Wild Flower Restaurant & Catering

Celebrated my 20^th anniversary with Wildflower. Started going there when it was «TJ’s Wildflower” – have made a pilgrimage every year since 1996.
I have always been satisfied with the food, service, and environment.
Have celebrated college graduation (not from SLU), my first married Easter, and a number of other activities.
It doesn’t matter if it’s dinner, weekend brunch, or a few cocktails, the food is always warm and bursting with flavor.
I remember a menu that had the best banana pancakes ever (circa 96 – 98 ish)
Today’s pancakes had bacon AND sausage inside them! Delicious. Coffee is always great and never empty. Locally sourced food continue to make it a great place to go.
Outdoor seating– even in late January was great. Used to love coming after mass at the basilicae
They have great wine and signature cocktails.
Great place. I’ll be back!

I love the brunch here. I had cookie dough pancakes with the pulled pork eggs Benedict and oh boy was I a happy camper. Flavor all around. The CWE has a lot of great joints and this place holds its own. The serve was also great. We sat out on the front patio and enjoyed all the neighborhood charm that surrounds it. If you are looking for a place to take a date for brunch, it is great. If you are looking for a place to cure the hangover blues, its a great place. Yum!

The food was good, but wow the service is trash. The server showed up twice; to bring our food and the check (faster of the two). We asked to split the check and he didn’t. He avoided us after it and it was hard to get ahold of him. Very unapologetically goes back to «change» it back. My money has yet to be put back.

The Brunch here was delicious I literally loved everything about it, reasonably priced and excellent service as well

this review is based solely on the bar. I came here on a Friday night with friends to grab some drinks. they didn’t have some things that I wanted which was completely fine. one of those were the Avery white rascal. but I really appreciated that DAVID intermittently pulled some of that Avery beer that was left over for me free of charge! if you’re looking for a place for drinks with great service, it’s at Wild flower. david & danny are a great duo — double DP!
ps, their chocolate tort is amazeballs. yes, amazeballs.

Horrible experience. Be cautious.
The server is rude and careless. First he brought on our dishes, without saying a word, left. He just failed to notice that we didn’t even have silverwares. Then I notice there are items missing from my order. Then this place takes forever to get anything.

2 stars for drinks.
We came here around 10pm on a Friday because Taste (next door) had an incredibly long wait (are most people at WF Taste rejects?).
The vibe is pretty casual. Baseball on TV, people chatting loudly. I’m sorry, but the bartender was not good. I watched him make the West End Mojito for my friends — slice some strawberries, tear some basil, muddle the heck out of it, add way too much simple syrup, and fill ‘er up with soda water. He then proceeded to make the same drink for another customer, forgot to muddle anything, gave her the «infused?» drink, then paused for her reaction, and owned up to his mistake — «sorry, I put no love into that.»
I ordered an Old Fashioned. To muddle or not to muddle? He muddled. and added a ton of simple syrup. Where was my bourbon?! It oddly tasted like non-​carbonated Dr. Pepper.
Hubs got the Manhattan Orange. Bartender had to stare at the menu ingredients to make our drinks and added half a cup of bitters to Hubs’ glass.
Pretty disappointing drinks. Get some beer after 10pm for $ 3.50 and skip the hard stuff.

The food is good and so is the service, but I’ve eaten here 3 – 4 times now and it just takes SO LONG to get your food.
That said, they have a great patio and a great drink menu. It’s also a fun spot later at night on Fridays and Saturdays. They also have excellent happy hour specials and a great beer selection.
So I guess this is a 3 star rating for their restaurant, and a 4.5 star rating for the bar. But I give 3 stars since I am assuming most people are looking for the restaurant review part.
BONUS:
great catering and an awesome private venue for a small wedding!

Okay.
They have outdoor seating.
Huge plus from the start.
They are in the heart of Forest Park!
Huge plus!
They allow pets to sit with you.
Um. Huge plus!
Their menu, deliciousness X2!
Their servers… um…EVERY SINGLE ONE needed a BATH, a bar of soap, and a washing machine!
How on earth a place such as the Wildflower would allow filth and grime to wait on paying customers blows my mind!
Grimy hair that hadn’t seen shampoo nor a comb/​brush. Black tops and bottoms that were clearly worn for more than one day’s work. AND servers that were leaning against empty tables taking a break! Honestly, I would have fired ever make server they had for lackluster service and subpar appearance. The two gals get a pass because I think they may have stopped to look in the mirror before they went to work.
The food.
Delicious!
I had the Wild Flower Pizza and a side Caesar Salad. Perfect! Absolutely delightful. Cheese that oozed and spinach galore!
One concern, we were never asked if we wanted something to drink. I tried to find the list of non-​alcoholic beverages on the menu and didn’t see any. Plenty of alcohol though. We had ice water in mason jars. It tasted good and had plenty of ice.
Yeah. Go here!
But if your server is nasty, ask for a different server.

Came here for happy hour with a friend. Dan was a great bartender, he recommended one of the happy hour cocktails, I tried the one with champagne (can’t remember the name…), it was fruity and sneak up on you strong. We ordered the truffled mac and cheese. Just as amazing as everyone says. It came with breadcrumbs on top — decadent, not too cheesy, just the right portion size for something so rich. Then, I ordered a long island. OMG, great pour, strongest long island iced tea of my life. Great happy hour spot.

