36 Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Cape Girardeau

Update Last night's experience 11/18/23 How fine dining get a bad name. 36 is in the fine dining category but does not raise thier food quality experience in terms of taste and presentation to be worthy of the fine dining spot. A small family gathering of eight (four kids and four adults). My brother-in-law invited us to celebrate his wife's birthday! The food was not standout at all in term of taste. There are many people eating at Port Cape and various other spots that are eating tasty food and paying a lot less for it too. Not one person in our group thought their food was delicious. My kids 10 - 12 were also chiming in on the taste. They are little foodies! And oh the tab at our table of eight was $760 and a $117 was gratuity. We were about to leave a tip when we noticed the gratuity fee. Wow the waiter and the restaurant come out on top we did not. My old review below I left a year ago! If you eat here you are at the top of the flavor food chain for Cape Girardeau. My family (wife and three kiddos) and I have dined here many times. We recently dined here and the food flavor profile was not on point. The broccolini was overcooked. The hash was like crunchy seaweed paper. The steak was kind of bland. The pork loin looked nothing like I had in the past. I am a foodie and will travel far away to indulge in a flavorful creative meal and price is no option. I spent an easy $300 but did not feel our meal matched the price tag. I felt I was eating at one of the other restaurant in town. My wife said you could of taken me to Red Lobster! Lol, oh no! However, the manager was awesome and was able to prepare our pork loin the way its been prepared in the past for us cut in slices with the drizzle of sauce over it. The waiter said to us that they do not slice the pork loin. I was like yes you do and she was like you must be mistaken but the manager come to rescue knew exactly what to do. I will go back of course and give them...

Seemed like a chain restaurant with better food, but same environment and service. Took my wife for our 1st anniversary. I read their "rules" on their website. When it says "No jeans" ignore that because that's pretty much what most people were wearing. So we arrive, it takes 10min for anyone to even acknowledge us. Then we are seated and another 10min goes by. Finally someone came over to give us water. Then they told us we weren't on the reservation. Turns out we were. Only under a different name... When you get your food, there is not a doubt in my mind you will love your food. Food is absolutely outstanding. The reason I'm giving this 2 stars is because of what their website says, versus what it actually is. I've never been to a nice restaurant that didn't control their guest. Loud. Very loud. I could barely hear my wife and our waiter (who did a great job, but seemed to have lost his voice.) Nothing against him. Just couldn't hear him over the guest that weren't being controlled. Keep in mind it's our 1st anniversary. The groups that seemed to think they're at Chilli's were kind of ruining it with their disgusting language. Also I'm not really okay with people talking about someone getting hit by a train while I'm trying to eat (neighboring table being told this by an employee). I thought I would get away from all this after what I read on their site. Food is worth the money. No question. If I'm going to pay that money though, I expect certain things. Waiting 20min total before I even get a glass water is not one of them. Also no one ever really said sorry about it. If you're looking for a place that's quiet and relaxing for you and your partner, I would advise you to look elsewhere. Maybe this place used to be more upscale and professional, but I did not get that feeling at all. I felt like I was at a chain restaurant with much...

3.5 stars, if Google would allow.

We (2 adults, 1 infant) went to 36 for our wedding anniversary. We went on the recommendation of friends with high hopes.

We were greeted with a "deer in the headlights" look by we think the owner and 3-4 staff upon entering the restaurant. We very much got the sense that little ones were not welcome and that we must have entered the wrong restaurant. I think there was a fear that our child would ruin the ambiance. I even asked our server if we were creating a problem by having our child and were told "no", but the first impression wasn't at all welcoming for us (FYI our kid was praised by the server for doing great all evening). It appeared that other children were present (12-15 year olds), but no other little ones. Just an FYI... then again, most of the clientele this evening were business types or retirees.

The food was mostly good. The cocktails were excellent. My wife's food was excellent. The $75 steak was "fine" but not cuttable like "warm butter" as described. Why complain about a steak that has already been cooked? The steaks I buy at Schnucks are better than what was served this evening (which is a tremendous bummer since those steaks at 36 are the top 8%). Lots of leftovers to take home. Even gifted a slice of cake for our anniversary. Thank you!

Note to self: trust but verify prices when the server is selling by word of mouth.

Applaudable service by the server. It is obvious the servers are specially trained for this kind of dining. Bravo.

I highly doubt we will return to 36, which is a bummer. While most of the food was excellent, we were turned off by the first impression. Alas, a mixed bag for our...