Cugino's Craft Kitchen | Lake Saint Louis — Restaurant in Lake Saint Louis

My wife and I decided to stop in after seeing that BCs was closed to give it a try. Needless to say some of the one star reviews are pretty spot on and we should’ve just moved along. The wait staff was great, but the atmosphere is kinda lack luster. Not much has been done since the restaurant it replaced had been there other than a color swap and removing booths. Some of the tables legs we saw are more warped than a 2x4 from the bottom of the Lowe’s lumber pile.

We ordered the bread basket that came with brown and focaccia bread. The focaccia wasn’t bad, but the brown bread was probably the most confusing thing I’d ever eaten in my 38 years of living. Wasn’t really sweet and had this weird taste like it was mixed with half brownie batter and half whole wheat flower. 9 times out of 10 I’ll personally be the one to ask for more bread wherever we’re at to the point of making the server uncomfortable, and this is legitimately the first time I couldn’t make it past a second serving - it felt sacrilegious.

I ordered the bay city smash burger and my wife ordered the blackened chicken Cesar salad. The burger was pretty mediocre. The sauce it came with tasted like a watered down thousand island and the patty wasn’t seasoned. My wife’s blackened chicken was just overly seasoned and disguised as blackened. I couldn’t tell you what the salad dressing was supposed to taste like, but it wasn’t Cesar. It had some strong taste of hard boiled eggs but in liquid form, super weird and probably shouldn’t have been ingested.

My wife had a mixed drink that she had two sips of and had to stop. I had an old fashioned that was actually pretty good. Not an over exaggeration when I say her mixed drink was a heavier pour than my bourbon. The water didn’t taste like you were licking a rock or consuming chemicals so that was a win I guess.

We honestly wanted to give this place the benefit of the doubt since so many people seem to come and go from there, but we won’t be back. We felt like garbage for the remainder of the day as the food digested and didn’t eat dinner because we were still nauseas. For the price and experience it unfortunately was...

High quality food, extremely friendly staff, great atmosphere.

I had such high expectations for a place that calls themselves a “craft kitchen” and I was certainly not disappointed. Any time I see “hand-battered” on a menu in reference to chicken it’s a no brainer. I will try it 100 times out of 100. I have a duty to find out if the chicken in question is genuinely hand battered because sometimes this is a deception used solely as a sales tactic.

This time the chicken was the real McCoy.

I got the “nuggs” in their Nashville hot style. A lot of places mess this regional favorite up something fierce but their rendition was fantastic. An oil based sweet heat. Nice and thick with plenty of that “hot chicken” flavor.

The only problem I had was the chicken ended up being dark meat which I vehemently dislike. This was not listed on the menu or else I would not have ordered them. I knew something was wrong after my first bite and wasn’t willing to have any more after that. I let my server know and said I would still be willing to pay for it and give it to one of my friends. He insisted that it be removed from the bill since I didn’t eat any of it which I respect.

Everything about the chicken was amazing other than it being dark meat. The batter was light and crispy and the meat was fresh and juicy. Most people love dark meat so I’m sure these will be a crowd favorite considering the exceptional quality.

Homemade ranch as well which is always a massive plus.

Very highly recommend coming here for a meal and a drink. They have a vast selection of bourbons and...

Went in to get a simple appetizer of meatballs. The people in this restaurant were very indifferent to customers and I would say no custom service. I ordered my appetizer at the bar and after waiting 30 minutes at the bar, I got up and walked out without my appetizer. The bartender didn’t check on my order during the time I was waiting and couldn’t care less if I sat there all night. Restaurant wasn’t that busy on a night the Meadows had a band playing in the plaza. Menu of food is simple and easy to prepare but the staff needs to wake up, provide better customer service or close this place. After reading the response from management I completely disagree for the following reasons: Who ever responded to my negative review was not in the restaurant at the time and is blindly taking the word of those staff members who paint a roses picture of their association with me as a customer. Staff members need to be observed by management more often and not just take their word that they were very attentive and polite. They will always blame the customer for their poor performance because their job is at stake. It’s unfortunate I have to write this review but if this restaurant wants to succeed they need to put any customer first and don’t take the word of staff members protecting their job security. You have lost me as a customer for good as well as other customers who ask my opinion of your...