Rich and Charlie’s

We are fans of Rich and Charlie’s but last night must have been an off dinner service. Our seasoned server met expectations with delivering the food in a timely and accurate manner. While they are normally careful with vegetarian requests, but I unfortunately ended up finding a piece of what looked like bacon in my pasta. The server offered at least twice to have them remake the order, but I was already full and did not accept. (This was my choice, as I had probably eaten over half of it and wanted to be fair.)
In addition to the kitchen being more careful with the inclusion of ingredients not requested, I would have also liked to seen more knowledge on the craft beers available. When I asked about them, the server said she didn’t know and referred me to the drink menu. Feeling I could not explore the options, I ordered tea. The two reasons that I enjoy this restaurant is that they are normally accurate with vegetarians and carry craft bears. Thus, they missed it tonight.
What I assume was the manager did go out of his way to get a bag for our three boxes as we left, which was pleasant.

Our first visit for lunch was very nice. Our server Alyssa was a joy, attentive & professional. I had the seafood pasta & salad, my companion had the Burger & fries, both were well done. The bread was soft on the inside & had a crisp crust on the outside, I ordered the Cheese garlic bread which was excellent! Enough food to take left overs home for tomorrow. The manager came over to check on us which was very nice. After reading the poor reviews I was nervous, but none turn out to be part of our experience. It’s a nice cozy place for a good meal at a good price.

Over the years I’ve been to this place a lot. But, the last two times have really been disappointing. We ordered Carbonara and Spaghetti and Meatballs, huge portions but just so-​so tasting. The spaghetti was a little too al dente and very bland sauce. The Carbonara was almost a solid. Mostly the service was bad. We ordered the special where you get a half portion of pasta, salad, cheese bread and Spumoi. We never got Spumoni and to be honest we saw our waitress so infrequently we did not want to wait to ask for it. Slow Slow Slow. It was not crowded either. I think I’m done going here.

Its good but not great. Its a vasts quantities of pasta consumption kind of joint. I like pasta, so vast quantities made me happy. But if you are looking to sit down for a nice Italian dinner with a date, you wont be impressing your partner.
I ate a lot of spaghetti here and i couldn’t come close to finishing my plate. Like a said, quantity.

Tried this out again. Had to wait for a table when the restaurant was virtually empty and most of the food was pretty bland. The portions were very large and the cheese garlic bread was very good. Most likely will not be coming back, unfortunately.

Wow I just had a really crappy experience with this place. I came in for lunch and ordered the lunch special with tortellini and salad. I ate my salad, it was tiny and delicious and when my tortellini came out it was so salty that it actually kind of burned my mouth with salt. Get me? Have you ever eaten something so salty it almost hurts? I love salt. I taste food and usually want to salt it. I cook for a living. This was absolutely inedible. The server was new and she said she could get me another, but I was leery to eat another one because what is the sauce is just oversalted today? She asked if there was anything else and I told her just forget it and I’ll pay for my salad. They tried to charge me for the full price if I just came in and ordered a salad and that’s like five bucks. The whole lunch special with the pasta is like seven bucks. That didn’t seem fair. If I came into eat just salad I would pay the extra dollar and got unlimited salad and skip the pasta. I originally spoke to a male manager and he said he would take care of it. His take care of it was to charge me the five bucks. Then I spoke to a woman manager when I refused to pay that to the server, and she said there was nothing she could do. She is the manager of the freaking restaurant, she of all people could adjust the bill down a little bit. Then she said she would have to get the owner to talk about it. This is over some iceberg, vinegar, and oil. At this point I’m done with this place, there are way too many places to eat around here. She came back to my table after a few minutes and said the owner was on the phone so she guessed she would just take care of the salad. Great. I left a tip for the server and headed on my way. If I wanted to be treated crappy at a meal, I would go to my family reunion. Ha ha ha honestly, very poor customer service here on many levels.

