Restaurants in Wentzville

Not many restaurants arm their patrons with the apparel to play dress-up. But at Aggie’s Closet and Tea Room, youngsters and their adult charges can head up to the closet, where they rifle through dresses, feather boas, and flower-adorned hats to don while sipping tea, munching on cucumber sandwiches, and scoffing at flying machines like real Victorians. Downstairs, in the Victorian-inspired dining room, guests savor herbal tea from fine china and nosh on handmade, seasonal salads, sandwiches, and wraps. During the warmer months, the tearoom opens up its wine and beer garden, where live music on the weekends serenades guests.

At DeCarlo's Bar and Grill, chefs take an innovative approach to burger making. Rather than piling toppings on the outside of the burger, they stuff flavorful ingredients—such as pepper jack cheese, bacon, or jalapenos—directly between two quarter-pound patties. These signature burgers ooze juicy fillings and gossip with every bite, and they star on a menu of pub fare also populated by hearty sandwiches, fried appetizers, customized pizzas, and a variety of draft beers and cocktails.

At Old Vine Riverfront Bistro, proprietor Brian Manhardt draws on more than 25 years of experience to shape a bold bistro menu of fresh seafood, steaks, artisanal salads and stone hearth-fired pizzas. Inventive dishes such as their crab cigars—blue crab meat rolled inside of egg roll wrappers, fried crispy, and served with roasted red pepper aioli—can be paired with local beers, cocktails, and fine wines. Their curated wines and tobacco are sold at an onsite shop.

Situated in a distinctive two-story building that dates back to 1858, Old Vine Riverfront Bistro contrasts an energetic ambiance—punctuated by free live music almost every Saturday evening—with historical décor, such as a stone walled atrium and an excavated cistern that’s been transformed into the restaurant’s wine cellar. On warm weather days, consider dining al fresco on the patio.

To accompany a menu that sates appetites with hearty pub eats, including their popular $0.99 burgers, The Babylon houses more than 20 whistle-wetting draft beers. Patrons may also reserve a party room for free and come in on Saturdays for live musical performances.

The despair in Marlon Brando's cry of "Stellaaaa" is lost as the nine big-screen TVs are drowned out by the sights and sounds of confetti cannons, airborne toilet-paper streamers, and rainfalls of bubbles. During afternoon and dinner service, Ballyhoo Restaurant & Bar is tamer, dishing up a menu of classic American fare, including six burgers, more than 10 kinds of sandwiches and wraps, and six pizzas. At night, however, Ballyhoo is a haven for tomfoolery and shenanigans of all kinds.

Framed posters of classic Hollywood A-listers—including Elvis, Brando, and Hepburn—cover the dining-room walls at this movie-theater-themed eatery. Here the staff encourages patrons to indulge in the fun instead of silencing raucous laughter and insisting diners behave themselves or risk finding an alka seltzer under their pillow from the bar fairy. From behind a marble countertop, bartenders dole out a range of boozy beverages while well-loved movies flicker across nine flat-screen TVs. Diners can pick reasonable meals off the menu, or set themselves up for The Challenge—a dinner plate packing four 8-ounce burgers layered in four types of cheese as well as half a pound of bacon and two onion rings. To win half off their final bill (not valid with this Groupon), challengers are allotted 20 minutes to gobble the whole dish while sticking their tongues out at the food gods.

A'mis Italian Restaurant garners compliments from area natives and transplants for its kitchen's mastery of regional pizzas ranging from hand-tossed New York–style pies to Chicago–style pizzas baked in a deep pie dish. St. Louis pizzas sport a thin-crust base that's sprinkled with a blend of provel cheese and mozzarella. All pizza dough is baked fresh every day in a brick oven. Entrees also include steak and pasta dishes, as well as lighter dinner options, such as grilled chicken or poached cod, that give diners fewer calories and grant increased aptitude for speaking in fishtongue.