Today was my mother-in-law's lunch pick so I was expecting another ho-hum lunch at one of the same old chains she is willing to visit. She decided on Pasta House, which was fine with me since I had not been there in a while and it is always pretty consistently good with a number of different selections. However, we were thrown a twist when we showed up slightly before noon at our favorite Pasta House location on Delmar and Old Bonhomme. The lot looked empty and I was the one who had to get out of the vehicle and check the hours on the door. Sure enough, it now is listed as open on Saturdays from 4:00pm to 10:00pm, which means no more Saturday lunch at the Delmar Pasta House! So my daughter looked up the number for the location in Creve Coeur at Olive and Ballas, and we called them up to see if they were open. Sure enough, they were open so off we went!
We remember the last time we went there which must have been over a decade ago shortly after they first opened (we had also gone there when it was a mediocre Chinese buffet too.) At the time the salads were too vinegary and the service was not quite up to snuff. This time we noticed that this location seemed much more contemporary and open than the Delmar location (not so dark and musty.) We also noticed that it actually had a lot more customers than the Delmar location usually did, which was usually pretty empty for Saturday lunch. We were seated as a rather drafty round table by the door, but we still had a good view of the movie posters and photos which we tried to identify.
The menu looked the same as the other location, but I did notice there was a separate lunch menu that had different prices than the lunch menu portion of the main menu. I was going to order the Chicken Parmigiano which was going to cost $9.99 or $10.99, either price which was fine by me. My wife and daughter each ordered the Baked Mostaccioli (without meatballs), my mother-in-law ordered the Pesce alla Fresta and my son ordered the Philly Cheesesteak Sub.
Our waitress, Shannon, returned shortly after placing our order with rolls, and we noticed the rolls at Creve Coeur were moister and more fluffy than the ones at U City had been. Then she arrived a few minutes later with our side salads, and they were definitely quite a bit larger than the side salads at Delmar. The salads were also prepared just fine as we had hoped (hey, they must have it right to still be open over a decade later), with plenty of cheese and artichokes and the dressing tasting perfect. The service from Shannon was timely and she kept checking back with us to make sure we were okay. The dishes tasted just as good as the Delmar location, and I believe the side pastas that came with my chicken and my son's sandwich were also larger than the portions served at Delmar.
When Shannon brought our bill, we asked her if we could use the University City Frequent Diners' Club card there and she tried to see if they would accept it, but unfortunately they did not. Instead we filled out a sheet for the Creve Coeur location. So now it seems we will need to visit the Creve Coeur location when we want to go to Pasta House for Saturday lunch, but we can still visit the Delmar location at other times since it is closer to home and to be served by our favorite waitress there, Stephanie (she knows all our orders!)
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