Spencer's Grill — Restaurant in Kirkwood

November 2017: All things eggs, cheese, hash browns, you name it. All still so good!!!!! And, now, to the boilerplate of my 1970s small person youth .... :

I'd been coming here since the early 1970s. At the behest of my grandparents. Grandfather owned a Safeco Insurance Agency in the basement of the Delmar Building near the corner of Adams and Clay.

They sort of raised me, my Grandparents, since I was born to save the marriage, and I didn't work. Always reminded me for that, the parents, and their only older child. I digress.

So, the Grandparents would meet for lunch almost daily. Sometimes Grandfather drove home to their house in or near the Windsor Springs area off of Geyer Road South of Big Bend. I always liked being stopped for the train.

So, if I was along while they met for lunch, Grandma would drive to his office. We would then take his Jeep and park behind Spencer's Grill. Or in the parking lot across from the Kirkwood police station.

Almost every time, we would meet with Francis R. Scheidegger. They were both members of the Kirkwood Rotary Club and would talk Kirkwood City business, or gossip, and other matters Rotarian. They would talk about how other folks were doing in the area like Webster Groves and the like. They would get the light fare, like a BLT and a salad or soup.

Francis R. Scheidegger would call me 'young man' and would ask how I was doing. He seemed to be interested in me and would speak to me like I was also an adult.

I took a strong liking to the grilled cheese and the tomato soup. The grilled cheese would come with a really sharp cheddar, yet I think you could get Swiss cheese. The bread was really savory (I know the word savory now, yet only knew the toasted bread as well buttered and really good). No matter the cheese, and the melted and browned cheese was always really strong and flavorful, yet a salty tang. And it went well with the tomato soup, which was also sort of salty, yet more tangy. Though they all disdained my want to dip the grilled cheese sandwich into the delicious tomato soup. Mr. Scheidegger would say, "Polite people do not dunk their sandwich into their soup, young man." (I guess he would have not like my penchant for dunking a salty french fry into the chocolate shake at the Steak N' Shake, also. Who would? I did so, anyway.)

Sometimes we would visit Mr. Scheidegger's photography studio.He would show me his camera collection. In that time, anything shiny and sparkly gained my attention for sometime.

We would also go for breakfast. And breakfast is as good now as it was then. The new management has brought along the Spencer Grill flavor, even if ingredient quality is not as good in the modern, so-called, era.

Afterward, we would return to my Grandfather's insurance office in the basement of the Del-Mar building. Almost every time I remained while my grandmother left to do other things. (I'll guess now she needed a break from the precocious child.) I would nap on the the back office sofa and my Grandfather would wake me to go home to their house in the Windsor Springs area off of South Geyer Road.

So, I like the Spencer's Grill. yet I'd rather go for lunch with my grandparents...

Update 2 (11/20/24): First time back under the new ownership. I sat at the bar and was greeted immediately and given a nice cup of coffee. My waitress, whose name I unfortunately forgot, was a pro – super friendly and efficient. I ordered two pancakes and a French toast biscuit, which turned out to be way too much food.

The crispy-edged pancakes are what got me hooked on Spencer’s Grill. I was hopeful that they would be the same under new management. The verdict? Not quite… they have crispy tops at least, but the batter is much thicker so the pancakes themselves are thick and fluffy instead of thin and crispy. They’re not bad if you like that style, but I don’t prefer fluffy pancakes. Not sure if this was an intentional recipe change or not.

The French toast biscuit is $6 and massive. I took it to-go and it was a filling breakfast the next day.

Overall, with excellent service and promising new leadership, I have high hopes for the future of Spencer’s Grill. I just hope that they thin out that pancake batter and get it back to what it looks like in my original picture below.

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Update 1 (11/5/23): Brought my wife here for the first time. She got the scrapple and French toast, both of which she really liked. The French toast has a lot of cinnamon, just like she likes. She didn’t like the scrambled eggs since it was folded up like an omelette. I was going to try the pancakes again but I saw someone else’s order and they still didn’t have crispy edges. I got the smashburger. It wasn’t bad but it was thicker than I prefer – not smashed enough. Good flavor though. Overall, we both liked it but I really wish they would fix their pancakes and make them actually crispy again.

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Nice little old school diner in the heart of Kirkwood. I got the crispy pancakes and hash browns, both of which were delicious. It’s a pretty small building but I went around noon on a Wednesday and there was plenty of seating. They serve Kaldi’s Coffee which I was excited about, but it tasted old and stale. They also only have International Delight coffee creamer, no half and half. But overall, very tasty food, quick service, and a fun atmosphere.

Edit (10/31/23): I went back again and ordered the same exact thing. They now have actual half-and-half instead of International Delight creamer (yay!), but the pancakes this time weren’t nearly as good. They didn’t have the crispy edges like what made them so great before – they just tasted like basic pancakes you could get anywhere, unfortunately, so I lowered my review to 4 stars. See my pics to compare them...

Update #2- Once again new ownership riding on the coat tails of what was fixed. So like the new reduced menu well that's it. Food was garbage and not due to the cook but whomever is yelling out orders and assisting stop he knows how to cook and do it well. Do not understand why you cut costs everywhere yet add costs in places that where already working. So add costs to packaged salt,pepper and sugar tea no more shakers, canned soda, premium sausage yet has no flavor, to union loafers bread being the only option and makes a garbage b-fast sandwich but let's use great value syrup and squeeze it into unmarked containers ( see pic) .Ok so hash brown not crispy like they increased the margarine to butter ratio in the clarified blend, meat is tasteless and butter the bread thought I was asking for Vegemite to get server to understand. Well lastly the atmosphere is gone, is run like a burn and turn everything is digital so be sure to ask for a total before they give you the pad to pay and watch as only the nice older lady was the only one washing her hands at all. So skip until maybe they get a clue and go the the Barn or even yes Bob Evans at least there won't be constant yelling.

Update - brought in some new talent to cook and has gotten better and have eaten bfast with daughter last 4 weeks and is consistent with the new cooks owner cooked last week and was just ok.

Usto be good. Dont know what has happened to this place but the new owner/cook is horrible food is different quality of everything from sausage to hashbrowns is cheap and the happy fun light scene from everyone that usto work there is gone. Only one server from the group that has been there the last 3 years is left. It is one step above Dennys but not quite Bob Evans now. Usto come for breakfast every weekend with my daughter but will...