Blood & Sand — Restaurant in St. Louis

Edit: after having been to a few more tasting menus around the area, dropping the score from a 4 to a 3. Will go to other areas instead.

Have heard rave reviews about this place so decided to go here for a birthday gift and do the 10 course meal. Their menu changes often, so might be back in the future to be more choosy and do a la carte or the 5 course menu. Service and ambiance was on point, and I recommend a trip here, but I docked points because I think the price is a little steep considering the quality of some dishes. Even when not every dish will appeal to every person, I still expect every dish on a tasting menu to have technical expertise that my husband and I felt was lacking on a few.

For more in depth detail, the service is really good and timely with very polite and attentive staff. The ambiance is beautiful with the lighting and presentation of the restaurant itself - besides the dumpster that was sitting 50-100 feet from the entrance to the right in plain view as one of the first things you see.

Their tasting menu also has very generous portion sizes. However, the quality of the food is hit or miss. When the food hit, it REALLY was a hit, but there were too many misses for me to think the price is worth it, even with the variety of food options you get to sample. It was $500 for two of us with the 10 course meal and I think the $115/person member pricing would be fair, but the $140/person is a bit steep just because the quality and attention to detail was a little lacking in some areas. All the wine pairings my husband got with his were great, though! I do recommend you get the pairings if you go.

First course was the eggplant, which was pretty good but not amazing. Spices were a little underwhelming.

The options for the second courses were clam chowder and sweet bread. Both were fantastic! The chowder was hearty and rich with big pieces of fresh seafood. We both loved it. The sweet bread was very mild and creamy, with the seafood notes in the sauce pairing really well. I would order both again.

Third was the escargot and the lobster pasta. The escargot had that unpleasant dirt/mineral taste you sometimes get, so I wasn't a fan. The lobster in the pasta had several overcooked pieces, and the pasta was short of al dente, so it was very firm and undercooked. It wasn't very enjoyable for either of us past a few bites.

Fourth was the salad with watermelon pieces and feta. It was a nice cleanser, but the salad didn't taste or look fresh.

Fifth was a winner for both. We got the foie gras and the beef carpaccio. The beef carpacio was light and fresh with so many wonderful flavors of the bright acid and savory thinly cut beef. Absolutely adored it. The foie gras felt firm when you cut it, but once you took a bite, it was that wonderful nuanced and creamy taste you only get from duck liver. They knocked both out of the park!

Sixth was the chicken with rissoto or the grouper. We enjoyed both of them, the chicken was moist, and the rissoto was very pleasantly creamy. It's a pleasant dish, but not a wow factor. The grouper was cooked perfectly, and with the sauce it was a hit.

The seventh sorbet palate cleaner was very tasty! Just a really bright raspberry flavor to really refresh you!

Course eight, we got lamb and steak. The steak was delicious with a really bright sauce. The mushrooms and brussel sprouts with it were lovely. I really liked that main and would definitely get it again. The lamb was underwhelming. It was super chewy and not tender at all. We also didn't like the chickpeas with it and thought the spice blend with it was more akin to what you get at a casual Indian street offering and not a higher end restauran similar to the eggplant dish.

Course nine was the beignets, and they were just too heavy for our liking, like a hush puppy density and not light/pillowy. The sauce was nice, but neither of us ate both.

The last course was white truffles in a raspberry coulis type sauce and it was divine. A very sweet white chocolate with enough raspberry punch to tone it to a...

