The Midwestern — Restaurant in St. Louis

TL;DR: I'm embarrassed that I chose The Midwestern for my birthday lunch. While this may be a great place to drop in and pre/post-game on game day, if you make an advanced reservation don't get your hopes up.

I made the online reservation 5 days before day of, and have no complaints with the scheduling portal. It worked. I received email confirmation. Awesome.

Because 2 people in my 10 person party have mobility concerns, I called the Friday before our Sunday reservation. I was pleased that whomever I spoke with confirmed my reservation and said they would make note of my group needing a low-top table (aka, booth) and extra chairs for the persons with concerns.

Fast forward to day of, when I arrived I was shocked to see a small booth reserved for a party of 10 adults. No extra chairs. We explained our situation to the hostess, and she said they would clear the next available large table when that group left. Problem was the alternate table was a high-top and unusable to us given accessibility concerns. Back to the small booth.

For the record our group crammed into a booth meant to reasonably accommodate 6-8 adults, with 2 folks using high-top stools on the open end. Our party was mature enough to get things done and move on. However, the arrangement was awkward and everyone was limited for space. When one of the other booth parties left, we sniped 2 low-top chairs so the people on stools weren't hunched over eating 2 feet above the table.

My overall gripe and why I'm still salty is 2 smaller parties (of approximately 5-8 adults) were seated at the 2 larger booths WITH extra chairs when they dropped in before the game.

While I have no issue with "first come, first serve", if reservations aren't given preference to reasonable accommodations I take it as an insult to patrons. It tells me to just take my chances or go someplace else.

As far as food and service, the seating arrangements soured the event. Credit to staff, as they were hustling, but we were left bussing our own table, lurking at wait stations for silverware, napkins, to-go boxes, etc., and begging passing staff for water refills. The food was okay, but not great. The fact that 20% gratuity was added (not sure if it was due to a large party or it being a Sunday/game day) in addition to a 3% credit card processing fee ... in short it wasn't a great experience. However, our silver lining was there was a rain delay and we weren't stuck in post-game traffic when leaving.

Bottom-line: If looking for a last-minute cram in before a Cards game, with a block walk to Busch Stadium? This place offers food on par with stadium pricing, and slightly more elbow room.

If looking for a sports bars to reserve a spot to comfortably watch a game with your group of 8+ adults?...

The Midwestern has already made its mark in downtown St. Louis. To begin with, it's huge. 'Not sure how many it seats, but besides all the tables for four, there are larger tables and then even larger tables for big groups. There's also a lot to look at because the owners of this unique place obviously wanted to preserve the original structure while designing an innovative and fun place to eat. We had a table of four and were seated when we arrived (incidentally, we did have a reservation). We decided that each of us would order something different so we could share bites (besides the menu made it hard to choose). We started with the wings. They have some sort of rub on them with a sauce drizzled over the top that made them so delicious I immediately wished I had just ordered a large plate of them and nothing else! Someone else ordered the beef brisket. It was juicy and tender with a smoky flavor. Spectacular! My husband ordered the pastrami sandwich, also delicious and tender. I tried to go light and ordered the MW salad. It came with butter lettuce smothered with avocado, bacon, turkey, egg, and cheese--way more than I could eat. My friend ordered the double cheeseburger and it looked and tasted phenomenal: two thick burgers, each covered with some kind of cheddar cheese. . . . We decided nothing they serve is not mouth-watering. To top it off, the service was great. Our food arrived quickly, and the server checked with us often to see if we needed refills. I think this would be a great place to eat before or after a game. I'd also like to add that they had live music outside: a three-man band (one with a violin), and the Midwestern invites people of ALL ages. We will...

It's a very nice place is clean and new and Electric is spacious the staff is okay the prices are what barbecue prices are in St Louis for the most part their sauces are unique. I had sampler platter to give everything a chance the turkey was moist and tender the pastrami was over-salted and cut with the grain which didn't make for a very tender bite overly dry and when you're thick and dry it doesn't make for a good bite. the chicken wings were nice but not enough flavor. the ribs were definitely overly dry. I don't know if this food was overcooked or if it was from the night before. the pork was ok again not very much flavor. the beans were mushy and lacked flavor. potato salad was unique and had a very interesting taste to it I liked it. Is 3 blocks from where I work but I don't need to go back it wasn't impressive .but I'm sure they will do well it's not for me but it could be for others. I think a little more salt overall would have made all the difference except for the pastrami it was too salty and didn't taste...