Venice Cafe

Jessica
4594 days ago.

So the original plan was to write a restaurant review about Frazer’s in Benton Park because I was going to dinner there for a friend’s birthday. However, the night took an unexpected turn and instead I was able to witness some of the most awesome art that St. Louis has to offer…and now I get to share the experience with others! Real quick: Frazer’s was ok, nothing exciting to write about, the food was decent, service could have been better, and the artwork was interesting and a little creepy. Restaurant review check…now let’s get to the good stuff.

IMAG0306 After dinner, one of my friends suggested going to Venice Cafe since it was right down the street and she had never been. As we walk up to it we see a huge chalkboard on the brick wall outside that says Open Microphone. We get inside and there’s a guy dressed in business casual attire…rhyming into the microphone (ok, I have no idea what he was saying and it wasn’t singing but not quite talking either so that was the best I could come up with). Anyway, we’re told there’s an outside bar and it’s a beautiful night so we head up the stairs, outside, around the corner, and….OH MY GOODNESS! It was like a magic fairytale land (yes those are the exact words I uttered when I first took it all in and so felt it would be appropriate).

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I cannot describe the “art” as it was the most unique, eccentric, different, and all other words with the same meaning, that I have ever seen. We were ALL completely awestruck, parting ways to each check out a different area. I would literally have to go on writing for days to describe everything there, and while the best idea I came up with to be able to describe it later was to take tons of pictures and display them, keep in mind that my pictures don’t do it justice.

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When I was able to finally pull myself away from the fountain of wonders I had engrossed myself in, I found a friend and as I was about to say, “This place reminds me of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!” she opened her mouth and uttered those exact words! As we continued on our journey together admiring the walls of figurines, lighters, old cell phones, mosaic tiles and much more, we ran into another one of our friends. When I asked her how she would describe this place she responded, “Alice in Wonderland on happy drugs, not the psychotic dark ones”. While that made me laugh, it is oh so true. There is so much going on, some of it kind of trippy, that you could be there for hours, possibly days, looking at all the unique items on display, both outside and inside (btw that means don’t miss out on heading down the stairs towards the indoor restrooms aka shitters (as per the sign) to see the goldfish pond area).

I am really excited that I was introduced to Venice Cafe and I strongly suggest visiting it for the sole purpose of witnessing yourself what is too impossible for me describe without writing a novel.

Oh, the last thing I will say is go at night. I’m not saying that it’s not equally as awesome during the day since I have only been at night, but I imagine that the blue lights in the fountain and the christmas light decorations reflecting on the stones and tiles are more vibrant at night and it will just make the experience that much more awesome!

Brought to you by Mills Properties

Jessica

Doesn’t know how to cook and survives pretty much on macaroni and cheese and pizza, so naturally, loves to eat out at restaurants. However, one day when she is married and has a family to cook for, she would love to take cooking classes and learn awesome skills like the chefs on Iron Chef America...as long as she doesn't have to clean the dishes afterwards.

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