Roberto’s Trattoria

Love, love love this place. Great food and great service. Don’t let the outside appearance in a strip mall stop you from trying this place.

Round table per request. Service perfect. Food outstanding! I stayed with usual Italian salad, but the others had the tilapia special, salmon and nothing left to take home.

We have the chicken parmigiana Chilean sea bass and peppercorn filet. We started with the calamari and ended with gelato. It was the best Italian food in St Louis and not by a little bit, but by far! SO DELICIOUS! AND its not super expensive. We will be back and I’ll recommend it to others.

I went to my good friend Wikipedia to look up the word «trattoria». Here’s what it had to say:
«A trattoria is an Italian-​style eating establishment, less formal than a ristorante, but more formal than an osteria. There are generally no printed menus, the service is casual, wine is sold by the decanter rather than the bottle, prices are low, and the emphasis is on a steady clientele rather than on haute cuisine.»
Roberto’s doesn’t meet any of those definitions. Instead, it tries to achieve the status of «ristorante» and fails miserably.
I like Olive Garden. I consider their food to be the baseline against which I compare other Italian restaurants. Why? Because any decent Italian restaurant should be able to crush Olive Garden in terms of quality, experience, and so forth. To me, Olive Garden is «average».
At Roberto’s, I ordered the «Tagliatelle alla Bolognese» or, as I like to call it, «Spaghetti with Meat Sauce». I say I ordered it, because that’s not what I received. The server brought out another pasta dish, the lobster special, in error. How he did this is beyond me since I said «Bolognese» twice and further told him I was not going to pay $ 36 for lobster pasta. But, that’s what was delivered. He apologized and brought out the correct dish just a few minutes later.
Which brings me to an observation. In small text, near the bottom of the menu, is a gentle warning from the chef that amounts to «quality takes time; each dish is handmade; keep your pants on». You get the idea. How the server managed to bring out a handmade replacement dish to me in a matter of a few minutes was curious. The first delivery took far longer. It left me wondering just how «handmade» each dish actually was. But I digress…
Back to the Bolognese. The portion was average. The quality was a bit above average, but not what I expected. Also, it wasn’t exactly hot. Perhaps warm, but not hot. For a restaurant (which, by the way, is in a strip mall), that tries to bill itself as an upscale place, the food was not. Nor was the atmosphere. The only thing that was upscale was the pricing. $ 20 for «spaghetti with meat sauce». I’m sorry, but at any Italian restaurant, that dish should be affordable. If you want to try the chef’s special at $ 36 and up, that’s fine. But $ 20 for the dish I had was criminal.
This is not entirely the restaurant’s fault. I went to their website to review the menu and say prices on pasta dishes in the $ 10-​$ 12 range, which I think is acceptable. I did not see those were the lunch prices. Had I done so, I might not have selected this restaurant, and this review would never exist. Live and learn.
My dining partner ordered the Chicken Spiedini with bowtie pasta in a cream sauce on the side. She raved about the chicken and, I will admit, it appeared appetizing (I did not taste it). The bowtie pasta (also untasted) appeared exceptionally average at best, though better than I’m sure Chef Boyardee would have done.
One final note. Our server thought he was personable and funny. He was neither. Then, of course, he got my order wrong. Mistakes happen, but perhaps he should try concentrating on his job and worry about being funny another time.
I will never go back. It is overpriced for the quality and atmosphere. I would give it one star, but my dining partner’s food seemed so pleasing to her (and for only one dollar more than the «spaghetti with meat sauce») that I feel obligated to toss it an extra star. My recommendation – go to Olive Garden instead. You won’t be any happier with the quality, atmosphere, or service, but at least your wallet won’t be emptier.

