ELAIA

Absolutely a superb and well designed chefs menu. The cadence of the nine courses and service was excellent. The flavors and creativity of the food ….wonderful. And the wine pairings were perfect…so totally complimentary. The staff and ambiance is an understated elegance, by which I mean professional AND friendly. They change their tasting menu every 2 months or so…..SO….if I’m back in the area this will be again on my list.

This what everyone must expect about fine dining. Good service, good and very well executed dishes with a good balance of wine pairings that usually is just random, the selection of wines was very accurate with the dishes and it has the right proportion. Bread, caviar, fish, beat tartar, Salmon cooked with broth, the mushroom, the chicken, the beef and dessert were just the right amount of flavorful dishes. I think the space is small for the potential of the cooking 🔪 here. Really worth it to visit if you want to have a good and fine dining experience

Don’t even try it! We thought it would be a cool place because it’s in an old house. Thought maybe a chefs table! Wrong….. We both preordered the chef’s tasting menu when we made the reservation. Bad idea. It’s very hot at our table and they brought us an already opened bottle of what was supposed to be Italian still water but it smelled just like that river in St. Louis. I won’t spend the time telling about the terrible food on every course as I have included some photos. Way too much money for not nearly enough thought and concern for a fine dining experience. Terrible

Overall this was a really disappointing meal that fell short mainly because the price we paid did not justify the food and experience we received. We did 2x Chef Tasting Menus at $135 each, and split the premium wine pairing at $140 for a total of $410 before tax and tip. For this price, we found some issues in the dishes we received (e.g., overcooked sturgeon, beef short rib itself was on the bland side), the ingredients in the dishes didn't justify the price point (most expensive was the small scoop of caviar, then followed by beef short rib, and sturgeon - both of which had small portions as you can see in the photos), the wine pours were fairly restrained over 8 glasses, and the overall experience wasn't up to par with 'fine dining'. As a direct comparison, the last fine dining experience pre-COVID was with a 1 michelin restaurant in Chicago called Temporis. They offer a $165 seasonal tasting menu which was an intimate fine-dining experience from the setup, the service throughout, and the final parting gift of a goodie bag with the tasting menus and a sweet treat from the pastry chef. Their menu also features premium ingredients such as Lobster, Duck, Venison, A5 Wagyu Ribeye, etc. Finally, their comparable 2nd tier wine pairing to Elaia's comes in at $165 over 9 courses. For just $30 more on the tasting menu, and $25 more on the wine tasting, you could've gotten excellent cooking (as recognized by Michelin if that makes a difference to you), premium ingredients, reasonable wine pairings, an extra course (and wine pour!), and a really positive memorable experience. Elaia was certainly memorable, but for all the wrong reasons. I do not recommend Elaia. There's definitely other restaurants in the St Louis area that gets better bang for buck. If you're looking for a guaranteed fine dining experience, I highly recommend making a trip up to Chicago - there's plenty of really great restaurants to explore!

This place was pretty good. Fantastic wine selections and knowledgeable sommelier. Quick and attentive service without being overbearing. We got the full tasting menu, and while many of the courses were spectacular, I thought that the overall tasting menu was lacking. They were heavy handed with the Maldon(or whatever flake salt they were using) and it made a couple of the courses inedible. It blew out my palette out. The other issue I had was with the portion size. They were way too big for a 10 course menu. I wish they would have put more thought and attention into the menu. For an over $600 meal I expected everything to be exceptional, but it was just a good meal. My recommendation would be to stick with the 4 course Prix Fixe. It is a great meal, but I don’t think they have the full tasting menu down yet.

Everything we had is sophisticated, cook perfectly and is creative as well. I like the restaurants use special ingredients that we can’t find in the stores. The appetizer with pickle berry and green almond was very special, the taste is so refreshing. It is a wonderful summer dish. Elaia is definitely a must-try restaurant in St.Louis!

Treated ourselves and made reservations here! Absolutely worth the experience and made me appreciate culinary art and fine dining, which I do not often have the opportunity to do. Delicious courses and we were well taken care of!

Expensive, but a great food experience, with impeccable service. We had the four-course tasting menu, with wine pairings. I understand this menu changes daily based on what is freshly available that day.