07 Jul 13 Dog-Friendly Patios in St. Louis

St. Louis is an easy town to have a dog in. Most of our neighborhoods were built with front porches, corner taverns, and parks within walking distance, and a lot of those corner taverns will happily pour you a beer while your dog sleeps under the table. The trick is knowing which patios actually allow dogs, because policies change and a few well-known spots have closed.

Here are 13 patios we’d send a client to today, grouped by what you’re going for: a brewery afternoon, a food-truck evening, a real sit-down meal, or just coffee. Every one of these was checked against the venue’s own site or a current listing. Dogs stay leashed and outside at all of them, and a few have extra rules we’ve noted.

Breweries and beer gardens

The Civil Life Brewing Co. (Tower Grove South)

3714 Holt Ave., St. Louis 63116. Tucked on a residential side street off Arsenal, Civil Life pours balanced, lower-alcohol English and American styles, including cask ale, and runs a full kitchen. The patio is the neighborhood’s living room, and dogs are a regular part of the crowd. Closed Mondays.

Perennial Artisan Ales (Carondelet)

8125 Michigan Ave., St. Louis 63111. Perennial calls its outdoor space the “pup approved patio,” and it means it: covered picnic tables, yard games, and a rotating list of barrel-aged and seasonal beers. It’s one of the best reasons to drive down to Carondelet. Closed Mondays.

Urban Chestnut Midtown Biergarten (Grand Center)

3229 Washington Ave., St. Louis 63103. Urban Chestnut’s original spot is a restored 1920s garage with a traditional German biergarten out front, umbrella tables, and a kitchen doing burgers and fries. Dogs are welcome in the outdoor seating. Open Wednesday through Sunday.

Schlafly Bottleworks (Maplewood)

7260 Southwest Ave., Maplewood 63143. A short walk from our office, Bottleworks has a big covered patio with string lights and a full restaurant menu seven days a week. Leashed dogs are fine on the open patio but not inside or in the enclosed tents, so pick a table in the open air.

Rockwell Beer Garden at Francis Park (St. Louis Hills)

5300 Donovan Ave., St. Louis 63109. This is Rockwell’s seasonal beer garden inside Francis Park, not the brewery itself, which is on South Vandeventer in the Grove. Expect picnic tables next to the tennis courts and playground, pizza, fire pits, and loaner pickleball paddles. Rockwell asks that dogs stay off the tables and that you bring a reusable cup for their water.

4 Hands + Peacemaker Kirkwood (Kirkwood)

150 W. Argonne Dr., Kirkwood 63122. 4 Hands’ newest tasting room sits across from the Kirkwood train station with a landscaped yard and a four-season covered patio. Per the brewery’s own FAQ, well-behaved leashed dogs are always welcome in the outdoor spaces at all three of its locations. It filled the gap left when Kirkwood Station Brewing closed.

Food-truck evenings

9 Mile Garden (Affton)

9375 Gravois Rd., Affton 63123. Missouri’s first food-truck garden runs a rotating lineup of more than 40 trucks Wednesday through Sunday, plus a 5,000-square-foot drafthouse called the Canteen, a big screen for movies, and weekly trivia and music bingo. The garden’s rule is simple: on-leash only. Bring a blanket; the lawn is where the dogs end up.

Sit-down meals

The Frisco Barroom (Webster Groves)

8110 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves 63119. A restored general store at the old Frisco line stop, with in-house smoked meats and scratch bread. The Frisco has several outdoor spaces; dogs are welcome on the main-level patios but not on the rooftop deck.

Tamm Avenue Bar (Dogtown)

1227 Tamm Ave., St. Louis 63139. The neighborhood is literally named Dogtown, and Tamm Ave. leans in: a partially covered patio with removable walls, water bowls, no glass served outside, and a fire pit shaped like the Death Star. Byrd & Barrel runs the kitchen inside, so order the fried chicken sandwich at the counter. Kitchen is closed Tuesdays.

Pizza Champ (Maplewood)

2657 Lyle Ave., Maplewood 63143. A small pizza shop on a quiet Maplewood side street with a covered patio where dogs are welcome at the table. It’s a two-minute walk from the Bottleworks patio above if you want to make an afternoon of it.

Sugarfire Smoke House (Downtown)

605 Washington Ave., St. Louis 63101. Sugarfire’s downtown location, next to the National Blues Museum, allows leashed dogs on its uncovered sidewalk patio. It’s the easiest barbecue stop if you’re walking a dog around the Arch grounds or Citygarden.

Coffee and frozen drinks

Kaldi’s Coffee on DeMun (Clayton)

700 DeMun Ave., Clayton 63105. The original Kaldi’s, open since 1994, faces Concordia Park and has one of the most-used dog patios in the county. Staff keep a water bowl out, and the park across the street is a good pre-coffee walk. Open 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

Narwhal’s Crafted (Midtown)

3906 Laclede Ave., St. Louis 63108. A frozen-cocktail bar at Vandeventer and Laclede that welcomes leashed dogs on the patio, sets out water bowls, and sells a frozen Pup Cup for the dog. Narwhal’s encourages outside food and has a QR-code delivery partnership with Saucy Porka down the block. Under-21 guests are allowed only until 7 p.m. with a parent.

Places that have closed or changed

A few spots that show up on older lists are gone or different now. Bar K on McRee Avenue in the Grove closed all of its locations; a new pet business is taking over the space. Kirkwood Station Brewing and Earthbound Beer on Cherokee Street have both closed. The Boathouse in Forest Park is in the middle of a long renovation, with only a pop-up beer and wine garden operating, so check before you go.

Where to live if you have a dog

If you’re house hunting with a dog, the neighborhoods above are a good shortlist. Tower Grove South, Maplewood, Dogtown, Webster Groves, and Kirkwood all combine walkable business districts with big parks. We’ve helped plenty of buyers weigh a fenced yard against a short walk to a patio, and we’re happy to do the same for you. Browse current listings at Wizah, or reach out through our home buying page and one of our agents will put together a list of dog-friendly blocks near the places you already like.