Restaurants in Ballwin

Flowing steadily from a fountain, or la fuente in Spanish, water represents luck, promises, hopes, and dreams. For the past decade or so, Las Fuentes restaurant has certainly fulfilled the virtue of its name, as the family-owned eatery has expanded to three locations across St. Louis. At each spot, chefs prepare authentic Mexican feasts fit for meat eaters, seafood lovers, and vegetarians alike. Soft corn and flour tortillas envelop succulent meats, such as al pastor, shrimp, and shredded beef. Cast-iron skillets sizzle with fresh fajita vegetables and a bounty of seafood, including scallops and tilapia. Vegetarians, meanwhile, can enjoy tostadas, chalupas, and quesadillas chockfull of beans and cheese. As patrons chow down, they can also enjoy the day’s event, such as karaoke or a live mariachi band.

After walking through a tomato-red foyer ornamented with framed photos and restaurant reviews, diners at Roberto's Trattoria enter an elegant dining room segmented by columned archways and enclosed by gold-stippled walls. Owner Roberto Zanti chats up guests as he walks around the restaurant, checking the quality of his hearty pastas and herb-encrusted steaks. Guests can pair these Italian entrees with selections from an expansive wine list, which supplies more than 15 wines by the glass and more than 65 by the bottle. While noshing on a tasty bruschetta crostini, guests can treat themselves to a glass of sparkling wine or impress a date by pushing a spoon all the way inside a bottle of sparkling wine.

In St. Louis Pizza and Wings' kitchen, steam trickles from freshly made pizzas, sandwiches, and wings. Chefs hand-toss toppings including italian sausage, canadian bacon, and fresh mushrooms onto thin or thick crusts and smother chicken wings in eight variations of traditional, barbecue, teriyaki, or mustard sauces. The restaurant's delivery crew totes orders straight to doorsteps or buckets lowered from airships, and catering services bring pies to fuel parties or business meetings.

Though the world is complex, Fenton Bar & Grill focuses on the simple things in life—spicy chicken wings and cold beer. It complements these simple things with plenty of sandwiches, pizzas, and burgers for the taking—it’s a banjo duel of pub grub and pours that ends in a harmonious, full-bellied tune. The eatery also packs its space with tons of games such as slingo and keno, as well as a jukebox that plays your favorite tunes for a fee, like a Ronin tenor.

In more than one way, Steve and Debbye Greer’s marriage brought about a new chapter in their lives. Not long after the wedding bells had ceased to ring—within a day, actually—the newly minted couple opened up The Concord Grill. More than 20 years after that fateful day, they continue to flip 40 varieties of burgers and stack up meaty sandwiches on a menu of hearty American staples—only now, they do so with two children by their side.

Taking cues from the jet with which the restaurant shares its name, half-pound burgers fly fresh off the grill, donning creative toppings that range from hash browns to port-wine cheddar. French bread, sourdough, or kaiser rolls come loaded with savory fillings such as breaded pork tenderloin and catfish, joined by hearty, country-style sides, including pickled cucumbers, house-made potato salad, and baked beans. A lineup of Pepsi products, pink lemonade, and iced tea washes down beefy bites and yields an unlimited number of refills for an unlimited number of spit takes.

A proud staple of Labadie for more than two decades, the Hawthorne Inn and its co-owners, Cathy Hancock, Chris Hancock, and Dick Hoey, pay homage to the old railroad town with the Labadie Locomotive pizza, flecked with pepperoni, sausage, meatballs, and pepperoncini. On a mural behind the bar, local artist Bryan Hayes celebrates the steam engines and nuclear-powered cabooses of years past, and hand-trimmed steaks and pretzel-encrusted trout are served in present-day portions. Wines travel from as far as Missouri, California, or overseas to fill the tavern's glasses, along with a large selection of domestic and imported beers.