Lemp Mansion — Restaurant in St. Louis

every time I go back home to St. Louis, MO; I eat at the restaurant. If you want down home mid-west food like grandma use to make; then Lemp Mansion is the place. I also like to attend the Halloween Party; BEST HALLOWEEN PARTY IN AMERICA. I haven't had a chance to stay at the hotel; but from the tour the rooms are lovely. My only suggestion is that they may want to buy another second location for Lemp Mansion Guest Overflow; because I have been trying to stay at the hotel for literally years; but it is always sold out. They wait list can be pretty long. So for people like me who don't care if we stay at the original Lemp Mansion; but still want to support the Lemp Mansion Brand; I could easily stay at a second location and take a shuttle bus to the main location for meals and drinks. Also if you have a problem with seasoning; if you let the staff know (can't eat salt, pepper, whatever). The will recommend a suggestion. The staff is great; but they are not mind readers they don't know if you can not eat or don't want any salt or pepper on your food. it is your responsibility as a customer to let them know what your diet restrictions are. My mom is diabetic and has never had a problem with getting salty foods or none diabetic meals; because she tells the staff her diet restrictions; she does not assume the staff members are mind readers. Mark the head waiter is always polite; I have never seen him being rude to a customer. I have seen some rude customers; who frankly came in the restaurant with a nasty, negative attitude and Mark has even tried to cheer them up even though it was hopeless; because miserable people like that are clinically depressed and need medication. I have been coming to this restaurant for over 20 years & never had a bad experience. The management is very good about counseling rude staff or getting rid of rude staff; if you let them know; because again they are not mind readers. I did have a friend go there once; who claimed someone was rude. I told my friend to speak to the management. When I went back myself: I asked about that alleged, rude, waiter; the rude waiter had been dismissed and was no longer there. I personally have never had a rude waiter; but the one person I know who said they did spoke to management and the problem was solved quickly. Also I have used coupons before at Lemp Mansion; I don't mind them adding the 15% gratuity; I usually carry a lil cash with me so I up the 15% by an extra 5% so tip totals 20%: because as a former bartender/waitress/hostess/chef; I know how hard of a job anyone has in the restaurant business. I always tip even if the waitress is rude; but I report rude employees to the manager; because managers are not mind readers. As consumers and voters; we have become complacent with letting managers and politicians know how we feel and are treated; then when we don't get what we want we complain on the internet. So we as consumers and voters need to: 1. complain to managers at a business every single time we get bad service: 2. complain, write, and don't vote for politicians when we don't get what we want. Managers and Politicians are not mind readers we have to let them know what you think. This really is my pet peeve. I had so many of my Republican White Neighbors lose their homes and jobs during Bush, Jr Years. Those neighbors were replaced with first time homeowner minorities & white Republicans from Cobb County, Georgia who lost millions during the Bush years; after the dust settled in bankruptcy court; they had exactly $180,000.00 left; so they bought houses for cash in Rockdale County cause Oprah told them Rockdale was a good place to live. Thanks Oprah, please don't tell nobody else to move to Rockdale we are trying to be the Friendly zero negative growth Cabot Cove of Georgia. Anyway when I ask who the White Republicans who lost everything during the Bush years will vote for in 2016; they say Republican again. Open your mouth speak to the manager and more so speak...

*Please keep in mind this was over the summer so things could have changed in the last 5-6 months.

Amazing location and really neat place to go for history lovers! I always give places at least two trips before I ever say that I won’t be back. I still have one more trip so I hope it will be a better visit next time. The night went as followed. We arrived with friends and were seated at the bar while we waited for our table. The bartender obviously loved the mansion and was telling us all about the different things they do, the haunting, history, etc. Our friends got to the venue first and my husband and I had joined the conversation midway. After he wrapped up his conversation (which, was very interesting!) with our friends, he asked us what we wanted to drink. I asked if he had a drink menu to which he stepped aside and pointed at the bar and said super sarcastically, “I have everything, I can make you whatever.” That always makes me super uncomfortable when bars do that so I was caught off guard. I asked for a side car (which is a very common drink) and he looked at me and said “what the hell is what?” Which made me more uncomfortable. I told him and he proceeded to make fun of me. He didn’t end up trying to make it, another server who had come back the bar ended up trying. He was extremely nice and tried his best. I didn’t have the heart to tell him it wasn’t good when he went through all the effort to try and make it for me. I drank it anyway and thanked him for taking the time to make it. After that we were seated and the service was great. We were checked on by not only our waiter but other staff as well. Like I said, the house is amazing. My friend and I walked around and soaked up the entire bottom floor. You can apparently buy tickets to tour upstairs if you are not an overnight guest. I would be interested in doing that and some of their game nights/tarot card nights. Our food was extremely expensive for what it was. It was bland and really not worth the price. I can a type of cajun pasta that had broccoli in it. I was told over and over it was extremely spicy. It was extremely bland and just tasted like cream. The broccoli was very crunchy too. We also discovered they in fact DO have a cocktail menu which rubbed me the wrong way. I ended up ordering a cocktail they had at the time (not sure if it was seasonal) called the lavender lady. In theory sounded amazing. (I LOVE lavender) it tasted nothing like lavender. It resembled strong blueberry liquor and was terrible. I will give the benefit of doubt and say maybe the bartender was a fill in or something but if you are going to charge as much as you are, at least make the food and drinks worth it. This would be an absolute favorite place of mine if it had amazing drink, food, and atmosphere. You are doing really well in one of those categories. Like I said, I’m sure I will be back to give it another try because I really want this to be a place I frequent. Hopefully next time will be better. Thank you for a cool place for people to come to. We appreciate your business and hope to be back with a better experience...

My husband and I booked the Lavender room when we were in town for a Blues game. We ended up being the only guests that night, so we were alone in the mansion after staff left for the day. We were allowed to explore the public areas (bar and kitchen are off limits). The unbooked rooms were locked, which was disappointing but I understand they want to keep them clean for the next guest. Our room faced the interstate, so there was road noise throughout the night. It wasn't terrible and didn't keep me awake. What did keep me awake was the bed, more on that later, and the painters arriving at 8am to do work on the floor above us... scraping, vacuuming, hammering... We did stay on a weeknight, but it would have been nice to get prior notice there were renovations in progress that we might have to deal with.||||We didn't experience anything spooky (but I have yet to listen to the voice recordings I took while we were exploring). It was still a fun visit and something different than your average hotel room. ||||All the furniture is older... maybe some original but probably a lot is "old" but not original. I would have enjoyed a tour or maybe the "experience" they offer where they might elaborate on paintings, furniture, and the house itself. The history of the home and the family is vast! ||||The only downside to me (aside from construction) was the bed. Oy. A memory foam mattress that was either remembering alllllll the people that have ever slept on it or the plywood support underneath was no longer supportive. There was a dip in the middle and my old back was complaining all night. ||||Overall, I highly recommend a night or two... maybe even staying in different rooms. I would def go back! This would be a great venue for any type of celebration or even a girls weekend or a large group of friends to book all the rooms! ||||We took an Uber to and from the Enterprise Center for a Blues game and it was about 15 minutes one way... cost varies depending on time of day. I think it was around $20-25 with tip...