Charlie Gitto's Downtown

This is my favorite place in the city to grab a drink. Bartending here is a work of art. The very best dirty martinis by far and if you are a bourbon drinker (or not but want to be) just ask Louie or India to make one for you. Unbelievable, I didn't even like bourbon before I started coming here. Place is amazing, 3 generations here almost every night. This is the original Charlie Gittos and in my opinion the best because of the history. 7/10/20 update. The thought of Charlie Gitto never being at the corner of the bar with his heater running brings a tears to my eyes. What a great guy and touched so many. Great owners set their businesses up for success just as he did. As I sit here tonight eating one of the best dishes of tortellini I have ever eaten here, I know that the tradition of this restaurant will continue and grow. Louie Vangel has done an amazing job of training the new cooks and this is my second meal this month that has blown me away with the improvements. Top it off with an India Farrance cocktail 🍸 and you just can’t get a better combination. For those of you that know me get it, I do come here all the time, but I’m telling you, the food has never been better in the last four years than it has my last two visits. But that’s what great owners do. You will be missed Charlie and never forgotten.

Wonderful pasta house with good service. They have an outstanding red sauce, which is key to many Italian dishes. Started with French onion soup, which was very good. Cheese was possibly white cheddar maybe. But regardless the French onion was worthy of ordering again. Wonderful spaghetti with meat sauce. Highly recommend this place! Service was good as well. Doesn’t look like much from the outside but the ambience inside is nice.

Visiting from out of the state so we wanted to try some fried ravioli and one of us had to eat gluten free also. They had gf pasta and several things on the menu to choose from. The fried ravioli was yummy. Loved the laid- back atmosphere, attentive service and reasonable prices. Food was really good. Try it! You won't be disappointed.

I loved it! Old St Louis staple and this was my first visit. Had the chicken parmigiana lunch special and it was great. They have an excellent house salad too. Service was fast and friendly. Only minor complaint is they only had pink packets for tea and basically no ice in the iced tea. Those are really minor though. Food and service wa great!

The staff was wonderful. Although they were working they still had smiles on their faces and looked happy to help. We got lucky being sat because we had a party of 8 without a reservation so if you want to eat here call first! Anyway, everyone in our group seemed to like their food except me. I got the Caesar salad and the toasted ravioli appetizer. The salad was good but the raviolis were gross. They were toasted perfectly but the meat inside reminded me of cat food in a can. It was a weird texture and a weird taste so I wouldn’t recommend ordering them. They carry a vanilla flavored light beer called love gun from a local brewery and it’s pretty tasty. The restaurant was clean and the decor was aged but it worked. The waitstaff was great and the cooks were fast. I had a nice time and so did my group.

In town for a tournament at the Convention Complex and we were lucky enough to find and walk to Charlie Gitto's! They were more than gracious in accommodating a large group of about 25, especially we kept calling to add more to our reservation. Service and food were fantastic. Especially liked the chicken parmesan and pasta with red sauce. If you are in the neighborhood, I highly recommend you stop in.