Photo : Buphoff

Hack Your City Each Friday we ask you for your best city tips: driving tips, restaurant recs, things to do, and any other advice for visitors and locals. Sometimes the weekly topic is a specific city; other times it's an aspect of all cities, so everyone can participate. Prev Next View All

I wish I had an enemy in St. Louis, MO, so I could call them my arch nemesis. Hahaha the city has an arch. OK, that’s enough fun. I t’s time for the best St. Louis tips from Lifehacker readers. And we have a trolley-load.




“I have a feeling everyone will dump on St. Louis,” says Inimoy. “ That’s cool. If you don’t live here, you cannot appreciate the innate midwesternness it brings.”

Photo : Keith Yahl


Eat and Drink

“Imo’s pizza is, um, controversial. Mostly because of the cheese, which is not mozzarella, but the cracker-thin crust is also a point of contention to some. Worth trying, but you may want to have a backup plan in case it’s not to your liking.”— David E. Smith

“The pro tip on Imo’s is to get it well done or crispy.”— TheDudeSubsides

“Imo’s Pizza is hella overpriced and overrated, go to Talayna’s or Racanelli’s instead. ”— Hey, Shut the Fuck Up

“Go to Ted Drewes. Get a concrete. Then go back the next day and do it again.”— Bubarubu

“Gioia’s Deli ( p ronounced Joy-uhs) has amazing ‘ hot salami, ’ which is actually head cheese but don’t let that scare you away from it.”— Chewmanfoo

“Pappy’s Smokehouse and Bogart’s Smokehouse are the 2 best places to eat in the entire city . ( Sugarfire was just ok.) Get the ribs and burnt ends at either. Bogart’s has really good pastrami too.”— Cory

“One restaurant I remember fondly is a BBQ joint called The Shaved Duck. We went there and some James Beard award winning restaurant. Shaved Duck blew the James Beard place out of the water.”— Illcoco

“T he Delmar Loop is a great place to visit with a number of unique shops. The S now F actory is Thai-style ice cream place that is delicious.”— Beast

“Toasted Raviolis, breaded beef raviolis that are deep fried and then served with marinara sauce for dipping. They are an appetizer and as a kid I had no idea people boiled raviolis.”— midwest-philly

“St. Louis’s local food scene will stand up to or surpass any other city at a fraction of the cost. There are far too many to name, but those that received national accolades include Olio, Elaia, Nixta, Vicia, Niche food group (multiple restaurants owned by James Beard award - winning chef Gerard Craft) and our little Bosnian f ood truck/soon to be brick- and- mortar Balkan Treat Box.”— plags5

“There a number of great c raft b reweries in and around the city like: Urban Chestnut, Perennial Artisan Ales, Narrow Gauge, 4Hands, Heavy Riff, Wellspent, Main & Mill, Side Project, Schlafly, Earthbound, Alpha.”— FoodNBeer

“The Crown Candy Kitchen. STL’s oldest candy store, I believe. they use antique machinery and candy molds to make their candy. ”— dr_bombay

“ South Grand has restaurants representing more countries than Epcot. Cafe Natasha’s for Persian and all the gin you could ever want, Guerrilla Street Food for Filipino Food Truck turned brick & mortar, Meskerem Ethiopian, and the Vine for killer cheap Lebanese eats. Lots of vegetarian options too. ”— julieannie

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Monks Mound at Cahokia Mounds Photo : Ron Cogswell

See and Do

“If you are into the weird or scary, the Lemp Mansion is a creepy stop.”— Darkest Timeline Zack Morris

“Before moving to St. Louis, I remember visiting the city for ballgames and family events. T hat meant one or two Soulard bars before the ballgame, then driving right out to the suburbs. This rules out any chance of experiencing the great neighborhoods that this city is really made of. If I could give every visitor one piece of advice, it would be to make a shortlist of neighborhoods and hit as a many as possible.”— Ascoltami



“The Grove is a very trendy, hipster area but is also the official/unofficial Pride district— plenty of LGBTQ bars and dance clubs (both gay and straight). Cherokee Street is the uber-hipster/bohemian hangout but is also a hub for Latino/a culture. Lots of restaurants, specialty bars, tattoo shops, and TONS of great Mexican food.”— potsmaster1984

“Catholic or not, visit the new Cathedral on Lindell Blvd. It has one of the largest mosaics in the western hemisphere and is really a sight to behold.”— Mike

“Visit nearby Cahokia Mounds just across the river. Its a former Native city with the impressive hand made mounds. Its also a UNESCO world heritage Site.”— Skarodemocracy

