Quintessential Dining & Nightlife — Restaurant in Saint Charles

About once a week I still think about my experience at "Q" and it bothers me, so I figured it's time to write a review. Please skip to the last couple of paragraphs if you don't feel like reading this much. I worked many years in restaurants from waiting to management, also as a mixologist at places like this and a bartender where people just want a drink. I had fun in college and during extensive domestic and international travels. I know a thing or two from both the customer and industry perspectives.

My cousin was excited I made the 6 hour drive to St. Louis, so he took me to Q in Old St. Charles. The cover charge didn't align with the appearance, the vibe didn't align with the location, but who knows, maybe it is a hidden gem or something special was going on. My cousin paid the cover charge for us and we headed upstairs to the patio/dance area. There was nothing special going on.

The upstairs bar seemed dirty and in need of some TLC. The drinks overpriced and the bottle service was dated and gimmicky. The DJ wasnt anything I haven't seen hundreds of times. Absolutely nothing justified a cover charge as high as Snoop Dogg.

The dance floor was disturbing. It was a number of hopefully maybe barely legal girls, and a lot of creepy guys surrounding the edge just gawking. I have enough industry experience recognize recognize a meat market when I see one. Usually if I go to the bathroom, I would leave my drink with my cousin, but not here. The vibe Q was going for, the entire atmosphere, just everything said bad things happen to girls out just to have a fun night and to be on high alert for roofies.

What leaves me thinking about Q frequently is that my cousin recently had some dental work done, and after one beer and no pregame, he says his tooth broke and he has it in his hand. I asked for a glass of milk or cream and they declined. I explained the situation and had him show them the broken tooth, and offered to pay whatever a top shelf drink costs for this, again declined. So we put it in my almost-finished plastic cup of water in hopes we could keep it alive long enough to get to an emergency dentist.

My cousin is a professional- think along the lines of professionals who pay $200K+ and have to pass challenging licensing exam. My friends always say he looks like Disney used him for their prince prototype. He is not some trouble-making yokel. I am also a professional. We dress and conduct ourselves as such. They refused to let us leave despite a partial tooth being in the cul and him showing the other part of the tooth, stating it is something people would do to sneak alcohol out. Please. Maybe an inch of water in that plastic cup, and for that high of a cover charge, it should have been glass. Either way, any self-respecting adult would have just downed it if it were alcohol, not put half a tooth in it as a rouse.

There was a group of police officers about a block away and I started to go ask them to confirm for this establishment that it wasn't an open container, but I didn't want to embarrass my cousin any more than he already was. I just put the partial tooth in my hand and we went on our mission.

So that was my experience with Q: a dirty place with a high chance of getting roofied, and either the lowest level of human compassion or a place that acknowledges it has such problematic clientele that sometimes people break off a tooth rather than leave an inch or two of whatever is in their clear plastic cup. And my own personal vibe check- who looked at the brick-lined streets of the original capital of Missouri and the location that witnessed Louis and Clark depart and said let's put a city-center style club right here? Just all-around an unsettling establishment in a place it doesn't belong. I recently ran into a girl with a Bilikens shirt and asked her about "this place I heard about called Q in St Charles," and she told me she knows multiple people who got roofied there.

So seriously, ladies.... solid advice here.... steer clear of this place, but if you choose to go, buy your own...

This company's response to my mother's review is sugar coated with lies. They can pretend all they want that they are the heros but the reality is they're far from it. Their employees man handled my wife against our request and her will. They left her for dead in the alley where they tossed her out on to the pavement like Jazzy Jeff in the Fresh Prince. She was not belligerent in any way. In fact, she was unresponsive and everyone in our group was already tending to her needs. They had no reason to touch her. We tried to reason with them and tell them that we just needed a minute to get her situated and we'd be leaving. They didn't listen. Their only priority was to remove her from their building before any first responders showed up. They proceeded to aggressively carry her through the crowd and out the back door. The gentlemen that left her laying on the concrete then stood on the ramp laughing about the situation. They showed no remorse, no concern. They took no action to help another human being in need. Aside from the friends and family in our group, other patrons or would-be patrons were the only ones who showed any concern for my wife's well being. They were also just as annoyed as everyone in our group and expressed their discomfort in how the staff handled the situation.

