OT:St Louis for couples

[Our 2 Princesses]

My dh and I got a good flight to St Louis and so we are going there for the weekend for our 15th anniversary (no kids.) I have not been there so I was wondering if anyone could tell me what romantic things (such as restaurants, etc.) St Louis offers for couples on a budget and also what touristy/non-touristy places we should visit while there. We are really not interested in going to the zoo. Thanks for everyone's help!

 

[NotUrsula]

For restaurants, see reviews in the Post-Dispatch (www.stltoday.com) and in Sauce Magazine (www.saucemagazine.com).

The specialty cuisine of St. Louis is Sicilian Italian. Most of the well-known local Italian restaurants are in the Hill neigborhood, EXCEPT for the most romantic two, which are Downtown. Those would be Tony's (Mobil 4-star), and Kemoll's. (We are talking white-gloved waiter treatment at either one of them; definite splurge.) My personal recommendation for excellent food, romantic but NOT intimidating is Trattoria Marcella, which is in my neighborhood, Lindenwood Heights (close to the Hill but not in it.) If you want to eat at TM, reserve two weeks ahead for a weekend evening; the dining room is rather small. http://www.trattoriamarcella.com/
The Hill is a great place to just walk around and explore -- you might want to do that at lunchtime one day.

Another legendarily romantic restaurant is Cyrano's, in Webster Groves. Personally I think that their dinners are too artsy and expensive due to the small serving size, but the desserts are worth every penny. Another restaurant with really good desserts in Webster is Cravings, which is just a few blocks away, and cheaper and more accessible than Cyranos. http://www.cravingsonline.com/sys-tmpl/hoursanddirections/

Another fun place to eat is the Chocolate Bar, in Lafayette Square south of downtown. http://www.baileyschocolatebar.com/ It's a bar/restaurant dedicated to all things chocolate.

Don't discount Forest Park. Skip the zoo if you want to (the zoo is actually quite popular for dates here), but one of the most romantic things in the city is right next door. You can take out a rowboat or even a gondola at the Forest Park Boathouse in season, and there is a restaurant there as well. http://www.boathouseforestpark.com/ The Art Museum has a Wolfgang Puck restaurant that is excellent, and the history museum is a nice place to wander around holding hands and learning about St. Louis. If you're here in summer you can go to a play outdoors at the Muny. http://www.muny.com/ or Shakespeare in the Park with the Repertory Theatre http://www.repstl.org/

You will really need a car to do romantic well here, unless you want to go more for the areas of the city that are popular with the college crowd, which are fairly accessible via MetroLink. Clayton, the Central West End and Downtown *can* be romantic, but you'll really be limiting your restaurant choices, and all of those neighborhoods tend to skew a bit more expensive if you are not hanging with the college crowd.

That said, the best hotel deal in the city is the Renaissance Downtown. It's a convention hotel that is not often filled. Beautiful rooms, deluxe service, but great special prices on weekends. If you want romantic in spades in a hotel, look at the Cheshire Inn (near Clayton); they have some very over-the-top Fantasy Suites. http://www.cheshirelodge.net/FanSuite.htm

Also, we have gambling here, lots of it. The newest casino complex is Lumiere Place, downtown.

 

[merekc]

I'm not from St. Louis, but these are things that we enjoy when we go. Someone else can correct me if any of my info is incorrect. Most of it is food. Somehow that is all we remember from our trips.

Pinup bowl is a martini bar/bowling alley.

Blueberry Hill is a fun hamburger joint, not necessarily romantic.

Definetly eat some Italian food on the Hill. Somebody might be able to suggest a good/romantic place.

There is the butterfly house in Forest Park. It is neat to walk through and see the butterflies. There is also an art museum in Forest Park.

Busch Brewery tour.

South of St. Louis in Sikeston is Lambert's Home of the Throwed Rolls. Tons of good homecooking food, and they throw your dinner roll at you.

City Museum is cool and different, but there will be lots of kids there.

There are Indian Mounds East of St. Louis if you enjoy that kind of thing.

There is at least one casino maybe more.

The arch and its museum.

