Drinks

Whether it’s for religious reasons, trying to avoid a hangover at all costs, wanting to save money on drinks, or if it’s just a personal preference, you might come into medical school scared about feeling out of place during social events. Since many of your classmates will be in their early 20s to 30s, it’s only natural that going out is a part of the social scene here. Nonetheless, choosing to spend the night with my water bottle in my hand has never lessened the experience of classmate bonding. I’ve never felt pressured by any classmates to drink, and I can almost guarantee that it’ll be the same way for you as long as you’re respectful of other people’s own decisions about drinking. There are a bunch of fun activities like karaoke, dancing, and board games/arcade games at the bars here, and it’s fun to even just chat with classmates and decompress after an exam or a hard week. Don’t be afraid to seek out the mock-tail menu if you still want to participate in the fancy drink aesthetic! Keep an open mind, and you’ll still have a good time.

Beer is the best, St. Louis is the best, so beer = St. Louis. I am an avid craft beer fan and have been thoroughly impressed by the number of craft breweries in the area, especially walkable ones from campus in the Grove! Some larger-scale breweries that are STL staples I recommend include Urban Chestnut, Schlafly, and 4 Hands Brewing Co. (Anheuser-Busch does NOT count). However, I love smaller breweries that specialize in small-batch brews and experimental beers, and I highly recommend 2nd Shift, Side Project, and Perennial. No matter if you go to a brewery or any bar/grill in the area, I can guarantee you will not be disappointed in the St. Louis beer selection!

Coma Coffee Roasters is a relatively large, two-floor upscale café in Clayton and is a 12-minute drive from the Central West End (CWE). Coma Coffee gets crowded with businesspeople and undergrads at peak hours, but it’s a great location to study while enjoying an iced espresso drink, egg sandwich with home fries, or even a happy-hour cocktail. The open-air, modernist vibes are also pleasant on the eyes. Open 7 a.m-7 p.m. daily.

Sump Coffee is an award-winning café located in the heart of Soulard (~15 minutes from CWE). Sump features a rotating selection of single-origin pour-over coffees that taste out-of-this-world luxurious and vibrant. The decor is slick and features lots of lacquered wood furniture, and you get a nifty rubber coaster with your drink so as not to damage it. Open 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. daily.

Pipers Tea and Coffee is an upscale café in Tower Grove South (15 minutes from CWE) that purveys a wide variety of loose-leaf teas, matcha drinks, and, of course, espressos too. I’m a sucker for their Earl Grey but enjoy the cold brew every once in a while. Seating (especially adjacent to outlets) is sometimes limited, but when I’m by myself or with a small group, I can usually find a granite-white table or bar seating for us. Open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. daily.

Shaw’s Coffee is a unique roastery and coffee shop in the Hill, a historically Italian-American neighborhood, whose vibe takes me back to the 1940s. It’s located in what used to be an old bank, so you can even enjoy your macchiato and biscotti while sitting inside a vault room! There aren’t too many outlets available, however. Open 7 a.m.-4 p.m. daily.

Blueprint Coffee is a roastery and café on the Delmar Loop near the Danforth Campus (10-15 min from CWE) and features lots of specialty brews and espresso drinks. Parking and seating is rather limited, but it’s worth trying out some of the single-origin roasts. Open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. daily.

Northwest Coffee Roasting Company is an open-air coffee shop and roastery close to CWE (five-minute drive or 10-minute walk), and it’s got loads of outdoor seating, which isn’t always the most comfortable but is gorgeous on a late summer evening. The café itself is located in a small, repurposed industrial building and has a factory workshop-esque vibe. Open 7 a.m.-6 p.m. daily.

Protagonist Café is a lovely bookstore-themed café that also sells wines and used books. Though the coffee isn’t the strongest, it’s easy to sink into a leather chair and slap that spacebar for Anki for hours here. Open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. daily.

Starbucks is … well, as a former or current undergrad student, you probably know what it’s like. Just remember to boycott Starbucks (and instead visit an indie coffee shop) when the workers are on strike! There are two locations in CWE: a large store on Maryland Avenue next to the World Chess Hall of Fame with a greenhouse-like study area, and another smaller location shared with Chick-Fil-A (a dangerous combo) right behind the Eric P. Newman Education Center on campus. You can’t redeem Starbucks Rewards stars at the latter store.

There are lots of fun places in St. Louis where you can get your game on! Blueberry Hill in The Loop is the best place to play darts. If you are looking for corn hole, Paddy O’s by Busch Stadium is the place in the summer. Pieces is the bar for you if board games are more your speed, and I recommend Up-Down in the Central West End for anyone who likes an adult arcade. The Armory just opened and has a variety of lawn games and is not far from the new Top Golf that will be opening in Midtown in late 2023.

