The Key Bistro — Restaurant in St. Louis

I would highly recommend NOT patronizing this joke of a restaurant until they figure things out! I would also urge you to read the multiple 1 star reviews on Open Table! I wish I had. We had a TERRIBLE Mother's Day Brunch. We arrived at 10:30 AM for a 10:30 AM reservation. Others were already waiting. The restaurant was completely empty, tables not set, lighting dim. We questioned whether they were even open. There were two small buffet tables set up but with empty pans. We were all seated and proceeded to sit for THIRTY minutes (!!!) while a staff comprised of workers in athletic sports apparel and other variations of street clothes began bringing things out to the buffet. You couldn't even tell who was an employee. There seemed to be one waitress for the entire restaurant. She was very nice to us and we did get water and coffee, and lemonade for our kids; but I know the table next to us never received any drinks!

The food was finally brought to the buffet at 11 AM, thirty minutes after our reservation time! The entire restaurant converged on the buffet.

The amount of food was ridiculously skimpy, and the selection of food pretty pathetic. Sausage patties like a cafeteria would serve, bacon, hashbrown potatoes, weirdly greenish looking grits, scrambled eggs that were one giant piece in the pan, French toast but no syrup, some incredibly fatty and grisly beef. Some kind of salmon that seemed undercooked. ALL of the food was lukewarm.

By the time we, and those ahead finished going through the buffet, the people just behind us were left with many empty pans! I felt bad taking more than a couple pieces of bacon because it was already so picked over! My husband went back to get more bacon later and it was gone and then he went back for more potatoes and those were also gone. Whether or not they were ever replenished, I have no idea.

I could go on and on.There were not enough plates at the buffet! The "pastries" were sliced bagels! Ridiculous! To top it all off, the pricing was never made clear, and our total for this cafeteria grade "brunch" (at best) for 2 adults and 2 children under 12 was $190!

My husband was floored and told the manager that we had reservations we had canceled at the restaurant at the Ritz for less than that---$160! The manager did offer to price the kids as one, but our total was still about $160 with tax. We did leave a generous cash tip for the overworked server..

I have truly never had a worse meal in a restaurant in my life. To top it off, it was Mother's Day and there were no fresh flowers on the tables or anything to indicate the special occasion. No mimosas, nothing!

This meal was utter highway robbery! I have NO problem paying those prices for brunch but I expect prompt, stellar service, and hot, plentiful,...

It’s unfortunate that what seems like it could easily be a destination restaurant is somewhere to avoid. Entirely lackluster food is matched by equally lackluster service. Five entrees reminiscent of what you might get out of an airport kiosk came out in varying degrees of lukewarm at oddly random times, one missing its side, which arrived cold at the end of the meal after we’d asked for the check—only to then find we’d been charged for an extra side we’d never ordered. The hostess was lovely and the live brunch time music very good, but otherwise we won’t be back until the museum figures out it has a dud on its hands and recruits a restaurateur worthy...

I DO NOT recommend. I stopped into this restaurant while visiting the Missouri History Museum. Our waiter was kind but it seems he forgot about our table. We asked for a check for our drinks after 40 minutes and he rushed to bring us out our food. The soup was lukewarm and okay. The quiche was unbelievably salty. It seemed like a generally chaotic, disorganized environment. There were only 4 tables with patrons so there wasn’t any reason for it. It’s worth it to find another...