Tubby's Pub n Grub in St. Charles 11-12-2022

 3/5 Stars

We were looking for a casual place for a Sat. night.  Lauren Mitchell, at school, had recently told me several places in St. Charles that she liked. This was one of them.

It is in the end of Parkway Lanes bowling alley.  It is separate enough that it totally seems like a restaurant.  We sat in the first room and it has no entrance to the bowling alley.  

They are known for their steak dinners.  So, that is what Mike had.  For something like $25 he had a NY Strip steak, baked potato and a side salad.  He said it was good.  But sometimes we go out to Wentzville to West Allen Grill on Sat. nights and for the same price as this steak, he can get a big piece of prime rib with the same sides.  He likes that better.  

I had the fried shrimp dinner.  It was OK.  The french fries didn't have much taste.  They were hand cut and that is nice but they were greasy and had no salt on them.  The shrimp was just OK.  

The beer was cheap.  Mike got a beer glass full of Budweiser for 2.75.  That is cheap.  

This was not bad, but there are places that are just as cheap that are better.  

China Bistro inside of Pan Asia Grocery Store at 141 and Manchester 11-11-2022

 Mike and I knew that on Veterans Day many restaurants feed Veterans for free and the places are packed.  We tried to stay away from that type of restaurant.  

I had recently read an article about the 26 Best Places to Eat in STL right now.  The first one was this Chinese restaurant tucked into a corner of an Asian grocery story.

It was cold and windy as we made our way into the store.  All the people in line were super friendly.  The workers weren't friendly, but they weren't "not friendly" they were all just working super hard and super fast.  This place has about a dozen or so tables, but they also do a huge amount of take out orders.  

Mike had read that this place has the best BBQ pork fried rice in the area.  So, that's what he got.  It was $8.  He was happy with it.  He said it had plenty of pork and just enough vegetables.  Everything was fresh and you could tell that it had just been made in a wok.  It came out quickly and it was steaming hot.

I ordered spicy seafood soup with thick noodles.  It was good, but it wasn't great.  I wasn't unhappy.  It was HUGE.  There were scallops, shrimp, and squid in the soup.  There were carrots, celery, mushrooms, onions, and a bit of cabbage in there, too.  The broth was somewhat spicy, but it seemed a little watery.  The noodles were good...not too thick or large.

This is a very authentic Chinese restaurant, so they don't have things like beef and broccoli or general Zao's chicken.  But they do have a lot more things I'd like to try.  I'm not a big Peking duck fan, but they do have that and you can just get a few slices with some vegetables and rice.  

It is also super fun to walk around the grocery store.  Check out the fish counter!!  

We will totally come back here.  It is exactly 30 minutes from our house.  So, not too far for decent Chinese food. 

Bartelino's Osteria 11-5-22

 We were on our way to the Fox and had planned on eating at a restaurant in Kirkwood that didn't take reservations (Billy G's).  But when we arrived in Kirkwood, we knew something was up.  It was the annual Wine Walk.  There were hundreds of people walking from restaurant to restaurant and store to store to sample a wide variety of wines.  The parking lots were packed and at 5 pm the restaurants had an hour wait.  

So, we left and tried to think of some place that would be nice but would still let us in.  We tried a couple other places farther down Kirkwood Rd, but they, too, were completely booked.  

So, we went down Hwy 44 and went to the closest "Hill" restaurant...Bartelino's Osteria.  I don't know why we don't eat here more often.  I think because it is now attached to a hotel we don't think of it as very "nice."  We are wrong.  The food is good and the people are good at their jobs.  

They were packed but when we told them we didn't have a reservation...they quickly shuffled things around and made room for us.  When we told the waitress we had time for dinner, but we were going to the Fox, she was super attentive.

Their wine list is pretty standard, but it has some nice selections.  We ordered a bottle of Requiem Cabernet.  

I ordered spaghetti with salsiccia (Italian sausage).  I actually really liked their sauce.  It was slightly sweet and it had good flavor.  The sausages were a little over cooked but eating them with the pasta and the red sauce made that not very noticeable.

Mike got veal parm.  He also ordered a side salad.  The salad was pretty big.  He was afraid if he finished the whole thing he wouldn't want any of his veal.  I ate a few bites.  It was good...a little over-dressed.  Mike said his veal was really very good.  

Again, I don't know why we've never given this place a chance.  It isn't a quite, intimate place because it is big and busy with all the hotel people, but the food is way better than a lot of quite places.  The service is great.  We will come back again, when we have more time...and maybe more people. 

Salty's Fresh Mex in Cottleville 11-4-22

 Laurie and Beth still (since the pandemic) like to eat outside.  Beth has always liked to eat outside, even before the pandemic.  So, she often picks places that have patios.  

