The Royale

09/20/2026

Hosted Jon Jon last week- didn’t realize he was going to do a video on our neighborhood! Thanks Jon Jon!

09/18/2026

09/07/2026

We’re giving the crew a Labor Day Monday off because apparently they have lives outside The Royale.

Closed Monday. Back Wednesday at 4pm, rested, refreshed, and ready to make you a drink.

Enjoy the holiday, St. Louis.

08/09/2026

The Royale has a new side gate, and it’s not ordered online.

Wiktor Szostalo built it entirely by hand in his studio in Granite City, glass and metal, welded piece by piece over months before he installed it himself this spring. If you’ve spent any time in St. Louis, his work has probably crossed your path without you knowing it. He’s the sculptor behind the Angel of Harmony outside the New Cathedral Basilica, the stainless steel angel with over a hundred wind chimes built into its wings.

Wiktor’s story is its own kind of remarkable. He trained as an artist in Poland, studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, and along the way became one of the founding organizers of the Solidarity movement in his hometown. After the government cracked down in December 1981, he was jailed for five months for that work. He left Poland in 1982 and was granted political asylum in the US. He never stopped making things, and St. Louis has been lucky enough to be where he landed.

I’ve known Wiktor for almost 30 years. He’s a friend, a regular since day one, and now the guy whose hands are on the door of this place every single day. Swipe through to see the gate go from raw steel in his studio to standing here at The Royale.

Come see it in person, and next time you walk through it, you’re walking through something someone actually built.

07/27/2026

A month ago we celebrated 21 years of The Royale.

There was live music from The High and The Mighty, the return of Free Candy with Amanda Doyle, conversations with Kevin Scannell, Wiktor Szostalo, Kristin Gleich and more, a courtyard full of neighbors, old friends, and a lot of laughter.

The event itself lasted an afternoon.

The community that made it possible has been showing up for twenty-one years.

I’ve always believed neighborhood bars can be more than places to eat or drink. They can be places where people meet, argue, celebrate, mourn, organize, create ideas, hear music, make friends, and occasionally stumble into something completely unexpected.

Looking around that afternoon, it felt like all of those things were happening at once.

Thank you to everyone who has ever walked through our doors. Whether you’ve been coming since 2005 or just found us this year, you’ve helped make this little corner of South City what it is.

Here’s to Year 22.

07/19/2026

One of my favorite places in St. Louis isn’t inside The Royale.

It’s just outside.

Twenty-one years ago this was mostly concrete and a dream. Little by little it became a living garden. Today it produces peaches, apples, grapes, jujubes, service berries, tomatoes, herbs, edible flowers, figs and fig leaves, lemongrass, and plenty of inspiration for the bar and kitchen.

Some of what grows here ends up in cocktails. Some ends up on the plate. Some simply feeds birds, bees, butterflies, and whoever slows down enough to notice.

A neighborhood bar should belong to its neighborhood. For us, that includes growing a little bit of it.

Thanks to everyone who has helped plant, prune, water and dream over the years.

See you in the garden.

07/08/2026

Earlier today, we hosted the most important Olympics St. Louis has seen since 1904: The Royale Bar Olympics.

Our entire service team came together for this staff-only tradition. It looks like games (and it is), but it’s also one of the best ways we’ve found to sharpen our craft. Free-pour challenges, technique, consistency, speed, accuracy, and a little friendly competition all wrapped into one afternoon. We even mixed in a few lessons focused on the areas where we can all improve.

The best part? Every single employee showed up ready to learn, compete, laugh, and cheer each other on. That says a lot about this crew.

Afterward, we headed to a beautiful saltwater pool for some well-earned downtime. Great neighborhood bars aren’t built just by hiring good people. They’re built by standing shoulder to shoulder behind the bar, practicing together, challenging one another, and making time to enjoy each other’s company, too.

I’m incredibly grateful for this team and the care they put into making The Royale what it is every day.

Here’s to getting a little better every shift.

06/13/2026

Our favorite place to meet, and catch up with old friends, has always been at The Royale. Tomorrow, Sunday June 14, we get to be a part of their 21st Anniversary celebration. It's an honor, for sure, and we hope some of you can make it out!

06/05/2026

📻 WEATHER BULLETIN 📻

After reviewing the forecast, we’re activating the rain date.

The Royale Turns 21 and Free Candy with Amanda Doyle will move to:

Sunday, June 14
3pm

With Kevin Scannell, Elizabeth “Nova” McDonald of Artica, Wiktor Szostalo, Kristin Gleich of CRSTL, The High and The Mighty, surprise guests, and all the assorted chaos we’ve been planning.

The production involved is simply too much to gamble on a rainy afternoon.

That said, The Royale will still be open this Sunday, June 7, and I’ll be around if anyone stops by. Consider it an informal office hours version of the anniversary.

The full celebration happens June 14.

We’ll keep the signal alive a little longer.

05/29/2026

The garden is popping right now at The Royale- do yourself a favor and visit periodically throughout spring and summer to catch the vibes of our foodscaped garden. It’s really intense- and with a proper cocktail and some fine food? It’s next level.