The Saturn Lounge — Restaurant in St. Louis

The Wife Unit and I have been watching this place slowly turn into something over the last 6 months. Walked to 809/Bluewood for a burger/beer last night and saw it was open and thought we'd give it a spin.

The vibe inside is excellent. Some love and thought has gone into this renovation. Lots of cozy spaces with a good sized bar backed by a wall of LPs. We felt immediately comfortable when we walked in. It's similar to that record bar on Manchester in the Grove. They also have a good sized patio out front. You go to the bar for service. Staff seemed friendly.

A huge plus for my old ears is that the music was not overly loud. I had no issues talking to my wife while we sat at the bar in front of one of the huge speakers. This is a HUGE thing honestly.

So, quite plainly, the cocktail situation is unfortunately dire. They don't yet have a cocktail menu, the bartender said they are working on that.

My cocktail snobbery is about to show itself. I evaluate any new bar with my cocktail litmus test, a Boulevardier served up. It's a simple cocktail that focuses on method and prep fundamentals rather than esoteric ingredients or fancy techniques. I ordered the drink and the barkeep said "that's with Mezcal right?" A bit alarming certainly, the Boulevardier is known by almost all bartenders, but not all (sidenote - a Mezcal riff is actually delicious. The Blvd itself being a Negroni riff). I set them straight "bourbon, sweet vermouth, and campari; equal parts." They then proceeded to combine the 3 ingredients UNMEASURED into a mixing tin! At that point machine ice was dumped in, a strainer put on top, and they swirled around the mixing tin in their hand 5 or 6 times, dumped the drink in the glass, and garnished with an orange wedge. Sadness. Thank goodness I ordered it up or that garbage ice would have been in the glass immediately and rapidly diluting the drink.

A drink served up should have MEASURED ingredients combined in a mixing glass. Then you add the largest ice cubes you can get your hands on. This varies from place to place but small cubed wet machine ice (garbage ice as I call it) melts much to quickly, then stir it with a mixing spoon to taste (a good barkeep will taste it before serving). This dilutes it appropriately and allows proper cooling. You then pour that into a chilled glass and garnish appropriately. Expressing an orange peel over the drink is almost always done.

It was an unmitigated failure to say the least. With Frazer's and Small Change in the neighborhood, only blocks away, making some of the very best cocktails in town, I'd thought the Saturn Lounge would have done it's research and tried to compete. It's what I was hoping for.

As I mentioned previously the decor, music, and patio are all on point so I hope improvements can be made. I'm in the neighborhood so I want, to want, to go here. Lots of potential. They just need the Small Change crew to come and do a cocktail in-service.

Edit: Happy to see the ownership looking over the reviews. I'm truly looking forward to going again (the space really is stellar and is just the sort of bar I was hoping would arrive in BP!) and would have again just for a beer. So glad to hear you're interested in competing in the cocktail space. I really don't think you need to be fancy, smoking things or making you're own infusions, just get the basics solid and you'll be a...

I’m leaving this review 2 months after coming here because I wasn’t sure if I would be back after as I do live right down the street. This place’s atmosphere is beautiful and would be a go to spot for my friends and I if we did not have the experience we had. Myself and my friends are all in mid twenties and are not huge drinkers so when went up to the bar we asked if they had a wines on the sweeter side. Immediately the bartender cut us off and said “we don’t have any sweet wines.” This in its self is fine but then he offers no suggestions and we basically have to like pry information out of him regarding the wines they do have. Mind you we are extremely kind the whole time speaking to him. Once we ordered a bottle we sat back down and all agreed that he was very cold and basically treated us like we were stupid. We decided what was going to be our bi-weekly spot for our growing book club would not be. I highly recommend Sasha’s on Shaw not very far from here they have amazing costumer service and also have an amazing atmosphere and food. As someone who lives in Benton Park I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to give back to a small business in the community due to how we were all treated and left feeling stupid. This is not the only review like this regarding “younger” patrons feeling humiliated and...

Love everything about this place. Sophisticated but not pretentious. Well crafted cocktails, comfortable seating,lighting and some of the best music you’ll hear in any bar. This is a place for grown ups. We came for lunch & cocktails. We got the Smoked Ribeye pressed sandwich. Thin sliced ribeye,caramelized onion, house made garlic horseradish aioli on focaccia and served with whisky au jus. (So good ). We also got the Toasted fromage, white cheddar,habanero mozzarella,Gruyère and goat cheese with beef bacon crumbles on Texas toast and a smoked tomato bisque to dip your sandwich in. Heavenly for a cold winters day. We also got the Brussels as a side too. Can’t speak highly enough of this place. We are bringing back the whole Sandwich Club to concur the whole menu. Thanks Doug for making our...