Herbie's in Clayton 1-25-2020

Mike and I went to Herbie's on our way to the Fox Theater.  I thought we hadn't ever been here before, but I was wrong.  We dined here probably a couple of years ago.

We made an early (5:00) reservation so we would have plenty of time.  There are some downfalls to doing that...

1. The valet parking doesn't start until 5:30.  Luckily we were able to find a spot on the street not too far.  As Herbie's shares the same Clayton block with Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, parking spots out front are at a premium and often difficult to find.

2. The restaurant is sparsely populated.  There were people at the bar and in the bar area, but when we went into the dining room area, there was only one other couple.  By the time we left (a little before 7) the room was fairly full, but is always a little odd to be one of the few people eating in a big room.

Herbie's has an odd dining room situation.  There is (as I mentioned before) the bar area, but they also have, off the main dining area, several smaller "private" dining rooms.  The two times we've been there those rooms have been all set up and lit for diners, but I've never seen anyone in them.

Now...about our dinner...

I had looked at the wine list before we arrived and had totally picked out a good deal.  Of course, when we ask the waiter (a very nice young man from the Wentzville/Warrenton area) to get it, he returns and says they are all out of that.  So, I did have a back up.  We went with a Justin Cabernet from Napa Valley.  It was fine, not exceptional. 

For dinner...we had seen online that they would still honor their specials for Clayton Restaurant Week, even though the actual Restaurant Week was over.  So, we both decided to try that.  It was a soup/salad, entree, and dessert for something like $30 each. 

We both started with the French onion soup (it is a French restaurant).  It was fine, but definitely not the best I've ever had.  The bowl was not very big. 

Mike got a filet with a red wine reduction and potatoes and green beans.  He said it was good.  It was supposed to come with grilled green and yellow zucchini instead of green beans, but Mike isn't much of a zucchini guy.  So, he substituted.  The filet wa
s pretty small but the flavor was good.  The potatoes and green beans were pretty standard.

I got a pasta with veal bolognese.  It was OK.  It was a little too rich (the veal and the cream mixed in with the tomato sauce) for me and I could tell if I ate the whole thing I would have indigestion later (one of the downfalls of getting old), so I took 1/2 of it home.  It's flavor was fine but nothing worth coming back for.  The portion size was pretty standard at a high end restaurant.

For dessert Mike got the flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce.  The piece was about 3 bites total.  It was good but extremely small. 

I got bread pudding.  It had been warmed under a broiler and got a little too done on the top and wa
s actually crunchy.  The taste was good, but like Mike's, it was pretty small.

I understand that we were getting a "deal" but the dessert sizes were kind of a joke.  When you do a deal, you are trying to show off your restaurant and get people to come back.  This didn't do that. 

Now that I know we've been there twice, I'll try to remember and not make reservations there a 3rd time!