St. Louis Nesties
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
POLL: Best of in STL (Sorry...LONG!!!)
Hello!!! So I thought that to get a "head start" (we're planning on moving to STL in a few months) I would post a poll here to get your input on the "Best of" in Saint Louis...
I obviously can't reply to my own post because I've never been there (yet), but here it goes, I hope it's fun for you and informative for me ;-) You can also write the location next to the place if it's a specific one (not a chain for instance).
Sorry, had to include the Bank, since I only have a Wells Fargo account and there's no WF there :-S
Best Restaurant:
Best Hotel:
Best (Night/Dance) Club:
Best Daycare:
Best Hospital:
Best Food Store:
Best Clothing Store:
Best Bank:
Best Dessert place:
Best Massage:
Best Manicure/Pedicure:
Best Hair Salon:
Best Vet:
Best ObGyn:
Best Outdoor Activity:
Best Indoor Activity:
Best Family Activity:
Best Couple Activity:
Best Tourist Atraction:
Best Resident Atraction:
Best thing (anything) in STL:
I obviously can't reply to my own post because I've never been there (yet), but here it goes, I hope it's fun for you and informative for me ;-) You can also write the location next to the place if it's a specific one (not a chain for instance).
Sorry, had to include the Bank, since I only have a Wells Fargo account and there's no WF there :-S
Best Restaurant:
Best Hotel:
Best (Night/Dance) Club:
Best Daycare:
Best Hospital:
Best Food Store:
Best Clothing Store:
Best Bank:
Best Dessert place:
Best Massage:
Best Manicure/Pedicure:
Best Hair Salon:
Best Vet:
Best ObGyn:
Best Outdoor Activity:
Best Indoor Activity:
Best Family Activity:
Best Couple Activity:
Best Tourist Atraction:
Best Resident Atraction:
Best thing (anything) in STL:
Re: POLL: Best of in STL (Sorry...LONG!!!)
For example, I think Dierberg's is the best grocery store. (We pretty much only have local chains here). It's not a specialty store, though (nothing too exotic), but the other major grocery store has NO selection. Anyway, there isn't a single one within the city limits. You have to live in specific suburbs to be near one. (And believe me, you don't want to drive 45 mins from the grocery store with milk or frozen foods in the STL summers.)
Where are you moving from? I hate to be the one to tell you, but many (if not most) transplants hate hate hate it here.
Best Restaurant: Lewis & Clarks (St. Charles), Rizzo's (O'Fallon or Wentzville), Olive Garden, St. Louis Bread Company
Best Hotel:
Best (Night/Dance) Club:
Best Daycare:
Best Hospital: St. Luke's in Chesterfield
Best Food Store: Dierberg's (Grocery store)
Best Clothing Store: Macy's at any mall
Best Bank: Bank of America
Best Dessert place: Icecream from Culvers
Best Massage: Salon De Christe (either in St. Peters or St. Charles)
Best Manicure/Pedicure:
Best Hair Salon: Salon De Christe (either in St. Peters or St. Charles)
Best Vet:
Best ObGyn: Dr. Karen Voegtle at St. Luke's
Best Outdoor Activity: St. Louis Cardinals Baseball Games and The Zoo (both downtown St. Louis), minature golfing
Best Indoor Activity: Movies, Casinos
Best Family Activity: The Zoo, Chuck E Cheese
Best Couple Activity: Movies, sporting events, walking on Main Street in St. Charles
Best Tourist Atraction: Downtown St. Louis sites
Best Resident Atraction:
Best thing (anything) in STL:
Best Restaurant: We have alot of great restaurants here. Some require a drive but well worth it
Best Hotel: Chase Park Plaza by Forest Park
Best (Night/Dance) Club:
Best Daycare:
Best Hospital: St. John's Mercy
Best Food Store: Dierbergs
Best Clothing Store: (what size? for who?) You'll get the most selection at MidRivers Mall, the Mills, Galleria
Best Bank: US Bank
Best Dessert place: Bailey's Chocolate Bar I'm told
Best Massage:
Best Manicure/Pedicure:
Best Hair Salon:
Best Vet: We use Millis Animal Hospital at 40&Hanley (in the midst of the 40 shutdown)
Best ObGyn:
Best Outdoor Activity: ZOO
Best Indoor Activity: City Museum(?)
Best Family Activity: Zoo
Best Couple Activity:
Best Tourist Atraction: Check out Jennie's Local Editor post
Best Resident Atraction:
Best thing (anything) in STL:
I live in St. Peters, so I can be of a little help. I just moved up to the area (from south St. Louis County) about two years ago, so I'm still kind of a newcomer. I tried to limit my responses mostly to local places that weren't already mentioned, but a few are a little further out. Not all are "bests" either, just options.
