Planters House in St. Louis 11-11-23

Drinks 4.5/5

Food 3/5

This is a cocktail place we've wanted to try, but it is a darned long drive down to Mississippi and Choteau just for a drink.  It has absolutely no parking...only street parking and you are fighting with all the people who live around this block for a spot. 

It is a small place (maybe 12 tables and only 12 seats at the bar).  They make actual reservations for their seats at the bar.

Since it is a cocktail bar, I made us reservations at the bar.  I had hoped we could chat up the bartender about drinks and fun things to try.  This was not the case.  Behind the bar were two women who were both working their butts off.  One was a tall, very quiet Asian woman who just quickly made drinks, made drinks, made drinks.  She was in charge of the drinks for the entire restaurant (except the bar).  The other gal was in charge of all the food and drink for the 12 people seated at the bar.  We talked to her a bit, but she was just too busy to chat much.

I had read that this place had the best gin martini in St. Louis.  So, that is what Mike started with.  It was good, but a straight up martini is REALLY strong.  I started (and eventually stayed with) a vodka gimlet.  It was super good.  It had been shaken really hard and then poured over a large ice cube.  The lime was literally beginning to freeze in the glass, it was that cold.  

I don't remember what Mike's 2nd drink was...I think it was a tropical rum drink.  It was OK, but we both ended up really liking the gimlets, so Mike's 3rd drink was a gin gimlet.  The lime cordial they make for the gimlet was REALLY good.

We both had supper.  I had a BBQ shrimp sandwich.  It was pretty good.  The bread was crusty and the shrimp weren't over cooked.  

Mike had burger and cacio e pepe fries.  The burger was fine and cooked the correct amount, but it had machego cheese, chorizo jam, and serrano pepper relish on it.  The ketchup they gave was the "house" ketchup and it didn't taste anything like ketchup. They also had a very bland aioli that just tasted like bland mayo. All those differences were just too much and they seemed to fight each other for what one was tasting.  So, Mike was disappointed in the burger and fries.  

One thing I REALLY liked about this very small place was that it was a true cocktail bar.  There was no TV anywhere in the place.  It makes people (even at the bar) have conversations.  I just wished we could have talked to the bartenders more.