“Delicious Vinyl is a huge old record store that is worth checking out just for the nostalgia factor.”— Batphreak

“The Arch Grounds were just redone and a new museum has opened.”— TeamPunkassRacing

“Unless your main goal is to visit the Arch, I’d steer clear. It’s a long wait, the elevators to the top suck, and it’s somewhat underwhelming (at least from my experience).”— Joe Average Man

“I agree. Time is better spent walking the riverfront and seeing the Arch as opposed to actually going up in the Arch.”— FoodNBeer

“City Museum: you’ll not find another place like this. Basically a giant playground made of random junk: school bus on the roof, gutted airplanes, secret passages, slides everywhere, etc. Bring knee pads and let your kids go crazy.”— Matt

“Beware that the City Museum is not for everyone. I had a legit panic attack because it was just SO MUCH EVERYTHING, total sensory overload. I sat in the ‘ lobby’ area of the caves and cried for half an hour.”— MayAfternoon

“I feel like Grand Center doesn’t get enough love in these kinds of posts. You have the Fox for shows, Powell Hall for the symphony, everyone local knows about them. But you also have things like Circus Flora, the (free) Contemporary Art Museum , the Sheldon for art and music, Jazz St. Louis, and Public Media Commons which has some amazing PBS-tie in programming and events. ”— julieanni e

“ Lafayette Square’s architecture is some of the best in the country (the Painted Ladies KCMO fo sho



“At the Botanical Gardens, we only visited the Butterfly House and my 4yo son LOVED it. We went in October, so they also had ‘ creepy’ bugs (scorpions, beetles, cockroaches, spiders) and carnivorous plants on display, plus the butterfly greenhouse. It was awesome.”— steeb

“One of the more forward thinking things the St. Louis did was tax homeowners in the city and the county for the museum district. This means the zoo, art museum, science center and natural history museum are all free to go to. Seriously, walk into the zoo at anytime without paying a dime. Even better, they are all located within Forest Park, which one of the larger urban parks in the country. You can spend 4 days in Forest Park and never leave.”— Inimoy

“St. Louis has some of the best art museums in the country. The Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) just wrapped up a beautiful Amy Sherald exhibit , is currently hosting a Basquiat exhibit, and consistently hosts incredible local and world wide artists. The St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM) just had the opening for Kehinde Wiley , and the museum is filled with beautiful master works and a great modern art wing. The Pulitzer Museum is also one of the most unique spaces I’ve ever been in, and the quality of the exhibits is on par with any museum in the country. A ll of these museums are FREE!”— Frida Kha led


City Museum Photo : sawdust_media

Know and Plan

“St. Louis is kind of quintessentially Midwestern. People will nod and smile, people will also cut you off in traffic and steal parking spots with no regrets. St. Louis is also dozens of municipalities. The city and county are separate political entities (the city is not part of the county at all) and each municipality has its own quirks. Don’t freak out about driving through a bunch of them.”— Bubarubu

“Good luck heading east. Every major highway is undergoing construction downtown. It’s an absolute f*cking mess.”— notGeorgeLucas

“For all the bad press we get this city is pretty sleepy, especially if you’re just visiting. All the crime in the city happens in a relatively small area Octantis

“People enjoy making up their own lanes at intersections. If the road is even close to wide enough for two cars to scrape past one another, someone will slide into your DMs up to your right and use this non-existent lane as a right turn lane.”— David E. Smith

up to your right and use this non-existent lane as a right turn lane.”— “There are either very loose policies on open containers, or said policies are loosely enforced. I have not figured out the answer, but lots of people carry drinks around the various downtown STL areas.”— Jeff Kent’s Mustache


Photo : Chuck Coker

Get Out of Town

“ T he World’s Largest Catsup Bottle gewf

“Mastodon State Historic Site. Locals really don’t know about this, so hop in the rental car for a ride. Spring is the best time to visit. Great museum with fossils and artifacts. The outdoor area is inviting and a great place for a family picnic.”— Inimoy

“St. Louis was the first major stop on old Route 66, so definitely make a stop at some of the Route 66 highlights. The old Chain of Rocks bridge (which was closed for years) is a slightly kitsched up pedestrian/cycling bridge now. This bridge was famous back in the day for the inexplicable 45 degree turn in the middle of the river. I t’s fun to imagine the old giant cars running along and squeezing by each other.”— TheMeanestSnowflake


Most of these commenters left a lot more tips than what we quoted, so read all their comments under the Staff tab on the original post. Come back next week when Hack Your City goes to East Asia.