WAIT. JUST WAIT. Don't go yet if ever. They don't have their shit together yet. I guess if you are staying at the hotel, go ahead and eat but if you are a neighbor, skip it for now. We have now ordered to-go twice and both times they screwed it up. The first time, we could live with it. The second time, we couldn't so I returned it. I ordered at 5:54pm and it is now 6:47pm. I literally live across the street so that's how long it first, took to get the order, they said 15, it was over 30 and then when I went to return it, she took my credit card and was gone for 15+ minutes. I thought I would get my money and go. Nope. No one knew where she was. I asked for them manager, he walked into the restaurant and then walked away. What a horrible experience. Nothing offered for the problem AND she kept the tip. On the way out she was then like do you want to stick around and I will comp you? WHAT?! did I miss something? You've taken almost an hour of my time and my family is waiting to eat. We are done. There are WAY too many awesome places to eat in St. Louis.
Started out the first review as a 3. Not anymore.
This place is brand new, as in open to the public on its second day when we went for dinner new, so I hope to upgrade this review as they evolve.
This place is literally across the street from our house so we have high hopes of a good new restaurant coming to downtown St. Louis.
Let talk about the best thing first. The Friday special, the 30+ hours smoked beef short rib, was INCREDIBLE! Chef Birk is a genius with that smoker. The meat was falling off the bone and the meat was the size of something from the Flintstones! 19 bucks got you that 40 pounds of meat (ok maybe slightly exaggerated), absolutely delicious homemade mashed potatoes and my husband switched out the shaved Brussels sprouts with lardons, aka bacon for the spinach side. I recommend doing the same. They were delicious. I thought this was a great value and we look forward to trying the pork steaks on Tuesday. There is a smoked special every week night for $19.
So I ordered a BOWL, now remember that, a bowl of chicken and dumplings. I asked her how big it was and she said it's like a soufflé ramekin. I thought she was misunderstanding me and telling me the size of the cup of chicken and dumplings. Ummmm no, that was it. A 4" diameter 1 3/4" high 6.5 ounce capacity standard ramekin on a plate way too big for it. They charge 8 bucks for that! Seriously!? It really was more of a very thick chicken thigh stew with 2 pinky finger dumplings in it. I LOVE dumplings! And I wanted dumplings in my soup, lots of them. Didn't happen. I ate the 2 pinky finger dumplings, and let it sit. The cup btw is a coffee cup she said. Just FYI, most coffee cups are 8 ounces and it costs $5.
And for the record, I wasn't going to pay 8 frickin dollars for soup and not take it home if I didn't eat it but they didn't have a take home container yet. Thankfully, she took it off our bill.
Our server is going to be the bartender at the roof top bar and she will be PERFECT for that! She was chatty and used words like "sweetheart & darling" and told stories. She tried to answer all of our questions, and I had a lot, because I didn't have my phone to google the terms. Finally, she got the Chef and I am glad she did. My husband has a severe allergy and she guessed wrong about it. No biggie. That's why we ask and ask and ask and offer every scenario of its presence.
I also had their house salad. A VERY good value at $5. I expected dumplings the size of the salad plate and salad the size of the dumpling plate. This sucker was really big! Like dinner plate that is a shallow bowl big. I added the butter croutons because I like a crunchy touch in my salad. I liked the shallot vinaigrette dressing, it was pretty mild. I also asked to taste the Gus' pretzel crostini.
Gus' is a landmark pretzel business in St. Louis and a beloved institution. These crostini were slightly rubbery tough to chew pretzels cut on the bias. When you microwave the pretzels to eat them on the second day, they are a bit like this. I expected them to be buttered and toasted crispy, they were not. If your teeth need a work out, try them, if not skip it and have a Gus' pretzel while you are in the city.
My husband asked on the way home if I was glad I went. I told him yes, because I am a nosy neighbor and have been watching this rehab for a long time. The hotel is very beautiful and they are preserving a landmark in our city. As to the question of did I enjoy my meal, No, not really. No, I was disappointed. I enjoyed HIS meal. The rest of the menu seemed pricy to me, I told him I thought everything but his meal seemed $5 over other area restaurants.
Do I recommend it? YES! Eat whatever is smoked that day. Try the French Onion Soup, it's a local specialty and a nod to the shuttered department store next door. I am curious to try the chicken fried chicken. I'm sure we will go back at least once a week. read more