Kingside Diner (CWE) — Restaurant in St. Louis

This was my first time here. The look of the restaurant with the bay windows as seats are beautiful but I unfortunately was not happy with anything else. We sat at the bar RIGHT in FRONT of the bartender's register. She took forever to come ask us what we wanted to drink because when she first asked I went to the restroom and we had no time to look over the menu. Once we actually placed our drink order which we got beermosas she took forever to come take our food order. They have one bartender for the restaurant with a small bar. I dont mind the small bar but if the bartender cannot tend to her customers while filling the restaurants drinks then there needs to be two. When she asked what we wanted to eat, I pointed to the menu where it says that anything under this section is available as a flatbread. I asked for the pesto caprese whatever as a flatbread. She immediately looks at me and says i dont know if we can do that I'm going to go ask the kitchen. She comes back and then continues to tell me that she didnt want the kitchen to be upset if she put it in because they are busy and if they were not busy she would just tell me they would figure it out but you can order it. I'm sorry but it does not say on the menu that certain items are available contingent on volume. Anyway, I placed my order and so did my fiance. He ordered chicken and waffles. When our food arrived I was very much so excited. They forgot his syrup and my pizza was entirely too large but who will complain about extra food? I tasted the pizza and it tasted sour. The balsamic sauce tastes as it was old and bad. I tried to keep eating it but I just could not. The man sitting next to me I know from my neighborhood. He informed me that happy hour is until 10. The bartender never mentioned happy hour at all to us. Again, we were sitting right in front of her, 10 minutes to 10am my bar friend orders another beer before happy hour was over. She says no problem. Our beermosas are almost gone. It has been for the last 15 minutes. She never asked if we wanted another drink or our checks. So finally my fiance asked for our checks. The bill was inexpensive for the CWE but the service and food was not so great. My fiance said his chicken and waffles were good but he agreed that my flatbread was not right. The bar selection is very small as well. I was not impressed at all with the service I recieved or the food. This place was just not...

Let me start by saying my dad is a veteran battling stage 4 cancer. We were downtown having tests done from 6am until late morning and he had to fast for those tests. I fasted with him because I wanted to support him. We finally got to eat and I chose this diner because it's a local business, rather than a franchise, and we've never eaten here. I ordered their "signature breakfast dish" the "damn good"...it was damn bad!! My plate was FREEZING...like someone took it out of the refrigerator and put it on the table for me. Cold hash browns, cold GRAVY 🤢 and a cold, chewy crossaint with cold eggs for $15+ our $3 black coffee was cold and we sat with empty coffee cups for what seemed forever. Our server didn't smile once, but was standoffish and literally frowning. I had to find someone to give us our check. My dad got French toast for $14 and he liked it. While the "chess board" ambiance is cute, the cold atmosphere, cold service, and overpriced cold food are not cool at all. I would have rather spent $6 at mcdonalds and at least had hot food and coffee and much better service. EDIT* I HAVE CHANGED THE ONE 🌟 TO 🌟🌟🌟🌟 THE OWNER, JOE, FULLY REFUNDED OUR BREAKFAST AND WARMLY INVITED DAD AND I BACK, AS HE PROMISED IN HIS REPLY TO THIS REVIEW. THAT IS ABOVE AND BEYOND SERVICE!!! obviously, we had a bad experience, but this is a wonderful example of why my family likes to shop and eat local. Good people admit when they've messed up and make it right. Kingside Diner did exactly that, and we are looking forward to trying them again and seeing what everyone else has been so...

*Update. The owner did indeed provide a refund! I feel they are sincere in their response, and I look forward to giving it another try if I’m in town long enough. Ingredient quality was there, just poorly served in that instance, cleanliness was on par and clearly leadership is taking hold of any shortcomings performed in their absence. Intent is good and I hope to return with better news! Bumped service and over all stars up due to the response here. Original review— Food might have been great but despite being nearly empty ours was cold. The pancake couldn’t even melt butter. Why would you pour cold gravy on top of a croissant sandwich? Started out poorly when I ordered a drink off of a menu that I wasn’t supposed to get, and then when I found out it was off menu I didn’t want them to scrounge the last of the old ingredients to try and make it anyway-the waitress seemed bothered by that. The punch drink I did get was great. Had to ask twice for silverware after our food arrived. Then we listened to the next table hear specials we would have loved to try over the menu items that were there. Corn plus beef plus hash?-not corned beef hash, struck as very odd but that’s just us and subjective. The poor service from the annoyed waitress is a bit more universal and a bigger issue. The other patrons and the hostess were far more friendly and I don’t know what the waitress said to the bartender but she stared daggers at us leaving. I still tipped her 18 percent but I probably shouldn’t have, and we left hungry. Not what I expected from the other...