Best Restaurant: Vintage House and Wine Garden (German) in St. Charles, Trailhead Brewery (microbrewery) in St. Charles, Louisiana Caf? (Cajun/creole) in O?fallon
Best Hotel: There are several options in the St. Charles/St. Peters area? mostly big chains. We like Drury Inn a lot, which I don?t know if they have those in CA. Downtown St. Louis has several nicer places like the Westin, Adams Mark, Hyatt Regency (at Union Station) and the new Four Seasons (at Lumiere Place).
Best (Night/Dance) Club: There are several downtown on Washington and at Laclede?s Landing.
Best Daycare:
Best Hospital: I luckily don?t have enough experience with hospitals to recommend any as ?the best?, but the closest to St. Charles/St. Peters are St. Josephs in downtown St. Charles, Barnes in St. Peters, Progress West in O?fallon, and St. Joseph?s West in Lake St. Louis. A little further from that would be St. Lukes, St. Johns, and Missouri Baptist. Childrens Hospital is an excellent hospital for children, but it is in the city? same with Cardinal Glennon?s. The main Barnes hospital is in the city and is connected with Childrens? I believe that it has a connection with the Washington University Medical School. Saint Louis University also has a hospital in the city.
Best Food Store: Schnucks is ok, Shop n Save and Aldi?s are cheap, There is a Super WalMart in O?fallon. The selection at those stores generally isn?t as good as Dierberg?s, but they do fine if you just need the basics. There are some specialty stores too. The closest Trader Joe?s is probably in Chesterfield (about 20 minutes or so away) and to my knowledge there is only one Whole Foods Market, which is in Brentwood (not convenient from St. Charles/St. Peters).
Best Clothing Store: We also have JCPenny?s, Dillards and Sears at most malls, as well as other big chains like Kohls operating outside of the malls.
Best Bank: Lot?s of options. I opened up an account at US Bank when I started college and I?m still happy with them.
Best Dessert place: There are also a couple of frozen custard stands scattered around. I can?t say I?ve had a bad one yet. The most ?famous? would be Ted Drewes, which is in the city, but there are others in the St. Charles area too. Keep an eye out for snow cone stands in the summer too? they pop up all over the place.
Best Massage:
Best Manicure/Pedicure:
Best Hair Salon: There are a few cheaper chains around such as Great Clips and Fantastic Sams, as well as some pricier, more independent places that do pretty good.
Best Vet: I don?t know if it?s the best or not, but we use Veticare (recommended to us from people on here) at 70 & Cave Springs in St. Charles
Best ObGyn:
Best Outdoor Activity: Hiking around Bush Wildlife Area, Cuivre River State Park, Katy Trail, or at any of the surrounding state and county parks. Same pretty much goes for biking and fishing too. They usually have lots of programs and events to participate in as well.
Best Indoor Activity: St. Peters has a huge RecPlex that is pretty popular.
Best Family Activity: Grants Farm (in South St. Louis County), Six Flags (in Eureka), City Museum (downtown St. Louis)
Best Couple Activity: Touring the wineries in Augusta and Hermann
Best Tourist Atraction:
Best Resident Atraction:
Best thing (anything) in STL: There is a ton of stuff to do and try in St. Louis. I doubt that there is as much to do here as in San Diego, but there are still plenty of options. The best way to learn your way around and learn what there is to do is to get out and explore.
Best Hotel: Hands down Ameristar's new hotel
Best (Night/Dance) Club: I think there are only a couple in St. Charles and I've never been.
Best Daycare: Don't have any kids so don't know
Best Hospital: We had very good treatment at St. Joe's West in Lake St. Louis. I think theres a Barnes Jewish St. Peters there too.
Best Food Store: If I don't care about how much I spend - Dierbergs. Budgetwise Shop N Save, Aldi's, or Super-Walmart
Best Clothing Store: Depends on your size. I really like Fashion Bug.
Best Bank: We don't bank anymore in St. Louis.
Best Dessert place: Fritz's. They have a location in St. Peters, and again my fave location is in Florissant
Best Massage: Never had a massage
Best Manicure/Pedicure: Never had a mani or pedi
Best Hair Salon: Hands down Salon De Christe in St. Peters.
Best Vet: I'll have to ask my sister who she goes to. I know the person she goes to she absolutely loves.
Best ObGyn: I love my OB. Dr. Gordon Goldman. He has an office in Hazelwood and in Chesterfield.
Best Outdoor Activity: We love to go to the park, take drives up to Hannibal, take drives to the "city," the wineries, and just chillin with our neighbors and bbqing.
