Yellowbelly — Restaurant in St. Louis

Wonderful Friday night out at Yellowbelly! We made reservations for 2 at 6:30.

We arrived a little early so we could find parking and maybe not be eaten by the crazy storm that was expected. We were told our reservation will take a moment so we were offered to see at the bar.

We were promptly greeted and given water while waiting. Had to tell the attentive stuff we were just waiting on a table as they looked really eager to encounter us! 🤩

Once we arrived at our table, our server promptly came over and greeted us. She was super kind and we didn’t feel pressured to order or leave. The whole time she was very considerate of our experience, and we watched the entire staff work and harmony throughout the establishment. 🙌👏

I ate the upper half of the menu. Starting with the shrimp ceviche. I loved the yellowish orange tint to the tiger’s milk in contrast with the blue corn tortilla chips, and scoop of avocado. I really appreciated the kick of the sauce that was accompanied alongside the quenelle ceviche. Yet I could see how others might find it too spicy. The fact that the spicy sauce kind of blended in with the rest of the ceviche could lead to a bad time if someone is adverse to heat. Perhaps making the tigers milk a different color or the spicy sauce a different color would help differentiate the two. Also, having the staff point this out would probably be useful for someone who wasn’t really looking for that level of heat. I did get some bigger diced celery in a couple bites, which just kinda shocked my mind because it is not a super typical component of ceviche. Either way, I absolutely loved this dish!

The newer spring red leaf salad is exquisite. I’m really a sucker for fresh herbs and fruit in salad. For some reason not enough people do this at restaurants. 🤷‍♀️ The dish was studded with peas, pickled, blueberries, supreme grapefruit, plenty of fresh mint, cucumbers, and the yuzu dressing was light yet flavorful. Because most of the salad was green, the grapefruit and pickled blueberries really stood out and each bite was kind of like a delicious surprise.

I actually ate the charred carrots for my main dish- which I would say HAS to be ordered upon every visit. My only remarks is that instead of using a brushed method for the chimichurri. I wish that it actually was more of a component of the dish to break apart some of the really rich umami, caused by charring the carrots and the drizzled eel sauce. Regardless this dish slaps 🔥

My partner got the prime hanger steak skewers. I tried the slaw 🤤he loved the dish but wished there was about 4 more skewers lol He also ate the carrots (yes we needed our own) and his entree was the seared Sea Scallops. The kitchen did an excellent job, preparing the scallops. The sear was super hard on one side yet the delicate nature of the scallops remained. He loved the grits and contrasting flavors/ texture. Again wishing that he had more on the plate. He is a hungry boy 🙄 the mojo verde gave vibrance and a kick to a rich dish. Plus added some herbaceous color.

Cocktails are super unique but not heavily boozy (unfortunately). Nevertheless we recommend the Sloe gin sling and instant gimlet. Love the cute photos of the drinks that are real depictions of what will arrive. Very cute!

My guy needed a dessert while we waited out the storm. We chose the pineapple upside down bread pudding. I was curious and eager to see how this will play out. As it adds two desserts into one. I don’t know how they did it, but this really was a pineapple upside down bread pudding. I would have love to see the ability to add some homemade ice cream on the side. But now we’re just getting gluttonous.

Service: 10/10 Flavors: 10/10 Ambiance: 9/10

The only reason why the ambience wasn’t a 10 out of 10 is it was freaking COLD!! Also, the doors allowed for a lot of water to leak and during the storm. And that kind of took away from some of the experience. Not for us, but maybe for others. Loved the music playing and all the...

So sad to say how disappointed I was with this place. I had been wanting to try it for a while since I drive by it all the time and it seemed like a decent place. As we were browsing the menu, it was a bit hard to find entrees without pork, even the halibut has chorizo in it, so it narrowed our options a lot as we both don’t eat pork. We ended up ordering two mocktails, the salmon curry, and the steak entree. My boyfriends pina colada mocktail didn’t taste like a pina colada at all, more like a sour lime soda and when he told the serve it didn’t taste like coconut, instead of offering to remake it, he said “Really? Because there’s 2 ounces of coconut in it” like he didn’t believe us. Then the food came out and I immediately noticed how small the protein portions were in comparison to the carb sides. The large plate that the steak was on was about 80% French fries and the salmon dish came with sooo much rice. The steak would have probably tasted good if it was hot, the salmon was also cold and nearly raw on the inside. The curry sauce that accompanied the salmon was good tasting, but nothing special and there were a few cubed potatoes just thrown into the salmon dish along with rice that was clumpy and sticky. The only thing that was good were the fries because they were actually hot and crispy, but they themselves weren’t anything special either, just basic fries. Our server seemed like he was almost avoiding us as we couldn’t get his attention every time he walked past us, but luckily we spotted someone who looked like the manager cleaning up the table next to us. We were able to speak to him and tell him how disappointed we were in the quality and the service and he apologized. We chose to leave hungry and go somewhere else instead. With all the good reviews this place has, I was really hoping for a...

This place us a hidden gem that would definitely be a Michelin or at least bib menu resturant if it was in a different city.

The food is quite beautiful but what matters is the flavors, and this place hits that on all levels. Like a Michelin resturant, the flavor profile and mix is all about a subtle mix. Never overpowering but a perfect delicious meld. They have that here on the level of many 3 star Michelin I've been too. Not sure if the chef was classical trained or has a God Palatte but it was good enough that I wanted to meet and thank them.

Prices are a good mix of some high but also some affordable burger and small plate options for about $15. Portion sizes are actually pretty dead on. You will walk away quite filled. I had the fish burger and it was very fresh without any aftertaste whatsoever. Cause and sides weren't overpowering and the breading was good. A bit high for $8 fries but they do give a good amount and they are perfectly seasoned.

Parking is street and may take some time to find a spot but there is enough nearby. The decor is very modern and well maintained. A virtually spotless resturant. Cocktails seem a bit smaller then standard but still moderately priced and quite delicious. So I would say worth it.

Service here is excellant. Very attentive waiter Almadeeen. Good on refills and recommendations. No wait for check or water. You can tell a good resturant when wait staff can describe the taste of all drinks and foods adequately as that means they were trained well.

This place is one of thee best restaurants I've been too. It needs to be rated. You st. Louis people are blessed to...