Local Harvest Cafe & Catering Downtown

I used to love local harvest but the downtown location has always been sub par and it’s been going down hill. The food is never as good as tower grove and very rarely is the service even acceptable. Rude rude rude. I stopped going to this location and overall there are just better places to eat, especially for vegan food.

Just as awesome, friendly, delicious, and local as the original location. Love the food, love the local meat and produce, love the people behind Local Harvest and love the Northwest Coffee and Billy Goat Chips.

We couldn’t be more pleased with the wonderful job Local Harvest did catering our daughter’s wedding reception at The Old Post Office. The menu available was varied and they were so willing to make adjustments to our liking. Our ultimate selections were delicious and the presentation was simply elegant. The service was great and executed smoothly so the evening remained on schedule and flowed beautifully. We especially appreciated their gracious response to a last minute change. We are so grateful for their role in creating an very special evening to remember for our family and friends!

If the food was hot it would have been good. If everything that came on the sandwich I ordered it would have been better. I love the one on morgan ford. Downtown isn’t worth it. The staff seems bothered to even be there, let alone work. Very disappointing. Downtown needs training from their original location.

Visited Local Harvest on a Sunday afternoon as my last meal before heading out of town, and had the best meal I ate in my visit to St. Louis.
I was sad to see them out of the BBQ seitan, but totally enjoyed the veggie chorizo burrito. And a very cool building!

The food was really fresh and tasty. The line was a little slow moving, but not a big deal.

I really hate to have to write this review. Local Harvest Downtown has been a pretty consistent experience for me but the Wife and I went for Sunday brunch and it was so bad overall that I’m rethinking my whole opinion of this place.
First off, the hostess seemed a bit frazzled. I’ll forgive that, they were pretty busy. It might have helped had she just been hostessing but it appears she was also taking tables, running food, making drinks, etc. The first 5 minutes I was there, she wasn’t at the hostess station and several other customers were standing around looking confused.
My Wife started off with coffee, which had grounds in it. I had the «Respect the Spicy Carrot» cocktail which was delicious when the «hostess» made it. My second cocktail was made by our server and it was quite a bit weaker. Overall our server wasn’t rude but he also wasn’t friendly and didn’t seem to want to deal with the brunch crowd. During the week, Local Harvest has counter service and I would recommend they go back to that for brunch. Table service was severely lacking. Dont even get me started on our servers hairy butt-​crack that we were subjected to the whole time.
OK let’s talk about the food. Sigh… so so so disappointing. We were super excited to try the vegan stuffed french toast. I still don’t know what the hell we were served. It was bread stuffed with bread, literally COVERED in cinnamon, and drowned in syrup. It was completely inedible. We should have taken a picture but sent it back so damn fast we didn’t have a chance.
I ordered the chili, which is vegan but for some reason had a chunk of meat on top. I sent it back and no one ever brought another bowl. My wife inquired about it at the end of our meal and was told someone threw my replacement bowl away while it was in the window. What?!?
I also ordered the Mediterranean salad. I mostly love this salad because of the Ah! zeefa lentil spread that comes on it. Apparently they were out of Ah! zeefa and decided to just go ahead and swap it with hummus. If anyone had asked me first, I would have just cancelled the order because the salad just isn’t the same without it. i ate it because it was already made and I hate to waste food but I wasn’t happy.
We were still picking at our food when our server brought the check. He just put it on the table and didn’t say a word. We weren’t even remotely finished. I was considering getting another cocktail but I guess he decided I was done.
This was my Wife’s first time and she said NEVER AGAIN. I will definitely be crossing Local Harvest’s Downtown location off of our vegan brunch list and would not recommend it to anyone. Maybe I’ll try them again during the week but not anytime soon.

My Mom and some of her friends decided to ride the Riverfront Trail to St. Louis from Illinois and wanted to meet for lunch downtown. Her friends are vegetarians so I figured Local Harvest was a solid choice.
Since the weather was pretty perfect at a nice and breezy 75 degrees, we opted to eat on the patio. I ordered the pork bahn mi sandwich, which came with 3 huge Asian-​spiced meatballs, sliced cucumbers, some kind of sauce, and a little fresh cilantro, all smooshed between a nice hoagie (ish) roll. The sandwich was pretty much just what I expected. It had a nice flavor and was an appropriate size for lunch. It was served alongside some Billy Goat chips and a fresh slice of juicy watermelon. I am the Queen of fruit, so the watermelon was a great addition.
Prices here seem to be a little higher than average but that is to be expected at a place that boasts fresh & local ingredients. I think my sandwich was about $ 9, which isn’t outrageous but certainly more than a bahn mi sandwich would be at any place on South Grand.
I like the location, being attached to the Old Post Office gives it a nice urban feel. The patio is a great addition when the weather is nice, it definitely added to my experience at least. I’ll most likely be back here since it is a fairly convenient spot for lunch from my office. I plan on giving their soups and/​or salads a try on my next visit. Or maybe I’ll come before work and give some of the breakfast options a try? I guess time will tell!