Best Indoor Activity: Watching movies, bowling
Best Family Activity: Playing games, going to the zoo
Best Couple Activity: Going to the park, taking drives (except not with gas prices), going to dinner, lately running errands lol
Best Tourist Atraction: Arch, Zoo, Science Center
Best Resident Atraction: ??
Best thing (anything) in STL: ??
Best Hotel: Depending on where you live in St Charles- there is an Embassy Suites that recently opened that I hear is nice. There are various others up and down 70 and 40.
Best (Night/Dance) Club: I don't go out, but there isn't much night life up this way. The two major casinos in St Charles have a club- Ameristar has Home, and Harrah's has Voodoo. I hear downtown St Charles has some good bars.
Best Daycare: We are still looking for daycare, and plan to use inhome. That said, I hear rave reviews about Little Guppy; there is one in St Charles and one in O'Fallon. If we could afford it, and had a need for full time care I would definately consider them.
Best Hospital: I am getting ready to deliver at Missouri Baptist, but have only been there one other time as a patient and was very pleased. St John's is a major hospital, but it is huge and I just didn't care for it when my husband was there for a few days last year.
Best Food Store: We shop at Shop N' Save but I like the selection at Dierbergs.
Best Clothing Store: Depends on your taste. I shop at Target and Old Navy the most, and occassionally JC Penney in Lake St Louis.
Best Bank: We bank at Commerce; very few problems but they have lost 2 deposits since banking with the the past ten years. Always found them though.
Best Dessert place: Ted Drewes in south St Louis (frozen custard)
Best Massage: I love Ginger Bay in Kirkwood for any and all services, followed closely by Face and Body (there is one in O'Fallon, very close to St Peters)
Best Manicure/Pedicure: See above
Best Hair Salon: The best hair salon, IMO, is Studio Branca in Creve Coeur. Very expensive, but my hair looked its best when I had it cut and colored there
Best Vet: Animal Health and Healing in Maplewood. Worth the drive.
Best ObGyn: I go to Dr Beth Gearhardt at St Luke's
Best Outdoor Activity: Hiking and bike riding- there are plenty of trails and state parks all over the area for this.
Best Indoor Activity: ?
Best Family Activity: The Zoo and Grant's Farm
Best Couple Activity: ?
Best Tourist Attraction: St Louis Science Center, Zoo, The Arch
Best Resident Atraction: I like the wineries
Best thing (anything) in STL: ?
Best Restaurant: Really depending on what kind of food you like, this will differ. There are alot of cute resturants in downtown St.charles. Lewis'n'Clarks, Vivian's Vineyard, Trailhead are three in the St. Charles area that I can think of. A little outside of St. Charles, I love, LOVE Melting Pot.
Best Hotel: We like the Drurry in or Embassy Suites. Someone mentioned Adams Mark, that's pretty nice too.
Best (Night/Dance) Club:
Best Daycare:
Best Hospital: Depending on what? BJC or St. Johns are good for heart, cancer, etc. Delivering babies, there are a few favorites on this board.
Best Food Store: I like Shop'n'save - but the one near 94 not the one near mexico road. They have a 10 dollars off 50 dollar purchase on thursdays which helps us save some $$. We go between Dierbergs and Shopnsave depending on the sales, and such.
Best Clothing Store:
Best Bank: We go to First bank, we've never had an issue with them, they have several ATMs all over the metro area and they are gret to work with. Bank of america *litterly* screwed me over, we had alot ofissues with them.
Best Dessert place: Ted Drews - but it's nowhere near St. Charles, hehe.
Best Massage: I go to a local school, that gives really good massages for 25 dollars a piece.
Best Manicure/Pedicure:
Best Hair Salon:
Best Vet: We go to Bogey Hills Vet Hosptial, and absolutly LOVE it there. They always get us in pretty quickly and we love going!
Best ObGyn:
Best Outdoor Activity: In St. Charles? Perhaps riding your bike on the Katy trail. In St. Louis overall? Floating on the river, going to a baseball game, going to a concert at riverport.
Best Indoor Activity: For families? Magic house, Science center or City Musuem.
Best Family Activity: Zoo! Also, there are different things going on around the city at different times of the year, watch the newspaper and advertisements for pumpkin patches, easter egg hunts, etc. There are a ton of parks around the area, on a nice day it's always nice to go for walks or play catch.
Best Couple Activity: Walks in the park
Best Tourist Atraction: Arch, any of the museums, Brewery
Best Resident Atraction: See my blog above.