If you’re looking to unwind with friends by appreciating some fine mixology (and drinking responsibly), St. Louis has several choice bars for the cocktail aficionado! Some of my favorites include Pagan Wine Bar, where a patron allegedly offered $5k for their Manhattan recipe (it’s gloriously good) and was subsequently rebuffed, Lazy Tiger (creative thematic rum drinks), and Brennan’s (negroni + cigar = living like a med school dean). BrassBar (located in Brasserie by Niche and amply supplied with great French wines) and Scarlet Wine Bar (good outdoor seating) are great choices for wine too. If you’re looking for a fun vibe, I also recommend Platypus (whose owner-operator, Meredith Barry, competed on Drink Masters on Netflix!) and Narwhal’s Crafted (perfect summertime frozen cocktails). Just remember: You have to treat yourself so that you can treat your patients. 🙂

There are a lot of great cafés to choose from around St. Louis. Here are some of my favorite local spots:

Coma Coffee Roasters: Coma Coffee Roasters has a huge amount of seating and also offers great cocktails and beer in addition to the coffee. Coma is open all day, every day as well. I really like the more substantial food options, such as burgers, available in addition to breakfast and sweet snacks for those long study sessions. The outlets are pretty far away from the seating in some spots, so many people bring extension cords to this spot.

Comet Coffee: Comet Coffee has truly amazing coffee (the best in the city, in my opinion) and excellent pastries, but the shop is very small. I suggest getting there early or taking your coffee to go!

Fiddlehead Fern Café: This café has the best pastries in the city and fantastic coffee! The unique and tasty beverages are made with local dairy or homemade milk alternatives. I also love the different breakfast toasts, especially the roasted goat cheese and tomato toast! You can really tell everything is super fresh! This café is bright, minimalist, and overall very beautiful but quite small, so get there early!

Protagonist Café: This coffee shop is charming and quirky! The walls are lined with books you can check out, cute cards and other crafts to buy, plenty of outlets, and comfortable seating. The coffee is great, and the cinnamon rolls are the best I have ever had (and vegan)! Protagonist also sells wine and beer, along with great breakfast burritos only available on the weekends! This place is also a great study spot because it is open from eight am to seven pm daily.

Venice Cafe is a classic, cash-only dive bar near the Anheuser-Busch factory. Each night of the week, there will either be live music or stand-up comedy. Besides the cool, eclectic design, there is also a nice outdoor area, which is really nice in the summer!

For fellow sports fans, you need to look no further than OB Clark’s for American sports. It is a bit of a drive being in Brentwood, but this place is a St. Louis classic and the best place for cheap beer and TVs. A close runner-up is Seamus McDaniel’s in Dogtown (also home to the best spicy chicken sandwich in the city). If you have a big group, I definitely recommend Urban Chestnut. If a cocktail lounge is more your speed, I would direct you to Brennan’s in Central West End. If you are looking to shake things up and like pets, you should try Bar K, which is a bar for people and dogs alike.

One of the best places for karaoke in St. Louis is the W Karaoke Lounge. This fun spot is on the Delmar Loop and allows you to rent out a room for anywhere from six to 40 people. It is reasonably priced, especially when split across the group, and is a blast. You can queue up any song you can think of, order drinks to your room, and sing the night away with your friends.

As someone who worked at a Mexican restaurant throughout high school that touted having “the Best Margs on the West Coast,” I feel very qualified to make this assessment. The closest good margs in walking distance to the Medical Campus are at El Burro Loco (4.3 stars with 2.7K reviews online). El Burro Loco has a long list of super fun flavors and many size options. The frozen style is my favorite — but be careful because they are stronger than you think! Other fantastic and popular options include Chive’s Mexican Restaurant, Rosalita’s Cantina, Mi Ranchito, El Maguey Mexican Restaurant, and Mission Taco Joint.

One of the many cat cafes here in St. Louis is called Mauhaus, and it brings together the perfect combination of good vibes with great coffee and the sweetest (and adoptable!) kittens/cats. The ticketing price to enter the cafe ($11) comes with a beverage of choice and one hour to be inside the cafe with the furry friends. This cafe provided an excellent serotonin boost — perfect for a mid-day study break!

Depending on the sport, St. Louis has loads of spots to watch “the game.” If you’re trying to stay local, BBQ Saloon usually has the biggest football and basketball games on any given night. An order of jalapeño poppers and an old fashioned, and you’re set for a good time. Kingside Diner has a bit more of a pub vibe if you’re going for that while still only being a walk away.

If you’ve got a designated driver and a car, there’s another tier of sports bars. Amsterdam is a sick place for watching soccer with a range of beers and an outdoor patio area. Some of us went at 7:00 a.m. to watch the USA lose to the Netherlands, and it was slightly less sad than it should’ve been because of the atmosphere (Amsterdam is a pub, we did not fly to Amsterdam to watch us lose). OB Clarks is a multi-sport bar that can cover you for hockey, football, basketball, and even the more niche sports like corn hole. The bar’s got some great wings and a great crowd, but it’ll put you back 15 minutes.

Whether you have a ton of useless knowledge stuck in your brain or you just want to go vibe with your friends on a weeknight, weekly pub trivia is a fun way to take a break from school and switch it up. BBQ Saloon, which is a bar within walking distance from the med campus, is a favorite trivia destination among med students and BJC employees alike. There are so many other great trivia sites throughout the city as well, including HandleBar down in the Grove, Mike Duffy’s Pub & Grill on Clayton, and iTap up on the Loop. Round up a team of your friends and head to one of these bars sometime — you might surprise yourself with how well you do!