Very good meal, with the exception of the tiramisu that we had for dessert. It was just two ladyfingers in a bowl covered with whip cream and some cocoa powder

Solid Italian Eatery. Very good food and service. We had the salmon, sea-​bass and veal picotta all were well prepared and very satisfying. The side vegetables were boring and uninspiring. The salads were properly dressed and decent size for the price. Also had the mussels they were good but a bit overcooked. A good choice if you’re in the area, not sure if it warrants a long trip to get here. That being said it was a very dinner and equally good service.
BTW wine Wednesday is a fantastic deal with half priced bottles

This was our first visit to Roberto’s!
We are in St. Louis visiting family & friends.
We had lived in St. Louis, MO for over 50 years, now in California.
The entire experience was incredible.
From Shannon the receptionist, to Sterling our amazing waiter, who used to work at the famous Al Baker’s (no longer in business) to our chef Roberto who made a mouth watering, delicious dinner for the four (4) of us. Yummy! Can’t wait to return,. We are telling all of our local friends, not to miss dining @ Roberto’s.
Thank you for a wonderful experience,
Lilo Cooper
ps: Mike Seidler gave us the recommendation to dine @ Roberto’s.

I’m so confused by the claim of this place being one of the best Italian restaurants in Saint Louis.
After a very disappointing experience I can only detail an entire list of issues.
–I had to ask 4 times for a straw, it’s a straw for heavens sake! Keep some in your apron. I would normally have overlooked this because I’m not a petty person but this set the tone for the entire meal.
–Crazy slow service, didn’t stop to take our order until after apps had been served and mostly eaten.
–Salads took another 10 minutes, and really, the house salad is mixed greens with 2 olives, 2 cherry tomatoes, and a banana pepper? So sad. Still trying to enjoy our meal though…
–When our chicken spedinis arrive the first person at our table cuts into it and it’s raw in the middle. When we tell our waiter about the raw chicken he takes the plate away and says «Thank You». That is all, no apology, nothing.
–The next person’s spedini is good.
–Mine is also raw, and so is the person next to me. When the waiter comes back we tell him and he takes our plates with another «Thank you». I have to stop him from running away to tell him I’d rather have chicken parm at this point. He does not acknowledge me just walks away.
–When he returns with food the 2 raw spedinis my friends had were just cooked more and covered in more sauce, no fresh food for them I guess. So glad I asked for something else!
–My chicken parm arrived and there was a finally a quick apology.
I gave this place 2 stars because the fried artichokes and fully cooked chicken parm were delish.
My friends have enjoyed Roberto’s before but with the price paid for ok food, food with issues, and awful service I will not be giving this place another chance.
My advice would be if you want real Italian, check out a little neighborhood called The Hill.

Honestly, I don’t get the hype about this place. I had a Caesar salad and the shrimp scampi. The Caesar was good, but I didn’t like the shrimp scampi. I also got the tiramisu. It was just okay. Not impressed.

I must say, I was slightly skeptical of this restaurant. I’ve been to this area quite frequently, and I had never heard of Roberto’s.
However, I was pleasantly surprised by this place. I ordered the Chicken Marcella, and it was delicious. The «Roberto’s steak» and lobster bisque also looked fantastic. I think it was a little overpriced for what we got, but in the end, it was good food and service.
The atmosphere, salad, and bread, were pretty standard Italian. Nothing too impressive, but nothing bad either. Still strikes me as kinda strange that it’s located in the plaza, but to each their own, I suppose.

My family stopped in here a few weeks ago on a Saturday night for the start of my Dad’s Birthday week. We had reservations for 7:30 p.m. but weren’t seated until around 7:45 p.m. Thank goodness we had reservations because this place was jumping with the early dinner crowd and the wait list was quite lengthy.
The women in the group wore are long coats and were able to utilize the coat check as opposed to having them stepped on all night as is the case with long winter coats. Our party of four started with salads. Due to the noise in the dining room the waiter misunderstood my order and brought out the wrong salad but promptly corrected the problem once informed. For our entrée’s my dad got a veal dish, my sister ordered the linguine alla pescatora (shrimp, mussels, etc). My mother and I both ordered the lobster tagliatelle special. Essentially rigatoni alla vodka except the pasta is a different shape and homemade and the sauce is sherry based. I thoroughly enjoyed my dish aside from the stray bit of shell that was sometimes present. My only suggestion is to thicken the sherry-​based sauce slightly so it isn’t so loose but I was pleased.

