Culpeppers In Kirkwood

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  I was running lunchtime errands by this location and popped in to place a to-go order.  It was 12:30, but pretty quiet.  There was no host, so I went straight to the bar and waited for several minutes while the girl behind the counter wiped down glassware.  I was just about to say something when she noticed me.  She brought me a menu to get my order placed, and offered me water while I waited, very nice on a hot day.  
  The lunch combo options of their most basic soup/salad/sandwich items did not appeal, so I went a la carte and got a small chef salad and 5 wings.  This set me back almost $20, so I was hoping for large enough portions for leftovers and great quality.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.  When I arrived back at the bar 25 minutes later as instructed, my food was sitting out waiting for me with nary an employee in sight. I had to open the containers to verify that it was mine, then left.  It may have been sitting out for several minutes, cold salad on top of hot wings.  
  The chef salad was average with many ingredients but hardly any lettuce.  With the richness of a chef- eggs, cheese, meat, etc., greens and veggies are needed to balance that out.  They also used to have high quality chunks of cheese, a highlight of this salad, but now it is shredded from a bag.  
  The wings were also lackluster- scrawny and a little dried out.  They did still have that famous Culpepper's flavor, and they were helped quite a bit with some bleu cheese.  
  There are now so many places in the area for great wings, salads, and service, even right in that Kirkwood/Sunset Hills area close to my office, that I do not think I will be back to this location anytime soon.  Historically, I have had better luck with the CWE location, so let's hope that one is still the same great spot!

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  Posted on 06.17.13 Anita K.

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  My fiance and I stopped in here after having our engagement pictures done. We hadn't been to a culpeppers in years, so we were looking forward to stopping in again. We should have known something was up when we walked in and there was only two other tables already there... out of the ENTIRE restaurant. But we were hungry and ready to eat!
  
  The food itself was not so great. I'd compare it to Ponderosa food. My fiance got the steak and it might has well have been an unseasoned piece of shoe leather. He had to dump about a cup of A1 on it to make it edible, and even then he only finished it because he was starving. I got the BLT and I might as well have just made it at home. It was that bad. It looked like two slices of stale wonderbread holding two tiny slices of bacon, barely any mayo and decent amounts of tomato and lettuce. When I go to a restaurant for a BLT, I expect a big bag mamma jamma, with loaded crispy fresh bacon and dripping in mayo with cold, crisp lettuce and tomatoes. My lettuce and tomato was room temperature. The mayo was barely there at all. My bacon tasted chewy and microwaved, barely hot, and NOT fresh. I also only finished my food because I was starving. We both got fries that were lukewarm and soggy.
  
  Our service was subpar from the start, and stayed that way throughout. It took an unreasonably long time for our food to come out. We saw more staff in the building than customers, yet our drinks stayed empty for long periods of time and I had to get up and go looking for napkins before someone would bring us some. Our waiter never stopped back to see if our food was done to our liking, and we had to get up and wave him over to finally get our bill. Our table had condiments and sweeteners set out near the salt and pepper, but they were empty. I had to get up and go to another table to get sweetener, ketchup and pepper. We might as well have stayed home. We would have eaten better food and gotten quicker service if we did.

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  Posted on 04.27.13 Sarah F.

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  I eat one thing, and one thing only at this restaurant.  Wings.  That's it.  They nail it.  Greer the bartender is AWESOME, she will take care of you.  I only eat at the bar and only during the dinner to late evening hours.
  
  I'm sure there are other things on the menu (I guess they have a menu :-) but it doesn't matter to me, I couldn't go there and NOT have the wings.  Pair them with an icy cold beer and you're about as close to perfection as it gets.

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  Posted on 04.17.13 Paula G.

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  What happened to this place? What an absolute mess. My wife and I took our daughter there today for lunch. We we're really looking forward to the wings and salad that we love to eat when visiting the Creve Coeur location. The only thing these two restaurants have in common is the name.
  
