Café Natasha – Some Ups, Some Downs, Some Weird Looking Stuff

Date Dined: Can’t remember, let’s say September 14, 2014

Overall Rating: 3 Stars

Café Natasha has a lot going for it. The wait staff is friendly, the outdoor patio is very open, and the menu has a decent assortment of food. While not the most authentic Mediterranean food, it’s better than your local Pita pit. So why the average rating? Let’s dive in shall we?

Décor Rating: 3.5 Stars

 Nothing fantastic, but it’s not tacky. Think mom’s kitchen, Greek style, with a gigantic bar! The entire restaurant looks pretty tiny, but once you get to the back you notice an entire other eating area which is a little more fancy. I couldn’t quite get a picture of it since the owner was giving me strange looks, but it might be a nice place for a private party.

Price Rating: 3 Stars

Price is run of the mill, one might even say a little on the pricey side for some of the entrees. That being said, the gyro will only run you $6.50, the falafel only $6.00, and most of the kabobs $8.50. The entrees are where this place loses some marks for price. $18.00 for lamb chops? Maybe for quality chops, but… well we’ll get there.

Service Rating: 3 Stars

Average service, friendly, but a little slow. If you aren’t ready to order right when you sit down, they might make you sit for awhile. Not that that’s always a bad thing, but if you’re in a hurry it might become a time crunch. One thing, and it’s my big pet peeve if you’ve been following along, is the lack of a check back. After our food was brought out, the server didn’t check back for at least fifteen minutes. What if there had been hair in my food? What if my chicken was raw? What if the rice was secretly an alien waiting to strike and had begun to attack me? Just ask me how things are doing!

Food Rating: 3 Stars

So hard to rate! Jess got the falafel and our friend Chantal got a gyro and both were pretty darn good. I’ve had bad falafel before, and it makes you die a little on the inside. I’m unsure whether this was made in house, but it was still tasty. Crispy on the outside, nice and chickpead on the inside, it was really quite tasty. The gyro was likewise pretty good. Not, 3 am, on the streets of Barcelona, in a dirty hut, on a large rotisserie good, but good nonetheless. For the price, you’ll be satisfied. The ingredients blended well together, with the tzatziki acting as a saucy paste.

Now my entrée… the “famous lamb chops” was just… just plain disappointing. Look at the above picture. Look at that wonderful strip of meat. A little on the small side, but doesn’t it just make your mouth water? Well it did mine, until I started eating it. Half of that dish was fat, half of it gristle, and the third half bone. Wait… too many halves… but still, if you want to see just how much of it was inedible look below. That’s the remains from three of the four chops. For this price, shouldn’t the cut of meat be more tasty? I will say, what little meat there was, was good. Think sweetness of Teriyaki meets char-grilling Greek style.

As for the salad and rice, just eh. The rice was a little dry, really more of a filler than anything else. Could easily have been from a box. The salad was surprisingly good. They found some quality spring mix, and they didn’t skimp on the feta which I appreciate. The tzatziki was a nice touch. Now for the super weirdness.

The beef kabob. Now I don’t know if they have a regular looking kabob if you order it as an entrée, but what I got looked like… well… it looked like it had been dropped out of an end of some animals. However, you can’t judge a dish, but it’s odd appearance. I mean, this coming from the guy who loves chicken feet. But this thing was… just bad. Like a really greasy breakfast sausage, that was super salty, kind of dry, and made me a little queasy. It was… just plan bad…

I will say the most disappointing part of the entire meal was the lack of some free pita and hummus. It’s almost $6.00 to order an appetizer. I have a hard time believing their profit margins are so thin they can’t bring some out for the guests to enjoy. Come on people, a man needs his hummus!

In Conclusion

Stick with a wrap and you won’t be disappointed. The bar menu also looked interesting, but with the huge variety of fancy mixeries it’s not a main draw. I would say that if you’re craving Mediterranean then this place is certainly better than nothing, but it won’t wow, which is really a shame.

Melt – Maybe Just Grab Some Dessert

Date Dined: August 10, 2014

Overall Rating: 2.5 Stars

Sometimes things sound so delicious you have to go try it out. For example, a bacon waffle topped with scrambled eggs and cheese. Mmmmm, can you say decadent heart attack? But like the third Batman movie, things are bound to disappoint.

