Big Chief Roadhouse

Big Chief is a pub restaurant that is good for all kinds of occasions. Here you will find couples on dates, families, and friends. The Happy Hour food and drink prices are very reasonable. I've found all of the servers to be friendly. The women's restroom is neat and has a baby changing table. Overall, Big Chief is very family oriented.

An alternate way to get to Big Chief is turn west at the intersection of Highway 109 & (Old) Manchester Road. Continue west a minute or two to the first stop sign. Then go west another minute or so and Big Chief is on your left side just across from the Middle School.

Big Chief Dakota Grill is an interesting experience in the rural area of St. Louis County known as Pond, Missouri. The restaurant/bar is located on an old section of Manchester Road (Route 66) and somewhat hard for our GPS to locate so please see the directions at the bottom of my review.

The temperature was nice so we sat outdoors at Big Chief Dakota Grill in their covered patio on the backside of the restaurant. We sat at wire-style patio tables but there was also an L-shaped bar counter that served about 10 or more customers. I believe that there were 12 beers on tap. However, they have an extensive drink menu including beers, wines, and cocktails. There were about 5 flatscreen TVs showing a Cardinals baseball game.

Our server was very nice, courteous, and friendly. She checked on us often and explained some of the history of this establishment that dates back to 1929 (be sure to read the history on the menu). I might add for the guys that all of the waitresses were above average in looks and all that we saw were brunettes.

Indoors I saw dining tables, a second bar, a video games room, and a TouchTune juke box. The greeter there told me that the second level was closed but is available for private parties. By the way, the outdoors patio can be enclosed in the colder months of the year and has ceiling gas heaters. We also saw a portable heater off to one side. On our summer evening visit, they lit Tiki torches after the sun went down.

One thing that both of us noticed is that employees who were not busy serving customers were always cleaning. So everything at Big Chief Dakota Grill appeared both neat and clean. It also appears that the entire facility is non-smoking (kudos!) as we saw no ashtrays nor noticed any smoking even under the covered outdoor area.

Since Big Chief Dakota Grill is sort of tucked away off the beaten path, let me discuss the directions: Our GPS had trouble locating Big Chief Dakota Grill as it confused the dual-lane Highway 100 (which is Manchester Road back in Ellisville) with the old and different Route 66 / Manchester Road running through Pond, Missouri.

So here is how we got to Big Chief Dakota Grill: Take the dual-lane Highway 100 west past Highway 109 and then past Highway T (which leads to St. Albans) to Pond Road which is just a bit further west but on the south side of Highway 100. If you've gone by Stovall's (a famed country western bar on Highway 100) you have gone too far west. Once on Pond Road, you go south until you intersect with the old 2-lane Manchester Road. Turn right (west) on Manchester and in about a minute or so your destination will be on your left across from a middle school. Repeat: Big Chief Dakota Grill is NOT located on Highway 100 but on an old section of Manchester Road still running through Pond (close to the northern entrance to Rockwoods Reservation).

Again, we really enjoyed our visit to this off-the-beaten-path restaurant/bar and hope to return again to enjoy their Sunday All-Day Specials.