Katie's Pizzeria and Cafe

Clayton has a new pizza place located on the north side of Clayton Road about two blocks east of Big Bend.  Katie's Pizzeria and Cafe is right across the street from the busiest and most annoying Schnucks store in the St. Louis area.  Diners can sit and watch cars drive around and around the grocery parking lot looking for a vacant parking space.

The pizza is on the gourmet side, toppings include asparagus, fennel sausage, fingerling potatoes, prosciutto, apples, salmon, shrimp, as well as the more familiar Italian sausage.  We stopped by for dinner last night and found the pizzas phenomenal, the crust terrific.  Too often pizza places bake unmemorable crusts, but here, the crusts are a major ingredient.  The owner has put in place a pizza oven which bakes at 700 degrees.

The interior of Katie's has a huge bar made with several tones of wood, presenting an attractive view for those sitting at any one of the large variety of wooden tables.  Very European in its simplicity, the cafe is very calming. 

The bar

The interior has a 1960-ish English sub-titled movie projected on the bar wall as well as a television airing MSNBC news.  This is probably the first restaurant/bar we've ever visited that had the news channel tuned to MSNBC.

Katie's has only been open a short time and that may be the reason we were the only ones in there last night.  It appears they have chosen to open softly rather than blitz the area with advertising, but it is our hope others find it so that they make a success of the business, the pizza is very good, a great change from the very ordinary.  Salads are available as well as a couple of appetizers.  Pizza's are 12 inches with prices ranging from $10.95 to $12.95.  They also have a 9 inch named the Bambini for $5.95 which is a nice size for one person or for a couple of children.   The 12 inch is enough for two people who aren't starving.  We ordered a 9 inch Italian sausage and a 12 inch Prosciutto, Asparagus and Fontina cheese and finished all but one piece. 

Wine and beer are available and it looked as though there may be a few liquors at the bar as well.  Give Katie's a try, we were very pleased with the pizza, but would love to see the place serving more people.  St. Louis restaurant forum comments about Katie's Pizzeria.

Updated:  March 3  It appears as though Katie's is catching on, driving by each day we see more and more people inside.  A great thing.

Comments

[Robert]

Sounds like a great place...is it in the building that was formerly a coffee shop?

[diane]

Robert, yes, the Blackberry Cafe formerly had that site.

[Patti]

Hey Diane. Let's try that place.

[Diane]

Any time, Pat.

[Phil & Becky Booe]

Upon your online recommendation of this place, Becky and I went today (for Lunch).

Neither of us were overly impressed with the atmosphere, BUT the food was soooo good! We ordered the Salami, Onions, and Kalamata olives pizza and a couple of cokes. You were right about the crust.. excellent. The price was nice too.. 6.5 dollars each for a fantastic pizza, perfect. I might order out from here when I'm working late for Security...

Phil

[Diane]

I'm glad you and Becky liked the pizza. Were there any other customers in there?

[Phil & Becky]

Well, there were two gentlemen by the hostess stand (looked like electrician types to me, mid-30s)and as we came in a couple of well dressed ladies in their mid-50s beat us to the door...

We sat near them, toward the back and that cool round table by the mirror. They ordered a huge salad and a Bambini to split. (They headed to the antique shop after they were done).

Another lady, professional-type sat at the table next to them but shared it with someone who appeared to work there (or owned the place) because she kept running behind the counter. Plus, when she wasn't in the back, she was watching this woman eat and talking up the food. Now that I think about it, she may not have owned the place because she would say things like, "they have great salads."

About mid way through our meal (which was awesome, again...) a young couple in their late 20s came in. They sat at the first table by that long bench, facing each other; favoring the opposing chairs to the bench.

Just as we were about to leave, two other women came in. They weren't together, the older of the two - a very urbanely dressed woman in her 40s, and the other in her 20s who preferred urban to the urbane. The older of the two sat at the bar and the young lady in the tiny round table just past that large bench with the pillows.

And besides our waitress, we only saw one other person, a man who was in contractor-type clothes who came in about three times. He would whisk past the customers and head straight to the back from that side door in the middle of the dining room. The whole time I was wanting to find out whether that door led to the restrooms, but never did.

So, it wasn't as busy as you might want a pizza place to be at lunchtime on Saturday, but it wasn't dead.

[Diane]

Phil, you are the right person to be working security, that's for sure, so observant and a keen eye for detail. Amazing.

[Phil & Becky]

Hehe, occupational hazard from my days as a Private Investigator... plus I was facing the door.

[Jeanne]

We had a very bad experience at Katie's. They were very busy on Saturday night, and clearly overwhelmed. Service was terrible (over an hour to get one of the 4 pizzas we ordered), and Katie, the owner, was incredibly rude and confrontational when approached with the problem. Told us not to come back and to have a great trip back to West County (for the record, no one in our party lives in WC). A very odd night!

[Jay]

Well, in giving the new restaurant its' fair criticism, I can't second the comment above.

I've visited Katie's Pizzeria once and was quite happy with my experience.

I didn't try any food, due to the fact that I had just eaten.

I did have two glasses of Shiraz though. A very dry red with just the perfect palate.

The service was friendly and inviting. Fabulously delicious women and you can bet I'll patron again.

If anyone remembers correctly. The building the Katie's Pizzeria is in, was Blueberry.

Blueberry went out of business. I'm not sure why, but my guess is More than Horrible Service.

I had visited the place twice and decided to never go back.

Now Katie's has blown that notion out of the water. Either way, try Katie's for yourself.

Delightful time with a Killer wine list.

Jay

[Eliz.]

We ate there on 3/22/08 and greatly enjoyed our meal. We had the spring rolls and a salami and kalamatta pizza and it was delicious. Service was friendly and fast. We will be back

[Richard]

The place was called Blackberry, not Blueberry, and it didn't go out of business. It relocated to Forsyth Blvd., in U. City.

[Jim Talbot]

I purchased a couple of ½ price coupons for Katie’s Pizzeria from the internet. Not being overly attentive I allowed the coupons to expire, totally my fault. I thought I’d stop by Katie’s to see if she would extend the expiration date. After all the coupons had expired only 2 weeks earlier. When I stopped by the restaurant Katie wasn’t there but a gentleman who I assumed worked there informed me he knew Katie would not extend the expiration date. Come on! I paid $25 for the coupons which she (Katie) obviously had received. Again I realize it was entirely my fault the coupons expired but give me a break. Quite honestly I look upon this situation as if someone stole $25 from me. My wife and I enjoy dining out and do so quite frequently. Who knows, we may have become regulars at Katie’s. But now we’ll never know because I’ll never set foot in her restaurant again.

Jim Talbot

PS: By the way Katie, I AM from west county!