Mid-Range in St. Louis

Courtesy Diner

• ★ 4.8
• American diner
• $$
• St. Louis Hills and South County

Try The slinger and griddle classics

A 24-hour griddle institution, Courtesy Diner serves the classic St. Louis slinger and diner plates around the clock, a reliable for after-bar meals.

Fleur STL

• ★ 4.7
• American diner
• $$
• Soulard

Try Elevated slinger and diner food

In the old Eat-Rite Diner building, Fleur STL plates an elevated slinger and griddle food, carrying the Route 66 diner torch on a Thursday-to-Sunday schedule.

Pappy's Smokehouse

• ★ 4.6
• American BBQ
• $$
• Midtown and Grand Center

Order Dry-rubbed ribs smoked over apple and cherry wood.

Pappy's smokes Memphis-style ribs over apple and cherry wood in Midtown and lands on national BBQ lists. The ribs are the order, and they sell out daily.

Side Project Brewing

• ★ 4.6
• Brewery
• $$
• Maplewood

Side Project is the metro's most acclaimed craft brewery, specialising in barrel-aged sours and farmhouse ales that draw national beer pilgrims to Maplewood.

Balkan Treat Box

• ★ 4.5
• Bosnian
• $$
• Webster Groves

Order Wood-fired somun bread with cevapi and a lahmacun flatbread.

Loryn and Edo Nalic bake somun in a wood-fired oven and turn out cevapi and lahmacun, a James Beard-recognised take on Bosnian and Turkish street food.

Steve's Hot Dogs

• ★ 4.5
• American BBQ
• $$
• Tower Grove South

Try Loaded St. Louis-style hot dogs

Steve's Hot Dogs on South Grand stays open late on weekends, loading creative toppings onto griddled dogs for the after-show and post-bar crowd.

Mai Lee

• ★ 4.4
• Vietnamese
• $$
• Brentwood

Order Salt-and-pepper calamari, pho, and canh chua sour soup.

Opened in 1985 and credited as the first Vietnamese restaurant in St. Louis, Mai Lee runs a vast menu of pho, bun and canh chua that sets the local standard.

Salt + Smoke

• ★ 4.4
• Bbq
• $$
• Delmar Loop

Order Post-oak brisket with the fried pimento-cheese balls.

Salt + Smoke smokes brisket over post oak for 16 hours in the Delmar Loop and pairs it with a deep bourbon list. The city's leading new-school BBQ name.

Grace Meat + Three

• ★ 4.4
• Soul food
• $$
• The Grove

Order The fried chicken and a rotating trio of vegetable sides.

Rick and Elisa Lewis run this Grove meat-and-three around some of the best fried chicken in Missouri, ordered at the counter. Rick is a James Beard nominee.

Sump Coffee

• ★ 4.4
• Coffee roaster
• $$
• Tower Grove South

Sump roasts light, precise single-origin coffee that built a national following, now produced at an Old North roastery with retail and tasting on site.

Narrow Gauge Brewing Company

• ★ 4.4
• Brewery
• $$
• Florissant

Narrow Gauge brews some of the region's most sought-after hazy IPAs in Florissant, a small operation that took silver at the 2025 Great American Beer Fest.

The Royale

• ★ 4.4
• Burgers
• $$
• Tower Grove South

Try Burgers and ward-themed cocktails

The Royale keeps its kitchen and patio going late on the south side, pairing a strong burger with ward-themed cocktails, a reliable late bite.

Crown Candy Kitchen

• ★ 4.4
• American diner
• $$
• Old North St. Louis

Crown Candy Kitchen on St Louis Ave in Old North is the 1913 soda fountain known for hand-made malts, the BLT challenge, and chocolate-coated treats.

Bogart's Smokehouse

• ★ 4.3
• Bbq
• $$
• Soulard

Order The apricot-bruleed ribs.

Bogart's smokes its signature apricot-bruleed ribs in historic Soulard, torching the sweet glaze to order, a counter-service BBQ joint that draws long.

Kaldi's Coffee Roasting Co.

• ★ 4.3
• Coffee roaster
• $$
• Clayton

Kaldi's is the roaster that put St. Louis specialty coffee on the map, supplying its own cafes and grocery shelves across the metro from a DeMun flagship.

Blueprint Coffee

• ★ 4.3
• Coffee roaster
• $$
• Delmar Loop

Blueprint is a roaster known for clean, precise coffee, supplying its Loop, Watson and Washington cafes from a design-forward operation in the Delmar Loop.

Comet Coffee

• ★ 4.3
• Coffee roaster
• $$
• The Hill

Comet roasts in small batches and pairs the coffee with an in-house micro-bakery at two cafes near Forest Park's south edge. The pastry case rivals the cup.

Urban Chestnut Brewing Company (Grove)

• ★ 4.3
• Brewery
• $$
• The Grove

Urban Chestnut's Grove Bierhall pours German-leaning lagers and American ales in a 400-seat hall built in a 1920s warehouse, with Fordo's pizza on site.

Rockwell Beer Company

• ★ 4.3
• Brewery
• $$
• The Grove

Rockwell's flagship near the Grove brews crisp lagers and saisons and pours them with tavern-style pizza, a well-regarded newer name in St. Louis beer.

Courtesy Diner (Laclede Station)

• ★ 4.3
• Brunch
• $$
• St. Louis Hills and South County

Try The slinger and breakfast all day

The Laclede Station Courtesy Diner runs the same 24-hour griddle as the Hampton branch, slinging chili-and-egg slingers and breakfast in a red-vinyl room.

