Robust Bistro & Wine Bar — Restaurant in Webster Groves

Great food and an amazing wine selection (I LOVE that they have a rating systems for pairings and so many wine flights to choose from). The only reason I'm not giving it five stars is due to our server. When we walked in, we overheard that the host would be assigning us to a server named Sam. Oh, how we all wish that had worked out.

When we sat down, a female server (I don't even remember her introducing herself) asked us if we had been in before and when learning that we had not, didn't have much of a response. That's not necessarily a problem, but then my uncle asked her if there was anything we should know, and she looked confused and said little more than, "Errr..." He followed that up by asking specifically about specials, which she told us in a perfunctory manner. She then asked if we knew what we wanted to drink. We of course didn't know yet, so she went off.

Then, the aforementioned Sam came to our table. During the few minutes Sam was actually our server, he also found out that we had never been in. Using that information, he took the time to explain how their wine rating system worked and told us about the flights. He then took my mother's drink order and went to put it in. Sadly, that was the last we saw of Sam.

The female server returned and for the rest of the night gave us very abrupt, sometimes pushy service. Maybe she was having an off night (I've worked in the service industry, and I know how difficult it can be to be "on" all the time) or maybe she was miffed that they tried to give a table in her section to another server, but when you're paying $40 to $50 per person for dinner and a single round of drinks...well, I expect more.

TLDR: mixed wait staff experience, but delicious food and wine. Would...

We are not from the St. Louis area, but we have family here and my daughter attend Wash U. The day after Mother's Day we visited Robust. First I want to say that the waiter was excellent and the small food items that we had tasted fine although they were extremely expensive and tiny. However, we had made reservations for 12 the day before and were celebrating my daughter's graduation. We wanted to have a nice celebration for her accomplishment that included dinner. I understand that the establishment was extremely busy the day before (Mother's Day) but they were out of virtually every entree that would have served as a meal. They had our phone number and email. I reserved both online and by phone. They could have notified us. If they had done so we would have cancelled. Instead we arrived with family and friends coming from multiple directions and there really was no way or time to find another place to go, given that we had all arrived without knowing there was an issue. So we spent 500$ on appetizer type items and drinks, left hungry, went home and ate Mac and cheese. My frustration is that they had adequate time and the ability to notify us that there was no food. Worst of all, my daughter's event was not what our should have been. We tried to make the best of a poor situation, but it was not at all what we anticipated.i tried to contact the establishment several ways to complain and they made no attempt to context us. They...

Our personal experience. Could be just a bad night for the Wine Bar. Pros: (+Plus) +Nice atmosphere +Small band playing ( -a little too loud for personal conversations) +Dessert was tasty +Bartender/runner pleasant +Wine was pleasant tasting +Appetizer was enjoyable +Good conversations Cons(-Deltas) -Couldn't find our reservation, but were able to be seated -Server, either she has a disability or was on something that made her very shaky which caused her to spill a drink, and it wasn't a cheap one. It would have been acceptable and understood if she stated why this was happening. She also wasn't personable at all. -Another runner-female (probably a manager and/or owner) not friendly and basically threw the plate at me upon delivery. --Took an extremely long time for items to be brought to table. -Big bill which wouldn't matter, but all the food was unusually bland. All guests at the table had the same experience. I think I used about half of the salt to the dish and that still didn't help.

Of course this was our experience. We have been to many restaurants and this one in particular didn't have the best of energy all around. Most likely will not come back or recommend it, but it's each individuals choice. I wish those that dine with Robust have an amazing experience like some of the other guests have had...