wide variety on their drink menu and a large wine selection. They start your meal off with bread and hummus, which was pretty tasty. I got the rigatoni with shrimp and it was a pretty good dish. I think it could've used a little more seasoning, but overall it was a solid meal.

Best Lasagna in St. Louis. The portions are huge (at least the lasagna was). The lasagna was served…read morewith a sauce and I was unsure I would enjoy this but it was AMAZING! I had left overs for 2 days. This was our first visit and it was a Friday night and very busy. We sat at the bar for dinner as we were going to the theater and could not afford to waste time. Service was very kind and attentive, offered several recommendations for dinner. I should have made reservations so Make the reservations, it will be worth it. I also do not typically like toasted ravioli but these were also excellent. The service was great! I would highly recommend and will absolutely return.

What a great find in Clayton. Was in town visiting my daughter and was looking for a causal spot…read morewith good food. I stumbled across Pastaria and was immediately drawn to the place. I sat at the bar and was immediately greeted and given a menu. I ordered the Citrus Salad and Fried Risotto Balls. OMG the risotto balls are something that cannot be passed up. Simply amazing. The salad was so good, could have used a touch of acid but was superb. The service was top notch and will not only be coming back but recommending Pastaria to anyone that I like. The restaurant vibe is fantastic. Welcoming and hopping but not too loud that you couldn't hear yourself think.

Who doesn't like Pasta!!!…read more So it was a girls night, i will say the restaurant is open and noisy. Not off putting type of noisy, but you are not having any romantic private conversations here. We are in Clayton so you know the ambiance is right, nothing to complain about there. My waiter was attentive, almost to attentive, until it came to the check then I couldn't find him lol. Not complaining though because way to often you have to be ultra patient. WE had a large chopped salad which was delicious. I had Pomodoro pasta which was good. BUT THE STAR OF THE SHOW WAS THE BRUSSEL SPROUTS. we ate two orders and I ordered one to go. Now i am not a pasta snob but I do enjoy the hill, and my favorite Italian restaurant is EAtely in Chicago. Now this, aint that. But i would definitely come back and try other things on the menu. ITs affordable enough that i can bring my whole family, its nice enough that this could be classified as a special night out. If you have teenagers or young adults that are currently dating within a budget, your date will feel special if you bring her here.

Oh, you like delicious, fresh food? Oh, you like quality…read moreliquor? Oh, you like a cozy, bustling hidden gem? Oh, do I have the spot for you! I have had salve osteria on the hit list for a while, and my expectations were far exceeded. This place is both insanely busy and also a hidden gem at the same time. It does not get the attention, nor press it deserves. The place is jumping with good people and good vibes. I got their New Years special which was prix fixe with prime rib as the main event. Everything was superb. The cassoulet had a beautiful spice with a velvety texture. The crab tom yum risotto was so decadent. Silky smooth from the coconut with a beautiful herby finish from the mint chili oil to complement the crab. I never thought I'd say this, but the brussel sprouts stole the show! Cooked in some bacon fat they were crunchy, salty, and perfect. Oh, and the prime rib was everything a kid could ever dream of. Fatty and the cacao rub was amazing. The horseradish was spectacular. The whipped potatoes were light and airy. Think of mashed potatoes in whipped cream form. A texture and flavor combination I will now dream of because I imagine I will never get to experience something so lovely again. As for cocktails, i kept it simple with a martini... I mean, it is a gin bar, how could I not? The service was great. I was dining solo and the servers and bar tender kept me updated, well taken care, and treated with intense hospitality. Despite being super busy they still prioritized me! Can't wait to get back and try the normal menu, everything looks lovely in a lovely space full of lovely people!

Food 4.2 Service 5.0…read more Ambiance 5.0 I ordered the gnocchi appetizer and I knew I was in for a treat after the fist bite. Fluffy clouds of delightfulness. The duck bread entree was seared to perfection and cooked exactly how it was meant to be cooked. The Panna Cotta was a seasonal masterpiece. I did have one issue: I ordered a Barr Hill Vodka Martini at a premium price, and it had a strong taste of Juniper. I alerted the staff and they were very apologetic and understanding, unfortunately the manager assured me it was Vodka and didn't acknowledge the possibility it tasted like gin. I'm guessing bartender failed to rinse the shaker properly after the previous gin shake, resulting in a vodka drink with a strong gin flavor. The staff kindly replaced the drink with a lower quality vodka that helped satisfy me. The situation was resolved, but I walked away feeling misunderstood and dismissed by the owner. I will be back and I do recommend this restaurant. :)

