The Royale Food & Spirits

Steven Fitzpatrick Smith opened The Royale in 2005 in a corner building on South Kingshighway that had housed a bar since before Prohibition, most recently the Reale Bar. A Saint Louis University graduate who had run a boxing gym in North City and worked events for the Riverfront Times, Smith modeled his gastropub on the great family-owned taverns of South City and the community-minded corner bars he admired in Milwaukee and Chicago. Two decades on, the bet has paid off: the Riverfront Times has chronicled how the bar became a gathering place for local politics and civic life, and St. Louis Magazine marked its 20th anniversary in 2025 with a profile of the South City landmark.

The Royale is one of the few St. Louis bars that prints a dedicated N/A cocktails section on its everyday menu. Five zero-proof drinks run $6 to $10: the Functioning Bastard mixes BARE zero-proof gin with ginger beer, mint, and Angostura bitters; the French 77 pairs lemon and lemongrass syrup with club soda in a champagne flute; What's Up Kid? blends freshly juiced carrot, lemon, and orange with a house hot-honey black-pepper syrup; Puttin' on the Fitz layers rosemary, pomegranate, lime, coconut water, and a splash of cranberry; and the HeartBeet Spritz tops house-pressed beet juice and a gin-inspired juniper simple with tonic. Non-alcoholic beer drinkers get Athletic Brewing's Upside Dawn golden ale, Guinness Non-Alcoholic in the 14.9-ounce can, and budget-friendly Busch NA.

St. Louis Magazine's guide to non-alcoholic cocktails singles out The Royale's handful of zero-proof riffs on classic cocktails, and the bar's backyard courtyard — a fixture of local best-patio round-ups from Sauce Magazine and Feast — is the place to drink them in warm months. Inside, the cocktail list nods to local geography with drinks like the Bevo Old Fashioned, Midtowner Manhattan, and River Des Peres, while the kitchen turns out fish tacos, brisket tacos, and burgers until 9 or 10 p.m. Expect weekend DJ nights, reservations via OpenTable, and a Tuesday closure; the rest of the week the room hums from lunch (or 4 p.m. early in the week) until 11 p.m. or midnight.