St. Charles or one of the suburbs (I believe) has a lot of antiques shops.

This is not my kind of thing, but read about it when researching our vacation. - The Lemp Mansion, home of the ill-fated Lemp family, brewers of Falstaff Beer and others, is considered one of the most haunted places in the nation. It is open to the public as a restaurant, murder-mystery dinner theater, and bed & breakfast.

You can eat a concrete at Ted Drewes which is on Route 66. Maybe other Route 66 places, I don't know.

Union Station was converted to a shopping mall - neat old building with stores. Can't beat that.

That's about it for me.

 

[NotUrsula]

Lambert's is a 3.5 hour drive from St. Louis in Sikeston -- old folks go there on bus tours. I wouldn't recommend it unless you like starchy food and hokey hospitality next to the interstate, with a VERY long wait to get in. The Lady & Sons it's not. A better out-of-town romantic excursion would be the towns of Kimmswick, which is full of antique stores, or Hermann, which is full of wineries AND antique stores! Kimmswick is closer, Hermann is 70 miles west of St. Louis. If you're really into Mark Twain, you could also go to Hannibal; it's 110 miles north of St. Louis.

The butterfly house mentioned is inside the Zoo. It's a ticketed attraction that is part of the Insect House. There is another, better butterfly house in West County at Faust Park, where there is also an antique carousel you can ride on. Both have a fee.

The Missouri Botanical Garden is quite romantic on a pretty day, www.mobot.org

The "concrete" mentioned at Ted Drewe's is frozen custard, which tastes like really rich ice cream. The stand has been a St. Louis and Route 66 landmark since the 1930's -- I live less than a block away. By all means, do go. www.teddrewes.com

 

[ajh88]

Ursula definitely has me beat on dining recommendations - I'd follow some of her advice!

I would also suggest checking out the Delmar Loop - it is where Blueberry Hill is located, along with Fitz's (burger joint and soda "brewery") - neither of which is very romantic but both of which are fun. It is a very high energy, eclectic area of town.

We also LOVE the Tap Room (Schlafly brewery) and Crown Candy Kitchen - both are near downtown - also probably not in the "romantic" category, but the Sticky Toffee Pudding at the Tap Room is to die for!

I would also recommend The Hill if you like Italian - our personal favorites are Zia's and Cunetto's, though there are "nicer" places than that!

You could also go to the Art Museum and/or the Museum of Natural History in Forest Park - I *think* the Art Museum has a pretty nice restaurant, but it's been awhile since I've been there.

We also enjoy the Botanical Garden - absolutely beautiful and a nice way to spend a few hours outdoors - the weather has been nice the past couple of days too!

You can find more info about any of these places by Googling them - I don't have all of the links handy. Hope you enjoy your trip!

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

From St. Louis here too...

St. Louis is a relatively large (sprawl) metro area with lots of unique neighborhoods and suburbs. If you can give us a better idea of your idea of "budget" (keep in mind, this is one of the more affordable areas of the country) and whether or not you will have a car, I think we can give you some great ideas! Also, do you have any specific food preferences? For example, do you LOVE x but hate y?

As others have said, the Hill is a wonderful ethnic neighborhood with lots of restaurants, small bakeries and italian grocers. Amighetti's is where a lot of people go for lunch (sandwiches), but I'd recommend just about any of the small restaurants where you will get a smaller portion of the dinner entree at lunch (and at a smaller price too!).


One place I'd definitely recommend is the Missouri Botanical Garden for a romantic stroll. It's one of the best botanical gardens in the US (lots of people get married on the grounds). There is also a small restaurant inside where you can enjoy a nice glass of wine.

One of my favorite "off the beaten path" places to go for lunch is Crown Candy Kitchen, and OLD fashioned soda fountain. It's located on St. Louis Avenue in old North St. Louis. The neighborhood is not very pretty -- it's been depressed for years, but everyone...from the Mayor to the Chief of Police...goes there. The best thing about Crown Candy Kitchen is the malts! I'd also recommend the BLT sandwich that is stacked sky high with bacon.

