Annie Gunn's 8-3-24

 I don't know that I need to write ANOTHER review of Annie Gunn's but I did have something different on the menu, so what the heck.

I usually over eat and then am mad at myself because I ate too much and spent too much on dinner.  So this time, we got the cheese plate and I only got soup for dinner.  Much better plan!

I didn't take a photo of the cheese plate, it was great as usual.  Mike got steak frites and I got their famous potato soup.  It was really good and enough to be a meal.  

Annie Gunn's...good as always.  

Napoli Sea (Streets of St. Charles) 7-11-24

 It was my birthday and I got to pick, so, of course, I picked seafoo

We had a fun time at Napoli Sea.

We had never been there before, but when looking online I found out that you have the option of making reservation for upstairs or downstairs.  The upstairs has a glass bannister, so you look out over the rest of the restaurant and bar.  That is kind of cool.  So, we had a table for two right on the bannister.  

The restaurant is much smaller than I thought it was by looking online.  The upstairs probably only has 6-8 tables.  Downstairs the bar fills about 1/2 of the entire restaurant.  I know it was a weeknight, but there was a nice crowd.  I can see that it might be difficult to get a reservation on a weekend, as there just aren't that many tables to fill.  I would say sitting at the bar and ordering would be a good option if you can't get a reseravation.

So, they bring you a pretzel bread appetizer while you wait.  

They have some crazy cocktails, so we each tried one.  Mike got the "Doc" of the Bay which has Blue Curacao, Midori, light rum, pinapple juice, club soda and a pineapple wedge and maraschino cherry

I don't remember what I got, but I do remember that they had cool ice cubes that had scuba gear on them. (see photo below) 

I ordered the ceviche appetizer.  It was way too big for one person, but it was super yummy and had these lovely buttered crackers that were warm.  As I was eating it, one of the servers realized I had some ceviche left and was going to run out of crackers, so they ever so quietly placed on my side of the table a small dish that had about 5 more warm buttered crackers.  THAT is a good serving team!

They do have actual menu items, but they have a large platter that they can show you all the fresh fish items they have and tell you all the ways they can prepare that.  I got the scallops, which were lovely.  Mike got a lovely fried grouper, which he actually liked.  

Just because it was my birthday and because I wasn't driving, I decided to try one more cocktail, because it was just too intriguing on the menu.  It was a pepperoncini martini.  It is exactly what it sounds like.  It was made with pepperoncini juice.  It was spicy and very full of alcohol and if I would have had any more alcohol, I would have not been standing!  

Because it was my birthday they would have given me a small piece of cake, but we don't really like cake, so we ordered a key lime tart and they put the candle in it.  I was almost too full and I'd had too much alcohol (because we also had wine with dinner!) to eat much of this, but it was tart and good.  

The food here is good.  The wait staff it good.  It is expensive, but I'd definitely come back. 

Buzzetta's in Chesterfield 6-14-24

 I am writing this MONTHS after the actual meal...so I'm going going with memories that the photos evoke.

This restaurant was an Italian restaurant for years and got taken over by new owners about a year ago.  

The seating hostess is an older lady.  I believe her son is the chef and her husband work in the kitchen.  He comes out a lot and checks to see how things are going but doesn't seem to have a well defined job.  He acts like he runs the place but the son/chef is really in charge.

It was busy and we waited a bit for a seat.  When we were seated we got kind of a crappy table up against a wall right by the entrance.  Mike asked if we could wait for another table and the older lady seating hostess said no.  I think she was flustered but that ticked Mike off.  

We stayed at our seat.  We had wine.  It was fine.  Mike had chicken parm with a side of pasta.  I don't know where the photo of my meal went, but I had eggplant parm.  It was odd, as all the eggplant was cut up in small pieces and then fried and then tossed with the pasta and sauce.  It tasted OK, but larger pieces of eggplant is what I was wanting.

On the way out, Mike felt it necessary to tell the seating hostess and her husband that we liked their food but didn't like that we were told we couldn't wait for a better table.