Discovered Zanti’s in my mid 20’s with beau at the time. Now Roberto’s — Still one of my favorite places. One of many hidden gems in St Louis. Love the flash-​fried spinach. Love Roberto’s Filet. Love all of his pastas. Always have a positive experience and a superb meal. Roberto’s is well worth it.
The only thing I would ask of them and all dining establishments is to have a no cell phone policy. Well-​behaved children are fine. But if you want to bring screaming kids or shout on your cell phone like a Hoosier at a football game — go have a picnic in the back of your van.
When people invest the time and money to see a play or a concert, or to treat themselves to a nice night out in a romantic restaurant — they should be able to expect to enjoy it in peace, and primarily hear only their own dinner conversation. People might occasionally laugh or talk too loud when having a good time — but it’s usually short-​lived and easily forgiven.
On our last visit, it had been a long time since we’d been to Roberto’s, so I was really looking forward to it. The food was wonderful but there was a young girl, who announced loudly that she was a former employee. She came in with her crying baby, and was blabbing obnoxiously on her cell phone. It was very distracting to say the least. I couldn’t believe she had worked there and thought it was appropriate to plop down in the middle of the restaurant, like she was at home on the couch, and start yakking loudly on a cell phone. Maybe that’s why she no longer works there?

I had read great reviews and my physician near St. Anthony’s also recommended Roberto’s. So my wife and I had high hopes, but our first experience (dinner on Friday Dec 5^th) left us very disappointed:
It started with the table they put us at, which was next to the kitchen and next to a waiters station (ie with glasses, water, etc). We had a reservation and it was early enough (before 7) that there were plenty of other open tables in better locations. Why did they put us there? And, more importantly, why did we stick with the table? Good questions! By the time we realized our table was the worst one, we had crumbs on the table from half eaten bread and drank water (and Prosecco!), so we felt like it was too late to ask. We won’t repeat that mistake next time! P. S. By the time we finished there were still open tables which were in better locations than ours.
The front room in general is way too loud — – near the bar area and the tables are too close together by the kitchen. Tip: Definitely request a table in the back room for more privacy.
We both ordered house salads. Pretty boring and uninspired — a couple of cherry tomatoes, two black olives and one pepperoncini with almost all lettuce (mixed greens).
We decided to try their pastas: my wife had Tagliatelle Bolognese and I had the Rigatoni with Vodka Sauce (Shrimp, Lobster and Mushrooms).
Mine was good, but I would not get it again — I agreed with my wife that the lobster (slight fishiness) in the sauce was «distracting» and took away from the vodka sauce.
But her dish was really not that good — the pasta was too al dente and the sauce tasted too sweet. We have had great Bolognese sauces over the years, and Roberto’s fell FAR short of those.
I would like to go back and try their fish and chicken dishes. But we will wait a while to let this poor experience wear off!

I have been seeing reviews on Roberto’s on Unilocal.I never really gave it much thought. Everything about Roberto’s screams wrong don’t go. Location being the biggest. But as one Unilocaler stated if it wasn’t for Unilocal I would have never gone. Very true statement.
Now what did I and Mrs. K enjoy? I had the caesar salad for a starter. It was a true caesar with the raw egg mixed into the dressing. I was very surprised that it was made this way. Health laws have made it almost illegal to make it with the raw egg. This was one of the best caesar salad I have had in a long time. Mrs. K. just had the house salad with the house dressing and she loved it.
For my entrée I ordered spaghetti Americano. It was a spicy red sauce with onions mixed in. It was not really spicy but it sure was good. Mrs. K. ordered the chicken spiedini. This was also a top notch dish.
The menu is not large but has a variety to make you want to come back and try many other options on the menu. My next visit with be a veal chop. I saw it on someones plate and I sure like what I saw.

Having been a long time customer since 2001 when they were located on gravios, Roberto never fails to deliver an excellent meal.
The service was excellent. I would recommend this restaurant. If able to I would give 10 stars!