For my second and real birthday dinner we chose Rich and Charlie’s in Crestwood instead of our normal one in west county. The menu is very different than the one I am used to. There were many more options and choices. I had a party of 8 people which allowed us to make a reservation. Counting my 6 month old as a people (lol). When we arrived all but one of the party was present. They did not seat us until all the people were present.
8 people with entrees, and appetizers with tip was $ 200.00 About what I expected to pay. They offer so much food that we all took something home with us.
My standout dish was Salsiccia Peppernota. This is a once a year dish if eaten more than once a year you are sure to die from it. Penne noodles, salsiccia (Italian sausage), butter, olive oil, red peppers, onions, topped with cheese. Yikes!
Mrs. K. ordered the Chicken Flamingo. Which is a grilled and breaded breast of chicken served in a white wine sauce with a side of white pasta. Very solid dish.
Oh as a side note when Mrs. K. ordered garlic cheese bread I also made sure I had some. For I believe the best defense for garlic breath is garlic breath of your own.

I usually get a small «Rich & Charles» salad «to go» and it is an enormous portion. The bread included is fresh, and the salad has plenty of cheese and artichokes. It’s cheap too — around $ 5.00. The service is good, I usually just have to wait a couple minutes in the foyer for the order to be ready. It’s a good quick meal.

Always a great experience at Rich & Charlie’s. Went last night with my family and the food and service was seriously 5 star! Most often we get the Eggplant parmesan. It was hot and yummy and the sauce is always tasty. I love that they offer specials and they are always great. Chicken Marcella was amazing. Best local Italian food in town for a reasonable price.

Local old school Italian chain restaurant. Great lunch and early bird specials. The service is decent and so is the food. I have always liked them better than the Pasta House. You often see the AARP crowd here for lunch. If you aren’t looking for fancy, this a solid place to go.

2^nd time here. Food was great, again. Terrific salad. Good service on a Saturday lunch. Will DEFINITELY go back when I am in the area.

Safe and decent choice for $ 10.99 to $ 13.99 Italian food. The pasta dishes we had didn’t suggest any of Momma’s secrets were involved and the salad was drenched in dressing — but it was decent, filling and reasonably priced.
Service was good, place is clean, and noise is reasonable. If its date night then you need to take the bride somewhere a little bette (tastier) but this is a good choice if your feeding the family.

Monday night we decided to bring our family to Rich n Charlies for dinner after my son’s soccer practice. The food was alright, tasted like everything was frozen but the sauces seem homemade. The service was good though. Our waiter was very attentive and took great care of us.
The manager. Dominic, was awfully rude. He seems very young, maybe 21? He was busy loudly asking the other waiter if «he was having people over» and then yelled at our waiter for something about dirty dishes. Overall it wasn’t a bad experience, just average, but the manager was awfully loud and distracting. At one point he even pushed our waiter into a wall while he yelled about dirty dishes.
I don’t know what’s going on here, we’ve eaten here before and there wasn’t any drama before.
Hopefully next time everything will be better. We’ve had good experiences here before, I just hope they get the drama under control.

Had the Taste of Italy special which included salad, garlic cheese bread, a dinner sized pasta, and a scoop of spumoni! Everything was perfect and our server Zach was superb and the service could not have been better! Great service, and great food couldn’t be happier!

What can you say about Rich and Charlies. Plenty actually. Me and the main squeeze headed here to use a gift card we had received for Christmas from my brother who was employed here in the 80’s (wow that was a poorly constructed sentence). We started with the salad. It’s the Rich and Charlie’s salad. It is the Saint Louis salad, romaine, those little red pimentos Parmesan a healthy dose of onions, and artichoke. The vinaigrette is great and it was delicious. The menu is chock full of pastas and there are an overwhelming amount of combinations. I had the steak modega it was prepared the way I asked and tasted great. My lovely date had a combo that included a white pasta which was yummy. We had spumoni ice cream for dessert. Over all it was a win. 4 STARS!

Used to be good. Wow, not any more! We have been going for several (30) years with large groups and it gets a little worse every year. This week was the worst. We are done. There are too many really good places to spend your money. The dining room was empty yet our 16 seats were right outside the kitchen door (the servers could barely get through?) and right on top of each other. Which would have not been noticed if the food was good. The best dish was the wine, ha ha. Our evening began with bread that was burnt, a first for me anywhere? I mean how easy it it to pitch and get a fresh loaf? the pastas were okay, fine and sub-​par, the meats tasted soapy, not fresh at all… even the pizza was bad.
Pass it up, Macaroni Grill, Zia’s, any place on the Hill, even Pasta House will be consistently better for the price.