Last Friday night we met at Salty's Fresh Mex in Cottleville.  The temperature was nice but the wind was super gusty.  As long as we held things like menus down, we were OK.

We started with chips and salsa and margaritas.  Mike got an original on the rocks and Laurie, Beth and I split a pitcher of blood orange margaritas.  They were good, but they didn't taste like blood orange at all.  They tasted like pink lemonade.  Oh, well...

Laurie and I both ordered the Voodoo shrimp bowl (shrimp. veggies, beans, rice, spicy sauce).   We each tweaked it a bit.  I didn't want the sautéed veggies (as I don't like bell peppers) and Laurie didn't want the beans.  So, the waitress (who was GREAT) said she'd give me Laurie's beans and give Laurie my veggies.  I really liked it.  It was quite spicy.  The shrimp were good.  

Beth had the fajita bowl.  It was very like Laurie's and mine, but it didn't have anything that would be considered "spicy."  She said it was good...and not spicy. 

Mike had a couple tacos with some rice on the side.  He said said they were fine...nothing surprising. 

The most excitement happened after the meal.  We were sitting around talking and throughout the evening the wind had continued to strengthen.  When they had arrived, Laurie and Beth had the umbrella to our table unfurled.  One of these new wind gusts happened to catch our umbrella, lift it up about 10 feet in the air and bring it back down nearly impaling Laurie and Beth.  Mike jumped up to push it out of the way and Beth deflected it with her arm (which I'm sure was sore the next day) but we were all fine.  There were many apologies from our server (who couldn't have been nicer), but that was our cue that it was time to go home.  

Salty's was good, not great.  Just don't sit under the umbrellas when there are huge wind gusts!

The Corner Pub and Grill-O'Fallon 11-3-22

 We have been living without an oven since May (it is now November!).  It was supposed to get fixed today and it turned into a big fiasco and Mike ended up yelling at MANY people.  Needless to say we needed to go out for dinner (I had planned something that used the oven...ugh!!).  

This is very close to our house (under 10 minutes).  

Mike and I arrived at about 5:55.  They have Happy Hour until 6, so I ordered the OG Classic.  It is made with strawberry vodka, triple sec, lemonade and lime.  It was very good.

There were two specials on Thursday night: fried chicken dinner and fish tacos.  We decided to try them both.

I had the fish tacos.  They come with guacamole and street corn salsa in the bottom of the soft corn tortillas.  This was too much goo.  It all fell out when you tried to eat it.  It wasn't bad, but none of that added much to the taste.  The fish was fine and the avocado drizzle that goes on top had a nice spice to it.  It would have been better if they had filled the bottom with a little cabbage slaw and not so much goo.  

Mike had the fried chicken dinner.  It came with a leg, a wing, a thigh, and a breast (that's a lot), slaw, and mashed potatoes and gravy.  The slaw was standard.  The chicken was fried well; it was still moist inside.  The problem was that the coating on the outside had no seasoning.  It was very bland.  It really needed some salt!  Mike said the mashed potatoes seemed like they were trying to copy KFC and didn't do a very good job.  

This was our first time here.  There were a lot of choices on the menu.  I think we will come back and try different things.   

Firefly Grill-2nd try 10-29-22

 After a crazy time the first time we were here (which was soon after they opened) we decided to give Firefly Grill in Chesterfield another try.

It was a cool night and there were a couple of tables outside that had people, but we decided to sit inside.  One thing that has changed...I am pretty sure when it first opened this restaurant had subscribed to a reservation service (like Open Table) because I know we originally had reservations.  They no longer take reservations for groups under 6.  That's a bummer.

We got a small (wobbly) table near a window.  The service was good.  We each had a cocktail.  My lemon drop martini was a little bitter.  I don't know if they rubbed the rim with lemon rind and that lemon oil flavor is kind of bitter or what.  

I chose the exact same dish I had the last time: fisherman's stew.  It was good, again.  It is all tomatoes, broth, spice with lots of fish.  All things I like.  

Last time, Mike ordered a sandwich and it was a fiasco (waited over 30 minutes for it and then took it home and it was terrible).  This time he ordered the pappardelle Bolognese.  It was big wide noodles in a beef, veal, pork sauce.  He really liked it.  

For dessert we split a piece of chocolate cake that was good but probably made elsewhere.  

The clientele was a lot of people like us: middle aged couples going out for a nice quiet dinner.  Think jeans and a nice shirt.  The food is good, not terribly expensive and there is a decent variety on the menu.  It is a new restaurant that seems to be making it.