I’ve only had brunch here (multiple times), but it’s an exceptional place for a Sunday brunch. Get the breakfast wrap or you have wasted your time.
Would definitely recommend for brunch in the CWE.

After purposefully staying away for five years, I went back today. Stanwyck wanted to go.
She got some lemony carbonated beverage and gave me a taste of it – spectacular. But pricey for an 8-​oz. bottle. I just drank water. .. and a lot of it. Our server kept up with the water consumption.
We asked for a taste of the lobster bisque. Stanwyck had it here about six months ago and was disappointed there was no sherry taste. Also, no pieces of lobster. .. not even shredded.
We each got a little taste. There was no sherry flavor and absolutely no pieces of lobster, although there was lobster taste. It was an incredibly smooth soup. We passed.
We split an order of calamari. The calamari was very small (except for the tentacles, which were humungous and required massive chewing), overfried to the point of rubber bands, the breading was way too spicy, and the dipping sauce was even spicier yet.
Before we even got partway through the calamari, Stanwyck was served her Basic Spinach Salad (small = $ 6): organic baby spinach, raisins and walnuts tossed in a balsamic/​dijon vinaigrette with gorgonzola; and I was served a cup of the soup of the day (cup = $ 5): a hearty turkey, cannellini bean, corn and celery soup.
A little better pacing of the meal would have helped. It’s not like patrons were waiting.
The calamari was a bust. We mentioned same to our server. She said, «Interesting. No one’s ever said that before.» We were discounted. Ahem, not the best answer.
Stanwyck liked her salad. I liked my soup, and it was a generous portion for a cup.
When the table was cleared, our server (she never told us her name) asked if we wanted to see the dessert tray. I mentioned that I had checked in on Unilocal and was offered a free dessert. Server’s response: «Oh, THAT dessert is either a chocolate torte or bread pudding.»
Holy moley. That comment put us in the bowels of the Titanic with the coal-​shovelers — while the iceberg was making its way through the walls of the ship.
We opted for the chocolate torte. It was served beautifully with a sliced strawberry and a dusting of powdered sugar. It was not a large dessert, but it was incredibly rich, fudgey and delicious. Well-​shared.

Kelly was the BEST server I’ve had in a very long time city wide! Awesome personality & service. She wasn’t pushy or overbearing yet consistent and prompt, it was actually the perfect balance for my sister and I (who can be easily annoyed lol)
This was our first visit to Wild Flower. The occasion was to celebrate my sister’s birthday. We both decided on the salmon special which was absolutely delicious. I was on a diet at the time and the chef prepared my meal just as I asked. I always appreciate having my dieting needs accommodated.
We both enjoyed the food, ambiance and service so much we decided to definitly return.

Had decided from the brunch menu… until the server came & told us the specials. Immediate switch.
~Peanut Butter & Nutella French Toast (no side, just a couple of orange slices, butter, & syrup)
~The Trio: Single Crab Cake Benedict, short stack Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes, side of fruit
~Pecan Pie
Tea selection was a bit sparse, but they had my Earl Grey. Only add-​in options for coffee & tea, however, were whole milk and half & half.
Nice patio atmosphere, has the feel of a french sidewalk café. Fun, hand painted tables, and I love the potted plants, which brighten the whole corner AND give an element of privacy for diners. If the day is sunny, though, make sure to grab one of the tables with an umbrella. Otherwise, you’ll roast.
Service was not very personable or welcoming. No matter, I didn’t come here to make friends — I came here for the food and she got it to me fresh out of the kitchen.

Food: 2
Service: 1.5
Ambiance: 4.5
Food:
Although there are a few nice dishes, the food is generally mediocre and disappointing. Anything that’s good here is because the kitchen drowns it in a heavy fatty liquid, without much subtlety. The mussel appetizer was passable, but the mussels were oddly paired with a heavy coconut milk-​infused sauce. The brussels sprouts were tasty, although that’s likely only because they were swimming in bacon fat and oversized pieces of bacon, the latter of which lost the essential crispy nature of good bacon because the pieces were not cut well. They served a lobster bisque that tasted distinctly liked cooked condensed milk. Maybe they were going for some dulce de luce vibe, but it does not belong in a bisque. (Although one of the diners thoroughly enjoyed the bisque because it fondly reminded him of his difficult childhood, in which he grew up on cooked condensed milk.)
The entrees were hit and miss. To their credit, the duet of duck was good. The BBQ ribs, however, were disappointing and lacked critical tenderness. The «airline» chicken was served swimming in a heavy, unappetizing alfredo sauce. The chicken was moist, but only because it was infused with a sauce that belongs instead with fettucini (or I guess in this case, with gnocchi). One of the diners had the prime rib special, which was almost as much un-​marbled chunks of fat as actual pieces of meat. They were offering a lobster risotto special, for which they did not reveal the price. In this day and age, it’s relatively standard to tell a diner the price of the special if that item is much more expensive than the other entrees. The risotto, although it was good, was double in price that of other items.
Service:
In a word, terrible.
Our requests for drinks went ignored and had to be repeated. At least one refill, requested before the entrees, was served nearly 20 minutes later. Perhaps because we were both dining with our respective in-​laws, this was not the time to slack on alcohol service.
The entrees were served while most of the diners did not have forks. Despite a request for forks, we sat and waited at least a few minutes while our hot plates stared back at us. Perhaps they were expecting us to eat with our faces? If so, they should have told us as much.
Generally, the bussers (and some of the servers) in our section did not seem to be trained in one of the most important parts of service: actively looking at the tables in your section as you walk by them to see if they are desperately straining to make eye contact with you because they need something. It’s great to walk with blinders when you’re a horse at the Belmont stakes, but not so much as server at a restaurant.
Ambiance:
As they say, location, location, terrible service. The only reason Wild Flower still exists must be because of the location. It has a nice, spacious outdoor seating, which benefits most of all from the delicious smells wafting over from Taste.

