Cunetto's Pasta House 10-19-19

When young people, or people new to St. Louis, ask me where to go for Italian...Cunetto's is always our answer.

We have been going to Cunetto's for over 30 years.  Frank and the gang of waitresses know our faces. 

Cunetto's may not be pretty on the inside (could really use some updates), but it still has our favorite red sauce of all the places on The Hill...and believe me we've probably been to a dozen or more Italian restaurants on The Hill.

I always start the meal with Rosamarina soup (beef and chicken broth vegt. soup with beef and chicken) with tiny pasta.

Usually I then have a pasta dish with some sort of red sauce. 

Mike almost always has a dish that the major player is some piece of meat (veal parm, veal saltimbocca, chicken parm, etc.)

Our kids (who are all adults now) have also been going here since they were born.  They get all kinds of things...alfredo pastas, seafood pastas, toasted ravs, chicken picatta.

This is the restaurant where we taught our children how to eat in a nice restaurant.  They learned how to wait.  Since Cunetto's doesn't take reservations, I can't tell you how many nights we waited 1-2 hours with 4 little kids.  We always got an appetizer and 4 Shirley Temples (with extra cherries) for the kids, and we sat in the upstairs waiting area.  They also learned how to be order for themselves, how to ask if something could be prepared in a different way, and how to behave in a more formal public space (and if they didn't...we went outside...I can't tell you how many times Mike or I walked around the lobby or parking lot with a naughty or fussy child).

Just a side note...one thing we learned over the years...and good Italian (or Chinese, or Greek, or almost any) restaurant can put together almost any protein, with any pasta they have, with any sauce.  All you have to do is ask.  But please note...in fancier restaurants that have a legit chef...this idea of asking for things different, or sauces on the side, is considered an insult to the chef. 

Now that our children all live in different states...when they come home, we go to Cunetto's.  It continues to be in our family's memories.