Saint Louis University Guide: Where to Eat, Drink & Stay (2026)

Whether you're a SLU student working out which Midtown places are worth it, a parent in town for move-in or May commencement, an alum coming back for Homecoming, or a prospective student walking Grand Boulevard for the first time, this guide pulls together the restaurants, bars, hotels, and campus landmarks worth knowing around Saint Louis University.

SLU sits on 271 acres in Midtown St. Louis, right at Grand and Lindell, with about 8,100 undergraduates and 13,300 students in total. Founded in 1818, it's a Jesuit university and the oldest one west of the Mississippi. Two things shape how you plan a visit. First, there's no football team, and there hasn't been since 1949, so a fall Saturday here looks nothing like an SEC weekend: the big-ticket games are basketball at Chaifetz Arena in winter and soccer at Hermann Stadium in the fall. Second, the campus itself is compact and genuinely walkable, and so is the Grand Center arts district just north of it, but most of the city's best eating and drinking sits about two miles west in the Central West End, Cortex, and The Grove. Grand station on the MetroLink runs both the Red and Blue lines and connects campus to the airport, downtown, and the Central West End without a transfer, which covers more visitor trips than you'd expect.

SLU's food splits by how far you're willing to go. Within a walk of campus, Midtown covers the essentials: barbecue on Olive, an Art Deco soda fountain on Locust, and a couple of cheap counters just west toward Cortex. Push two miles out and you hit the city's serious cooking, in Cortex, Botanical Heights, and The Grove. One thing to plan around: an unusual number of these places close on Mondays, and a few keep lunch-only hours, so check before you drive.

Two things sit within an easy walk of campus: a German biergarten up in Grand Center and a frozen cocktail bar a few blocks west on Laclede. After that, drinking near SLU means picking a neighborhood and getting a ride. The Grove along Manchester is the city's densest bar strip and its main LGBTQ nightlife district, the Central West End is the polished option, and Lafayette Square holds the serious cocktail room. None of those are a walk from campus at night, so plan on a rideshare.

SLU has something most urban campuses don't: a genuinely walkable hotel. The Angad Arts Hotel is two-tenths of a mile from campus and the Element by Marriott is just over half a mile, and between them they cover most parent visits. After that you're choosing a neighborhood. The Central West End sits about two miles west and has the most to do on foot. Downtown is two to three miles east and pairs well with a Cardinals game or the Arch. Book the two Midtown properties first, because they're the ones that go on commencement weekend.

SLU's campus is easy to see in an hour. West Pine Mall, the pedestrian spine through the middle of it, runs past the Clock Tower plaza and the Cupples House, with the College Church anchoring the Grand and Lindell corner and the art museum across Lindell. Chaifetz Arena and the Billiken statue sit together on the south edge. Interstate 64 separates the north campus from the medical campus, so unless you have business at the med school, everything on this list is on one side.