Sidney Street Cafe is a good romantic dinner place. Never had a bad meal there...ever...and it's not italian!

Hope this helps some. If you want to PM me with your address, I'd be happy to send you some tourism information on the City...maps and that kind of stuff.)

Karen

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

One more thing...Lambert's is definitely not close to St. Louis! Never been to Pinup bowl...but I do enjoy Saratoga lanes on Sutton Avenue in Maplewood. It's an old-fashioned bowling alley that's upstairs. Last time I was there was about 2 years ago...and they were still hand setting pins!

 

[NotUrsula]

I'd agree with Crown Candy; my MIL hung out there in HS. It's not a 1950's malt shop, it's a 1930's malt shop. I didn't mention it originally because it definitely requires a car, and the neighborhood can be VERY intimidating for those who don't know their way around. There is always a line WAY out the door at lunchtime on Saturdays; it only seats about 30 people.

I do like Sidney Street Cafe, too, I lived a couple of blocks away from there when I was single. It is in the Soulard/Benton Park neighborhood.

One place I would also recommend if you are at all religious or like ecclesiastic art is the New Cathedral on Lindell Blvd. The entire interior is covered with mosaic art, and it is one of the most beautiful churches in America -- maybe among the most beautiful in the world. Not romantic in the usual sense, but marriage is a religious institution for most people, and it is a beautiful place to think about that aspect.

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

Thank you SOOOOO much for all your great suggestions!! I really appreciate it alot! We are staying at the STL airport Marriot from a Sat thru a Mon afternoon. We are not renting a car so we will be relying on the train and if need be taxis to get us around. I know we want to go to the Arch for awhile. Anything else a must see while we are visiting that area? Also, I was wondering if there was a nice mall/movie theater area we could get to from the train? We may have around $500 to spend so we don't want to spend it all eating at $$$ restaurants but one nice restaurant would be great. One more question... do you think the the riverboat dinner cruise is worth the money or do you think we should opt for a one hour cruise during the day? Thanks again everyone!!

 

[Jill2150]

We don't really have a "train", we have a metro-link that really only runs downtown to near the airport, not really out to suburbs. You can probably take it to the Arch and downtown, but probably not any good malls. You are probably closest to West County(good mall) or St. Louis Mills (ok mall). You are also not far from the shops on Main St. in St. Charles. These are specialty shops if you like that kind of thing. But again no train here, would have to do a taxi. There is also a huge Bass Pro Shop in St. Charles (near Main St and Ameristar Casino). Ameristar is a good casino, and so is Harrah's which you are fairly close to. This would be good for a night out, and there are good places to eat here. I am not too familiar with Riverboat cruise but maybe someone else can answer this.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I can't remember the name of the estate of the beer family where you ride the trams and tour the grounds of the farm. That was the best part of the visit to St Louis last summer with the wife. Free alcohol doesn't hurt either.

We loved the zoo, nicer the most.
The arch area is nice, but looking across the river is not too nice.
A baseball game if the Cards are in town is another nice spot.

We bought furniture at West County mall and had it shipped 400 miles to KY.

I was impressed with the tourist activities in the St Louis area and wish that we could have stayed longer.

You may want to look at National for a car rental to give you more freedom to move around. We rented a Volvo for $80.00 covering 4 days over a holiday weekend with unlimited mileage.

 

[MNFootballMommy]

I can't remember the name of the estate of the beer family where you ride the trams and tour the grounds of the farm. That was the best part of the visit to St Louis last summer with the wife. Free alcohol doesn't hurt either.
We loved the zoo, nicer the most.
The arch area is nice, but looking across the river is not too nice.
A baseball game if the Cards are in town is another nice spot.

We bought furniture at West County mall and had it shipped 400 miles to KY.

I was impressed with the tourist activities in the St Louis area and wish that we could have stayed longer.

You may want to look at National for a car rental to give you more freedom to move around. We rented a Volvo for $80.00 covering 4 days over a holiday weekend with unlimited mileage.

Grant's Farm--free and fun!

Ummm...Cunnetto's and Ted Drewes! My mouth is watering!