I’m gonna go with three stars. I like the place, but does need a little improvement. Here’s my story with the place. So, my wife and I randomly wandered in for cocktails one weekday evening (we needed to kill time before a concert at the Stifel). They were able to seat us at the bar, which we appreciated. This was an amazing experience. The bartenders were 10 out of 10 amazing. Extremely knowledgeable, very friendly. Happy to give suggestions. And the cocktail list was top notch. The hard thing was choosing. We loved our drinks. Very unique and delicious. I’m talking scented foam, candied rose petals, etc. Loved it. The only lower point was a free amuse-bouche offered to us. It was some seasoned diced cucumber. I know it was free, but it was so unappealing that I regretted eating it. It had an overwhelming, acrid garlic taste that actually took some time to dissipate from my mouth and detracted from my enjoyment of the cocktails a bit. It was free, and not a big issue. We still left with a 10 out of 10 experience. Little did I know that overwhelming, acrid garlic would become a recurring theme at this restaurant. After the great cocktail experience, I purchased a membership. I returned a few weeks later for a very special dinner with my wife and parents. We got the 5-course tasting menu. My first issue was an inability to make the reservation as a member. The member reservation site just does not work. I wrote twice to guest services and was ignored. So, already a little annoying. I mean, I understand but given the price and the fact that I’m paying a membership, I think they should have responded to my email. I finally called and they very kindly fixed my reservation to show I’m a member. Anyway, on to the dinner. We all got the 5-course tasting menu. My first course was the fois gras risotto. The fois gras was amazing, but here the garlic was overpowering and acrid. I understand we are in winter. Store-bought garlic is often getting a little old by this point in the year. But a restaurant at this price point needs better sourced garlic or at least know how to work with acrid garlic. Other members of my party got oysters which were 5 stars, great oysters. Next came a great salad. My wife had delicious chili. No complaints here. Good job. 3rd course was callos madrileños. This is a soup from Madrid, Spain made of tripe, chorizo, and chickpeas. I previously lived in Madrid and the flavor was spectacular. Amazing. It had way less broth than real callos, so it wasn’t much of a real soup. They also gave me a fork to eat it, which was confusing. But the flavor was great. Next was the duck breast. It was decent. I didn’t care for the medium rare poultry. I’m used to it being fully cooked but I admit I don’t know a lot about duck. But they didn’t ask how I wanted it cooked, I assumed it would be fully cooked. The cocoa blueberry sauce was great. It came with some potatoes that unfortunately had the acrid garlic flavor, but not too bad. Lastly, beignets for dessert. Amazing.

In short, 10 out of 10 bar and cocktails. Kitchen has great options. But I think some ingredients lack quality. The acrid garlic stands out. We also had an amuse-bouche that was essentially a dressed raspberry. The berry was quite tart. Again, it’s not raspberry season. Maybe they can try to be a little more seasonally-aware. Anyway, I gave three stars because I expect more quality at the price point and there was that service issue of not responding to emails. But the bar is great, and many menu items are unique...

Today we went to Blood and Sand to celebrate our 11th anniversary. They had a taste menu and we are so happy that we went. Each of us had the 5 course meal and they had a variety of options to choose from but they are not the traditional dishes you’d get in any other restaurant. In order to have the most out of this experience, we decided as we were recommended by our server, get different dishes for each course. Before we even started we were offered their tots with cheese and truffle. We loved it. And it was served with their in house French dip. As well we had a bite of their own tortilla chip topped with venison meat and corn tomato and more yummy glaze. For starters I got the kangaroo tartare topped with quail yolk and on the side they had anchovies butter. Even though it might sound crazy but it tasted great. My wife got went for the safe choice and got pan seared panisse “chickpea” with vegetables. Second I got the bib lettuce salad that had lobster, cucumber, watermelon, granola and lobster vinaigrette. It was just amazing all the flavors worked great together. My wife got Pho Bo soup that had wagyu beef brisket “yumm” beef meatball “more yumm” rice noodles onions and ginger. That was one of the top dishes we had. Third, I got confit octopus that came with lentils and mbaongo sauce and pickled chili. That too came on the top of the list. She got the Sears duck breast with corn edamame scallion pure and black apricot Demi. Fourth, “at this point we are getting full, we thought we won’t be filled because of the portions but we were mistaken” I got the cocoa powdered elk chop with stone fruits (

peach, plum and apricot) that was a great chop and she got the grilled niman ranch skirt steak with baby carrots arugula and romesco sauce and it was another top of the list choice Finally dessert was great both choices that they had on the menu were amazing. The beignets and the white chocolate budino. The latter was a little too sweet but we had coffee that made it better. Overall, a great place to at least try once, we can’t wait to go again when they...