My family had brunch here on a bustling Sunday morning. There was a half marathon that had just finished and there were lines and waits for most brunch/​lunch places downtown. We did make a rezzie in advance which turned out to be a good idea because we walked right in past the lines of people waiting.
I started my brunch off with the gin bloody mary that was served with smoked okra and cauliflower. it even had little snap peas floating around in it! The spice was served on the side so that you were able to give it the kick that your palette prefers. I think the bloody was good, although could have used a little more salt to bring out the flavor a bit more.
Their mimosas are delish — fresh squeezed OJ and cava is sure to make for a sweet boozy start to your day.
Most of the brunch items that we got were spot on. Our waiter did a great job of telling us where the ingredients were sourced from and what they were excited to be featuring on the menu.
The biscuits and gravy boast accolades for the best in STL. The biscuits held the weight of the flavorful pork gravy and everyone agreed they were really good.
The Slinger was comfortably filling with it’s vegetarian chilli topping over hash. I loved that I didn’t feel bloated and stuffed to the gills from a heavy, greasy hash — Local Harvest’s version is much healthier tasting (if you can imagine a hash being «healthy!»)
The Huevos Montulenos were served over corn cakes (think pancakes made with corn) and the fried bananas were an awesome contrast amongst the chillies and beans.
We ordered the stuffed french toast for sharing around the table. Pumped to get «pumpkin» stuffed toast (tis the season!) no one cared much for it. It looked like a bread pudding (chopped up pieces of thick cut toast) drenched in strong clove and cinnamon spices — it was almost inedible. Also, looking at the pictures of other Unilocaler’s toast, ours looked very, very different. I am still envious of what other people have had vs what we actually got. Perhaps a fluke? I will try again. Maybe.
Mad props to the guitarist who played Wilco covers throughout our meal. What a great atmosphere his Jeff Tweedy-​like voice created!!!

Went with my parents on a Sunday for brunch because Rooster was way too crowded. Everyone from the beginning to the end was disheveled and unorganized from the hostesses, water boy and server.
Service was slow and took forever to take our order, get our drinks, food & check.
I had the Stuffed French Toast (Cherry Pie the day I went). The bread was over cooked and hard and was literally swimming in syrup. My dad had Biscuits & Gravy, again the biscuits were tough and not the fluffy biscuits you expect. The gravy was under seasoned. I think my mom had the best dish out of all of us which was the breakfast burrito. It was stuffed with the right amount of ingredients and the bacon was thick & perfectly crisp.
Do NOT get the Gin Bloody Mary. It was recommended by our server, clearly he is not a Bloody Mary expert like my father & myself. Lacked flavor, spice and really just tasted like watered down tomato juice. Blah!

First off let me just say that despite my review this is a great addition to downtown, I arrived late on a Sunday and was a little disappointed to see that they were only serving a limited brunch only menu. Since my options were limited I ordered the Stuffed French Toast, with cherry and goat cheese, it was served with served with a slice of watermelon and orange. I wanted to really like this however I felt it was average at best, perhaps it wasn’t what I was craving for lunch. I would like to return to try some of their regular items, which were not available during the Sunday Brunch.
The atmosphere was great, with a live band for background music. The service was great and the staff was very friendly, especially considering how close to closing time we arrived, they did their best to accommodate us and we were out the door right before closing time.
I will return to give this another try, this time I will make sure I can order off their lunch menu instead.

We’ve been to this location numerous times, usually when Rooster is PACKED. Most times it’s been ok, although not as good as their location on Morganford.
I’ve got to write about my experience on Mother’s Day, though. Normally this place does not take reservations, so I was surprised when we went there to find out that it was booked pretty solid, but they would try to fit us in. After about a 20 – 30 minute wait, we were seated along the window on the inside. After sitting there for about 15 minutes, I got up to ask the hostess who our waiter/​waitress was, because no one had stopped by. She said she’d get our waitress for us. Another 15 minutes goes by and my fiancée gets up to tell the hostess our waitress still hasn’t come by. She at this point at least came and brought us water and took our order. After that, she became our default waitress, although she wasn’t good (who could blame her, she was busy trying to be the hostess). At the end we found out our waitress had been the same woman walking by us completely oblivious the entire time we were sitting there. The manager came by at the end to ask us how our lunch went, and we both let her know how disappointed we were.
On the whole, I like Local Harvest, and we will probably go to the one on Morganford again. But if I’m downtown, I think Rooster is worth the wait.

