Venice Café — Restaurant in St. Louis

I'd been away and returned.

You cannot get tea with hunny and milk at the bar for those there for the friends, music, and decor.

You can't get beer in a can like 4 hands or Guinness Stout like you used to. The beer selection is awful. Schlafly in bottle is the best. Urban Chestnut is a local brew that the locals think is great. The usual mixed drinks. Though PBR and Busch in a can. Oh boy. Trashy St. Louis never fails.

I don't need a glass. I like drinking from a can. And they don't recycle glass at the Venice Cafe.

It's alright, I guess. I'd lived in San Francisco, Portland, near Seattle and Bellingham, so kitsch like this is sort of 'meh' to me. Though for the slack-jawed St. Loogey local-yocals, this must be paradise.

It smells musty. You can trace the mal-odor to the fish pond in the basement. If upstairs, go to the room with all the animal bones and it smells awful. The bones were not properly disinfected and sanitized before being put on display. The seating area cushion in that room stink, also. Filthy.

I guess Uncle Bill Green retired as the bouncer? Miss him. Though I see he shows up for some bands like Naked Rock Fight and rips out a spoken word that would make George Carlin smile. Uncle Bill Green is relentless and brutal. Yet he also enjoyed the tea and coffee when they had it and it gave him more punch in his spoken word.

Naked Rock Fight is a great band with a short set list. See Naked Rock Fight more than twice and it repeats. Bands like 'The Scandaleros' and 'Thunder Biscuit Orchestra' serve up more mediocrity. Does anyone tune their drum kits? Easy on the snare-tom there, TBO. Damn. 'The Scandaleros' sound great during warm up, then it goes to slovenly mediocre. Bring your ear plugs.

Too bad as acoustically, the Venice Cafe is perhaps among the best of venues in St. Louis. The cavernous vertical space above the band. They don't need to crank the stack amp to eleven, this is not Spinal Tap. And also, acoustically, the venue is not biased harmonically.

What happened to the St. Louis blues? All bunch of white folk playing blues anymore in this town. Sort of not right.

Wish the Troubadours of Divine Bliss or the TripDaddy's would play. Then again, I wish what was the Shanti and Frederick's Music Lounge...

They are not friendly towards those with disabilities. I am genuinely sad to write this. I loved Venice Cafe. It’s so pretty and I took many friends that had never been there as well as went on many dates there with my partner. Last weekend I was shocked when the bartender, oddly eagerly and with a smile, told me that I couldn’t stay because I had my dog. I let her know that she was a certified service dog and she rolled her eyes, which I assume was because I don’t look sick, and let us in. So, we went out to the patio. To clarify: I have had multiple back surgeries and more to come due to a car accident that left me unable to walk without assistance. I went from wheelchair to walker to cane and as of February I have been able to walk again on my own. (Yay!!) My service dog helps me by noticing if I start to get off balance and alerts me with a bark as well as picking up items for me that I have dropped. That same bartender hastily told on me and the owner(maybe a manager idk, it was some older white guy)and he came out and told us that we couldn’t stay. He was truly harsh and straight up mean about it. There was no kindness in the way he delivered the news. I tried to explain why I need my dogSweet Dee with me and he kept cutting me off saying, “It doesn’t matter. Dogs aren’t allowed here”. I felt ostracized for being disabled, especially in the demeaning & condescending way he was talking to me. I’ve had people ask why I need her, but never kicked us out, and I certainly have never had someone harshly kick me out in front of other customers. I couldn’t hold it in & accidentally started sobbing in front of everyone. I was mortified. I hate crying in front of anyone and here I am public sobbing. It was so embarrassing. He didn’t even apologize for the situation. He just walked away. The sweet outdoor bartender apologized. The indoor bartender was smiling when we were walking out and grinned as she said sorry. I’m not sure why she clearly didn’t like me. I didn’t say a thing and walked out with tears running down my face. I have never been treated so poorly for being disabled. I’m sad to say that we will never go there again. I have some pictures of me in the past and us the night of the incident, with her...

I’ve been here two times and I was absolutely amazed the first time and delighted the second. They are super friendly and fun, and I feel like it’s a great catch all kind of place. On both a busy day and a slow day (Tuesday) they had live music, and good music at that! It was a little loud on a busy day (to be expected, but just in case overstimulation is an issue hit them on a slower day). Good blues and rock.

The employees are real and fun, I don’t know them well enough but Rose was delightful. (Sorry I forgot the other part of your name).

The decor may be one of the most important elements of the place - the main bar area is a beautiful and open room with gorgeous mosaic and art that heralds to Robert James Cassilly Jr.’s genius and eye for abstract art with balance.

The garden is, for me, the most important element of Venice Café, I am not overstating to say I genuinely felt I had walked out of Saint Louis and into a fantasy. I know that’s intense but it absolutely delighted me and I felt like I was in some palace garden. If you can’t afford to go to the beach, or visit some old palace in the continents across the sea, this place will take you there for free. Also $6 for at least 6oz of a good pinot grigio is inappropriate for such a beautiful place! Go for...