Downtown St. Charles is what you should see after having a meal at The Graceful Ordinary. Have a nice time here and share nicely cooked ribeye, tomato salads and prosciutto with your friends. This bar offers you tasty cheesecakes, beignets and biscuits. It's time to degustate good martinis, beer or Mimosas. Great coffee will make your meal tastier and you'll surely come back. The Graceful Ordinary is suitable for celebrating an anniversary, a wedding or a birthday party. From the guests' viewpoint, the hostess is appealing here. Pay attractive prices for eating at this place. You will certainly appreciate the homey atmosphere and terrific decor. 4.5 is what this spot received from the Google rating system.
First time dining here for wife's birthday celebration. I reserved online and mentioned celebrating her birthday. Upon arrival the staff greeted my wife wishing her a happy birthday along with a nice card signed from the entire staff. The food, service, and atmosphere was beyond 5 stars, I would honor more stars if I could. Not only were the dishes elevated visually but the flavor profiles are elevated to such high standards. This is a must visit dinning experience will definitely be back. Thank you to the entire staff for making a memorable birthday dinner.
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$50–100
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Recommended dishes
Fish
This restaurant is truly a gem. The atmosphere was sophisticated and refined, the decor was beautiful. The food was stunning and absolutely delicious. It was our first visit, but will definitely be returning.
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Dinner
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
This place is always amazing when it comes to service and quality. I can’t speak to other servers , but every time we've gone , Tiffany has always served us and it just made the dinner that much better , she’s so sweet and attentive. This past Xmas, we attended the high tea event and it was absolutely wonderful!
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Star ratings. 1 bad. 2 below average. 3 average / neutral. 4 good. 5 excellent.
Had a great time. Atmosphere is cool. They kept a lot of the original detail from when it was a bank. Food was well prepared and timely. The scallop ceviche oil was great ended up dipping bread into it. The squid ink on it was a bit much for the size of the scallop and took away from it a bit. Loved the take on the potato.
Butterscotch de crema was amazing.
Love that the menu changes. Looking forward to coming back.
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$50–100
Food: 5
Service: 4
Atmosphere: 5
My wife surprised me and invited me and the children to celebrate my birthday. Have been there before and we liked it then too.
Nice place with nice service and delicious dishes. The food is very tasty, the service is very nice and classy. I highly recommend!!!
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$50–100
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Recommended dishes
Lobster Butter Broth Pappardelle Dill
Absolutely loved our dinner at The Graceful Ordinary tonight. The service, drinks, and food were on point. An excellent location with great ambiance. Service was stellar.
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Went to celebrate my birthday and everything was delicious. I loved the ambience and decoration. The food was all excellent. Drank a cocktail that was a bit strong for my taste but not bad.
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$50–100
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
Alright, lets start off by getting the one bad thing out of the way here, and that is, this place is EXTREMELY expensive. Given the location, quality of food and service though, that should not come as a surprise to anyone who dines here. This is a 5 star restaurant right on the river. Expect to spend at least $80-$100 per person coming here if you want a full course meal (appetizer, dinner with sides, and dessert), and that is NOT including drinks. They also do not include any sides with your entree, you have to request and pay extra for those, which I thought was pretty bogus. But they are honest and upfront about it when you ask.
Alright, now that we got that out of the way, lets talk about all the great things, because there are a lot of them... The taste and quality of the food here is amazing. Simply incredible. All of the food and drinks here are top notch, 12 out of 10. I started off with the Octopus Carpaccio. Absolutely delicious. Its seasoned and marinated so well. Im a big fan of octopus and squid and this mini appetizer did not disappoint.
For my entree, I had the "Le Pigeon" (by the way, any place that has the balls to put PIGEON (ok squab, but basically pigeon) on their menu, my hats off to you, and I GOTTA try it!). I can see why its not a more popular item at other restaurants. Theres not a lot of meat on it compared to chicken or other poultry. But... it is EXTREMELY tasty!!! Im not exaggerating when I say this, it has the texture and taste of fine beef like filet mignon. If I didnt know it was pigeon (squab), I would have thought it was a fine red meat like filet mignon. Super delicious. Im a fan of exotic meats (or at least, uncommon ones) and this is one of the best Ive ever tasted in my life.