Décor Rating: 3.0 Stars

Melt is definitely trying to appeal to the yuppie hipster (I call them yupsters) crowd. The place is a mishmash of pinball machines, old random nostalgic items, with just a little bit of wear and tear on everything. The tables have that slightly sticky feeling to them, and the AC can’t quite keep up with the heat. You won’t find a single table with the same chairs, tops, or even salt and pepper shakers on them. Definitely a look, but in my advancing age not my first choice. For the right crowd, this might be the look they’re going for. The chalkboard menu is pretty cool though.

Price: 2.5 Stars

A little on the expensive side for what you get. Waffles range from $8.00 to $12.00 which doesn’t sound too bad except when you think about breakfast joints that also include sausage, bacon, and tator tots for the same price. I felt like you’re paying an extra buck or two for the novelty, which is fine, but after a beer and maybe an appetizer you’re wallet may feel it a little.

Service Rating: 2.5 Stars

I’m not the only one to complain about the service. As you see I’ve rated it a little below average for a couple reasons. One, the servers won’t try to interact with you outside of “what do you want”. I didn’t see a single server smiling at a single person in the place. I actually got sort of an intangible “just tell me what you want and let’s get this over with” vibe. Second, service is slow. About fifteen minutes to greet us after being seated and fifteen minutes until we were asked how our meal was. Again, in execution it was fine, but you might get a slight “screw off vibe” from the staff. Then again, it could have been because they were closing in an hour and they were just done.

Food Rating: 2.5 Stars

I’ll start off by saying, desserts are a yes, but the savory waffles are just meh. If you’re not getting something sweet then you might want to skip this place. First of all, a lot of the waffles will be sort of lukewarm. Not cold, but definitely not piping hot. Which makes me wonder how long they’ve been sitting out. Second, I think they were too invested in the cool descriptions reeling people in, and to some extent it works. Unfortunately, it’s not something that’s going to keep me from coming back. The waffles themselves are fine, but nothing comes together in the way it needs to.

I got a waffle with pulled pork, blue cheese, and onions baked into the waffle. Sounds delicious right? Well eh… You couldn’t taste any of the onion in the waffle, the pulled pork was kind of slimy and was really more like smaller strips of pork with a brown gravy, and the blue cheese was just sprinkled on top. This was just something you could have done so much with. Baked the pulled pork into the waffle and then melted the blue cheese on top, or they could have folded it over and brought it out like a sandwich.

Jess got the wake and bake. Bacon waffles with eggs and cheese on top. Again, unable to taste the bacon and the eggs and cheese were just piled on top. Why not try something new? Add those ingredients into the batter? Otherwise all you’ve done is pile my breakfast on top of my waffle. Likewise, the waffle fries were fine, but not something that I’d necessarily order again. Slices from a waffle baked and then served with ranch. Add some garlic to the fries or bacon or some unique seasoning to make it that much better.

Now the positive, the sweets. Jess’s brother ordered a cookies and crème milkshake and a chocolate waffle with bacon. The milkshake was pretty delicious. It was thick, well blended, and not too sweet. The chocolate waffle was likewise pretty good. Nothing above and beyond something you could easily make at home, but I enjoyed it.

In Conclusion

Don’t ditch your favorite breakfast spot for Melt, but if you want to give it a try then I wouldn’t blame you. You might be a little disappointed if you walk in expecting a mind blowing experience, but if you go in with little to no expectations you’ll walk away satisfied. If you’re going on a Sunday I’d recommend doing after noon.

Strange Donuts – Lots of Hype, Okay Execution

Date Dined: August 10, 2014

Overall Rating: 3 Stars

Strange sounds like everything you could want. Unique twists on donuts, lots of variety, and baked fresh only minutes or hours before. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really deliver in the way I want it to.

A couple things to note. Go during the day if you can and not at peak morning hours. Otherwise get there right when they open at night. As you can see, the lines are kind of ridiculous for a Saint Louis eating establishment. Come on people, we’re not Chicago or New York.

Second, if you order a dozen they’ll be stacked into one box on top of each other. What, is there a box shortage? Make your life easier. Get six so that they don’t all get smooshed together. Finally, if you’re looking for a sturdier pastry then I’d skip this place. The donuts her in general manage to be a little mushy yet a little dry right in the middle. Overall they generally seem to use the same donut batter for most of their treats.

It’s not the donuts here are bad, they’re not (I mean my dog, Solo, seemed pretty interested in them). They’re just not as amazing as promised. For example the mint oreo donut is just a chocolate donut with mint frosting and oreo on top. The maple bacon donut is a regular donut with maple frosting and bacon on top. The rainbow pony donut is white frosting and you guessed it, sprinkles on top. I would have like to see a little more melding. Like putting bacon in the donut or a cookies and cream donut with mint frosting on top.

