Triumph Grill, Midtown - Visited October 2016

It was my turn to select a restaurant today and since we were picking up our son from the SLU campus, I decided to pick somewhere interesting near the university, the Triumph Grill. We were able to park right across from it on Olive, and used their meter kiosk to add some time to our metered spot. Their parking kiosk sure works better than the one in the lot across from the Three Kings on the Loop. It was a gorgeous day and we noted the Baiku Sushi Lounge next to it as well as the Hotel Ignacio and the nearby Fieldhouse Pub & Grill. My son, the college sophomore, had never traveled to that area in his life despite having classes just a thousand feet away or so on campus.

The place was pretty empty for lunch and we were seated at a comfortable booth in the dining area. The area was decorated with Triumph wheels hanging from the ceiling, photos of actors on Triumph motorcycles, and Triumph logos on the walls. The one next to our booth had an eerie face in the middle of it, which might have been for Halloween or perhaps it is always there. Our server was very pleasant and attentive and took our drink orders as we perused their menu. My wife ordered the turkey club melt, my mother-in-law ordered the Panigale (without onions), my son ordered the Chicken Banh Mi and I ordered their "Two Stroke", pairing their soup of the day (Chicken Tortilla) and their Monster sandwich.

Monster sandwich with chicken tortilla soup

The wait for our food was not too long, and with the dining area to ourselves we were able to have a pleasant time chatting with some very soft background music which was barely audible. Our food arrived hot and generously portioned. My monster sandwich was too messy to eat with my hands so I ended up eating it with a knife and fork. There was plenty of tender, flavorful pork with a zesty slaw and crunchly onion straws that all went well together. My soup was also very flavorful with crunchy tortillas in it and plenty of chicken. My son liked his Banh Mi quite well, although the chips that came with it did not have much flavor. My wife liked her sandwich and enjoyed the creme fraiche although she believed it had a dill flavor she did not like. My mother-in-law really enjoyed her sandwich too and took half of it home. I sampled the chips, normal fries and sweet potato fries, and I would say the sweet potato fries were the most flavorful, followed by the chips and with their normal fries which were just okay. All the sandwiches, however, were all pretty unique and quite good.

Chicken Banh Mi sandwich with chips

The server we had was quite attentive and refilled our drinks and made sure we were enjoying our meal. My wife checked out the restroom and it was clean and well maintained. Overall it was a very good dining experience at an eatery just a stone's throw away from campus. My son even ended up coming back after he inadvertently left something behind we had brought from home for him. Luckily it was so close to him he could walk over and get it! The Triumph Grill is definitely someplace worthy of visiting when we are again planning on eating near campus.

Food, Atmosphere and Service