Reviews for ELAIA in St. Louis, MO
The food was ok. Like 5 dishes in a row had basil oil on it and most were slightly under seasoned. Service was very good though.... Overall, the value for the price wasn't there for me. Read more
After trying many other tasting menus around town - tempus, vicia, bulrush, etc - gotta say this is hands down the least bang... for your buck. Food is good, for sure, but you can eat just as well, in a much nicer setting, for a lot less money elsewhere intown. Read more
This what everyone must expect about fine dining. Good service, good and very well executed dishes with a good balance of wine... pairings that usually is just random, the selection of wines was very accurate with the dishes and it has the right proportion.Bread, caviar, fish, beat tartar, Salmon cooked with broth, the mushroom, the chicken, the beef and dessert were just the rightamount of flavorful dishes. I think the space is small for the potential of the cooking ???? here. Really worth it to visit ifyou want to have a good and fine dining experience Read more
Absolutely a superb and well designed chefs menu. The cadence of the nine courses and service was excellent. The flavors and... creativity of the food ?.wonderful. And the wine pairings were perfect?so totally complimentary. The staff and ambiance is anunderstated elegance, by which I mean professional AND friendly. They change their tasting menu every 2 months or so?..SO?.ifI?m back in the area this will be again on my list. Read more
Overall this was a really disappointing meal that fell short mainly because the price we paid did not justify the food and... experience we received. We did 2x Chef Tasting Menus at $135 each, and split the premium wine pairing at $140 for a total of$410 before tax and tip. For this price, we found some issues in the dishes we received (e.g., overcooked sturgeon, beef shortrib itself was on the bland side), the ingredients in the dishes didn't justify the price point (most expensive was the smallscoop of caviar, then followed by beef short rib, and sturgeon - both of which had small portions as you can see in the photos),the wine pours were fairly restrained over 8 glasses, and the overall experience wasn't up to par with 'fine dining'. As adirect comparison, the last fine dining experience pre-COVID was with a 1 michelin restaurant in Chicago called Temporis. Theyoffer a $165 seasonal tasting menu which was an intimate fine-dining experience from the setup, the service throughout, and thefinal parting gift of a goodie bag with the tasting menus and a sweet treat from the pastry chef. Their menu also featurespremium ingredients such as Lobster, Duck, Venison, A5 Wagyu Ribeye, etc. Finally, their comparable 2nd tier wine pairing toElaia's comes in at $165 over 9 courses. For just $30 more on the tasting menu, and $25 more on the wine tasting, you could'vegotten excellent cooking (as recognized by Michelin if that makes a difference to you), premium ingredients, reasonable winepairings, an extra course (and wine pour!), and a really positive memorable experience. Elaia was certainly memorable, but forall the wrong reasons. I do not recommend Elaia. There's definitely other restaurants in the St Louis area that gets betterbang for buck. If you're looking for a guaranteed fine dining experience, I highly recommend making a trip up to Chicago -there's plenty of really great restaurants to explore! Read more
Don?t even try it! We thought it would be a cool place because it?s in an old house. Thought maybe a chefs table! Wrong?.. We... both preordered the chef?s tasting menu when we made the reservation. Bad idea. It?s very hot at our table and they brought usan already opened bottle of what was supposed to be Italian still water but it smelled just like that river in St. Louis. Iwon?t spend the time telling about the terrible food on every course as I have included some photos. Way too much money for notnearly enough thought and concern for a fine dining experience. Terrible Read more
Expensive, but a great food experience, with impeccable service. We had the four-course tasting menu, with wine pairings. I... understand this menu changes daily based on what is freshly available that day. Read more
This was the most fun and romantic tasting menu experience we?ve had. The food was unbelievable. Creative and diverse. This... staff here was fantastic. By far the best service we have experienced. There knowledge is unparalleled. 5 out of 5, one of thebest spots in the Midwest! Read more