There were a few winners. The custard donut is pretty scrumptious with that creamy, thick custard that you know is homemade. The flava is also pretty tasty, it’s light and fruity. The apricot donut is likewise a nice change from the usual with the preserves not being too sweet.

Overall? Not bad, but not someplace I’ll be going out of my way to grab some deep fried dough from. I have heard from people that it’s either hit or miss here and I might have gone on a miss day, but first impressions aren’t super high. Go and try it out if you want to say you have, but otherwise there’s no need to rush.

Takaya – A Nice Place to Take Out of Town Guests

Date Dined: August 9, 2014

Overall Rating: 3.5 Stars

It’s no secret I’m picky about my sushi. I'll eat pretty much anyplace, but it's usually just to fill my stomach. A lot of places can’t quite nail the rice quality and consistency, you find more and more deep fried rolls filled with cream cheese, and finding quality fish in a landlocked state is difficult. Takaya does an excellent job for Missouri with a few exceptions, plus if you’re looking to take some out of towners some place not overly crowded and nicely decorated it’s a nice choice.

Décor Rating: 4 Stars

One of the things I like most about Takaya is the décor. The booths are large and each gives the maximum amount of privacy available in a restaurant. Everything is spaced out enough so that you’ll never feel crowded. The entire thing reminds you of being in a posh metropolitan restaurant and the large glass walls help let in enough natural sunlight to make you feel like you’re not closed off from the world.

Service Rating: 2.5 Stars

Very average. For one thing even during a slow lunch hour you’ll be waiting some time to place an order. There were only two other tables in there, even with one server they should be able to handle that. It was probably five minutes before we were greeted by our server, another five to bring us out our waters and then ten minutes after that before our order was taken. It took them at least twenty-five minutes to get our food out after that. I know that doesn’t sound like a long time, but if we were on a timed lunch break then we’d be cutting it close. It’s a consistent problem with this place, everytime I go the servers seem to take their time.

Price Rating: 3 Stars

Pretty average. Most speciality rolls and entrees will cost you $12.00 or more, and most normal rolls range from $4.00 to $7.00. Don’t go here when you’re starving. Go down the street to Sushi Ai for some all you can eat, but if you’re craving one or two pretty decent rolls then stop by this joint.

Food Rating: 3.5 Stars

Most things here are either average or above average, but they do have one or two things that you definitely should try. The sushi in general is not going to disappoint, but I’d recommend getting the chirashi or just some sashimi some time. Again, the quality of the fish is going to be better than many other sushi restaurants in Saint Louis. It’s going to be firm, supple, and…. I apologize for the way this sentence is shaping up…

Let’s start out with the roll you get to impress. Although it’s a little over-sauced the Oh My God Roll is pretty damn good. Shrimp tempura, crab, shrimp, avocado, spicy sauce, and eel sauce all served on fire. I recommend asking to trade the shrimp tempura out with some tuna, it’s a nice addition. Biting into this thing is a treat, it’s got just a little bit of char without drying out the roll. If it’s your first time in just go ahead and grab one, you won't regret it. That being said, it's novelty does wear off after a few times getting it.

For the life of me I can’t remember the other roll pictured above, but the biggest issue was that it suffered again from a little bit of oversaucing. Another minor complaint is that the sushi rice lacks that nice tang you get from using the right ratio of rice-vinegar. But the positives you’ll find are again the grade of the fish and the melding of the flavors.

Jess’s  brother, not a fan of actual sushi ordered the rock shrimp and the kalbi. The rock shrimp can definitely be skipped. Think popcorn shrimp with a tempura batter and a generic spicy cream sauce. The kalbi is wonderfully seasoned, I just wish that the servings were a little larger and the cut of meat a little better. Kalbi is not supposed to be this delicately laid out dish, it’s  supposed to be a hearty meal with a substantial pile of meat.

Jess also got a seaweed salad. Not extraordinary about the thing, but it was okay. Most seaweed salads you order at restaurants come out of giant tubs, but something always tastes a little off about this stuff. It’s just a little too crunchy, and the flavoring tastes somewhat artificial. Now that’s not going to stop me from eating it, it’s just not my favorite. As you can see from the picture at least they give you a pretty substantial portion, so no complaints there.

In Conclusion

An above average place, good fish quality, and nice décor make this a place to take out of towners. I’ve never been a fan of wasabi or drunken fish just because they remind me too much of a TGI Fridays. Go for the sushi, order a few rolls, and enjoy.