where to dine for work in downtown St. Louis?

December 1, 2014 9:22 AM

I'll be in St. Louis on business the week of the 8th. I'd love suggestions by locals for delicious slightly upscale or super-tasty places to go for dinner in that area. Prefer to stay away from greasy heavy fare, love most ethnic or regional cuisines.

I've never been there before, and am staying near Maryville Center. We will have a car, but prefer not to go far afield for dinner.

Bonus points for local sights still open/worth visiting in the evening. How bad is the parking situation thereabouts? How long should I allow back and forth from the airport? Looks to be about half an hour on Google Maps, but that's not always the most realistic...

posted by canine epigram to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

Best answer: Any of Bailey's Restaurants are damn good establishments (and Dave Bailey is a damn nice guy). In the downtown area I'd recommend Bridge or Range (or Rooster for breakfast/brunch). If you want great tavern food with fantastic beer, Schlafly Tap Room is one of my favorite places in St Louis. A little bit further away in my old neighborhood of Tower Grove South, Local Harvest is a great place. Also not far from downtown is the Central West End, which is home to a ton of great restaurants, like Brasserie and Taste, Pi, the Wildflower and probably many more that have sprouted up since I've moved. In nearby Soulard you can find a great modern French place, Franco.Another great neighborhood for eating is Lafayette Square, home to 1111 and Vin De Set, among many others. Much further from downtown, but incredibly worthwhile is Farmhaus. Really, St Louis has an amazing restaurant scene. You won't have a problem finding a ton of great places.
posted by slogger at 9:45 AM on December 1, 2014 [4 favorites]

Gah! I just saw you said you're staying in Maryville Center. My brain somehow parsed that as Downtown. Most of these places would be a 15-20 minute drive. I don't have many recommendations for west county. Sorry!
posted by slogger at 10:26 AM on December 1, 2014

I've got the same lacuna of knowledge on good local west county restaurants as slogger, but came in to vouch for his recommendations anyway. You'd be better served going into the city proper or at least the inner-ring 'burbs for good eats.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 10:48 AM on December 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The Crossing in Clayton is considerably closer than most of the above recommendations (all of which are great places, but as mentioned aren't close to west county). Clayton is about 15 minutes from Maryville Centre.

There are quite a few other good restaurants in Clayton. Outside of the city proper it's probably one of the better areas for restaurants in St. Louis.
posted by jedicus at 11:37 AM on December 1, 2014

Best answer: If you're in Maryville Center, you're out in suburbia - at least a half hour from downtown, and 20 minutes from the Central West End, which is where you'd find a lot of your more interesting restaurants. I'd heartily recommend making the trip down that direction - parking will not really be an issue, as St Louis is designed around the car.

If you want to stay out west, Sugarfire smokehouse has good barbecue out that direction, and I've heard good things about The Salted Pig, but can't vouch for it myself. Annie Gunn's is a pricey but good steakhouse. Charlie Gitto’s, also in Chesterfield is a solid Italian place.
posted by chrisamiller at 12:10 PM on December 1, 2014

Since you're out by Maryville Center, your closest really great restaurant is Veritas, which is about 10 minutes away, maybe a hair more. It's very under-rated in my opinion, as good or better than many of the restaurants mentioned above, but it doesn't get much press probably because it is so far in to the suburbs.

I second the recommendation of Annie Gunn's if you want steak (though it is fairly expensive, if that is a concern)

I can't second the recommendations of Charlie Gitto's in Chesterfield. Very disappointing the last time I was there. Overpriced for what you get. If you are in the mood for Italian, Villa Farotto is less than 10 minutes from Maryville, and much better.

Finally, if you want somewhere with both good food and good acoustics (I love this place because you can actually have a dinner conversation with your dining companions) I recommend Yia Yia's and it's only about 5 minutes from Maryville.
posted by antimony at 9:06 PM on December 10, 2014

Response by poster: Thank you everyone! We made it to Annie Gunn's and the Crossing, and were not disappointed with either. Just very very full. :)
posted by canine epigram at 5:12 PM on December 13, 2014