rant: fine dining

[tlombard]

Went to the new popular restaurant Olio. We enjoyed it....but if people are calling it overrated, that sentiment is understandable.

I didn't see a lot of things that jumped off the menu at me. If you want meat, you have to get it in a sandwich or expensive appetizer-ish tray of meat and cheese slices.

We had the crab salad on toast (tartine?) and it was ok in a schnucks deli-ish kind of way. Light on crab meat.
The scallop dish was pretty good- but could have used something to accompany. The winner was the Speck, a fancy ham sandwich, but again, I thought it could have used more meat. See the theme - they consider their meat a rare delicacy.

I was not a fan of the beer choices for price and mostly styles I don't care for/uppity import brands. Decided upon a delicious black IPA - Ruhstaller -Capt.) though it cost $13 (22oz) or $9.5 pint equivalent.

I pass that place every day on my way to and from work. Still haven't tried it yet. Once I noticed the valet parking... I kind of figured it isn't my type of place since I currently have no lady friend(s) to take. I haven't tried looking up reviews but this is the first one I have ran across and probably one that I would trust more than anything I found online anyway.
Check out the beer menu -fonts etc. http://oliostl.com/menu_beer.html
- If I were in a bad mood/already buzzed, or mildy dyslexic I might just give up drinking beer.

Again, I enjoyed it overall. Mainly because the food is decent enough, and the great setting-bordering on a work of art. And your lady friend(s) will love it.

[lukethedrifter]

Olio gets great reviews generally but my experience was pretty so so. Unlike freed, I'm not really [expletive] about the portions because I understand that what they are doing with the meat is time consuming and costly. My issue was with staff that didn't know what they were talking about, so so food and an odd comment about their egg poacher being out of service or something.

Also, if you go there try to sit out front in the cool old gas station section. Unless they've changed it the main dining room is pretty boring. Although, now that I think about it, they have somewhat different menus.

[Freed Roger]

Olio gets great reviews generally but my experience was pretty so so. Unlike freed, I'm not really [expletive] about the portions because I understand that what they are doing with the meat is time consuming and costly. My issue was with staff that didn't know what they were talking about, so so food and an odd comment about their egg poacher being out of service or something.

Also, if you go there try to sit out front in the cool old gas station section. Unless they've changed it the main dining room is pretty boring. Although, now that I think about it, they have somewhat different menus.

We didn't make it to the main dining area - Elainas ? The menu shows it as $100 per head deal, with wine pairings type of place.

In the gas station-It wasn't the lacking portions so much, we had plenty to eat - but the chances to get at these vaunted cured meats were limited. I was hoping they could figure a way to include them in a small entrée-like dish.

[pioneer98]

Reading through the Yelp thread reminded me of an incident over the weekend. We went to that same fancy restaurant again that we go to maybe 1-2 times a year. The food was outstanding. The 6'4"/260lb type-A chef was on the roam again, making me nervous. Our waiter this time though was extremely submissive (for lack of a better word). I mean, the service was great, don't get me wrong. It was so over the top though that it made things a bit awkward. He was almost timid, seemed nervous. He was afraid to accidentally speak at the same time as one of us, so he'd say the bare minimum. He spoke in a low voice, etc. He pulled the chair out for me after my wife, and also took our jackets. I can't say I've had a chair pulled out for me before. It got me thinking: Is this what rich people suspect? Is their ego so huge that they demand and expect this level of deference? For me at least it made something simple like ordering a meal awkward. My wife didn't think twice about it, though, and the table near us was having a good time. Maybe it was just me. It felt like Larry David/George Costanza - I wanted to pull the guy aside and say "Hey, it's cool, you don't need to put on the act for us. We're simpletons."

[Molly]

For those living in St. Louis, years ago (when hubby and I had money to blow!) we went to Tony's for Valentine's Day. Hubby ordered a beer and mushroom soup as a starter. The soup was placed in front of him and as the waiter poured his beer, a single drop went into the soup. The waiter immediately apologized profusely, wisked the bowl away and brought him a fresh bowl. At the end of our meal, Vince Bommarito came over to our table, apologized for the spill and sent us home with a large jar of the soup. I certainly hope that waiter didn't get reprimanded too harshly for a single drop of spilled beer.

[Freed Roger]

My first "fine dining" experience in the old school/overdone service sense - nothing major happened, but it still turned me off to the whole thing.

First job out of college -a CPA seminar in New Orleans. Stayed at Omni Royal (which was in Bond movie "Live and Let Die") and ate most the meals there (except for the Bourbon St excursion - a lad CPA about town, oh the storiesz.zzz..!)

I recall the food was ok, but still - just hotel food. They pulled out the chairs, and napkin on the lap deal. Multiple water-fillers and people constantly coming and whisking crumbs off the table and what not.

My boss (in his 60s) and his nut job of a wife had travelled and expected/enjoyed this pomp and circumstance. I suspect the help there sensed this and laid on extra. For me, the wide-eyed hick - it was miserable then, and forevermore. At a stodgy old hotel in the South 25 years ago - A segregation of duties and rank along color lines was pretty noticeable.

[docellis]

I LOVE Ranoush on Delmar.

[heyzeus]

Li'l Buco - fine dining for toddlers

[tlombard]

Seriously? It is probably a good thing they don't have prices on that menu because I have a feeling they would just make me more... I don't even know. I'm not mad. I'm not amused. I don't even know how I feel about that place other than Li'l Buco just sounds like the stupidest idea/rip off of all time. I just know that there is some negative emotion brewing in me right now after looking at the pictures of the food.

However I do like the idea of ball pit seating. More restaurants should definitely try that.

EDIT: OK. I fell for it. I submitted this and then immediately did a search and found out that it isn't real. I thought about deleting my comment completely before anyone could see it but nah. I'm an idiot. Everyone else might as well know (like they didn't already). I still stand by my ball pit comment though. Awesome idea.

[heyzeus]

Sorry, I should've made it clear that the blue font wasn't just a hyperlink.