Nightlife in Lake Saint Louis

Pendant lights and flat-panel TVs cast a warm glow over the festive confines of Wildwood Pub & Grill, where guests convene for a casual dinner and drinks. The cozy spot boasts all the trappings one would expect to find at a neighborhood pub—live sports, a menu of grill-fired eats, and live music on the weekends—along with the novel addition of indoor golf.

Inside the hitting bays of Wildwood's About Golf Simulators, golfers use their own clubs or oversized soupspoons to smash real golf balls into immense screens that vividly replicate 54 world-famous courses, including TPC Sawgrass and the Old Course at St. Andrews. Along with traditional stroke play, the simulators also support competitive scrambles and interactive driving-range practice, where players can compete in games including longest drive, closest to the pin, and most unashamed palm sweating.

Llywelyn's menu introduces an impressive assortment of traditional pub classics to salads, flatbreads, wraps, and ambitiously portioned sandwiches. Start with an order of Welsh potato chips ($3.95); flaky, fried Irish pies ($7.95); beer-battered fried pub pickles ($7.25); or the much-talked-about chicken chili ($4.95 for a bowl). Then wrap mouth muscles around fish and chips ($10.25): two beer-battered and fried cod fillets served with house-made tartar sauce. From meaty chunks of lamb, potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and green beans swimming in Guinness-Jameson stock ($9.95) to shepherd's pie ($10.95), the selections side well with a sudsy sip. The beer menu includes an exhaustive library of selections by the draft or bottle. Llywelyn's also offers a menu of kid-friendly fare.

Since opening Deaver's Restaurant and Sports Bar in 2003, owners Derek Deaver and Ryan Pinkston have strived to make every guest feel like they're home. This gracious mindset helped the casual American eatery earn a handful of accolades, such as the Best Neighborhood Bar in North County award from RiverFront Times in 2008. But a friendly and attentive staff is only 50% of their equation for success, with a lengthy menu of American eats comprising the other half.

Chefs grill half-pound burgers to the pinnacle of juiciness before crowning them with sautéed onions and crumbled bleu cheese. St. Louis style thin crust pizzas ooze with melting cheese, and weekly specials of meatloaf and barbeque ribs pair with any of the 13 beers on tap at the bar.

To add to Deaver's casual ambience, television sets and framed sports memorabilia hang in the spacious dining room, and an arcade lined with video games keeps kids occupied. Outdoors, guests dine beneath umbrellas on the patio, and larger parties celebrate in a private banquet hall capable of holding up to 50 guests or two Jolly Green Giants. Deaver's team also aims to make their community as happy as their regulars by supporting local churches and schools, as well as offering a 10% discount to seniors, EMT personal, fire fighters, and police officers.

For more than 25 years, The St. Louis Funny Bone has hosted national touring acts and local comedic talent in its cozy club for diverse 90-minute stand-up sets. While headlining jokesters dominate weekend slots, humorous hopefuls can sign up for Tuesday night open mics. During open mics, 12 to 20 performers test out their material in four-minute slots. The club strictly adheres to the time constraint, reprimanding participants who exceed 240 seconds with a month-long ban from the club and a nuggie administered by the nearest carrot top. Up to 300 attendees per show can witness these plunders and successes while sitting in either the VIP or general admission areas. Both sections offer alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, along with appetizers such as pizza slices, chicken wings, and toasted raviolis.

The Rotten Apple Pub & Grill invites patrons to “eat, drink, and be rotten” with its slate of frothy brews and pub-style bites such as housemade potato chips and fried pickles. Diners tackle half-pound burgers topped with chili or deep-fried jalapeños and pull bottles from ice-filled buckets on a patio beneath a green, pitched roof. Indoors, laughter and live-music licks fill the air as Rotten Apple hosts bands, bingo nights, and William Tell look-alike contests.

Humans cannot be expected to perform well at karaoke or during open-mic nights if they don’t receive the proper fuel. Therefore, Dylan’s Sports Bar and Grill's kitchen churns out a menu of hearty pub classics, and the bar offers potent brews to subdue excess nerves. On select Monday nights, guests can prepare for a competitive game of darts by carbo-loading with pasta alfredo or greasing elbows with a french dip’s au jus. Friday and Saturday nights call locals to the mic to demonstrate their singing skills—which generally seem to increase whenever audience members tuck toasted ravioli in their ears.