The Mansion — Restaurant in O'Fallon

We went here and month or so ago for my birthday because we found out the mansion was under new management and wanted to try it out, and it had good reviews.

We were not impressed. The food here is faux fancy, and you can tell they are trying to have themselves present as an upscale dining place, but it just fails to be that for me. Our first clue that it wasn't actually a higher end place was that it was around prom for one of the high schools so a bunch of kids were taking their dates here and taking their photos outside the building and trying to eat here as an approachable fancy restaurant. The second clue should have been their poor excuse for an old fashioned which was SUPER watered down. Just look at the photo. The glass was about half full, and either they added water to it or let it sit with ice cubes until they melted. A true old fashioned is supposed to be strong, but this was just bad.

There are way too many tables, and they're too close, which ruins the actual cozy ambiance. We came for dinner but it was also really bright in the dining rooms, yet they also had these faux flickering dollar store candles in the middle, which was a little tacky.

The appetizer was supposed to be whipped brie and bread and they do give you a lot of the whipped brie but the problem is it is mostly butter so it's like brie flavored butter which is just very one note.

The entrées were complete misses. I had a pork mojo which was braised pork and it was DRY. There's no sauce with it and confirmed with the waitress that there's not supposed to be any. In what world do you serve a braised meat without a sauce? It wasn't enjoyable at all and was served with a grilled clementine for some reason. Rice and beans were underseasoned and fried plantains needed salt. It was all bland.

Husband got their filet which was a poor quality and chewy, most likely the cheapest they can get. It also had a horseradish sauce with it, which was bizarre. Horseradish sauces are meant to be paired with fatty meats like prime rib/ribeye where they help cut through and not a delicate and tender piece like a filet. I thought it was alright, definitely not worth the price.

The dessert was okay. They tried to make nice presentation, but failed sorely on the actual quality of the food. Giving 2 starts just because the waitress was very nice and gave us good service, comped the drink since she knew we didn't like it, and gave us a discount for it being my birthday. If we were judging just the food itself it would be 1 star. We will not be back and I don't recommend it. There are so many nice upscale restaurants around, so if you want an actual fine dining experience for a special occasion I'd say to look elsewhere. Honestly very disappointed and dissatisfied with our...

Wow, what a disappointment. Maybe my disappointment is my fault. I went to the Mansion on Tuesday expecting to have a few drinks at the bar an then an early dinner with friends. I chose the Mansion based on years of memories of landmark events that were punctuated by an elegant dinner and a reminder of the comforts of sophistication-- my mistake.

The Mansion is a sad take on the 1980's version of Houlihan's. Let me start with the bar, since it was the experience I had there that informed my choice to not move to the dining section to eat a overpriced meal, that could not meet any of my food standards (gluten free nor dairy free anything save salad), and be served by an ill-kept, disheveled, rude, unattractive bartender/ server/ floor manager with that attitude of a failing owner. Non- existent service would have been preferable to his occasional, haphazard checklist questions; if not for the distracting, filthy bar that had storage caps on all the alcohol in the well-- bugs? Try cleaning-- I may have order an appetizer to go with my rancid Malbec. But, I sat at the bar long enough to see another ill-kept, overweight, sweaty man briefly emerge from the kitchen, complete with soiled apron, looking for the 'jack of all trades' front end help; his unsightly, unclean look solidified the fact that even if I could navigate the menu to find something healthy and appetizing, I would not.

I paid my tab, called my yet to arrive friends and moved our meeting to Denny's also on HWY 50. It felt ironic and we thought we would just drink coffee and laugh about the tainted memories of the once splendid Mansion. Yet after looking at the menu and spending just a few minutes in the welcoming environment we dared to order. Not only was our gluten free; dairy free meal surprisingly good for diner food, our server Courtney, was fantastic. She was clean, efficient, asked the right question, made wonderful funny small talk. Not only was our server great, but the manger, who was a completely different person apologized for the wait and explained that the kitchen has added cheese to one of the meals and it had to be remade, a mistake caught by their process before the food ever came to our table. The check for our entire table was less than our bar tab at the Mansion, which would be okay if we had superior something for the price-- but there was nothing. I miss fine dining close to home (Hello Andrea's), but not enough to pretend that the Mansion is it. Two Stars one for the memories and one for...

After reading the rave reviews, we were excited about coming here & made it a date night.

MEDIOCRE, at best. In a small town where fine dining simply isn't around, I can see why people would think this is such a fantastic place...the "mansion" is unique & there's nothing to compare it to. Here are a few remarks on our experience:

-while the rest of the mansion is pretty, the bathroom was not...VERY unclean (dirty floor, paper towels thrown on the floor, smelly, and dirty sinks). GROSS.

-the bar did not have the ingredients listed on their cocktail menu ("we're out of Maker's Mark," explained the bartender)

-the drink I ordered (cucumber martini) was served incorrectly...it came w/the standard sliver of lime instead of cucumbers (as advertised), & when I asked for cucumbers or mint, the bartender reluctantly went to the kitchen & came out with a plateful of thinly sliced cucumbers for me.

-while our server was polite & certainly knew the menu, the bartender (who really wasn't serving others but some friends who either worked there or were very comfortable there, because they served themselves to drinks behind the bar...which made me wonder if I could do the same thing) made a point to tell me "we don't have drink specials here...we NEVER do" when I inquired about specials. She looked at me like I had four eyes when I asked for a drink menu.

-the manager, though polite, was on his cell phone half the time.

-they were out of the New York strip steak ("we're out," explained the server...OK, at this point, we're thinking that they have an incompetent supply manager)

-we sat in a small secluded room where it was cold & the view of my husband (from where I was sitting), included him....& a giant wall-mounted space heater right in back of him. Classy...not. Can Paolo invest the $$ to cover that up, please?

-overpriced for what you get. Decent food, but not spectacular.

-not going back. Glad we checked the box, but next time, we'll make the drive to St. Louis for...