The Preston Takeaway.The Preston presents predictable plates in a plain package. I'd give The Preston a 7.0/10, with food that you'd expect from a hotel lobby. Restaurant-quality, but, in my opinion, a bit overpriced for what you get.
This is not a destination restaurant. In the search for the best food in St. Louis, you can skip this one unless you are staying in the hotel and can't go anywhere else. Great for convenience, not a place to go.
Service was perfectly fine, especially since we were basically the only people there. Parking is a bit of a hunt. You'll have to search the side streets off Kingshighway, but you'll find something within a few minutes' walk.
The Preston Experience Summary
My search for the best food in St. Louis often leads me to interesting situations. This time? It led me to an app called Time Left.
The concept is you sign up to have dinner with five strangers. If you had told my 21-year-old college self that I would do this of my own free will, I wouldn't have believed you.
But I have a new philosophy: Do interesting shit.
And "interesting shit" brought me to The Preston for dinner with what turned out to be three strangers on a snowy Wednesday night.
The app itself was an interesting experience. I would do it again, but would probably bring a friend next time, just kind of sneak them in as a conversation hedge. Worth it for the story.
The problem wasn't the app. It was the venue. Time Left, for all its talk of fun and random adventure, picked a really boring place to do it.
Walking in, it's exactly what you picture. You're in the middle of a hotel lobby. It's got that dark, "fancy" vibe. You see the well-to-do upholstery, but it all feels generic, like it could be any hotel USA.
Zero personality.
I didn't have high expectations. It's hotel food. You know going in that it's not going to be cheap, and it's probably not going to be great.
We were, and I mean this literally, the only people in the entire restaurant. Just two tables of strangers, brought together by an app, in an empty hotel lobby.
I ended up getting the cheapest thing on the menu - $30 (after tax) for a hamburger, fries, and a beer. It was a burger. It was beer. I was there for the conversation.
So, the final verdict on convenience? The Preston is the definition of a "convenience" restaurant. It's fine. But it's totally forgettable. It's a place you go when you're a guest and don't want room service.
It is not a place you seek out for a special trip for what little time you have left.
The Food At The Preston
The menu is pure hotel lobby food. You've got your hamburgers, you've got your steak. A few people at my table got scallops, to be fair, those actually looked pretty good.
I wasn't about to pay $40 for what I assumed would be a mediocre steak. So, I said I'd pay $15 for what I assumed would be a mediocre burger.
And I was right.
I don't really get the allure of expensive burgers generally. A McDonald's double cheeseburger is, what, $3? For this burger to be worth it, the $21 burger (plus fries, okay) needs to be at least three or four times better than that McDonald's burger.
It wasn't.
Don't get me wrong. It was big. It was juicy. It had the distinct "hamburger flavor" of a hamburger. You know what I mean, right? It tastes like what it is.
But it wasn't some special, house-ground meat. They had some kind of mushroomy aioli on it, I think, that gave it a little bit of a smoky flavor. It was nothing to write home about.
The fries were crunchy.
And... that's it. Just unspectacular. This is a 7/10 food experience. It fills you up, and it's not bad. But you will not remember it tomorrow.
The Preston Atmosphere And Miscellaneous
As I said, the atmosphere is 100% "hotel lobby restaurant." It's trying to be upscale, with dark decor and heavy furniture, but it just feels hotely. It's not cozy or hip or whatever the kids say, 67?
The service was fine. Our server was attentive. But again, we were the only ones there on a Wednesday night during that snowy week. It would be hard to have bad service in an empty restaurant.
My main beef (pun intended, I guess) is with the choice of venue for the Time Left event. If you can go anywhere in the city for a $30 or $40 entree, why this place? I get they might be trying to cater to everybody, but there were only 10 of us total.
Couldn't they at least poll us? We ended up at the most boring spot imaginable.
Parking At The Preston
Parking is actually a little bit tricky.
It's not hard. You're not going to park more than a 3-minute walk away, but you'll have to search for a spot. You can try to snag a spot on Kingshighway if one is available, or pull around onto one of the side streets.
I ended up parking behind a building and walking through a residential area of the hotel, which I didn't realize. It was cold, so I just let myself in.
You'll find something, but don't expect a dedicated lot.
The Preston Receipt