 

[NotUrsula]

Oh, it's a shame you're staying out at the airport; there is nothing in walking distance from there, including the train station. You'll need to take the hotel's parking shuttle across I-70 to get to it, because there are no sidewalks taking you from Pear Tree up Airflight under the highway to the terminal. The traffic at that intersection is VERY busy, crossing on foot there is probably more than your life is worth. (Though there is a good Indian restaurant on the top floor of the Airport Plaza Inn over on Lindbergh; it's called India Palace, and they have a very good lunch buffet for a bargain price.) Think about Pricelining an economy car -- really.

I'm pretty sure that Metrolink tickets purchased at the airport stations are more expensive than those purchased elsewhere; you might want to buy in advance online if you'll be travelling from there.

The easiest mall to get to from MetroLink is the Galleria near Clayton. You would take the Shrewsbury train to the Richmond Heights Station on Galleria Parkway, then walk under I-170 to the mall; the walk is about 1000 feet. Getting to West County Center or the Mills Outlet Mall without a vehicle would be ruinously expensive. You could rent a nice car for the weekend for less than the one-way cab ride would cost you to either location. The metro stop for the Delmar Loop is east of Skinker past the Pageant Theatre, it's 4 blocks or so to walk to Skinker, past mostly parking lots these days.

I haven't been on one of those dinner cruises in ages, but I'd think going during the day would be the better bargain. The riverboats tend to have rather mediocre food for the price.

 

[ajh88]

I can't remember the name of the estate of the beer family where you ride the trams and tour the grounds of the farm. That was the best part of the visit to St Louis last summer with the wife. Free alcohol doesn't hurt either.

We loved the zoo, nicer the most.
The arch area is nice, but looking across the river is not too nice.
A baseball game if the Cards are in town is another nice spot.

We bought furniture at West County mall and had it shipped 400 miles to KY.

I was impressed with the tourist activities in the St Louis area and wish that we could have stayed longer.

You may want to look at National for a car rental to give you more freedom to move around. We rented a Volvo for $80.00 covering 4 days over a holiday weekend with unlimited mileage.

Are you thinking of Grant's Farm? We also enjoy this place - a little like a zoo, but not totally. It is technically free admission, but parking is $10 (last time we went). Nice, but not easily accessible if you don't have a car.

A lot of the things suggested here won't be easily accessible without a vehicle - agree with PP about urban sprawl! You might want to consider seeing if you can get a deal on a rental car.

http://www.metrostlouis.org/MetroLink/stationlist.asp

This will tell you where the Metro goes - you can definitely get to the Arch and Laclede's Landing (some restaurants and clubs there - not really my scene though!). It also has a couple of stops in Forest Park so you can explore there via Metro, and you can get to Union Station (also not my favorite spot, but definitely a tourist stop). I think it also stops near the Delmar Loop that I mentioned before, but I'm not sure of that exact stop. I don't know about getting to West County Mall without a vehicle, but I think there is a Metro stop right near the Galleria (used to be a great mall - just so-so now, but still not bad!).

 

[Our 2 Princesses]

Okay... I am definitely going to suggest to my husband that we rent a car. Maybe we can find one cheap. Thank you!

 

[NotUrsula]

You can probably get a good small rental car through Priceline for well under $20/day. Priceline is very reliable for rental cars. See www.betterbidding.com for bidding tips and bid amount comparisons.

 

[lntsmom]

St. Louis is on my short list of "if I never go there again it will be too soon" places. We had a horrific experience at the Days Inn on Washington Street. It's a flop house! Homeless people hanging around, bullet holes in the ceiling, black mold all through the bathroom area.

My strong advice is to stay at the most expensive hotel...4 or 5 stars...that you can find. I'm not sure about romance, but I'd say that if you stay in the downtown area you'd be smart to be back in the hotel by dark.

Last time we went we stayed in Kirkwood. I thought it would be safe, since it's a beautiful little suburb. A couple weeks later the story about the sicko who kidnapped boys as sex slaves broke. He lived right in the area where we stayed. Then recently, there was the wacko who killed people at a town-hall meeting there.

