Casa Don Alfonso — Restaurant in Clayton

Look—I was highly impressed walking through the open bar. I’ve never seen one so low to the ground. The furniture was an elegant mid-century modern style and provided an extra layer of comfort during my dining experience. It was nice to be able to see the chefs making the food in the exposed kitchen.

With the day we went being my parents’ anniversary, we wanted to pick a place to match how special the day meant to us. So we landed on this establishment that promised a temporary escape to the Sorrento coast accompanied by the pleasant cultural tastes of Restauranteur Mario Iaccarino’s family legacy.

A few minutes after being seated, our table asked for two simple drinks: one glass of Coke and one glass of lemonade. After being hit with the discouraging, “Is Pepsi ok?,” my hopes for quality lemonade lowered. Being in such an upscale location—with a bar—one would expect freshly squeezed lemonade in a place that can clearly afford it. When our server came back with second-rate cola and lemonade, I was expecting the taste of hand-squeezed sweet-and-sour goodness. Instead, I was greeted with the unfortunate familiarity of Minute Maid lemonade from the fountain—something you’d get at your local gas station. Or maybe at a pizza place late at night. Not at Casa Don Alfonso.

Along with our drinks came the bread. Two of the six slices were nicely moist and contained flavorful morsels of herbs. The other four, however, were room-temperature, unfinished scraps that looked like they were left from another diner’s table, creating an unsightly mismatch. How does a restaurant mess up bread? It’s bread. Jesus Christ broke bread from the same loaf. Why couldn’t Casa Don Alfonso?

After spending a few minutes feeding on the breadcrumbs like the pigeons, we were presented with our appetizer: Vitello Tonnato, a shareable carpaccio. With this appetizer costing what other establishments would price their entrées, we had high expectations. For a cut like veal, it was grainy and dry. I mean, otherwise, it wasn’t terrible. The caviar added a nice touch, even. But the cornerstone element—the meat—prevented this antipasti from garnering a more positive reaction from my family.

After washing down the mediocrity of our appetizer with the rest of our drinks, our entrées arrived.

The Potato Gnocchi Spheres were delicate. That’s really all that was good to say about it. The sauce was so colorless, actually, that if a tiny breadstick were added, I would think the plate was stolen from a local high school—not exactly in the realm of memories one wants to have on their special day.

The Veal Ossobuco was…good. As expected. Nothing more. Nothing less.

The New Zealand Lamb Chops (which happened to be the priciest item on the menu) had beautiful presentation. My mouth watered as the plate was set down in front of me. The meat itself was well-cooked to my ‘medium’ request. However, the rich taste of saffron in the velouté was unjustly overshadowed by one other ingredient that scattered the surface area of the plate; now, let’s be fair—I love mint. I love it in my chewing gum, I love it in my Altoids, and sometimes, even my chocolate ice cream. But not in my lamb.

Finally, the Tagliatelle Don Alfonso—a pasta dish proudly brandishing the flagship name of this very establishment. I didn’t realize Restauranteur Iaccarino was just the stage name for Chef Boyardee.

Once our plates were empty (as well as our drinks, which hadn’t been refilled since we finished bearing the lackluster Vitello Tonnato), we pretended to look at the dessert menu before paying and leaving. But not leaving to go back home after a luxuriously filling meal. 30 minutes later, my stomach was empty. Grumbling. Sweat beads began to form as I gripped my sides in gastrointestinal discomfort.

Our food that we paid for failed its primary purpose: to keep us full. We stopped by Chick-fil-A on the way home. At least I could get freshly-squeezed lemonade somewhere.

Most definitely an unforgettable experience. A night to...

Short review: beautiful place but thats about the only thing positive thing I can say. Food was as average as it gets. I’ve had better TV dinners than the foods here.

I had been wanting to go to Casa Don Alfonso since they announced that they were going to be opening. However, many people I talked to stated it was nothing special or that it wasn’t worth it, hasted my reservations. My friend and I finally decided to go there for lunch. I was very excited because the photos looked beautiful and I thought who could mess up Italian cooking? Well, apparently Casa Don Alfonso can.

The restaurant itself was beautiful, but thats where it ends. I completely understand higher pricing for better food and experience, but I left this place with $150 less (for 1 person) and food poisoning.

My lasagna was nothing special, and when my friend tries it she told me Costco’s Kirkland lasagna was much better. There were eggs and peas in it as well, which I don’t mind but it didn’t do anything for it. My friend got the sausage pizza which she said was very undercooked and it looked like it. The dough was practically white, cheese looked like it had just finished melting (no golden tint to it yet), and was overall unappealing to look at. The tiramisu came in this weird glass cone which was then put in a candle holder filled with coffee beans. It was super wobbly and uncomfortable to eat. Drinks were fine, the espresso martini tasted more like a cold irish coffee.

Service was nothing special. There were many people —who was not our serve nor one of the “head” people— who kept coming over and asking us about our food. Once or twice would be fine, and if they just stopped there but having to answer that question multiple times and then having to have a conversation with them was distracting. They were all very nice, please don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want to feel like I’m at Sephora when every worker comes up to ask if you need help finding anything.

The best word that best describes Casa Don Alfonso is gilded (verb; give a specious or false brilliance to). Its great on the outside but does not even live up to a fourth of what it is trying to portray. I think it also being in St. Louis does not help considering we have a million other better Italian places. I hate to say it, but food wise I would rather go to Olive Garden than here because at least I know there it will at least taste good. The food here was extremely bland. But hey!!!...

OK everyone settle in. This is a detailed review bc I feel like it's needed. We read most of the other reviews and decided to still give this restaurant a try. My husband made reservations several months in advance so we were very excited and also nervous based on other reviews. I will say, we had a great time!! Yes, it was expensive, but we enjoyed everything we ate and the service was amazing. Between the two of us we wanted to taste a little of everything to give this place a fair shake. We had 5 cocktails, the farmer's board appetizer, the Parma ham pizza, the lasagna, the tagliatelle, and the tirimisu. Everything we tasted was delicious in its own right. If we ever go again, we definitely will not order so much food bc the portions are a decent size, but they did bag it up for us to take home. The service tonight was great! They have people going around just refilling water and bread so that the servers can focus on other things. Our server was Andrew and he was very knowledgeable on the history of the restaurant and the entire menu. He made several recommendations that turned out great! We were celebrating our anniversary and they gave us complimentary tirimisu which was very unexpected. For the cocktails, we got the limoncello (the best we've ever had), the espresso martini (like drinking smooth cold coffee), the little fig, and the pear honey. With dessert, Andrew recommended the Vin Cioccolata dessert cocktail that my husband and I shared. Let me tell you, this drink was yummy! Spiced wine mixed with hot chocolate! Such a great winter drink! Out of everything, I think the lasagna was the best part, if I had to choose, but everything was delicious! I would definitely go again sometime! And hell, we might just go back...