Due to conditions beyond my control, I’m going to be spending my 18th birthday in a car being driven across Missouri. My family is going from Kansas City to St. Louis, and my mom has said that we should go out to eat.
So here’s where you guys come in. I’m not really farmiliar with St. Louis, so I need to know some good restaurants.
I don’t really like restuarants, especially fancy ones. (Fancy=I have to wear something other than jeans and a t-shirt.) You have to sit and wait for your food, and then there’s way too much of it when it comes. And it’s usually complicated (too many different ingrediants–I like simple food). And I want to get some kind of tasty dessert thing–after all, it is my birthday.
I like Chinese, Italian, and Mexican food. My favorites for each are lo mein, fetuccine alfredo, and chicken flautas and rice, respectively. Chinese and Mexican restaurants aren’t really known for their dessert, so if you have a good suggestion for one of those, I’ll just get dessert somewhere else.
So here is your task: find me a casual restaurant, with nice, simple food, in St. Louis. Chain restaurants are ok, too.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Can’t help you with the Mexican here, as I haven’t found any in my one month in Saint Louis. But a good, fast, casual place for Asian would be Stir Crazy on Olive in Creve Coeur. It’s just west of Lindbergh (Highway 67) on Olive. For casual Italian, it’s hard to beat Candicci’s which is just west of 270 on Olive. However, they have more complex meals so you might not like it, although I think they have some simple pasta dishes also. There are many nicer Italian joints down in The Hill; but I’ve not tried any of those yet so I can’t make a recommendation.
Check out the St. Louis dining guide. You can find just about anything.
My family goes for the simple food not the fancy stuff so we go to El Maguey for our Mexican food. Good food, very inexpensive and not bad for desert. We like the flan but they make “fried” ice cream & sopapillas too. Our favorite chinese restaurant is Hunan & Peking on Manchester Rd. I haven’t had a bad dish yet and the fried bananas make a great desert if you like that kind of thing. For simple pasta we like The Pasta House but the Spaghetti Factory is lots of fun and it’s right on the St. Louis riverfront so you get a lot of fun atmosphere too.
Good luck & Happy Birthday!
I’d do Candicci’s. Good food, nice atmosphere (not too dressy, but no fat, hairy guys in tank tops, either).
They do a fantastic fettucini alfredo.