My DH and I are going to St. Louis this weekend to visit my parents. On Saturday night, we are planning to go out to dinner with another couple. We love to eat well and have unique dining experiences. So far, here are the places I'm considering: Lucas Park Grille (downtown); Vin de Set Rooftop Bar & Bistro (Lafayette Sq.); Araka (Clayton); Sage (Soulard); BarCelona (Clayton); and Franco (Soulard). An "old stand-by" if none of these places work out would be Modesto on The Hill. But, I would love to try somewhere new and different, if possible.
Any comments about the above locations or any other recommendations of somewhere that we absolutely MUST GO?!?
ps. We'd like to keep the bill less than $150 per couple incl. wine.
Restaurant Advice in STL!
Recent Activity
View all United States activity »
- 1 Best place to raise a family in Florida
- 2 Exciting historical sites in upstate NY
- 3 Hudson Valley to Stockbridge, MA/Berkshires
- 4 Need help with itinerary to Seattle, Oregon, California
- 5 Seattle to coast to columbia River Gorge
- 6 JFK to Upper West Side by subway
- 7 Buy now or wait . . . airfare to Santa Barbara in late July?
- 8 time for a new countdown to Hawaii
- 9 Bryce Canyon vs. Yellowsyone
- 10 Seatlle, WA
- 11 10 days after cruise - Fort Lauderdale Fly out from LA?????
- 12 What area to stay in for Memphis
- 13 What are the best activities in Key West?
- 14 Memphis Tours
- 15 Newport, RI Questions
- 16 Meredith New Hampshire
- 17 California, Northern
- 18 Back to the Lovely City!!
- 19 Northern Idaho - Western Montana Drive
- 20 Advice for 2 night intro trip to Moab in early June (1-3)
- 21 Pick up north of Boston Logan
- 22 Question about Northeast Wisconsin along the lake
- 23 Around North America (cruise)
- 24 East coast tour - Part1: NYC
- 25 Boston and surrounding area
My recommendation in St. Louis is always Giovanni's (on The Hill). I haven't been there in several years, but I have fond memories of my meals there.
Smallish place with wonderful food.
http://www.giovannisonthehill.com/
Maybe someone else has gone recently?
Of course "Must go" is fairly subjective, it really depends on what kind of atmoshpere you want and what kind of food you like to eat.
Vin de Set is wonderful, and if you can get a reservation for outdoor seating, you will probably be able to see the fireworks. Even though the levee is flooded, they are doing a "Live OFF the Levee" http://celebratestlouis.org/site/
this weekend. I think there are fireworks every night. Have no idea how likely you would be to get a reservation. They may be booked already.
I was not impressed with Araka, food was ok, service was terrible, it was very noisy so if you actually want to talk to your friends, this may not be the place. Likewise, BarCelona which has good food, but always very busy on the weekends. We were at Pomme Wine Bar (our favorite wine bar with really good food) just up the street last Saturday and BarCelona was a busy noisy scene.
Trattoria Marcella,3600 Watson Rd. 314-352-7706 has far better Italian food than most of the restaurants on The Hill.