The Bellwether — Restaurant in St. Louis

I performed various functions in the service industry for about 12 years. Still, 15 years later, I support the James Beard foundation because of their efforts to promote sustainability. I preface with that because I don’t like writing negative reviews. I make every excuse for the FOH and BOH staff, because I’ve experienced all of it, personally. This was one of the worst dining experiences I’ve ever had, anywhere, ever. The restaurant is on the top floor of a lovely building and it is decked out with ambiance. The bar looks great and extends over more than a third of the dining room. We’re seated at a booth facing the bar, in full view of the bartender, and it’s impressively private considering the space. So far, so good. The first hint was a table storming in from the patio. They try to engage the bartender, a remarkably aloof woman wandering haphazardly between side work and making drinks, and despite looking directly at them, she takes a while to acknowledge them. They ask if she’s seen their server. She says “I don’t know who you server was”, and goes right back to polishing stemware. By the way, the restaurant’s hours indicate that they don’t close for another two hours. Still, it would be inappropriate to allow our experience to be influenced by theirs… so we begin to wait for our server. And wait. And wait. Ironically, after having made eye contact several times (including an awkward smile), the very same server that seems to have abandoned his patio table identifies himself as our waiter. Maybe there was an issue at the host stand or maybe they operate purely off of rotation vs assigned sections. He takes our drink order and starts back to the bar before I ask if we can put in our “small plate” order as well. He begrudgingly obliges and wanders off with zero sense of urgency. I notice him meander towards a large party that I assume he’s waiting on as well, so I begin to temper my expectations. About 10 minutes later a woman happens by, she notices our empty coasters and asks if we’ve been helped. “Someone did stop by and got our drink/app order but we haven’t seen him since.” She tells us that the entire staff has been working doubles all weekend and everyone is exhausted. I sympathize, as I’ve been there, but if I’d been the floor manager… I would have lost my mind. She serves us water, finally, after having arrived 30 minutes ago… we thank her and she disappears. If I would have caught our waiter after receiving our drinks, I would have told him to cancel the food… no such luck. Food arrives moments later from a disheveled older server and our waiter conveniently asks how everything is while he happens to still be nearby. I don’t hesitate. “What’s going on? Are ya’ll understaffed? Did the whole place just recover from getting slammed?!” “No”, he replies. “We’ve all just been working doubles this whole weekend and everyone’s tired.” Hearing that twice indicates that either the owner doesn’t know how bad their management staff is or the management doesn’t know how bad their wait staff is. Still can’t figure out what the chef was hoping for us to get out of our small plates. The pork belly pho was served cold. The deconstructed crostini fell completely flat....

We went to the Bellwether for a birthday celebration. It was our first time at this establishment, and it was delightful. The decor is fabulous - very chic.

We had reserved a table for four, and had a last minute addition. The hostess was super friendly and accommodating and seated us immediately.

Our server was Heather. She was lovely and very well versed in the menu and gave good advice on each item we inquired about.

We had a round of cocktails including the Fifth Season, the 2666 and the Paradise Lost.

I ordered the 2666 and had to have a second. It was bright and crisp and so good.

For appetizers, we had the Beef Tartare, the Wild Mushrooms and the Togarashi Fries. The beef tartare with the crostini was a hit with all of the meat eaters - it was very nice. Loved the pickled mustard seed - which we thought was caviar at first - and the lemon creme. Yum. The mushrooms did not disappoint either - they were flavorful and the onion creme was really tasty. The serving of fries was huge - even for five people....and they were crispy, hot and absolutely delicious.

My boyfriend ordered the rack of lamb which was huge. He said it was delicious. I am not a big fan of mole, typically, but I tried his pomegranate mole and it was so yummy. I found myself sneaking more "tastes" of it throughout the meal. :-D

I ordered the pork steak and if I had it to do over again, I would probably choose something else. Don't get me wrong, it was good and a very large portion. Heather said it's one of their most popular items - but it's also very sweet. From the sauce to the potatoes - all sweet stuff which is not my favorite. I thought the Carolina Mustard BBQ sauce would be tangy and mustardy - and it just didn't seem that way to me.

One friend ordered the Pomodoro and said it was really good - and from what I could see, it was a large portion.

Another ordered the Bolognese. Again - a very generous portion. It was a little on the spicy side for this particular diner who has a more sensitive palate and stomach - so I think she would order something else if she had it to do over again. We just didn't expect bolognese to be spicy.

Our last guest ordered the Okabe, and he really enjoyed the dish which - again - was very generously portioned.

For dessert, everyone shared a blackberry (or blueberry - I didn't have any and I'm not sure what it was) bread pudding. They were oooohing and ahhhhing over that from start to finish. The Bellwether gifted my boyfriend with a birthday cupcake which......I'm not a fan of sweets, but this was probably our least favorite thing served. The cupcake appeared dry and heavy and the icing/cream on top was dry and tasted mildly soapy. He did not finish it.

Even with that unfortunate end to his meal - the rest of the meal was fabulous and we thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It was a great choice for his birthday - very special.

There is definitely no issue with portion size at the Bellwether - that's for sure!! It's pricey, but you won't...

The service was absolutely terrible...our waitress had a bit of a chip on her shoulder upon arrival...when taking our order she rolled her eyes and sighed as If we were an interruption in her day. After serving drinks around 7ish, she didn't return to take our order until 815ish and we didn't eat until 930ish.. the food was cold and sub-par at best. At the very end when passing out the receipts there were a few errors made ,when brought to her attention she had an attitude, she went to fix it and still brought it back incorrectly...then a manager on duty Brody enters the conversation he assist with correcting the tickets we thanked him and went on...

Here's where it gets interesting! I left my to go box on the table ...my husband went back to the table to get it...the waitress was at the table picking up the tickets and she blurts to my husband "really you guys leave no tip on a $650 bill" and storms away from the table. My husband calls her back over to understand her frustration and attitude. He begins to explain that gratuity is the way patrons reward for the service provided, and the service in which she provided was less than poor.

She begins to argue with him that we had more people coming to the table and we were moving around, and all she did was mess up 1 drink at the end... I guess attempting to justify her service for the evening.

The reasons for no tip the attitude from the beginning..which we ignored just thinking oh maybe bad day.

Blatantly leaving our table for over an hour to take our actual food order.

I asked her for another drink ..she rolled her eyes and sighed

When attempting to fix the errors she made on the tickets she became frustrated with us ..while we were trying to help her..

Lastly she accused us of attempting to not pay for 1 salad ... we advised her several times all tickets have been accounted for and that may be an error...she was frustrated with that... if the entire bill was $650 we certainly weren't concerned about a $10 salad..it was simply an error.

I will not recommend this restaurant to anyone ... ever ...

And the waitress that assisted us really needs to find another role ..customer service does...