This week it was my son's pick for Saturday lunch and he decided we should visit the Three Kings Public House, but instead of the original one on the Delmar Loop, we thought we would visit the one in Des Peres on Manchester Road. Arriving before noon, we were able to park just 30 feet or so away from the door in their large lot, something not so easy to do at the Delmar location. Despite being placed in a roomy, suburban shopping center, the owners tried to replicate the same feel of the original Loop location out in West County. They again had a large picture of Elvis, Henry VIII and King Kong on the wall. The dining area was pretty large with many tables in a section by the large bar, but we were seated in a roomy booth in an area dedicated for dining. It was a unusually cool day for August, and it was somewhat chilly inside the restaurant as well.
The menus seemed pretty similar to what I remembered from the Delmar location, gourmet burgers, sandwiches and other such pub food. I decided upon the BBQ pulled pork sliders with sweet potato fries, my infamous son ordered the Three Kings burger with fries, my eldest picked the All American burger (with provolone cheese) and sweet potato fries, my wife ordered the mussels & fries appetizer and my mother-in-law ordered the fish and chips. Our server had brought along two large bottles of water for our drinking pleasure which was quite convenient to serve ourselves as we waited.
The food arrived reasonably quickly and it was all hot and looked quite appetizing. The mussels came with a curry caper mayonnaise, which my wife did not want so I was able to acquire it after it was rejected by my picky son. I thought it was a perfect dip for my sweet potato fries. I also sampled my son's normal fries, which were just okay, but they also were improved when submerged into the curry mayo. My sliders were a mess but quite tasty with the abundance of onions mixing nicely with the pork and their tangy bourbon BBQ sauce. The smaller slider size made them easier to pick up so I managed to not get any sauce on my shirt! My two offspring both enjoyed their respective burgers, although neither seemed to finish their fries. My wife liked the mussels, although she did note they were rather small, and my mother-in-law gave good marks to the one piece of fish she ate. (We took the other piece of cod home, and our cat, Mr. Spunkers highly approved of it, although he wished he could have eaten more cod.)
The service was okay with our server checking on us just now and then and not being all that memorable. There was not much of a crowd, but I hope they have more of a crowd later in the day. The restrooms were nice, clean and roomy, at least we know the "Queens" room was, nobody visited the "Kings". I did notice that the anchor stores in that shopping center was a Michael's and a golf store, so I am not sure how much traffic they get that is not coming to the plaza just to visit them. It is located very close to West County Mall so they could definitely pick up some mall traffic who would prefer some quality pub food over the nearby Chick-fil-A or Raising Canes.
Overall I would say the food is still better than your average bar and grill fare, and the convenient Des Peres shopping plaza location makes for an easier way to enjoy the Three Kings experience without having to deal with Loop parking and the trolley which supposedly will be running there some day.
Food Quality, Ambience
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