Maybe my favorite brunch spot, at least on nice days. Nestled in a busy walking corner of the CWE, Wild Flower has ample patio seating on its sidewalk.
The staff is almost always friendly and helpful and the busboys incredibly quick to refill drinks or clean plates. Also, my visits have been evenly split between fast ordering/​food service and slow service, though I’ve never had service be so slow as to be bothersome.
The menu has the classics like omelets and biscuits & gravy to local fares like the slinger. Their slinger may be near the top of my list in the city. I’m slowly making my way through their menu and haven’t been let down yet.
With the good food, good service, and good people watching all in the great outdoors, how could you go wrong?

After a second disappointing experience, I’m downgrading my review. I came as the student volunteer for brunch with several prospective incoming students in my graduate program. We waited around 30 minutes before our server asked us if we were ready to order, and the place was almost empty! In his defense, he thought we had another person coming, but all you have to do is ask.
The worst part was when one of the students ordered an English muffin and it was rock solid. As in, he banged it on his plate and it sounded like glass. If your food is no longer good, as in so STALE that it sounds and feels like something you’d find in a geology class, THROW IT AWAY. Please don’t serve it to your customers!
Truly awful, and very embarassing for a professional brunch. I will never be back, nor will I ever take anyone else here ever again.

Went here tonight for a nice going away party for one of the teachers leaving at my school. The place was really nice and the staff were great. They were ready for a party of 20 people to show up. We had some wait time with food and drinks, but that was understandable. I mean, we were a huge group. Overall, I cannot give them a poor rating on service because the server was awesome and able to keep up with everyone and everything thing.
My food was pretty good. I had some stuffed chicken alfredo dish for dinner. I only had a few complaints with my chicken dish. 1. It looked like it had sat in the fryer for like a few seconds too long because I had a couple of burnt areas on it. 2. If you are going to make a white sauce please don’t destroy it with garlic. I am a fan of garlic and like the taste, but a little goes a long way. In other words, they used too much garlic. Finally number 3. The green beans had no flavor on them. It was like they just boiled them in water and served. While healthy, it wasn’t that tasty. Overall though, I would attempt to eat the dish again or find something else.
My one friend ordered some soup and it didn’t look appealing to me at all. I mean, shouldn’t tomato soup have some chunks in it? Oh well, that’s my opinion.
I don’t know when I’ll be back, but it was good food and I had a good time.

Went to wild flower tonight for the first time!
My friend & I dined outside, and the ambiance was perfect. We started off with a few cocktails. The Moscow mule & the wild orchid, both delicious!
For food I started off with a small Caesar salad which was very yummy, my friend has the arugula salad, & she cleared the plate :)
For the main event we shared shrimp & grits, truffle Mac & cheese, and calamari! The shrimp & grits were very good! The sauce was a little sweet, I am not use to that, but it was very good! The truffle Mac was to die for! I don’t even know if I took a breath between bites! The calamari wasn’t very good, I am a calamari lover too the core & this just didn’t do it.
For dessert we shared the caramel bread pudding! *mouthwatering* so good! The highlight of my night!
The service was great & so was the experience! I will def be back soon!

My wife and I frequented this establishment this past Sunday for brunch after forgoing our usual after church locations.
I had the Salmon Egg Scramble and my wife had the special Trio Entrée (or something like that), it was pancakes with strawberry and nutella, a side of fruit and one crab cake eggs benedict.
The service was pretty terrible which influenced the ratings quite a bit for my review. It is one thing if the place was super busy and the wait for food and service is slow, but when a restaurant has open tables there is really no excuse. It took over 20 minutes for us to get our food which is just way to long given the simplicity of our meals. Other tables around us had similar wait times and were verbally disappointed with the service.
My wife liked her meal although they burnt her english muffin to a crisp. Her pancakes were good but there really wasn’t much Nutella taste to them. It would have been better if they had drizzled some Nutella on the cakes or something.
My meal was fine but nothing spectacular.
The table top was dirty and hadn’t been wiped off when we sat down. We watched one of the staff wipe off the table next to us and that was enough to understand why the tables didn’t look clean.
Another mediocre meal at a mediocre St. Louis establishment.