I was saddened to recently learn that the original Pasta House location on Delmar and Old Bonhomme in University City was going to be closing at the end of the year. That was the first Italian restaurant in St. Louis we visited way back in 1985 when we first moved here as a recently married couple, my wife a new engineer at Monsanto and myself a new graduate student as Wash U. I am not sure how many locations there were back then but I know we have seen many locations come and go.
When my daughter was first born and we lived in Brentwood, I remember we used to prefer to frequent the location in the back of Plaza Fontenac which had more ample and convenient parking than the tiny, misshapen lot at the Delmar location. Unfortunately that location closed, but by then a small location had opened in lower Food Court area of the Galleria Mall. Unfortunately, that location closed not much later.
When we moved further north and west into the Creve Coeur area, we started to frequent the Maryland Heights location on Dorsett where they soon learned to recognize our group of five and where the service and food were consistently good. Unfortunately they closed too! Instead they opened up the location at Olive and Ballas in the old Chinese restaurant location there, and we never liked that location as much. It was too crowded and they did not seem to make the salad properly. We did try the "Pronto!" location that opened up in Brentwood by the ClockMaster off Madge, but we were not that impressed with that tiny location where the food felt like it was prepared elsewhere and just shipped there.
Since our move back to Richmond Heights we have always just gone to the Delmar location which was the closest "full service" Pasta House. They have always been a consistently good and affordable Italian place to take people, more of a comfortable "family" eatery as opposed to a more "gourmet" Italian experience like on the Hill, where parking was always an ordeal (and makes the weird Delmar lot not seem so bad!) Now that they are closing, it seems we must look elsewhere for a casual Italian full service restaurant. Fancier places like Maggiano's or Macaroni Grill are a bit more expensive, and less expensive places (like our new favorite "cheap Italian" place, P'Sghetti's) are not quite the same relaxed atmosphere. I will also be very curious to see what kind of restaurant takes over that prime Delmar and Old Bonhomme location where Pasta House sits. I know La Pizza is just a couple hundred feet away, but Pasta House's space is much too huge for them (although they could use more seating!) Maybe whoever leases that space can put the La Pizza offerings on their menu and offer to run down the street to get the pizzas when they are done baking. That way if it becomes some weird ethnic place where small children might not like the menu, their parents could just order them an excellent pizza from down the street!
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