Best thing (anything) in STL: The atmosphere, you can never use the excuse "there's nothing to do"
Best Dessert place: Most people get cakes from either McArthurs or Lubeleys
Best ObGyn: Dr. Daniel McDonald (314) 647-4334
At the corner of Big Bend and Clayton Road
Best Outdoor Activity: The zoo, Grants Farm
Best Indoor Activity: Science Center?
Best Family Activity: See outdoor and indoor activities
Best Couple Activity: I know a lot of people like to go to The Melting Pot
Best Tourist Atraction: Zoo, Arch
Best Hotel: The Westin
Best Hospital: St. John's Mercy or Children's (depending on what you're going for)
Best Food Store: Schnucks
Best Bank: Bank of America
Best Dessert place: Cyrano's
Best ObGyn: Dr. Glass
Best Outdoor Activity: the Zoo
Best Indoor Activity: the Magic House
Best Family Activity: City Museum
Best Tourist Atraction: zoo or arch
Best thing (anything) in STL: baseball
Best Hotel: The Westin
Best (Night/Dance) Club:
Best Daycare:
Best Hospital: Missouri Baptist Hopital and Children's Hospital
Best Food Store: Whole Foods and Dierbergs
Best Clothing Store:
Best Bank: Personal we bank at Commerce for our company we bank at National City... have had great service with both. My suggestion would be for you to pick a place that has locations by your house, daycare, work... so its easy for you.
Best Dessert place: Baily's Chocolate Bar
Best Massage: Ginger Bay in Kirkwood
Best Manicure/Pedicure: Ginger Bay in Kirkwood
Best Hair Salon: Danielle Erb www.daniellestyle.com
Best Vet:
Best ObGyn: Dr. Timothy Philpott -- Woman's Care Consultant's
Best Outdoor Activity: Cards Baseball, Zoo, Muny
Best Indoor Activity: Fox Theatre, Science Center
Best Family Activity: Grant's Farm, Zoo
Best Couple Activity: Art Museum
Best Tourist Atraction: AB Brewery,
Best Resident Atraction:
Best thing (anything) in STL: Toasted Ravioli, Imo's Pizza and Gooey Butter Cake......
Best Hotel:
Best (Night/Dance) Club:
Best Daycare:
Best Hospital:St. John
Best Food Store: Dierbergs
Best Clothing Store: Are you Talking Mall stores or boutiques. We have an upscale mall with a NM and Saks
Best Bank: I like Bank of America
Best Dessert place: Crown Candy
Best Massage: Face and body
Best Manicure/Pedicure:
Best Hair Salon: there are many in the West area
Best Vet:
Best ObGyn:
Best Outdoor Activity: Cards baseball
Best Indoor Activity:
Best Family Activity: Magic hosue, Merimac Caverns
Best Couple Activity:
Best Tourist Atraction: AB brewery, Six Flags, Zoo, Arch, Grants frms
Best Resident Atraction:
Best thing (anything) in STL:
Thanks for all the input, much appreciated :-) We're homebodies for the most part, but I wanted to see what's out there :-) We don't have kids, yet, again, I want to see what's available.
For the most part I wouldn't mind driving half hour or a little more to a good/nice place, most places here in SD (at least from where we live in North County) are at least 20 minutes away, so that wouldn't be a huge problem, specially at the beginning when I'll be wanting to see "everything" :-)
I'm the type of person who will pretty much eat anything... or at least try it once :-) I love Italian, Mexican, Japanesse, hamburgers, etc.
Just wanted to see the favorite places of the people that live there instead of reading them from a website :-)
Thanks again!!!
About clothing stores, for now we would be shopping for only us (DH and I), I'm short but not petite, I'm about 5'3" and wear sz 6-8 depending on the store (usually 6 or S on top, 8 or M on bottom :-D), I'm an engineer so I usually dress casually but some what trendy for work and to be at the house, I only "dress up" (business casual) for work when I have a customer coming in or I'm going to a customer's site, and love wearing cute dresses for special occasions (or sometimes Sundays for no special reason)... Not sure if this helps to get an idea of what I'm looking for.... Hmmm lets say I usually put on jeans with a cute top on :-) DH is 6'2", he usually wears jeans and a sports t-shirt on weekends or at the house (I'm not going to be beligerant and say the teams he likes
Best Restaurant: Italian: Rich and Charlies (there is one off hwy 94 and Jungermann)
Japanese: There are 2 hibachi style restaurants that I like, one is Kobe and it's in Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights and the other is Ariake at Mid Rivers Mall and hwy70, and my favorite Mexican restaurant is Tequila at Wolfrum and hwy 94
Best Bank: US Bank.
