Eau Cafe

Signed up just so that I could post this.
You’ll be tempted by the nice location and live music, but it seems to me that the most important features of a restaurant are food and service, and Eau Café is undeserving of patronage for either.
Food: I ordered a hamburger of some kind with cheese. The hamburger is a beef patty — one of those frozen, pre-​molded, cheap, mostly-​fat things you find in bulk food stores for fifty cents a piece. The ‘cheese’ was some sort of cheese-​like liquid, probably out of a can. Pretty disgusting, and surprising, considering the upscale ambiance.
Service: I tried to redeem a
gift certificate and was told that «upper management has decided to stop honoring these.» At this point I should have informed the low-​level manager who was sent to deliver the news to me that I had decided not to honor the bill. Instead, I paid the bill and contacted ‘upper management’ afterwards, asking simply that the gift certificate be redeemed. The manager said that he would not redeem the certificate because he had asked
to stop selling certificates. Clearly he was upset that
refused to honor its obligation to him. I explained that I had purchased the certificate well before he had asked
to stop selling certificates — that is, at a time when Café Eau was voluntarily selling these certificates through
– and so he had an obligation to honor it. Clearly I was upset that Café Eau had refused to honor its obligation to me. The manager ignored me after this and told me to contact
.
This all indicates to me that the management at Café Eau cares above all about the bottom line, cares little about its food, and cares only for the customer insofar as the customer can be used to make money for Café Eau. So next time you’re there, I urge you to inform Café Eau that you’ve decided not to honor their bill, and walk out. Do it for me.

On a quiet Monday night, I took 2 customers and was very happy. The new Preston was not yet open and Tenderloin Room was too formal for tonight. The young man serving was attentive with all aspects, interested and informative.
Ahi tuna appetizer — fabulous, Taste much like the asian sauce back home, said my Korean friend. Tender and with flavor, this tuna. Raviolis were OK, basic.
Trout = Wow. Crispy outer skin served on top of a stuffing with a touch of apple. I eat fish most of the time when at restaurants and this worked very well.
Other tablemate had the tomato bisque and grilled cheese, and it was good.
Ambiance is simple and friendly as the common restaurant for guests, I think, though I live in STL. Would be happy to come back.

New Year’s Eve dinner earned Eau Café four stars. We had made reservations so there was no problem with seating. Jay was our waiter and was very efficient. We started off with drinks and browsed the menu. I’m not sure if this was a new menu or a special one for New Year’s Eve but either way everything looked delicious.
The last time we came here we really didn’t bring our appetites. This time we did along with two others. Majordomo started with a wedge salad and the rest of us decided on the Caesar salad. The right amount of dressing so it isn’t too dry and the right amount of anchovy flavoring. Nice crisp lettuce and nice big croutons.
For dinner two of us chose the short rib mac n cheese with the others choosing the pork steak and the ribeye dinner. The mac n cheese was a cavatappi pasta. It was very good and had a lot of short rib meat in it. M and P enjoyed their steaks just as much as we enjoyed our food.
Would I go back here? Of course I would. There were a few things on the menu I want to try.
Tucked inside The Chase Park Plaza, Eau Café is the casual sister of Eau Bistro (which is getting a facelift and I believe changing its name). They also have a beautiful outdoor patio. I would like to give it 3.5 stars.
We stopped in there last night after our plans fell through to go somewhere else. I’m glad we stopped in. They have a very large wrap around bar. I started with a wonderful margarita made in a rocks glass. I like to taste my tequila. We decided to share the crab dip which was a huge portion. It was served with pita bread and vegetables. I don’t care for veggies so I ate the bread. The dip was okay but smelled very fishy to me. I’ve had crab dip at other places and it never smelled like that. It tasted alright so I ate some.
Next we each had a bowl of tomato bisque with grilled cheese. A huge bowl of soup with two dainty slices of grilled cheese. The sandwich was great especially dipped in the soup. The bisque itself was outstanding. Just a little tang to it but not enough to destroy the flavor. I would get this every time and Mike agreed.
All in all, Eau Café salvaged the night. I would definitely come back here.

Nice Central West End bar set. Café Eau is located just inside the Chase Park Plaza Hotel. Love this spot and the food isn’t bad either, I just wish there were more seating options. The bar fills up pretty fast and the outer tables are likely reserved for parties on the weekends. It tends to get a bit tight which makes passing through a real conundrum. After being bumped 10 times I’m ready to roll out.
The bartenders are decently personable. The drinks are on point and the prices are market value. I enjoy the live band tremendously.
Need something to do on Friday night; Eau is definitely a viable option.
~Christy said so.

Burgers can only be cooked Medium-​Well, turned out to be a tasteless frozen patty like meat. The toppings made up for the bland, Costco/Sam’s style frozen burgers. I was shocked.
Also didn’t take a
coupon, told us to talk to a manager but not that night.

