Ya Ya's Euro Bistro

This is an excellent restaurant with great food.  I had to get that out of the way because I am pissed off.  I live right near this place and I haven't gone because my idiot friends and family have said it's pricey for what you get.  I didn't find this to be true at all.

The prices are comparable to any other place that is a slightly more upscale.  There is a wide range of things to order for every budget.  No dollar menu but they had lasagna for around fifteen dollars.  My meal was on the expensive side I got the bistro duet which is your choice of two entrees for $33.  One option was the seafood paella which was so damn good I can't remember what I ordered to go with it.  The seafood paella by itself is about 26 bucks.  

While we were there the chef made some sample tasters for patrons to try.  They also provided baba ganush with bread.  I know it doesn't sound great but oh my goodness did they get this right.  Almost made the flatbread we go as an appetizer pointless.  

This is a great restaurant, they have great service and have no worries the food is great too.

The Shaved Duck - St. Louis Restaurant

Unfortunately this is a tiny restaurant because it needs to be five times the size to handle the crowds it gets.  I guess there is something to be said about the intimate dining experience.  Tucked away in an unexpected location in Tower Grove this place is serving up really great food.

I ordered a ton of food partially due to the wait.  I got the Duck Confit, Smothered Fries, Duck Confit Flatbread, Duck Confit Pot Pie and Jalapeno Creamed Corn.  All are very great.  One person ordered a sandwhich, SLAP and two other people ordered two meat plates with ribs.  I would recommend getting a two or three meat platter and some extra sides to pass around the table to make the dining experience more fun.  My tip on the appetizers don't get the duck confit unless your with your spouse/significant other because while awesome it isn't very shareable.  The damn thing made me a savage in front of our guests to dinner.  You're going to have to pick into the duck confit sadly I dove.

This place is simply enjoyable.  Expect to wait an hour plus if you get there after 5:30.  I am impatient so believe me when I say it is worth the wait.

Prasino St. Charles, MO Restaurant Review

Prasino is relatively new to St. Charles and boy do I have a mixed review.  I was lured to Prasino because of my brother's review.  He said he ate some of the best food he'd ever had here.  Well I ordered the Seared Tempeh, which is a Korean dish.  I love Korean food but I had never heard of this dish and decided that's what I'd order.  Unfortunately this was the worst thing I have ever eaten in a restaurant.  Part of the philosophy at Prasino is that they use local fresh foods and run a sustainable green business.  Well this is a broth based dish and they made it with apple.  The apple just gave everything a very odd flavor and it completely dominated the dish in a bad way.

For those not in the know Tempeh is a tofu dish.  I will say the tofu was very unique.  It contained whole soy beans and had a unique texture.  If this is the one positive I pulled from this dish.  Maybe if this dish were modified slightly I would have enjoyed it more.

My wife's dish was much better.  She got a pork chop with a BBQ sauce made from Fitz's root beer.  We also had a sushi roll.  The roll was over priced but the quality was better than average but also smaller than average.

The other positives are that I loved the atmosphere and this seems like it would be a great place to grab a glass of wine.  I don't drink wine or coffee.  That being said I paid enough attention that I noticed that there were some people in there at least pretending to very knowledgeable and they were really enjoying themselves.

Hendel's Market Cafe in Florissant MO Restaurant Review

Super cozy atmosphere but still elegant.  Is that called quaint.  Quaint seems like an underwhelming word and Hendel's is in no way underwhelming.  I ordered the Salmon BLT and it was incredible.  Unfortunately, I went here during lunch.  I am really excited to try the dinner menu.  My company ordered a Portobello Burger and Southwest Salad.  I didn't ask to try either dish but both looked good.   The only suggestion I'd have is to get the dressing on the side if you order a salad.  The salad looked like it was smothered in dressing.   Everything else about it looked great.