My daughter and I started out with bread that was not warm, which is surprising. These days, a lot…read moreof places make you pay for bread, which is disheartening, so this was a plus anyway that they offered us bread, albeit cold. We ordered a bottle of Amarone and enjoyed it with the whole meal. For starters, we ordered the polenta with Italian sausage between the two of us. We could only exclaim about how creamy the polenta was. It was extremely hearty, with some vegetables and thinly sliced Italian sausage. I'm glad that the Italian sausage was thinly sliced because otherwise it would have been overpowering for my palette. The next dish that my daughter had was technically a Caprese salad, which was tomato and mozzarella. She didn't like the red onion, but had asked for balsamic vinegar on the side, which she added to the salad, and when I tried the balsamic vinegar, even I realized that it is one of the best that I have ever had. My daughter went with the gnocchi, and said that it was among the best that she had ever had. We shared a veal and mushroom risotto between the two of us, and it was perfectly moist, the veal was not overpowering, and it was perfectly cooked. The veal just simply melted in the mouth. My osso buco came on a saffron risotto, and the osso buco was fantastic, tender, and simply delightful. I enjoyed the marrow very much, but I almost wished that the dish came with polenta, not risotto. However, it was still magnificent. We took dessert to go, because we couldn't finish everything at all. However, this is definitely not going to be the last time we come here. The ambience was fantastic, very intimate, darkly lit, but still noisy, with people having fun here. Our service was top of the line, with great humor. Give this place a try. You won't be upset, neither will you regret it. Our compliments to the chef, staff, and owner. What a home run.

2025's New Years Eve dinner at Lorenzo's. My youngest has her birthday on NYE so I was able to host…read moreher and her friend for dinner at Lorenzo's. The restaurant looked amazing, and I was somewhat surprised that they served their regular menu as opposed to a limited menu as many places do on a holiday. My daughter and I both had the salmon meal while her friend tried a special, grouper. My salmon filet was perfectly done and the pasta and fresh vegetables it was served on was fantastic. Tori had an aperol spritz and it was delicious while I stayed with a soft drink so nothing to share there. Both of them enjoyed their entrees commenting on freshness and flavor. For dessert they selected cannellonis and I had a slice of their house made cheesecake and a cup of coffee. Dessert was just as delicious as the entrees were. It is very costly but for a white table cloth dinner to celebrate both a birthday and NYE it was amazing. The service was splendid, our server was a beautiful young lady with suggestions on selections, the bussers were busy seemingly there waiting for you to finish so that they could remove your plate. I hope to return soon on a dinner date that with a lady I would like to impress.

Went with 2 of my children and it was family friendly. Everything we ordered was great. Definitely…read morerecommend.

Went for lunch with my sister and brother in law and left stuffed with a big ol to go bag too!…read more I had the lasagna, my sister had the baked rigatoni with the world's largest meatballs, brother in law had the Tony sandwich and we all loved our meals. The location was chosen because it was a good midpoint for us, a friend in the neighborhood recommended it. Really appreciate it as it is a fairly nondescript outside and in a shopping center. Inside it was pretty dark despite it being a sunny day.... There is a total vibe Service was good and efficient.

My mom and I used to come here a lot when I was little, so she decided she wanted to run it back…read moreand go here for her birthday lunch. It really is consistently good and we've never had a bad experience here. We started with cocktails and I had the espresso martini. It was very good! She had more of a fruity martini and also enjoyed it. They give you bread which is always a plus, and we started with an appetizer of mozzarella fritti which was fresh mozzarella and fried. Delicious. We also obviously had to get the salad and it was so good with the house dressing. We had the chicken piccata and the pollo Soto. My piccata came with a side of pasta and was very tasty. I loved the lemon and the capers. Our server was kind and helpful. I definitely recommend making a reservation because we went at noon on a Saturday and it was poppin! I'll be back :)

Like I mentioned in my other review, don't make the same mistake we did in thinking you could get a…read moretable on a Saturday night on the hill with no reservation! Thankfully, we weren't waiting too long until our table was ready. We were seated outside and were quickly given water and menus. We both started with the house salad and were given complimentary bread. The salads and bread were ok, but nothing to write home about. I'd say all the restaurants on the hill have the same bread except for a couple, so don't expect anything fancy. I got the Italian Lemon drip and thought it was refreshing. Up until that point, our server was relatively attentive and seemed to have no problem communicating with us. When it came time to take our order, I got the chicken spiedini special but asked if a few things could be removed (which she said wasn't a problem). Evidently it was because my boyfriend's food came before mine only to be met by the manager who claimed our server was misinformed and that modifications couldn't be made after all. He then asked if I was ok getting it how it looks in the picture, which I was happy to take (I prefer it this way). What struck us as odd is why our server couldn't tell us that. We didn't think it was a big deal but it clearly showed the lack of confidence she had and her inability to properly communicate. Unfortunately, service was just ok after that but then when it came for the bill, she read the price aloud! Again, it definitely wasn't necessary and instantly made me not want to come back. It was incredibly tacky and I was over it and that point. Overall, it was ok but I'm not sure this warrants a return visit.