Patio is amazing. Great place to enjoy a drink or meal. However… the food is not much better than standard bar fare at triple the price. Food deserves a two/​three star rating in fairness. The one star is due to their lack of identity… and unbearable atmosphere on Thursday through Sunday evenings. Honestly worse than any cheap shitty nightclub you can find. Loud music, extremely poor and slow service (some of the worst I’ve experienced), and crowd literally requires them to post a police officer inside and outside. How much are guests paying to stay at this hotel? I guarantee you it’s more than they’re charging at the red roof inn in off the shore in jersey… and I’d rather take my dollars there. On Monday through Wednesday night… it’s worth the visit for the patio ambiance. Loose the night club bs Chase… and invest in a chef and not a revolving door of line cooks. When the servers aren’t playing crowd control… they’re quite good. Management issue all around (not the food service manager who is always onsite trying to improve the experience)…must be an issue over her head. They need to improve their game.

As a frequent guest at the Chase I often enjoy a low key dinner on the patio. The food is fine. Nothing special. It gets truly unbearable on Sundays by the pool and Thursday nights when it becomes an inadvertent homage to Night at the Roxbury. Loud terrible music, a crowd that makes Jersey look respectable and hotel guests calling to complain. It has a serious identity crisis. Is this a fancy hotel or a shitty nightclub? The sad truth is the latter. 2 stars.

Great atmosphere, friendly service. Stayed in the hotel due to driving rainstorm and was not disappointed! And the food and drinks were great, particularly the Lobster Mac and Cheese — THAT is heavenly. Enjoy… We did! #thePreferredLife

OK… this was my second visit to Eau Café for Sunday brunch. And just as I remembered the options seemed never ending. If Willy Wonka ever decided to serve food instead of candy… it would look like this place. It takes about five minutes just review all the choices. Although at $ 46 a person you would expect to have just about anything you want. So it is a bit pricey, but if you want a special food moment this is one of the places you need to check out.
And if you expect great service at that price, they deliver on that too. From our waitress (yeah Chloe) to the special order cooks for omelets and waffles… the staff was friendly, attentive and made sure we got everything we wanted.
The only thing they didn’t have was the Wonkavator… but the Oompa Loompas were a nice touch! Enjoy!
Just realized one minor error: My review is for the Eau Bistro… not Eau Café. They are both at the Chase.

The manager, Stephanie (blonde), told us that we could not sit outside with the remainder of the bottle of wine we brought over from the Chase Park movie theater (located in the hotel) unless we paid a $ 15 corking fee. The bottle had one glass of wine left in it and we were there to order appetizers. Not only did she not excuse the restaurant’s «policy,» she said it was unconnected to the rest of the hotel and that if we didn’t like the policy we should leave. Good to know Stephanie, off to the Tenderloin Room.

My husband and I were in St. Louis for a family wedding, and wanted to go out for lunch with his grandparents. I didn’t check Unilocal,because his grandmother has limited mobility so just going downstairs was the obvious choice; however, this worked out just fine because we had a great lunch.
The grandparents both had the tomato soup and grilled cheese combo. The grilled cheese looked a little lackluster, but his grandpa seemed to love it, and the soup looked delicious. My husband and I ordered the shrimp po’ boy and the salmon spinach salad and shared both. I really enjoyed each dish– the salmon was delicious with a really lovely vinaigrette, and the shrimp were fried perfectly. Entrees were a little expensive but nothing too outrageous. They had a decent selection of beer on tap, including a Stella cider I’d never tried before. The hostess was very sweet and immediately realized we needed a table that was not a high-​top, and the server was quite nice as well.
I’ve spent less than 20 hours in St. Louis, and the vast majority of that time was in the Chase Hotel, so I can’t say whether this is a destination place or not, but it’s definitely a good choice if you just want to get an easy bite in the hotel.

Staying at the Chase for the A list party. Decided to have a drink and app before. Service was actually worse than an Applebee’s. Ordered a bottle of Rose’ and the waitress tried to open a bottle of Chianti. Just the worst!

While I’ve had many an enjoyable evening at Café Eau over the years I’ve lived in St. Louis, I’m writing about my experience there an evening this week (⁷⁄₁).
I walked into the bar, walked outside to look around the patio for my friend, didn’t see her, so I settled on a seat at the bar. I had been there 5 minutes, maybe 10 at most. At this point, the manager walks up to me and tells me that if I am not going to order a drink now I need to go. I could not believe what I just heard! I had not even looked at the wine/​drink list yet! I came to a bar, so logic would have it I was going to order a drink, correct?! (FYI, it was not closing time and there was a fair amount of other customers there.) I bartend at an upscale restaurant and I wouldn’t dare insist someone «order a drink now or leave»! It’s not one bit unusual for someone to wait for the rest of their party to order or take a while to peruse a list. And (gasp!) some people do not to drink alcohol. I would NEVER pressure, let alone insist someone order a drink!
As absurd as his demand was, I felt pressured to place a drink order instantly. I did a brief glance at the wine list, ordered a glass of wine, and as soon as could sign my payment slip got out of there as I felt uncomfortable. I quickly drank my drink in the lobby, called my friend to catch her before she walked into Café Eau, and hurried out of there to meet her elsewhere.
I’m hoping this will reach someone at the restaurant who can correct this. It is not the Funny Bone; there isn’t a two drink minimum (although if I’d stayed we probably would have had said two drinks). At the very least, let this be a warning to potential customers to order that booze fast lest you be asked to leave!
Like I stated before, I’ve had good experiences in the past at Café Eau. I hope this management style is not indicative of the restaurant as a whole now.

