HandleBar — Restaurant in St. Louis

Went there to see a burlesque show that we thought started at 9, had actually ended at 9. That's our fault for not double checking the time. Though we all agreed 8 is a little early in our opinions for that type of show. That's okay! We stayed to get drinks and pizza. The bartender got our drink orders and didn't ask for any sort of payment. Gave me my drink right away and moved onto other things. Still didn't ask for payment - weird! Leaving my friends undone. We waited awhile and asked again for hers, they were out of something to make it. She ordered something else and we sat down with our group. They'd already ordered the pizza before us. Her drink didn't taste like it had any alcohol in it but we'd already been apart from the group and didn't want to wait again. Then we waited for the pizza almost an hour before asking about it. They'd seem to have forgotten about it. Got it a few minutes after asking.

The veggie pizza was really tasty!

But we'd missed the early show and wanted to see another one down the road. Waiting so long, with a watered down mixed drink and too busy a bar to reorder our empty ones. It was so/so.

The gear decor was cool and I liked the exposed brick walls. The bathroom was surprisingly clean though one stall was out of order.

I'll give it another shot when...

I have tried to like this establishment. However, it simply feels so out of place in the Grove neighborhood of Saint Louis. The bar is a bicycle themed bar and that aspect is actually very cool. They have amazing beet fries that are to die for. However, the establishment has a feel of an out-of-place wanna be grunge bar that attracts patrons that would fit that exact description. The servers are generally friendly and I have never received poor service. Weekends can get busy and because of apparent under-staffing there are long waits to get drinks. Some nights offer singing and other activities such as dancing, but this still does not make the establishment worth visiting other than for the beet fries. I often times find myself going to the back patio because of the loud nature and too dim of lighting. Dim lighting in bars is great, but the lighting in HandleBar is at the level where you almost can not see. There are pool tables which are usually available, unfortunately, it is difficult to play because of all the other patrons around you. The church pews as seating is my absolute favorite part of the bar and is very much appreciated. Overall: go for the beet fries then move across the street...

Three weeks ago I had reserved space for our group of twelve, which turned out to be eight, for a birthday dinner. When I arrived half an hour early, there was one barmaid and a crowd around the bar; it was difficult just to get her attention. I mentioned my reservation and she said to sit anywhere; I was wondering how we'd ever get served with only a single barmaid. When the rest of the group arrived, we ordered drinks, but soon realized we were never going to get any service, so we left and went across the street, where we got immediate service and had a nice dinner. The barmaid was nice enough, but they knew in advance and had made no attempt to accommodate us. Even if they had told us, nicely, that they were understaffed and couldn't accommodate us, I would have understood, but they ignored us. This place is good for young people who want to drink beer and hang around the bar, but I don't see much potential as a restaurant, even though the menu looked interesting. Other reviews stated that weekends are busy, but this was a cool, rainy Tuesday night! Too bad, they had eight customers waiting and they lost us, but they didn't seem to care. We...