Dining at a Local Italian Restaurant – St. Louis MO

During our recent visit to St. Louis Missouri, one evening Laurie and I got together for dinner with her sisters Karole and Bonnie and their husbands Bob and Bill.  For this outing we headed to the Sappington neighborhood on the south side of the city…

This is Liliana’s Italian Kitchen.  It’s a casual family friendly neighborhood restaurant.  Bill and Bonnie had eaten there before so we weren’t exactly ‘flying blind’.  Liliana’s was named after the owner’s daughter and it is a relatively new restaurant, having opened in July of 2108.

Liliana’s dining area with its red and black color combination is well lighted and has a bit of casual charm.  The staff was very helpful with the menu and they didn’t rush us…

This big bright menu board adds to the casual feeling in the room.  As you can see, the day’s specials are posted here as are the dessert choices.

Even the dishware is casual here… Dishes are an interesting mish mash of types, sizes and styles.  Bonnie actually brought half of Bill’s family’s china and gave it to the restaurant for their use. (Younger folks don’t have much interest in sets of china anymore)

I have several different pieces like those plates at the upper left of the photo.  Ours were passed down to me via my great aunt Elsie.  Of course, those Elvis ‘blue suede shoes’ salt and pepper shakers fit right into the ambiance at Liliana’s…

First of all, I have to confess that I forgot to take photos of our appetizers.  We ordered Calamari ($10.00), lightly dusted and fried calamari with fried spinach and spicy aioli and Cheese Garlic Bread. ($5.50) Liliana’s takes Italian bread, dips it in garlic parmesan butter and baked with mozzarella cheese.  Both appetizers were very nice with the cheese garlic bread being particularly satisfying. 

The photo shown above isn’t either one of our appetizers.  The waiter felt bad that I’d failed to take photos so he stopped by so I could take a photo of a St. Louis specialty, the Toasted Ravioli with meat sauce. ($10.00)

Several salads were served at our table.  A side salad came with some entrees and it cost $4.00 as an add-on.  The first salad pictured above is a house salad with iceberg lettuce, provel cheese, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, house made croutons, parmesan cheese and sweet zesty Italian dressing.   The second salad is the Caesar with Romaine hearts, house made croutons, white anchovies, parmesan cheese and Mayfair dressing.  

Laurie caught a whiff of an entrée being served at a nearby table.  Based on that luscious smell, she ordered the special entrée for the day.  It was fried shrimp and calamari served with spaghetti noodles, fried spinach and parmesan in a garlic butter sauce. ($23.00) It was very good…but it was just too richly flavored for her taste.  She couldn’t finish this big stack of seafood and noodles so Bill took some home for a later meal.

Bill ordered the Chicken Spiedini…roasted chicken with bacon, spinach, mozzarella, and bread crumbs over rigatoni and spinach with a nice roasted garlic cream sauce. ($16.00) He really enjoyed his meal and despite the large serving, he didn’t have to take home any leftovers.

For my entrée, I picked the Chicken Piccata. ($14.00) As you can see, my bowl overflowed with lots of pan seared chicken on a stack of spaghetti with a caper white wine lemon butter sauce.  It was a very nice entrée but I think that a little garlic would have kicked it up a notch… Bill was happy to be able to take home part of my entrée for a work lunch.

Karole and Bob decided to order a pizza as their entrée.  This was their large Meatlover’s thin crust Pizza. ($24.00) It was loaded with St. Louis’s own provel cheese, hamburger, bacon, sausage and pepperoni.  They were very happy diners…and they took a little pizza home as well.

Liliana’s Italian Kitchen is a relaxing place to dine on quality, interesting and adventurous Italian cuisine.  In addition to the entrees, they also offer a large number of sandwiches.  The servers are friendly and the owner is eager to please.

Liliana’s Italian Kitchen is located at 11836 Tesson Ferry Road in St. Louis Missouri.  Phone: 314-729-1800.  You can check them out on the Internet at https://www.lilianasitaliankitchen.com/restaurant-menu.

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave