Cicero's

gemutlichkeit

Missouri

3.38/5  rDev -14.9%
vibe: 1.5 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 2 | $$

I've worked down the street from this place pretty much since they opened at their present location, so I guess it's time to put my 2 cents in.

Vibe: College kid. Lotta jam bands play in their admittedly nice music room. A certain uncomfortable je ne se qois dominates throughout the rest of the place, with the dining area resembling a chain restaurant, the bar area short on chairs and the game area basically a sports bar/frat house basement.

Food: Unremarkable. Basic St Louis bland Italian food.

Service: Always friendly, usually knowledgable.

Selection: Huge list, well-chosen, proper glassware, all of it. Recently I had a Van Honsebrouk St Louis Peche on tap there for almost half of what I've paid for it elsewhere. Weekly beer school, throughout most of the year.

Overall, a required stop, as is the neightborhood in general. The Loop's great for people watching, catching a show, grabbing a bite and a coupla beers. Soon there'll be a hotel on the strip so you won't have to worry about driving home.

02-01-2008 18:00:47 | More by gemutlichkeit

Jason

Massachusetts

3.43/5  rDev -13.6%
vibe: 2 | quality: 3 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 2 | $$

Lets start off by saying that this place is like a grownup Chuck E Cheese or crack. If I never knew about this place or never saw the beer list I would have never walked in. Part resturant, part bar, part night club. Which all you could hear was the shitty music coming from the night club through the whole place. It was an absolute mess, food on the floor and the bathrooms were a war zone.

As for the beer selection, best in the area for sure. The staff was quick and friendly which is a plus for me. The food was a waste of time, we put in a simple pizza order and the order was never put in ... when they finally realized that it was never put through it was well over an hour after we ordered it. I have had better pizza from Domino's as well.

All in all, go here for the selection and friendly staff ...

06-05-2007 04:50:26 | More by Jason

phaleslu

Missouri

3.63/5  rDev -8.6%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 3.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$

The Loop is a fun area of town and this is toward the western end of it. I went to plenty of shows there in college before the big fire, and it’s a totally different-looking place now. Instead of a smoky, low-lit, neon-decorated place, the new Cicero’s is bright, clean, and decorated with art. The clientele hasn’t changed, which is good. The music venue is still there. The food is decent, with great St. Louis style pizza, huge salads, and a lot of sandwiches, burgers, appetizers, entrees, and pasta dishes. Probably over 100 bottles, with a wide range of styles and places represented. The 40-50 taps also represent a wide range of styles and local, regional, national, and international brews. The list is huge, even if they don't get the most exciting stuff around, so you can pretty much always find something new. I’ll keep coming back here.

05-18-2011 20:05:13 | More by phaleslu

cubbyswans

Missouri

3.68/5  rDev -7.3%
vibe: 2 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3 | $$

Went there a few weeks ago. The beer selection is very impressive. Plenty of local choices, american craft brews, imports, quite a few big beers - I had an Arcadia Hopmouth draft and a Lenny's RIPA bomber for a very reasonable price for both. The food menu is a pretty standard 'Italian" menu. Pizza, pastas, sandwiches and a few entrees.

I've been there a few times and their pizza is great. The last time I went, I ordered a pasta dish with canneloni, lasagna, and manicotti. The manicottie and canneloni were decent, but I got to the lasagna, and wtf... they use cottage cheese instead of ricotta in their lasagna?!!? This should never happen. It was edible, but I've made a mental note to never order lasagna from this place again.

What sucked about this place? The only way to get in or out is to walk through the smoking area(s). Half the place is a bar, and the other half is a dining room. The bar as well as the front half of the dining room, where you walk in, is smoking. I don't mind it myself, but we had our 18 month old with us, if we would have had to wait for a table for even 30 seconds in the smoking area, I would have immediately left.

I'll be back to this place for the fantastic beer menu and the pizza, but not without a babysitter. It's off my list as a family dining establishment.

10-30-2008 20:33:04 | More by cubbyswans

hwwty4

Missouri

3.68/5  rDev -7.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 2 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I was able to visit this place on my last trip over to the other side of the state. Cicero's is located on the Old Delmar loop were parking is atrocious. If you don't take a cab, then you might have problems finding a parking spot. We had to drive around this massive parking lot on the backside of the loop for about 15 minutes before we could find a place to park.

The first thing I noticed as I walked in was that smoking was allowed inside the restaurant. I had forgot that St. Louis doesn't have a smoking ban yet. As you walk in, the bar is right to your right, with a couple pool tables, a door that will lead you to where the bands play and several shady looking people. To your left is the Non Smoking section, which looks like a normal little restaurant. Fortunately we were seated at the further most spot from the smoking section which allowed for a very little amount of smoke lingering.

The food was great. We had a pie and their fried pizza bread. Both were excellent, and the pizza was some of the best St. Louis style that I've had the pleasure of trying. The beer was top quality also. They have the standard BMC, but had tons of stuff from Schlafly, Bells, and Boulevard. This place has a really great selection of beer. I had a New Belgium 30 degrees dunklewiezen, which we haven't seen on the other side of the state, a Belhaven Twisted Thistle IPA, and a Bell's Hopslam. All very quality. The pints were a bit cold, but that was my fault for not asking for a warm glass. The only bad thing about my excursion to Cicero's was the waitress. She was borderline rude. She couldn't answer my beer questions (which consisted of "Do you have...on tap still?"), got angry with me when she thought that I was asking the same question twice. She could have been having a bad day, but still. Overall, this was a really good place. I will definitely be making my way back and hoping to have better service the next time.

