Esca — Restaurant in St. Louis

The perfect package of Amazing Food, Great Service and an Atmosphere that grabs you as you approach the front door and gives you a BIG hug once you cross the threshold. It is clear the staff are well trained and work together as a team. This is driven by the very talented Ben Poremba who is hands-on working the floor. Ben was personally managing the dessert cart and served the most amazing cookies with zabaglione. The cocktails were impeccable; Old Fashion, Washed Negroni and Vesper. We could see the bartender creating cocktails with such care. Everything on the menu is cooked over an open flame. Our party of 4 are all foodies so we shared everything thank goodness as it was hard to choose. We started with the Straciatella - DO NOT miss this, amazing flavors and textures - imagine a burrata-like cheese with roasted fruits and almonds - YUM! We then had the Fire Roasted beet salad - another winner of taste & texture. We then moved onto the La Escalivada - roasted vegetables and we added the special tuna. They suggested scraping the flesh out of the perfectly roasted eggplant but we enjoyed the eggplant skin as well. We then moved onto Mains and had the Branzino and Steak. Both Mains were good but the appetizers offered much more variety in flavors and textures. We ended the meal with the cookies which I highly recommend and the dairy-free ice cream. Service was impeccable and the atmosphere is simply delightful. Cannot...

The atmosphere is superb - lively, cozy, and sexy without being stuffy, perfect for an epicure like me. I appreciate the thoughtful details in the interior design, service, and execution of the dishes. The hostess was sweet and accommodating. Some of the waitresses could improve their friendliness and enthusiasm, as they seemed inexperienced and unconvincing about the restaurant's offerings. The cocktails are refreshing and well-balanced; bar manager Noah knows his craft. The wine selection is excellent, and sommelier Luciano is extremely knowledgeable, always helping me choose the perfect wine at all Bengelina establishments.

All food offerings were on point. I was impressed by the fire roasted beet salad; the creaminess of the labneh perfectly complements the fresh herbs, smokiness of the beets and zest of the dish. The escargot was tender, savory, and excellently seasoned, though it needed more bread to soak up the bubbly melted butter goodness. While the shrimp was tender and cooked to perfection, it lacked the expected flavor and oomph I was hoping for. Each bite of the fire-baked eggplant Parmesan was meltingly delicious. The branzino was juicy and bursting with flavor. GM Jonathan is the ultimate friendly face, bringing life to the service and offering scrumptious, homemade-looking desserts from a vintage dessert cart. What a vibe! I will be...

I really hate leaving really bad reviews.

However, while this place has wonderful vibes; they served my wife an alcoholic drink, disguised as a mock-tail, after confirming that the drink was alcohol free. She stated and asked multiple times while ordering that these drinks must be alcohol free. My wife is 31 weeks pregnant and clearly showing.

Mistakes happen; the server caught his mistake quickly, to his benefit. But not before my wife drank a few sips. However, there are mistakes you can make; and mistakes you really cannot make. This falls into the latter.

So you should probably not trust this restaurant if you are (1) pregnant or (2) potentially have any serious food allergies.

What is almost as bad; is that the when this was brought to the attention of staff and management; their response was merely to remove the offending beverage (that we did not order) from the ticket only AFTER I pointed it out. They basically said we're sorry, pay for the rest of your meal. I asked again if this was their best customer service in which case I would be forced to write this review.

As we were walking away; the (I am assuming) Manager brought my wife an unmarked gift card, which at this point I am unable to verify the amount on the card so i cannot say whether it is reasonable, generous or not but it was clearly a sour bite to end a Friday...