If you are from the St. Louis area you know Florissant is in North St. Louis County, which doesn't have a great reputation.  I can honestly say Hendel's is located in a great neighborhood and there are a lot of hidden gems in North St. Louis County.  I can't say that all of them are in a great neighborhood but I can say I've never felt threatened going to any place in North St. Louis including the city.  Well with the exception of Wendy's but that's fast food.  The police came into the Wendy's I was in looking for a suspect, that incident was a bit scary.Other than that though...

The Grand Hall at Union Station - Restaurant Review

The Grand Hall at Union Station has been renovated and now serves small plates in addition to drinks.  I feel like I ordered everything on the menu.  Other features of the Grand Hall now include a 3D light show.  The light shows occur every hour on the hour.  The two I saw lasted about ten minutes.  Once was abstract and the other was a lot like a TV show on the history channel.   I liked them both.  I am pretty sure the hours for the Grand Hall are from 4 - 11.

The atmosphere was great and so was the food.  I liked all the drinks I ordered.  The drinks are given names related to railroads and are based on some of the first popular cocktails like the Old Fashioned, Manhattan and Negrani.  This Grand Hall is great for a romantic night out or a few sophisticated cocktails after a game.   Despite being upscale The Grand Hall is very laid back and welcoming.

Please please check this place out.  My wallet can only afford this once every couple of months.  It's not extremely pricey I just over indulge.

Cocktails are between 8 and 10 dollars.  Small plates range from eight to sixteen dollars and aren't very small.   The heirloom tomatoes, stacked seafood salad, oysters rockefeller and cheese & charcuterie board are all excellent.  The hummus sampler and margherita pizza are very good and the short rib toasted ravioli were good.  I highly recommend checking out the grand hall there is still a lot for me to try and the manager let us know they will be bringing in an improved menu.

Paradise Briyani Pointe, Winchester MO, Restaurant Review

All right this place is going to be hard to find.  It is tucked away in the corner of Winchester Plaza down a bit from St. Louis Bread Co..  The strange thing is that this is part of a chain of Indian Restaurants with about 40 locations nation wide.  My wife and I ordered the buffet.  There were a lot of items that I had never had before.  Unfortunately, not everything was labeled.  There was fish mash dish that was really good but I have not clue what it was called.  There was also this curry with whole hard boiled eggs that was really good.  Also, not labeled.

Overall, the food was excellent given we got the buffet.  The service was really confused.  I've never had such confusing service.  Everyone was really shy and didn't seem to know what was going on.  Most of the patrons were Indian so it may have been due to some language barriers.  Although I could understand everything .  There did seem to be a few employees who did not speak English at all.  That's okay just serve up the legit Indian Cuisine and we can keep that party popping.

Well I recommend this place.  Hopefully they iron out some of the service issues.I will say I eat at a lot of Indian restaurants and the service is typically a bit weird.

Lambert's Cafe, Sikeston, MO Restaurant Review

After seeing billboard after billboard for this restaurant I decided to stop in and check it out.  Lambert's has an old fashioned concept that was new to me.  The two unique features of the restaurant are the thrown rolls and the pass arounds.  The term thrown rolls doesn't refer to a baking method.  It refers to a delivery system.  There is a guy that throws rolls across the restaurant when you signal your ready to catch a roll.  Don't worry he's got a good arm.  Watch out hot softball sized roll, incoming.    The pass arounds are delivered by people carrying around huge pots full of food.  These come with your meal and are all you can eat.  The portions provided with your meal are huge.  If you don't plan on having anything to go watch your intake on the pass arounds.

Lambert's serves home cooked southern cuisine.  It's nothing classy but it is exactly what it's supposed to be.  This is your grandma's cooking.  Straightforward nto very creative but really good.  This is food that soothes the soul.  Overall Lambert's offers a great experience.  Now when we went we only waited for fifteen minutes to get through the door.  I've heard there can be an hour plus wait to be seated.  That is really saying something because this restaurant is huge.  If you're driving down the highway and see a Lambert's cafe billboar mark the exit and stop by for a great time.

Now there are three locations but Sikeston is the home of Lambert's Cafe.