  We should have realized as soon as we walked in that we needed to turn around and leave. The place was about 20% full at 12:30 in the afternoon on a Saturday. There was a 6 top of blue hairs in the middle of the restaurant, and maybe 3 two tops on the side. However if you watched my waitress, you would have thought they were slammed. Took 10 minutes to get our drink order. Another 20 minutes before our salads came out. She kept disappearing for long stretches. I thought maybe they had a banquet room in the basement that she was responsible for. By the time my wings came out, they were luke warm at best. My wife ordered the plate of 4 sliders with a side of fries. At least the fries were hot. The mini burgers must have been on the grill all morning. I've seen juicier hockey pucks.
  
  I would have loved to talk to the manager to find out what the heck was going on, but I never saw one for the hour plus we spent there. The kid at the front door, and one of the waitresses were the only two employees in the place that looked like they cared. My waitress was terrible. Seriously, the only thing in this place worse than the food is the service. It was gross.
  
  Save yourselves the trouble. Never go there! Never.

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  Posted on 03.09.13 Patrick M.

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  Three problems from my visit on Sunday 1-27-2013.
  
  They charged my credit card twice and now I have to dispute it with my credit card company.  I feel ripped off.  Why should I have to take the time out of my schedule to deal with their billing problems.
  
  The food quality and ambience have gone very downhill over the past couple years:
  FOOD:     I started my meal with "Gold" hot wings and they were served at a cold temperature.  About two minutes after the appetizer came to the table and I had barely had time to start eating it, the entrees were served.  I ordered rice instead of fries with my burger and immediately regretted it.  I had the "Culpepper's Burger" which used to come with a solid tablespoon of a garlic cream cheese on the meat, but now they appear to be putting just a small spot of the cheese on top and when I spread it out it didn't even cover the entire top of the burger.     AMBIENCE:     An employee sitting at the bar, drinking, appeared intoxicated (at 1pm on a Sunday) and was talking very loudly to the point that across the restaurant I could hear every word and he appeared to be trying unsuccessfully to flirt with both the bartender and a customer.
  
  The waiter was incompetent.  I worked in food service for a few years of my life and try to go easy on restaurant staff, but this guy messed up several things including putting honey mustard on my dining companion's salad even though he ordered ranch dressing.  Instead of a quick apology and getting the correct dressing the waiter instead argued and insisted we ordered the wrong dressing.  The waiter interrupted our conversation several times to ask if we wanted more water during the meal; yes, just refill the water and stop asking the question.  Finally, the waiter picked up my plate when I still had half my food on the plate and was visibly still eating (i.e. I had my burger in my hand when the waiter slid in and pulled away my plate).

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  Posted on 01.29.13 Mark W.

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  I also don't understand all of these negative reviews.  I imagine some people just like to complain and be miserable.  This isn't elegance and gourmet cuisine, it's a bar and grill for crying out loud.  What do you expect?
  
  The service was prompt and friendly.  The atmosphere is warm and relatively quiet; very comfortable.  There are plenty of food choices.  We didn't have wings so I can't comment on them, but we did have sandwiches, pizza and salads, all of which were very tasty.  Prices were also reasonable.  About exactly what I expected from a BAR AND GRILL!
  
  We look forward to coming back.  Glad to have a place like this in the neighborhood.  If you're planning on visiting the Magic House, stop by - Culpeppers is just a few blocks down the street.

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  Posted on 01.05.13 Mark S.

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  I don't understand what all the fuss is about.  This was my first visit, but whatever issues they had before must have been cleared. The decor is clean and comfortable. Service was as friendly, polite (they insisted my girlfriend order first), and prompt as can be. Menu includes some great combo offers. The original wings were quite good, big pieces with a great spicy sauce. Our salads were served on ice cold plates, which I'm a big fan of. My club sandwich was great, everything was fresh and tasted good. Only minor issues: our server was the bartender, which slowed our service but only slightly, and made up for by her friendliness, and the beer could be a little colder. Otherwise do not let the low stars turn you away from a good place.