Best Dessert place: Fritz's Frozen Custard
Best Outdoor Activity: Riding bikes on the Katy Trail and visiting the wineries in Augusta! All of the wineries are great but my favorites are Montelle and Balduccis.
Best Hotel: Chase Park Plaza or the Renaissance Downtown
Best (Night/Dance) Club: Wow, I'm getting old..idk
Best Daycare: sorry, no kids
Best Hospital: St. John's or SLU
Best Food Store: Dierbergs
Best Clothing Store: Laurie Solet in Clayton
Best Bank: Bank of America
Best Dessert place: It used to be Copia, but it burned down (they're rebuilding). Until then, Chocolate Bar
Best Massage: Stonewater Spa in Plaza Frontenac
Best Manicure/Pedicure: Ginger Bay
Best Hair Salon: Dominic Michael's
Best Vet: mine would be too far away from where you will be living
Best ObGyn: mine isn't taking new patients
Best Outdoor Activity: Zoo, Forest Park, float trips, during the summer--Live on the Levee (free concerts downtown)
Best Indoor Activity: History Museum, Art Museum, City Museum
Best Family Activity: Zoo, Magic House, Bounce U, Science Center, River boats downtown
Best Couple Activity: There are a lot of great little bars and coffee houses we love to go (too many to name). Jazz at the Bistro can be a great night, the Fox has great shows, Pin Up Bowl is fun
Best Tourist Atraction: Anheuser Busch Brewery tours and the Arch, I guess
Best Resident Atraction: see all activities above
Best thing (anything) in STL: I love it all. It's the biggest little town in America.
Mmmm... Chocolate Bar... I'm sold!!!
Thanks ladies!!!
STL is a great place to live. I disagree that most transplants hate it; I know a ton of people who are not originally from STL and they love living here. So don't let one person's bad experiences give you a negative opinion of STL before you get here.
Best Restaurant: Tony's downtown
Best Hotel:
Best (Night/Dance) Club: ??
Best Daycare: ??
Best Hospital: Depends on what you need!! We have great medical care in STL though
Best Food Store: Whole Foods and Trader Joe's (I like natural/organic foods)
Best Clothing Store:
Best Bank: Bank of America
Best Dessert place:
Best Massage: The Face and the Body
Best Manicure/Pedicure: ??
Best Hair Salon: Dominic Michael
Best Vet: Dr. Kersting (Chesterfield)
Best ObGyn: Women's Health Partners at St. Anthony's
Best Outdoor Activity: The Botanical Garden, Zoo, Forest Park, any of the conservation areas, Cards game at the ballpark
Best Indoor Activity: Rams/Blues games, Science center, Magic House, casinos
Best Family Activity: There are so many; many I've already mentioned
Best Couple Activity: Dinner
Best Tourist Atraction: Arch, Botanical Garden, Zoo, Forest Park, casinos
Best Resident Atraction:
Best thing (anything) in STL: The great variety of family attractions, restaurants and different areas with a lot of diversity
Best Restaurant: LOVE Fratelli's Ristorante (St. Charles-Zumbehl Rd.), also love Texas Roadhouse (O'Fallon- Hwy K), and Kitaro Steakhouse (O'Fallon- Hwy K)
Best Hotel: MIllenium (downtown) or new Ameristar Casino's Hotel
Best Hospital: Missouri Baptist Medical Center (Hwy 270 and 40 intersection)
Best Clothing Store: Old Navy, Ann Taylor, Target
Best Bank: Commerce Bank
Best Manicure/Pedicure: Nail Crew (St. Charles- Hwy94)
Best Hair Salon: Studio Bella (O'Fallon- Hwy K)
Best Vet: our fave is Dr. Oliver- but he's getting older and isn't taking any new patients
Best Outdoor Activity: Wineries in Augusta (about 20-30 min from St. Charles) Missouri Botanical Gardens (also called Shaw Gardens), the Zoo- totally free, the Katy Trail is fun year round- whether it's biking, hiking, or just picnicing!
Best Family Activity: any of the above
Best Couple Activity: When we first got married, we rented TV shows series and watched a little bit together every night (Sopranos was surprisingly really great!) also, cooking together is really fun- I never knew my husband could cook until we got married...
Best Tourist Atraction: the Arch, the Zoo, Missouri Botanical Gardens, Science Center, City Museum
Best Resident Atraction: everything mentioned above...
Best thing (anything) in STL: it really is a fun place to live- you might have to travel a little bit from St. Charles/St. Peters to get some culture, but totally worth it (shouldn't be more than 30 minutes on any of the hwys)
Thanks again ladies :-)
I loooove Target!!! We also watched the Sopranos on DVD, we got in to it a bit late, but it was great to see everything at once :-)