Clark & Bourbon — Restaurant in St. Louis

TLDR; service was good. Food was cooked incorrectly twice. Waitress did her best to make it right on her end. Manager didn’t offer anything. Not even to comp our appetizer or give a discount. We have gotten steaks just as good or better at Texas Roadhouse for half the price before. We spent over $200 (after tip) on a meal that was worth maybe half that.

Full Review: My husband and I were so excited to have a nice dinner and decided to just hop down to the restaurant in our hotel because it was convenient.

The waitress was seating people and serving people. It seemed like they were understaffed but it was a slow Thursday night so we figured we would still give it a go.

We got sat down and ordered drinks. I ordered an Espresso Martini because I was tired. It was tasty but it was $18 and I’ve had better for half that price elsewhere. No big deal though. We were planning to spend a bit of money for a nice date night.

We also got a charcuterie board which was good but again for the price it could have been better.

So, onto the main course they advertise themselves as a steakhouse. They offer a wide variety of steaks. So we both decided to order New York Strips. We order them medium Rare and then we order 2 sides. Sides do not come with the meal.

Our steaks come out and they are MASSIVE. They have a nice sear on them. But we cut them open and they are still purple. Cool to the touch. So we send them back.

They come back out and they are still purple. But my husbands is warm enough he will eat it. They sliced mine up and cooked it so we wouldn’t have to keep going back and forth.

These steaks were big enough they really needed to be finished in a oven but they weren’t doing that.

Anyways the manager brought my steak back the second time. He asked if it looked okay and I said yes.

The steaks tasted nice. They had a good crust and they were good quality.

Our sides were mashed potato’s which were gummy and Mac and cheese which was massively under seasoned. It was clear the noodles hadn’t been cooked in seasoned water nor was there much seasoning added after the fact to the cheese or to the breadcrumbs that were on top.

All of the food was edible. It wasn’t the worst food I’ve ever had but when all was said and done we spent over $200 for a meal that wasn’t any better than we could have gotten at a Texas Roadhouse.

There in lies the problem. They advertise as a nice fine dining type place but the food and the management just didn’t deliver on it.

We did tip our waitress over 20% because she was nice and...

Service was very friendly, so that was nice. That said, the food and drinks itself were all subpar at best. The restaurant had prices that were comparable to a Ruth's Chris or Hyde Park, so I was expecting that quality of meal. Unfortunately, the quality of food seemed to be closer to an Outback or Olive Garden, but a step down from that in terms of flavor pairings...one exception being the lobster dumplings. Those were pretty tasty and did a good job of incorporating various flavors and textures.

A few specifics: everything leaned sweet...even the steak. There's a sweet glaze that is on the plate of the steaks. The menu doesn't really have much to counter balance sweet and rich flavors that overpower the majority of the dishes. The crab cake has a lot of filler in it. It tastes like something you might get at a "fast food" style of seafood place. The mac and cheese (and this might have been uniquely prepared and done incorrectly - it was too difficult to know if it was done in error or just another poorly designed menu item) tasted more like buttered noodles with a light sprinkling of cheap cheese and breadcrumbs that barely seemed baked all over the top. It reminded me of something you might serve to a picky five year old. Lastly, the drinks...again, lots of sweetness. Adding orange juice seems to be a thing here. I opted to try one with orange juice, and it disappointed more than I even imagined it would. Perhaps not because OJ was a component of the drink (though, that did seem like an unnecessary addition), but because the quality of the juice itself seemed more like something you'd buy from the grocery store out of a gallon jug that was part juice and part tang.

All in all, I wouldn't go back, but if you're a fan of sweet dishes and drinks, this place might be an okay...

My friends and I didn’t realize this was a bar inside a hotel, which was no big deal. But, we weren’t sure how the service worked since it’s a hotel bar. When we first walked in, we didn’t see a host, and we wanted to be sure that we could seat ourselves. We went to the bar and asked the bartender, Rob, if we seat ourselves. He said yes. We sat down at 5pm, and Rob brought us waters. At 5:15pm, I went up to the bar to ask the bartenders (Rob and Greg) if we order at the bar. I was genuinely unsure, because this is my first time here, and I am not used to bartenders coming from behind the bar to serve tables. Greg bartender was extremely nice, and told me that they would come to us and asked if we were ready to order. I asked a question about the menu, then said yes, we are ready to order when they are, then I sat back down. After another 5 minutes, Rob came back to the table to take our orders. Instead of asking if we wanted to order, he stood at our table. After an awkward 10 or so seconds, my friend asked his name. He said, “Rob. What’s yours?” My friends and I just looked at each other and asked if we could order. Overall, this place is beautiful and the drinks and food are great. But the customer service and professionalism of Rob should match the atmosphere. Due to him creating an awkward atmosphere, I gave atmosphere 4/5 stars. I’m sure my experience would’ve been amazing if I were to have had a different server. Upon leaving, my friend handed Rob her card to pay for her food. He looked at her name on her card and said, “This can’t be your real name.” This whole experience felt targeted, as he was super kind to my non-Black friend who was the third...