The fact is, everyone involved that was employed at this establishment took matters into their own hands before properly evaluating the situation. They acted first and didn't care enough to listen. The reality is that they assumed her condition was alcohol related. They never considered for one second any other possibilities nor did they listen to any of us who tried to explain that. First responders should have been called to the scene and brought to her. She should have never been moved let alone man handled and tossed out the back door where she was left for dead on the pavement in the alleyway. Their actions put her life at risk.

The saddest part, is that none of the first responders or nurses believed us either. It wasn't until after she recounted every detail of the night that they started to believe she wasn't blackout drunk. Even when she appeared to be unconscious she was aware of what was going on. She simply had no control of her body. She couldn't move. She couldn't open her eyes. She couldn't respond. But, she knew everything that took place. It wasn't until the results of a CT scan and her BAC levels were confirmed that they concluded her condition was the result of a toxic reaction to ingesting an unknown substance. In other words, something was put into one of her drinks at this so called "fine" establishment.

So, maybe they should focus their efforts on keeping the controlled substances out of their drinks instead of rushing the victims of such foul play out the back door. Perhaps the guy at the door that needs a calculator to to figure out change on a $5 cover should be replaced by someone with an IQ higher than a 1st grade education. Maybe someone who can't do simple math in their head shouldn't be in charge of screening people at the door.

And finally, for the record, the only reason this establishment is getting a 1 star review here is because they won't allow a zero...

Great layout, great music, bartenders were decent enough. Whatever frat boy security guard was working the front door last night (05/04) needs to go though. Caucasian man, medium build with facial hair that refused to tell me his name. A few people including myself posed side by side to take a photo, there was a table directly behind us with several empty cups / bottles on it because the bartenders were busy and hadn't had a chance to clean up yet. Someone must have bumped one of the bottles off of the table by mistake when we were posing for the photo, which make a loud clank when it hit the floor. The empty bottle did not break, and the person that knocked it off picked it up immediately. The child of a security guard that this review is in reference to made a beeline to where we were standing and proceeded to start barking orders at our group. My response was that his approach was completely inappropriate and unnecessary, and that I didn't appreciate how aggressive he was being towards us when we were patronizing his place of employment and causing absolutely no trouble whatsoever. His response to that was sticking his pointer finger in my face while he spoke to me like I was a disobedient dog before then shoving me in my chest with his flashlight and positioning himself inches from my face.

I do not drink, and spent many years in the service industry either working or managing spaces very similar to this. This particular individuals ability to assess a situation and respond to it accordingly seems to be non-existent, which to me poses a huge liability for the venue itself. His behavior was actually disturbing and seemed almost sociopathic. Additionally- I did not appreciate the verbal harassment I received from him as I exited the venue later on in the evening to return to my vehicle. He was BEYOND unprofessional and quite frankly came off as very predatory; I would like to believe that this is not the type of individual that Quintessential Dining & Nightlife choose to represent their brand and they just let a really terrible hire slip through the cracks. I reported this entire incident to the MOD behind the bar, so hopefully the situation is addressed accordingly. Unfortunately the MOD's name has already slipped my mind, but he was wearing a blue button down shirt. He was very nice, but seemed stressed.

Overall impression is that this is a great place for college kids to go, but if you're over the age of 25 (that's pushing it) I'd probably skip this place and go spend your money elsewhere. Unless you're into amateur hour....

EDIT- Very interesting that when you go through these reviews, there are multiple multiple negative reviews that mention the security guards specifically. People having their credit cards stolen and multiple reports of young women finding pills in their drinks. Maybe the entire staff here needs to be overhauled? Changing my two star review to one. LADIES ESPECIALLY- Please go somewhere else, don't ever put yourself in an environment that is known to be a...