I know none of this is helpful advice, but it's my honest experience with the city!

 

[NotUrsula]

Hokay. St. Louis has its bad neighborhoods and good, just like anyplace does. (Kirkwood has a good side and a bad side, too -- it's a suburb, but the population is over 30K there. However it only has a handful of hotels, all located in the same neighborhood near the intersection of I-44 and Lindbergh Blvd, of these, the Best Western is in the worst area -- in the parking lot of a WalMart/Lowes/Target/TJMaxx that backs to a relatively rough neighborhood. I shop there at least once a week. You really CANNOT judge safe or unsafe in a suburb of 30K based the actions of two mentally ill individuals.)

Hotel-wise, Downtown is going to be a mixed bag. Generally speaking, the closer you are to the Convention Center, the better the hotel. However, the "name" hotels near Union Station are quite nice: the Omni Majestic, the Hyatt Union Station, the Hampton Inn, the Residence Inn, and even the 2 Drury properties. The previous poster hit the bad day jackpot with that Days Inn; it is north of the tourist area of the Riverfront by some distance, and is exactly as described. It also advertises rooms by the hour and month, which is always a bad sign in a motel. Generally, in the downtown area you do NOT want to go anywhere north of the Lumiere Place Casino.

All hotels in Clayton are in a good neighborhood that is safe to walk near at night. The Residence Inn in Richmond Heights is the only one kind of iffy at night, but only because it is near a highway and not well-lit.

The hotels in the interstate locations are nicest off of I-44, I-55 and US 64, with the exception of a couple of really cheap ones at I-55@Lindbergh. Other than the major hotels in the airport area, St. Peters or O'Fallon, Missouri, hotels on I-70 are not the best.

The Airport Marriott is perfectly fine in terms of quality, it is the closest hotel to the Main airport terminal, directly on the other side of the interstate highway that runs along parallel to the frontage of the terminal buildings. The only problem that it has is traffic, as it sits right at the dead end opposite the main entrance of the airport, right where everyone has to turn in.

BTW, if you visit Ted Drewes, feel comfortable walking around the neighborhood in the evening. We all do. Francis Park is a block behind Drewes, and on any given evening it is populated by at least 3 dozen joggers, dog walkers, tennis players, and families enjoying the playground. I don't live in the "safe" suburbs; I live in the city itself, in a leafy pre-war neighborhood, and my neighborhood abounds with folks enjoying public spaces on foot, day and night.

 

[alicenwonder99]

Not to hijack the thread, but we'll be in St. Louis in a few weeks for an ice skating competition. What kinds of things (besides the arch) are there for the rest of the family to do. We won't even be seeing my dd because she will be with her team the whole weekend. We wanted to go somewhere on a Friday evening & Saturday evening. The rink is in St. Peter's and our hotel is just a few miles from there.

 

[LizinSTL]

Not to hijack the thread, but we'll be in St. Louis in a few weeks for an ice skating competition. What kinds of things (besides the arch) are there for the rest of the family to do. We won't even be seeing my dd because she will be with her team the whole weekend. We wanted to go somewhere on a Friday evening & Saturday evening. The rink is in St. Peter's and our hotel is just a few miles from there.

You won't be actually "in" St. Louis if you are staying in St. Peter's. If you wanted to go downtown to the Arch, it can be a 45 minute drive from there! Closer "tourist-y" things to the St.Peter's area would be St. Charles (old town) http://www.historicstcharles.com/visitors.aspx

If you have younger kids, I'd stick with visiting the magic house www.magichouse.org. Check hours of operation. The drive wouldn't be too terrible for you if you manage to avoid rush hour.

We just spent a pleasant, albeit expensive, afternoon at Dave and Busters in Earth City. If you are looking for something to do, that's an option. $24 gets you lunch and a $20 game card which can last 5 minutes or 5 hours depending on your kid!

If you are outdoorsy people, try the Katy trail. http://www.mostateparks.com/katytrail/index.html I think there are bike shops that rent bikes by the day/weekend in the general area. http://www.nibordot.addr.com/ Here's one.