I simply cannot rave about how much I enjoy this place! I’ve been there several times and have always enjoyed my meals and service. I love lamb and veal, many places I’ve found over cook them and then they’re no good but not here.
There is obviously a lot of time and effort put into the food. The service is great. I’d highly recommend Roberto’s.

High quality Italian food in a strange strip mall location. Our family enjoyed our casual group dinner here. The food was tasty and reasonably priced. Our server was a bit slow and not as helpful as we had hoped-​but overall it was a nice meal. This far into South County, it’s hard to get high quality Italian that reminds you that you are in St. Louis – one of the top Italian food cities in the U.S. You can get 5-​star Italian on the Hill or that rare spot in the suburbs. While Paul Manno’s in Chesterfield remains the TOP non-​Hill Italian, Roberto’s does a respectable job of serving some authentic dishes and flavors. Great coffee and a nice little bar area. Causal and comfortable. Prices were good. Roberto was there and very friendly to the tables.
We would return and do recommend this restaurant should you be this deep into South County and want a nice Italian meal.

Roberto’s offers Italian fine dining in an unexpected location… a small strip mall in South County. The service here is impeccable and Roberto along with the rest of his staff always make you feel welcomed. The restaurant itself is gorgeous inside. The white linens, fresh flowers, candles, and fireplace make you forget the strip mall location as soon as you step through the door.
The food here is also pretty amazing. I’ve had several dishes off the menu, and would order every single one of them again and again: Filet Roberto topped with cheese, mushrooms, and white wine sauce; Chicken Spiedini stuffed with spinach, cheese, and prosciutto; Tilapia Fiorentina served over sautéed spinach and mushrooms; Shrimp Scampi; Cannelloni; and several frequent specials such as their Halibut and Chilean Sea Bass. All entrees are served with a small potato and choice of various pastas or vegetables. I always go with the butter, garlic, and olive oil bow tie pasta… it has a bit of red pepper mixed in that gives it a nice kick. Among traditional Italian desserts including cannoli and tiramisu, they offer several flavors of house made gelato.
My husband and I have enjoyed Roberto’s for many years now. For all reasons mentioned and more, we will continue to enjoy this restaurant for many years to come.

December 19, 2013
Six guys.
Once you find the place, you won’t go wrong.
We gathered in the bar which is very nice but not very well organized. The bar top is a beautiful black stone.
Our reservation was honored right on time and off we went to the dining room. Very elegant, comfortable. Very nice.
We ordered a couple appetizers, calamari and some shrimp thing. Both excellent. The shrimp much better than the calamari. For entrée’, we ordered pretty much from the «special» as presented to us by our waiter. Sea bass, some kind of special lobster thing, a veal thing and a filet thing. Excellent in all regards.
The wine list was nice but no Sangiovese, for an Italian place? That was fine as we had a great Barbera. Three bottles actually.
Our waiter was of professional quality and the waiter assistant was right where she needed to be the whole time.

Fine Dining and South County. They go together like the Blues and the Stanley Cup. I’m not sure why they are so scarce, though. Maybe it’s because of the severe lack of logical places to put one. How about in the corner of an old strip mall, where you can’t see it, by a big movie theater, a big gym and next door to one or a million mediocre American-​Style Mexican restaurants.
We have eaten here maybe six times and it’s ranged from good to really good. Our last visit was only good, maybe knocking on the door of four stars, but maybe not. We started off on the wrong foot, with a glass of the house Pinot Noir and their only Malbec. The Malbec tasted maybe a couple of days old. The PN was unremarkable. Both came in the kind of glass you would get at a winery with the logo on the side.
We each got a salad, which was okay, then split the sea bass special. The fish was really good, but the accompanying potato seemed to be re-​heated.
I guess this meal was representative of all our visits, part okay, part really good, a couple of misfires and mediocrities. Overall, I think they should think about stepping up their game a bit. Maybe start with some nicer wine glasses.
Service was attentive and pretty good. We’ll be back next time we want fine dining in South County.