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  Posted on 11.15.12 Steve B.

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  Oh good lord. Why did I come here?!
  
  I heard that Culpepper's had tasty hot wings, and since it's pretty close to my job, I decided to stop by one afternoon during my lunch break.
  
  I arrived around 1pm, and aside from a few older people and some high school kids, it was empty. I should have taken that as a sign.
  
  The waitress was friendly enough, so that's not my issue.
  
  It's just...Culpepper's is so...chain-y. It reminds me of Applebee's, and I'll go ahead and say it: I'm a food snob. I'd much rather go to a local business over a chain, and places like Culpepper's reminds me why.
  
  Anyway, I ordered wings. 5 hot wings, and 5 BBQ. You can't really screw up wings, can you?
  
  Apparently, you can. These were pretty disgusting. They texture was sick; the wings were slimy. And the flavor wasn't too fantastic, either. To be fair, the flavor of the hot wings wasn't bad. But the BBQ wings? I don't know what kind of BBQ sauce Culpepper's uses, but it was awful. And I'm a HUGE fan of BBQ sauce. I've never really met one that I didn't like. Until now.
  
  I can't really recommend this place. Once was definitely enough.

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  Posted on 07.13.12 Stephanie S.

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  Man, what happened to these guys?  Used to be such a good place.  We went last night and were really disappointed.  We ordered wings with their house sauce, they came out with their "gold" sauce.  Sauce wasn't bad, but had been looking forward to their old stand by and was really the whole reason we went.  Other than that the wings themselves were great.
  
  Maybe it was just me, but their menu looked to be scaled back a bit.  Took a while to find something that caught my attention.  Ordered a steak sandwich and it was pretty uninspiring.  Fatty and about a 1/4 inch thick.  Fries were well done and hard.  My wife had a brisket sandwich which was fatty.  A guy at the table next to us ordered it as well and I watched as he pulled all the fat off the slices of brisket.  Daughter had toasted ravs and son had boneless wings.  No complaints from them.  I guess the biggest disappointment was when the bill came.  Food plus 3 beers and 2 sodas came to $70 without tip.  That seems overboard for the quality of food, plus the kids pretty much just had appetizers.  It really bums me out because I want to like Culpeppers so much, but unless they turn up the quality I worry they won't be around much longer at this location.  I guess next time we'll just stick with the burgers.  Would hate to see them go.
  
  One thing I do give them props for is their Friday all you can eat fish and chips, especially during Lent (which is when we usually go).  It's very good - not greasy and big solid cod fillets.  Not fish sticks like at most places.

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  Posted on 06.16.12 T J.

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  Great wings.    Rest of the menu is just average.

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  Posted on 09.18.11 Dave C.

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  Cheap beer, decent food at a decent price. I usually go to this place for the wing specials on Tuesdays. The beers are about $2.50 for a 22 oz after 3 pm. The bartenders are always really nice, and the food is pretty good for the price. Watch the specials, they have a steak special on Wednesdays!

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  Posted on 12.13.10 Steve C.

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  After our adventure at the Magic House we were all hungry and decided we needed something to eat.  I had ate at this Culpeppers before after a trip to the Magic House so it was an easy decision to make for dinner.  We walked in and were seated immediately and out waitress was attentive.  Since Culpeppers is known for their wings, I decided to go with the buffalo chicken sandwich as the likelihood of me getting wing sauce all over myself with the sandwich was significantly smaller than with a basket of wings.  My son of course had to have a peperoni pizza.  My sandwich came out and my first impression of it was ho hum.  The sandwich while tasty, was a bit dry, like it had been cooked a while before and the buffalo sauce on the  chicken breast had dried up.  My son's peperoni pizza on the other hand was very good.
  