02-09-2009 15:09:28 | More by hwwty4

maxpower

Missouri

3.75/5  rDev -5.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 4 | food: 4

This is a great place to visit, great selection of draft and bottles. A very diverse crowd, the staff doesn't know much about their beers and parking sucks, otherwise they have good food and music, the pizza is killer.

12-19-2002 05:57:49 | More by maxpower

mizzoueng

Missouri

3.8/5  rDev -4.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3.5 | $$

Atmosphere - quiet, somewhat, for pub. I was able to walk in, walk up to and sit at the bar. The restaurant seemed like it was fairly packed for a Tuesday night.

Quality - Beers were served in pint glasses, other glasses were available upon request. I had three beers, O'Fallon 5 day (on tap), Leffe Blond (i think, on tap), and a Duvel (bottle). The 5 Day seemed to have been mixed with something, perhaps the lines were not cleaned properly before switching taps.

Service - Good, my barmaid was Sara (i think thats the right spelling), she was new and her first solo night. She did fairly well and kept a sharp eye for empty glasses. The vets that came to back her up later were very sharp and knew theirs beers.

Selection - 200+ beers to choose from. Only drawback was that there was not an up-to-date beer list at the bar. The beer list should be at the bar of all places. I was highly disappointed when they did not carry Rochefort 10 like the old list I had said.

Food - I only ordered a chicken ceaser wrap as I was at the bar. One day I will revise the food rating after I have had a chance ot sit down at a table and order a real meal.

Value - reasonable. pints run from 3.75 to 15 a pop (Rouge XS Impy stout) and local Schalfly is served at 3 bucks a pint on Tuesdays.

If you plan to go, go thirsty. There is free parking behind Cicero's so avoid street parking as it will be sparse.

06-13-2007 19:15:29 | More by mizzoueng

redbird

Missouri

3.83/5  rDev -3.5%
vibe: 3 | quality: 3.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

I hate that Cicero's gets such a bad rap, but I can't disagree with it. It's easily the best selection in the city, but the atmosphere leaves a little to be desired. The best thing you can do is sit outside.

The beer selection is top notch for St. Louis. Great imports and the domestic micros are as good as you can do in STL. Beer school every Wed is a good way to get stuff that may not be available.

Standard pub food, although I have a soft spot in my heart for the pizza chips. Pizza is their specialty and it's good, you can order it however you want it (stay away from the provel cheese!).

The loop is always worth checking out, classic college style strip. With Cicero's on the far end, you can bar hop all the way down to the 3am bars.

07-02-2008 06:19:40 | More by redbird

TheBeerBaron14

Missouri

3.85/5  rDev -3%
vibe: 3.5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3 | $$

I really enjoy Ciceros since they have misplaced all but one of their pool tables. They have a new GM (Karen McVicker) who has really placed a focus on their beer selection. Recently they have strted doing a beer school class every Wednesday night. Each week they have a rep from a different brewery come in and talk about their beers and brewery, also you get a 4 oz sample of 4 of their beers. It has grown from 35-50 people last fall to 90-100 people this winter. Long story short Ciceros is really driving the beer culture on-premise in St Louis!!

02-02-2007 04:22:16 | More by TheBeerBaron14

Realale

Missouri

3.88/5  rDev -2.3%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3.5 | selection: 4 | food: 4 | $$

I'm fortunate that Cicero's is only a few blocks from my house, so a quick trip for a pint is easily accomplished. The highlights here are two for me: (1) the beer; and (2) the pizza.

The atmosphere is generally friendly, and the smoke does not get too bad, even in the bar on a weekend night. A very mixed crowd of locals, families, and, on the weekends, a lot of college students.

The servers in the dining area are all competent wait staff, but their beer knowledge ranges from rudimentary to impressive. I don't see tons of turn-over in the staff, so I would expect improvement, but it never seems to come.

The beer menu was truly impressive, but has been dumbed-down considerably over the past year or so (01/18/05 update). A wide range of micros and imports on tap. They largely do a decent job of rotating seasonals through, but I have had an occassional pint or two that was past its prime. These have been always exchanged with a smile, but rarely do I see the keg changed as a result.

A very good selection of bottles as well. You can check out the beer menu on their website, but the menu in the restaurant is updated much more frequently than the website, but not frequently enough. Its better to simply eye the tap handles and the cooler before taking your seat than to rely on the menu.

The bar staff have, in my experience, a pretty good handle on the extensive list, and seem to really appreciate people interested in beer. When I've ordered something interesting, I've frequently been sent a small sample glass of something else that the bartender thought I might like as well.

The food is good, but the pizza is truly great. I go for the thick crust, and its always delicious. They also do all you can eat lasagna on one night (Thurs.?), and all you can eat spaghetti on another. The rest of the menu is solid and filling, rather than making any attempts at culinary honors.

01-02-2003 08:09:22 | More by Realale