St. Louis Street Soda Shop

We decided on this restaurant for lunch after visiting the William Henry Harrison mansion Grouseland in the morning because I had the address wrong of another restaurant and we couldn't locate it. Tired of looking, we parked and tripped into this charming little soda fountain. Our experience was mixed.

The food was good. I had a chicken-salad sandwich on "home baked" wheat bread, which was not very large and perfectly sized for lunch. It came with Ruffles-style potato chips, and the whole meal just hit the spot. I also ordered coffee with cream. Here (at a restaurant with tons of ice cream options) no half-and-half is available (?), so I asked for something besides powdered creamer, and was given whole milk, which is better than powdered creamer. My husband ordered the "beef Manhattan," which was a large plate loaded with two slices of bread, mashed potatoes, shredded beef and gravy. He had a Mello Yello. He thought his lunch was also very tasty. I also had a piece of the homemade cherry pie, which was exquisite!

The decor is very pretty and pleasing, with a silver pressed-tin ceiling, a traditional soda bar, a dessert case, pretty booths and a little table for the kiddos. It was quite loud, I thought; voices seem to be amplified here, rather than absorbed.

Our waitress was friendly and attentive, but she seemed distracted and scattered. She apologized profusely for making us wait "so long" for our drinks and took them off our bill, but we didn't even notice the lag. We did have to ask a couple of times for the bill. Interestingly, she called me "hon" frequently, but it was said as if she were trying it on ... not fake, just as if she were getting into a diner waitress persona. :)  She seemed to be trying to simultaneously care for a toddler girl, who was visiting the tables and was there with another woman. She took her to the bathroom and was calling out to her while she worked.

I think I would probably try some of the other restaurants in Vincennes for lunch if I only had one shot, though this was not unpleasant. And though the experience overall could have been better, the food was very good and the prices were reasonable.