  Since I've ate at Clupeppers a few times and have never had a complaint before, I'll chalk this visit up to a slow Sunday evening and I didn't order something that had to be freshly prepared like my son's pizza.  Next time I will have to wear a bib and order the wings.

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  Posted on 06.01.10 Josh S.

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  It's nothing amazing, it's just average. But after an entire afternoon chasing a child around the Magic House, it was just what I needed. A beer and a chicken wrap. The service was very nice and attentive. Plus it's not overly expensive. All of that being said, it was 6pm on a Sunday and we were the youngest ones in there, by a good 20 years. Clearly it's very popular with the senior crowd.

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  Posted on 05.17.10 Stephanie B.

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  Perhaps my opinion shouldn't count because I don't care for wings and I didn't order them. Culpeppers is apparently known for having the good wings, but I cannot comment on that. I can only say that they do not have the best non-wing food.
  
  They did have some nice drink specials, which I took full advantage of in order to make the food I ordered a more pleasant experience.
  
  I just don't think it's for me.

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  Posted on 04.15.10 Gina S.

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  My quick tip - 45 cent wings. However, this is not a place I would send you if you had the inclination for anything but wings, or, if you couldn't go down into the city to get better wings.
  
  At both of the Culpeppers I've been to the service is terrible, although friendly, and the food is sub par.
  
  Unless your hanging out with a group of friends, I don't recommend this place.

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  Posted on 02.03.10 Breeah K.

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  On a recent trip to the Magic House we decided to stop nearby for something to eat.  We figured this would be a good stop.  I can't say it was bad, it just wasn't great.  Maybe because it was in the middle of the day and not at night but it seemed like a Bob Evans Restaurant with a bar attached.  I got a chicken pot pie that was lukewarm.  The high chair was dirty.  Nothing was horrible but nothing was great either.  If I lived right by it I'd probably visit semi-regularly but like another poster said, I wouldn't go out of my way to eat here.

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  Posted on 11.25.09 Jenny S.

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  I really like Culpeppers for a last minute lunch during the day or for pizza and beer. I live nearby so it's convenient, but I can't say I would go out of my way if it wasn't so close.
  
  The wings are good! They have friendly staff and the atmosphere is WAY laid back and comfortable. The bar area is a little small so It gets crowded pretty quickly but I don't smoke so I don't mind hanging out in the dining room :)
  
  And they let you test new items for free, they are very customer oriented which is cool. I just tried a sample of pizza a few weeks ago and got a %50 off coupon for any pizza!
  
  It's a fun place, you don't have to be quiet and you can go there last minute. Also it's right in downtown Kirkwood so ice cream is just a few blocks away!

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  Posted on 05.13.09 Liz A.

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  This location was one of the first expansion restaurants for Culpeppers, which originally opened in 1962. (There are now 8 locations.) Known for their chicken wings and helping put St. Louis on the culinary map, Culpeppers is a high-priority destination for me whenever I visit family here. Fortunately, THEY'VE been eating the wings themselves almost since the chain opened.
  
  The wings are the core of offerings. (The rest of the menu looks much like an Applebee's or TGI Fridays.) Original recipe calls for a sauce of Louisiana Hot Sauce and butter and little else. There's a lot of zing to each wing, and the sauce has that strong vinegar tang. If you have a more sensitive stomach, you may want to go easy on the wings and/or order milk to drink. (Mr. T would be proud of you.) There are now 2 other sauce varieties, but I haven't tried them. On Tuesdays, this location offers wings for 40 cents apiece rather than the standard 5/10/15/20/50 plate sizes. I was also excited to notice they have trivia nights on Wednesdays.
  
  Sadly, smoking appears to be allowed inside.
  
  According to their posted Wing-eating Rule #19, you are advised to eat your wings one-handed, keeping the other hand sauce-free to make it easier to grip and drink your beer. I complied and agree.

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  Posted on 08.22.08 Bill B.

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