We had some drinks at the bar one night while passing through town, and brought some to-​go food back to the hotel. The atmosphere and décor of the bar is excellent, and the service was great. We both ordered eggplant parm dinners, which came with a salad and garlic bread. The food was alright, but then again, we did wait to eat it until we were back in our room, so it might not be a fair assessment.
Overall, we were pleased, and may stop in again if staying in the area.

The salad saves this restaurant from getting one star, but even that could be better were it served on a chilled plate. It came in a large bowl, which was fine, but the serving plates were ridiculously tiny to attempt to eat off of.
My chicken emil was ordered sans mushrooms, but it came with many mushrooms upon it. My guess is that the mushrooms were already in the sauce that was probably purchased pre-​made. The sugar snap peas on my plate were mushy and inedible. I told the waiter this information and he did nothing to remedy the problem (he was otherwise a fine waiter and I have no problem with the service).
My son’s meatball tasted almost exactly like a meatball from a can of Chef Boy r Dee. While I don’t mind those meatballs when I spend $ 1 for a can, our bill was over $ 60 and I expected better food, even for the kid’s plate.
My wife’s cannelloni was gritty, perhaps from the same nasty meat substance as the meatballs, and the sauce was sparse.
My daughter’s fettuccine was pretty good, so there’s maybe something to be said for sticking to strictly pasta noodle dishes here and having a good meal.
We really used to like R&C, but I have to say that it was very disappointing how the quality of the food has gone down. We are far from picky eaters either as we enjoy the Pasta House quite a bit.

South County’s finest. Rich and Charlie’s has a high calorie, amazing salad that it is known for. If you hate onions, the lettuce explosion is not for you. The dishes are typical but can be good. My last meal there was a chicken and shrimp on risotto. It is the best thing I’ve had there. Prepared well and extremely tasty. The refreshments are your standard fare although they serve sangria. Interesting for an Italian restaurant but actually really good. If you are on Watson or near SoCo Mall, give Rich and Charlies, or as a dear friend calls it, «Dick and Chuck» for a nice, inexpensive, sit down meal.

Bottom Line:
Local Business, Clean and Thematic Dining Room, Good to Mediocre Food
Overview:
This review will cover multiple visits over the past year to this location. There are a couple other Rich and Charlie’s (R&C) locations in the Saint Louis area and I have only been to the South County location in the recent past for comparison.
The restaurant has been at this location for a very long time, despite competition that has come and gone.
Food:
In general, there are some reasonably-​priced menu options here. Unfortunately, that by no means translates into an enjoyable dining experience. Here are the dishes I have had and my opinion:
Salad and Bread:
The «Rich and Charlie’s Famous Salad» is enjoyable. I don’t know if you score any health points for it, but it is good. Pimentos, red onion, artichoke, parmesan (?) cheese, and an oil-​based dressing. A must try.
A «runner up» is the bread. I wish the crust was a little stronger, but other than that, I like it.
Chicken Mudega:
I tried it for the first time last night. Ugh. The chicken breast, which is atypical for me to order out, was good, but they covered it in a sauce that tasted like a teflon or cast iron frying pan. I don’t have enough experience with this dish to say they messed it up, but last night’s experience was «I want my money back».
BLT Pasta:
This dish is what kept me coming back. It has a gorgonzola cream sauce that is quite tasty. The bacon and spinach (?) just add to it.
Service:
Last night, we had «Rob», a bald gentleman, as our server. Very enthusiastic server and one that will make sure you are taken care of.
My experience with other servers and the staff has been very good.
Atmosphere:
What I appreciated most is the old photos of what I believe to be relatives in their respective Saint Louis Businesses. Also, some older pieces brought in for nostalgia. The dining room is lit nicely and maybe a bit too polished. I think for folks who are older, you may want to avoid the booths. They are a challenge for me to get out of (I am in my 40s).
Summary:
For anyone looking for Italian, I would not steer you away from R&C. If I were going with you, I might suggest some other options first, though. It is one of those places where if you are in the neighborhood and need something good, you probably will not go wrong coming here.