For my side, I had the fingerling potatoes. Again, very good. Very well seasoned and cooked. I could have eaten and filled up on those alone. Delicious.
I did not have any dessert, but instead opted to try 4 drinks off their signature cocktail menu. The drinks are actually very reasonably priced for how good they are. The quality and taste are a giant step above most restaurants and honestly some of the tastiest Ive ever had. I think the owners are smart enough to know people who get liquored up spend more money so they dont try and stand in your way on that one. Lol. They also make them quite strong, at least, for me they did. Not complaining at all, lol. Just something to note.
Its hard to say which was my favorite because they were all excellent. The "dont be salty" one is an EXCELLENT before and during dinner drink. Great appetizer drink. Their version of a dry martini. Nice hints of basil and proscutto infused Vodka that you can definitely taste.
The one that has wisconsin badgers in its name (cant remember the exact name) was really good. Like chocolate and cherry infused with an old fashioned. Probably more of a desert drink, but, could be enjoyed before dinner if you have a sweet tooth.
The pumpkin one (again, cant remember the name), which i believe was 2nd or 3rd from the top, most definitely a dessert drink. Great hints of pumpkin and cinnamon in that one. Very sweet and delicious.
Last one i tried was called the hulu tulu zulu or something like that. Its the tequilla/mezcal mixed one. Very delicious as well. Could be a before or after dinner drink. And as you can tell by the fact I cant remember most of the names, they werent stingy with the alcohol and got me buzzed quite well.
Lastly, I will talk a little about the atmosphere. Loved the atmosphere in this restaurant. Very professional and well done. Even the restroom had some really nice toilet paper. Lol. You really feel like youre in a high quality place. Decor was very nice. Lighting was excellent. I dont remember having to yell over the music (huge pet peeve of mine at some places). Awesome seating on the river.
All in all, an EXCELLENT restaurant! One of the best I have EVER been to! I will definitely be back again soon! Thank you owners for such a great experience!!!
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 5
My wife and I celebrated her birthday at The Graceful Ordinary this past weekend, and it turned out to be one of the best birthday dinners either of us has ever had. From the service to the quality of food to the atmosphere, nearly everything was perfect.
1. Service: we were being taken care of by Katy if I remember correctly. We arrived for dinner at 5:30 on a Saturday so things were busy, and Katy was super attentive and we never felt like we had to wait for anything. We brought our own cake, which the kitchen very gracefully allowed us to substitute in lieu of their own deserts, which was cut and served with coffee after the meal. There was a snafu with the steak my wife ordered, and instead of asking us to wait for the proper order to come out, we were invited to dig into the "wrong" order (which was still a delicious petite filet) while the kitchen prepared the right steak. The on-site somalier also provided a great little review and history of the bottle of pinot noir we ordered.
2. Quality of food: I don't remember the exact names of the dishes we ordered so I'm simplifying, but trust me they were all delicious. An octopus appetizer, a roasted shishito pepper side, a roasted cabbage side, and then a ribeye for the main along with the petite filet mignon, both done to medium rare. The flavors were interesting without being outlandish, especially the octopus and shishito peppers side. I trust there's nothing bad on this menu.
3. Atmosphere: It's a beautiful setting and place to enjoy a meal. During warmer weather the balcony seats along the river must be particularly enjoyable but we chose to sit in the main dining room, which felt spacious. We were at a back corner table, and didn't have any trouble having a conversation at all.
We'll absolutely be back. The proximity to Pollyana's brewpub is a huge plus too. Thank you Graceful Ordinary team for a fantastic and memorable dinner.
Service
Dine in
Meal type
Dinner
Price per person
$30–50
Amazing food & cocktails! Only thing I would do differently is sit inside next time during this time of year (December). The terrace is probably amazing in the summer/spring but didn’t have much of a charm right now and my feed were cold.
However we loved everything else from start to finish. Great service, and excellent food! We are vegetarian and the chef was able to make an entree for us to accommodate. The fingerling potatoes; Brussel sprouts and Cheese bread is delicious.
We had three different cocktails all were delicious.
Food: 5
Service: 5
Atmosphere: 4
