Gustos 314

The Soulard Neighborhood was hosting a happy hour at Gusto’s 314 last Friday night so I had no excuse but to go and check this place out for myself.
When we arrived the place was packed. The downstairs bar area was standing room only with a few empty bar stools, but most people were mingling with one another. We were told that there was a live band upstairs with more tables and another bar so we decided to venture up there. When we arrived upstairs it was super loud with the sound of music, not to mention the chatter of patrons. The two of us went to find a table with some of our friends and were pleasantly surprised that we had a table right up front!
Our server, Jeff, came over to offer us some drinks. We each placed a drink order and requested a menu. Jeff brought out menu’s over quickly, but since the beer was poured downstairs (draft beer is downstairs) we had a little bit of a wait before the drinks arrived. I looked over the menu and decided to order a Sicilian deep dish with peppers and mushrooms. When we placed the order Jeff informed us that even though I ordered a 12 inch it was actually considered a «small» because they didn’t have the correct pans… interesting. He also informed us that we would have wait of at least an hour before it would be ready. We weren’t concerned since we were listening to the band and hanging out with friends.
Jeff came over to check on out table a few times during the wait and offered more drinks. There was 1 other server in the area and I could tell that both servers were busting their butts to get orders filled. It was a crazy night. After about 50 minutes the pizza was delivered to our table. This is when I am kicking myself because I forgot to take a picture! Shame on me. The pizza was not round! It was a rectangle that looked like it imploded. The presentation was not very great. It was mainly dough and in the middle is where we found the toppings. So strange. The rectangle pizza was cut into 6 pieces; 4 of which were mainly dough. The other 2 pieces were mainly toppings and no dough. Needless to say it was a mess and I wasn’t that impressed with it.
A little later our server came over again to check on us and I decided to give a canoli a try-​why not? So I ordered a canoli and about 10 minutes passed before it was brought over to me. I don’t think this was a homemade item. I am pretty sure it was a frozen canoli that they defrosted and added cream to. I didn’t even finish it.
But alas, I was there for the neighborhood, the music and drinks so I didn’t want to complain.
Jeff did an amazing job taking care of our table and I do wish him the best of luck. I hope Gusto’s can stick around in this location for a while and I’m sure with time the food will get better. For now though, I’ll stick to the drinks and music events.

I stopped by before a Blues game. The place was barren when I walked in. There were only 2 other people in the bar. Uh oh… but they are newly opened… so we cut them some slack.
We ordered a meatball pizza. It was tremendously good. Crunchy and chewy crust. Fresh ingredients. It was clear this was made from scratch. Service was awesome. Barbie was our server. I’m not sure what days she works but if she’s there when you are, you are in luck.
There is a very nice dining area too. I felt bad for the waiter. He stood over an empty dining room the whole time we were there. But with food like this, I’m sure they’ll pick up a regular following.

Best Pizza in St. Louis!