The Headless Bat — Restaurant in St. Louis

I have been tracking this business since its announcement after the London Tea Room moved locations, waiting for an opportunity to visit with an eager heart. I love places like the Crows Nest, or Eat Crow that combine good food with a metal-themed open and accepting atmosphere.

The ambiance, decor, and overall experience in this place is really cool. The pinball machines in the back really did it for me.

4/2/2024 UPDATE: I mentioned in my original review that I planned on stopping by a second time as soon as I had a reason to, and I did. I stopped in for their Sunday brunch. Let me say first and foremost that this experience was much different than my first in the best way possible. I showed up right when they opened, and consequently waited a bit for my food, but when it finally came what lay before me made me forget about the wait.

I ordered the Crimson Ghost- a pie composed of a harissa sauce, spinach, and feta. It was simple and not much to look at but boy was it tasty. The flavors were composed with much consideration and the giant slab of mozzarella was absent this time, freeing me to fight through the spice instead of the cheese. I went out of my way to order a side of the 'Murder Sauce' this go around and I am glad that I did. It paired well with this particular slice. The Murder Sauce is a blend of super-hot chilies with a gojuchang and pickled pepper base. I was in love, and left the restaurant with a bottle to take home. Along side the harissa creation I also ordered the Fungi Funeral, and the chicken and waffles. The chicken and waffles were great. It is surprisingly easy to mess up a Belgian waffle and fried chicken, but both items present on my plate were well executed. The waffle was crisp and fluffy, the breading on the chicken was nice and thin and had plenty of seasoning and texture. It came with a really nice honey butter as well which I dipped my pizza crust in. The Fungi Funeral was a portobello, arugula, and lemon-herb ricotta slice, and boy was I happy to see it. The piperic bite of the arugula was well balanced with the citrus dressing and the hint of lemon in each bite of the pillowy lumps of ricotta. The portobello was well portioned and gave the slice the perfect umami tones as well.

My dining partner ordered their breakfast pizza, which isn't my thing, but it did look good when it arrived. It also came with a szechuan glaze which I greedily dunked a bit of their deliciously chewy crust in, and it honestly left me speechless while I sat there, chewing and contemplating what I was experiencing. What an interesting use of szechuan peppercorns. I have never had anything like it, but I want it on all of my pies now.

This second trip definitely redeemed the food for me, and I will be back as soon as I can. Probably for brunch. I am eager to see if the standard menu items are tweaked at all, and if these AMAZING specials remain on the menu in one form or another. I updated my rating from 3 to 4 stars, and will revisit this rating a third time after I try their main menu items again. If the quality on those pies is raised to the standard of their specials, this is now an easy 5 star rating from me.

My original review (abridged): The pizza needs work. I tried the Thai Green Curry, The Creeping Breath, and The Born of Fire. The Thai Green Curry was pretty great. 8/10, wouldn't change much. The The Creeping Breath was fine. The garlic was present but not overwhelming. What I didn't like was the cheese to sauce ratio. There was a thick slab of bland regular low-mosture mozz on top of some sauce that was pretty flavorless. 5/10. I was extremely disappointed in The Born of Fire. The website claims that it comes with a side of hot honey and "murder spice." neither of which came with the slice. You must order it on its own for an additional upcharge, which does not align with their online menu. There was very little jalapeno on my slice, the pineapple was from a can, and the same cheese issue was present here. 1/10. I will say that the crust on all of the pies...

I'm going to wait to form an opinion, but my first time was not stellar.

Went with a group of friends. We weren't sure how many folks would show up, but wound up with six. The server immediately let us know we wouldn't be able to do separate tickets--they could split it evenly or we could all pay on one check. We wound up sending Venmo payments to a friend who tabulated what each of us owed and paid. There was also a 20% gratuity added to the check, which is weird since we were the ones doing more work.

I was excited to try the Jalapeño Popper pizza, but apparently that was last month's special, so I got a slice each of the Creeping Breath and the Meatless Bat. They arrived first, before others' meals, but weren't warmed through. The cheese had barely melted. And if you call it Creeping Breath, I want to know you measured that garlic with your heart. I asked for a salt shaker and they only had little packets of salt, which is odd. My friend had the wings, which had a lot of meat on them, and he was pleased. One member of our party chose not to eat--not sure if that was due to the small menu or if they just weren't hungry. With the gratuity, I spent $22 for two lukewarm slices and a Coke. Guess I should have sprung for the 18", $26 pizza after all.

I do have good things to say! I saw the sign about bad "Yelp" reviews, but you're getting my honest opinion. I appreciated the unisex bathrooms, pinball machines, and wheelchair ramp in the backroom. I was happy to see they have gluten-free crust and vegan cheese for my friends with dietary restrictions. I loved the decor. The music was fun, though it was hard to hear conversations. The whimsical names and unusual flavors were cool. And the juxtaposition of being in the old London Tea Room eating pizza and listening to metal was pretty awesome. Our server checked on us regularly. And I love the neighborhood, so I'll likely go back and give them...

It was our first time here, and we were really excited to try it out. Everything looked really cool… but our service was rushed. Christina L didn’t even take the time to introduce herself I had to look her name up on the check. And we mentioned we did not like one of the drinks, which was chosen in a rush, and was told there’s nothing we can do as there are no returns on drinks. The mezcal tasted very low quality. I’ve never felt so uncared for and unhelped in a restaurant before. The pizza was OK, but not worth going out of my way for again. I did like the Queen wasp drink, it was probably the best part of the trip other than the aesthetics.

*Edit For Owner: Thank you for your acknowledgement. I understand that the drink just 'wasn't for us' and the fact that the policy is was that 'nothing could be done to help' was really the problem. Not being willing to do anything to help when someone expresses that they are having a poor experience regardless of the reason is not a great look and the root reason for the review. There's absolutely no reason why someone who ordered something in a rush and didn't like it shouldn't be able to swap it out for something one time. I would understand if we were regulars, sitting there for a while, or tried to send back multiple things but we did not. With your doubling down of 'it's you, not me' attitude I will be lowering my rating and refusing to go...