Café Eau was a very warm environment, different from my usual Friday hang out spot. Our waitress was great and the live entertainment was awesome! We did not order food but they had a good selection of local beer.

Pros:
–Live music was great
–Service was great
–Decent craft beer selection, reasonably priced
–Conveniently located in the chase park plaza
Cons:
–Limited indoor seating
–Friend got really sick after eating the steak
-$ 12 house Chardonnay?! What?!
The only reason you’ll find me back here is for more great live entertainment.

Do you like patios?
That’s really the only question to ask yourself about Eau Café at The Chase Park Plaza.
If you don’t, you have better options in the Central West End for food and drinks. If you do, I’d recommend this place for both day and night outside drinking and dining. Consistently one of the more underrated outside spots in STL with an upscale casual feel.
Here’s what you need to know:
1) You can park or valet at the Chase Park Plaza garage, but you’d be better off parking in the lot right across Lindell and crossing over at the corner of Lindell & Kingshighway. Sometimes that lot is free, but even on the weekends during prime times, it’s only $ 5.
2) The inside of Eau Café has a large horseshoe bar and seating on either side of the inside space. On the weekends, they do have a small stage for bands/​DJs with a small dance floor. If you see equipment being set up, you might request a different table away from this area.
3) The outside is where Eau Café shines. Lots of seating and it’s right by the Chase Park Plaza hotel pool (one of the nicer hotel pools in STL). You’re underneath some classic architecture from the the hotel complex as well. All in all, it’s a very picturesque place to hang out.
4) Most people are dressed upscale casual. You can go in jeans and t-​shirt and be seated, but there are lots of hotel guests that are usually in dress clothes hanging around. It’s better to be overdressed than under-​dressed, right?
5) Food is the food. Drinks are the drinks. Sorry to not have more commentary on the food, but you need to eat. And they have food. It’s all fair to good. Nothing spectacular. Nothing horrible.
Not to be trite, but if you like a good patio, go.
If you don’t, don’t.

Went to Café Eau last night for a bachelorette party. I love that it is conveniently located in the Chase Park Plaza, which would make it extra fun for people who are staying in town for the evening. They had a band there (I can’t recall the name), but this girl could literally sing any song to any genre. They had songs ranging from Earth Wind and Fire’s, «September» (ummm pretty much my favorite song) to Robin Thicke’s «Blurred Lines.» (I’m still not tired of it) Pretty amazing.
They layout of the bar is a bit crowded and when you enter, you are pretty much forced to do the «side shuffle drink above your head» move. There were quite a few guys on the prowl and many of the women were pretty dressed up. The music was pretty loud and there were people dancing. My friends and I tried to dance a bit, but since we were close to the stage it was a bit hard to hear each other.
So to sum it up, if you are down to hear some good tunes and meet new peeps, then Café Eau is a good choice. If you are looking for good conversation with close friends, I may opt for somewhere else.

Went for brunch — well, we thought it was brunch, but it was really breakfast.
Nothing exceptional on the menu, except it said «Eggs and Style,» for which I brought out my pen and corrected the menu — and shared the pen with my dining partner to do the same.
Now, I know I can use some additional style, but I didn’t think it was coming with breakfast, so I figured it was a typo.
And that’s what we both got. .. Eggs and Style. Comes with breakfast potatoes and toast.
She got scrambled. I got easy over. And that’s what I called it. Our server grinned at me slyly. I didn’t get it.
So when he left, I asked my dining partner what the deal was, and she said, «You ordered over easy eggs easy over.» Dunce. I’ve never had over easy eggs before (clearly), just thought I’d try them.
They were good. The toast was hot — some nice, nutty wheat bread. We were both served our own butter and grape jelly. Both of us just used the butter.
She liked her scrambled eggs. They looked fresh and fluffy.
The potatoes were a medium dice, no crunchies, a few pieces of both red and green pepper. I should have asked for crispy.
Service was absolutely perfect. Breakfast was fine, but at $ 15 (including tip), it seemed high.
Eau seems to have two restaurants. One for breakfast and dinner. A separate one for lunch. That’s the way our server explained it to us. Just a tad confusing.

Music. Too. Loud. Can’t. Hear. Self. Think.
Stopped by with a friend on a Friday night and the band was really fun but just way too loud! Guess it would have been better if we could’ve went outside (it was chilly) but wow… just really loud.
I will say that there were some positives on our visit… our bartender was really on top of it, and the tenderloin bites with bleu cheese were absolutely to die for. So I have some mixed feelings. It’s a great spot for dinner, but in my experience, any visit after 9pm or so is going to be questionable.

Never been here to eat, but the club part is fun and I have enjoyed the live band, almost every time that I have gone.
Small place does not lend to a whole lot of dancing, and it seems like they close super early, 1ish. Lots of friendly people, and here’s a tip, go to the bar along the back wall, the bartender is a little bit more generous than the other one.