Gus' Pretzels

• ★ 4.3
• Bakery
• $$
• Benton Park

Gus' Pretzels on Arsenal St in Benton Park is the 1920 bakery hand-twisting soft pretzels and salami sticks in the shadow of the Anheuser-Busch brewery.

Half & Half

• ★ 4.3
• Brunch
• $$
• Clayton

Order Blueberry pancakes cooked in bacon fat.

Mike Randolph's Clayton brunch room pairs a focused coffee programme with scratch cooking, from flat-iron hash to blueberry pancakes. The grown-up brunch.

Hodak's Restaurant & Bar

• ★ 4.2
• Fried Chicken
• $$
• Benton Park

Order The fried chicken dinner with sides.

Hodak's has won Riverfront Times reader polls for best fried chicken since the 1990s. The family-run Gravois corner room is a no-frills temple to the bird.

Cafe Natasha

• ★ 4.2
• Persian
• $$
• Tower Grove South

Order Fesenjan and kabobs over saffron rice with eggplant dishes.

The Bahrami family has plated Persian kabobs, fesenjan and herbed stews on South Grand for decades, anchoring the restaurant row of Tower Grove South.

Sugarfire Smoke House

• ★ 4.2
• Bbq
• $$
• Downtown

Order Brisket, burnt ends and a spiked shake.

Sugarfire serves creative, award-winning barbecue across several metro spots, from brisket and burnt ends to daily specials, a casual counter-service chain.

Anthonino's Taverna

• ★ 4.2
• Italian
• $$
• The Hill

Order Toasted ravioli and the Greek-Italian pastas.

A family taverna on The Hill, Anthonino's blends Italian and Greek cooking, from toasted ravioli to spanakopita, a casual room popular with families.

Northwest Coffee Roasting Company

• ★ 4.2
• Coffee roaster
• $$
• Central West End

Northwest roasts on site at its Central West End cafe, a long-running operation that supplies local accounts and pours its own coffee at a busy patio counter.

Coffeestamp

• ★ 4.2
• Coffee roaster
• $$
• Benton Park

Brothers Patrick and Spencer Clapp roast ethically sourced beans, many from their native Honduras, at this South City micro-roastery near Cherokee Street.

Living Room Coffee & Kitchen

• ★ 4.2
• Coffee roaster
• $$
• Maplewood

The Larson family roasts in house and runs a full breakfast kitchen at this Maplewood cafe, a community hub that does coffee and a meal equally well.

Urban Chestnut Brewing Company (Midtown)

• ★ 4.2
• Brewery
• $$
• Midtown and Grand Center

Urban Chestnut's original Midtown brewery and biergarten pours its German and American lineup near Grand Center, the first home of a big local craft name.

The Schlafly Tap Room

• ★ 4.2
• Brewery
• $$
• Downtown

Schlafly is St. Louis's original craft brewery, and its downtown Tap Room pours the full range in a brick brewpub that has anchored the scene since 1991.

4 Hands Brewing Co.

• ★ 4.2
• Brewery
• $$
• Soulard

4 Hands brews a broad American range from IPAs to barrel-aged stouts at a large taproom near Soulard, one of the city's most widely distributed craft names.

Civil Life Brewing Co.

• ★ 4.2
• Brewery
• $$
• Tower Grove South

Civil Life brews sessionable English-style ales in Tower Grove South, a low-key brewery whose American Brown is a local classic. A neighbourhood beer garden.

Taqueria Durango

• ★ 4.2
• Taqueria
• $$
• Overland

Taqueria Durango is a taqueria room in Overland. Order the chile-drowned torta ahogada. It sits next to a grocery in a plaza most visitors never find.

Adriana's On The Hill

• ★ 4.2
• Sicilian
• $$
• The Hill

Adriana's On The Hill is a sicilian room in The Hill. Get the Sicilian sub and split it; it is huge. Lunch only, so plan a midday Hill visit.

Venice Cafe

• ★ 4.2
• Cafe
• $$
• Benton Park

Venice Cafe is a cafe room in Benton Park. The art-covered patio is the whole point; come on a warm evening with live music. Cash is handy here.

Rooster

• ★ 4.2
• Brunch
• $$
• Downtown

Order A savoury crepe and a Bloody Mary.

Chef Cassy Vires's Washington Avenue brunch spot builds its menu around specialty crepes and European comfort plates, with a second South Grand branch.

Southwest Diner

• ★ 4.2
• Brunch
• $$
• St. Louis Hills and South County

Order Huevos rancheros with red and green chile.

Since 2012, Southwest Diner has served New Mexican breakfast in a small Dogtown room, known for cornmeal pancakes, green-chile huevos and house biscuits.

Zia's On The Hill

• ★ 4.1
• Italian
• $$
• The Hill

Order Toasted ravioli and the chicken spiedini.

A family-run Hill room going since 1985, Zia's plates generous Italian-American spiedini and pasta. The everyday Hill table locals lean on over the big names.

Lu Lu Seafood & Dim Sum

• ★ 4.1
• Cantonese
• $$
• Delmar Loop

Order Cart-rolled dim sum at lunch and the salt-and-pepper shrimp.

Lu Lu has run cart-rolled dim sum and Cantonese seafood on the Olive Boulevard Chinese strip for years. The weekend dim sum draws regulars to University City.