Frisco Barroom, Webster Groves - Visited November 2018

It was my week to select a Saturday lunch spot, so I looked up some new area restaurants that might be interesting. One new place that has been receiving some press has been the Frisco Barroom in the Old Orchard district in Webster Groves. They took the old Natural Way organic food store and turned it into a two story corner food, drink and entertainment venue. That sounded like a good use of that space so close to Webster University, so I was hoping for a neat place that would be a nice addition to the area.

We parked in the large lot behind it which can also be used for the other nearby eateries like Tei Too and the Webster Wok. When we went inside we were impressed to see the spacious dining area and the large bar. However, since we were a group of five they decided to seat us upstairs. That may have been fine if they had an elevator or we had all been able bodied, but one of our group was a senior well into her 80's with a bad hip who had to go up and down the narrow, steep stairway to make it upstairs. While we were ascending, one of the employees even made a snide comment to my son that he should help his grandmother up the stairs. That is not the friendly, welcoming attitude you expect when being forced to walk up a staircase to your table.

The upstairs area actually was quite nicely decorated and we were seated at a table for six by a very large fish mounted on the wall. The area had a nice hunter lodge vibe with lots of animal horns on the wall, some stuffed chairs, a fireplace and a rooftop patio looking out onto the street. It would be a nice area for a large group gathering with the restrooms quite close by the tables. Our server came by and soon asked us for our drink orders as we looked over the menu. When she returned with our drinks, my wife's tea came back pre-sweetened with Truvia which was the only sugar substitute they had available. My wife did not appreciate that as she does not like the taste of Truvia and would have preferred to add her own sweetener or to not use any at all. We also had to ask for straws which launched us into the discussion on why so many places now do not freely give out straws.

It did not take too long for our food to arrive. My wife and both my kids had ordered burgers although they each ordered different sides, one ordered the fries, one the house salad and one the French onion soup. I had ordered the Reuben with the potato and cheese casserole and my mother-in-law ordered the grilled cheese with fries. When the person who brought the food had left, we noticed there was no ketchup or any other sauces for the burgers or fries. Maybe they were all so good they did not need them, but alas, we soon discovered that was not the case. 

The best side was definitely the potato and cheese casserole which undoubtedly used real sour cream to give a very smooth creaminess and a rich flavor. The fries were pretty bland and became worse quickly as they became colder and less crisp. They definitely needed ketchup as they did not have much flavor of their own. My son thought his French onion soup was okay but thought the consistently good (but not excellent) Panera version was better. The house salad was similar to a Pasta House salad but had too much vinegar in it to make it enjoyable to eat the whole thing.  As for the burgers, nobody was impressed with them and they all thought they lacked flavor. Even my wife who never seasons anything added salt to her burger. For a corner "barroom" to have an unimpressive burger is a bad sign, as that is the staple that most customers would expect to be at least superior to the nearby McDonald's. My reuben sandwich was much better but still not the best reuben I had eaten. The corned beef was okay, but nothing like the incredible corned beef they serve at our church's annual St. Patrick's Day dinner.

burger with fries

Reuben sandwich with potato and cheese casserole

As for the service, our server was cheerful enough but her appearances during the meal were rare since she had to climb up the stairs from the main level just to see us. At the end of the meal she made quite a deal of trying to clear our empty plates, drinks and napkins off the table even though there were plenty of empty tables upstairs. We realize the restaurant has only been open a few months, but we would hope they would try to train their servers to actually put the customers first instead of trying to reduce the number of times they had to go up and down the stairs. On a positive the restrooms seemed nice enough although they placed the towel dispenser rather high.

Overall we were disappointed to say the new Frisco Barroom did not live up to our expectations. The food quality was not impressive and the service and attitude of the employees did not make it an enjoyable experience. They did have a good menu of items listed but we discovered they did not execute any of them exceptionally well (except perhaps the cheese and potato casserole.) We will probably not return unless we hear they somehow improve both their food and their service.

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