Worst service in the city. Definitely an arrogant hipster establishment. We are staying at a local hotel and wanted a smoothie to go. My husband waited at the drink counter and said about 12 of their hipster servers walked by before a flustered woman said «we are really busy you’re going to have to wait.» Excuse me?! Glad I wasn’t there or I would have requested the manager. He waited 15 – 20 minutes for 2 smoothies!!! Not acceptable. Oh, it gets worse. $ 6 a piece smoothie that was THEE worst smoothie we’ve ever had. It tasted like watered down tropicana orange juice with some yogurt and a small handful of berries. It made us want to rinse our mouth. Awful. We seek out local, sustainable organic foods and will NEVER go back to this place. Too pretentious and labeling it local doesn’t mean it’s all good.

Breakfast in STL! Line for Roosters around the corner, was an hour wait, so we fortunately wound up here — food was delicious, coffee was great, and got to sit outside and soak up the sun!

Was in downtown St. Louis for a 5 day conference and being from California, I was DYING to eat some healthy food since the food offering was consisting of food produced for 15,000 people so quality was subpar! When I finally found this on the 4^th day I was excited to see healthy food offering in the downtown area.
I liked their brunch and breakfast options but I wanted something nice and filling. I opted for their breakfast burrito and a side of quinoi. The food was excellent. The service was prompt and friendly. The price was a bit on the more expensive side, but isn’t all healthy/​vegan food expensive? It’s the sad fact of health food… but do your body a favor and check this place out!

WOOOHOOO!
Local Harvest! You did it again!
Working in the building it is so nice having great food options!
I keep going back to my new favorite place downtown.
Also, my best friend lives right across the street, so when we are lazy, we just mosey on over for something.
LOVE IT!

While I did like the space and the atmosphere of the place, I really wasn’t impressed with the food here, no I’m not saying it wasn’t good, it was however it just wasn’t anything incredible to boast about.
The service was a little slow, but they did keep our glasses filled, and did several check backs with the table to see how things were going, and that’s always a plus when your reviewing an establishment. The prices were a little on the higher side but my friends were all happy with their meals as well, so it does make a little difference on the higher price.
would I go back again? probably not, I had a decent experience however I am a little picky so it just didn’t really impress me the same as the rest of the group, but don’t take my word for it, be sure to experience it as well, so you can draw your OWN conclusions.

Space: Great building, pleasant space with high ceilings lots of light, and, unlike many cafes –even those highest rated on Unilocal –ample space between tables so one can sit alone or with companions and still feel you have your own space. Prompt and friendly service.
Food: tried the club, the vegan brownie, and a latte. Each was excellent. (Even the vegan brownie… and I am not a vegan.)
Several Unilocalers wonder why this place doesn’t have many reviews. I have a theory. This location does not show up in Unilocal search results, nor does it show up as nearby when nearby. Also, this location does not show up in Google Maps. I only tried it because someone suggested it for a meeting, otherwise I would not have known about it either.
When I try a few more menu items I will adjust star rating. Also plan to try their wifi next visit. I will return and recommend others give it a try too.

Wow. Excellent quality food. I ordered the vegan chili and the farmers salad (beets, radishes, goat cheese, cucumbers). The salad was delicious, crispy, light, and perfect — I’ve never had such mild radishes, so good. The chili hit the spot on this rainy day. Also, the area to dine in inside was nice, kind of quirky, felt like a posh cafeteria.
But WOW. I paid $ 14 for that lunch. I mean that is a LOT for soup and salad. It’s not that the portions were small — I was satisfied, not stuffed — it’s just that max I would have expected to pay like 9 bucks. I guess this is the cost of such high quality?

The former Pasta House outlet’s been fallow for years, in a seemingly good location on the well-​lit northwestern corner of the beautifully restored Old Post Office. For the nicer months, there’s sidewalk seating and there are plenty of tables set up café-​style inside (read: could be flexible for bigger or smaller parties). Decorated simply with a few country-​chic touches, the character of the detail work in the Post Office and a lovely interior sign make for the most memorable elements of the simple, agreeable aesthetic.
For lunch, salads, sandwiches and soups make up most of the menu and the emphasis is, as the name and original Local Harvest Café make clear, on fresh, locally sourced ingredients. The pulled pork sandwich was good, on the smaller side but served with a generous stack of chips and quarter-​slice of watermelon. A friend of mine was quite pleased with the soup, a chili, when we went.
Like fellow reviewer Sarah S, I’m surprised that more hasn’t been written about this venture. Local Harvest is well-​known for using quality ingredients and it’s always nice to see local businesses expand. In short, there’s something to be said about what Local Harvest brings to the table (pun intended). Competing directly with the food service offerings of Culinaria across the street, the advantage here is the seemingly larger dining area and a better breakfast offer, something any Downtowner, whether an employee or resident, can appreciate.
Notes:
* There’s quality and you pay for it. Expect to spend about $ 10 on lunch, probably sans drinks.
* Parking around the Post Office Plaza can be pretty limited. Keep in mind that there’s a garage across the street above Culinaria along with metered parking. Bring plenty of change.
* The online menu at Local Harvest’s recently updated website is helpful as a guide. Note that breakfast stops at 11a during the week.