A few weeks ago, I finally had a chance to go to the Hi Pointe Drive In, located next to, you guessed it, the Hi-Pointe Theatre on McCausland Ave. in St. Louis, where the old Del Taco used to be. This is a fairly new sister restaurant to Sugarfire Smokehouse, which has several locations in the St. Louis area. The brightly colored Hi Pointe, built from shipping containers, is impossible to miss…especially with the addition of a spaceship out front!

I loved all the signs inside, both menus and artwork. They also help you figure out what you’re supposed to do. Start by grabbing a drink (great local selection of soda by Excel, as well as local beer), unless you want a draught beer, which you get at the end of the assembly line, and then place your order. After you pay, find a table, and they’ll bring your food to you…pretty simple!

The whole space is full of funky charm:

Of course, the real reason I was there was for the food. While Ryan ordered a standard burger (which is prepared smashed-style) with bacon, and a chocolate shake, I had to try the specials. It happened to be National Pretzel Day, so I got a burger that had gouda cheese (one of my favorites!), beer cheese sauce, chips, and onions, served on a pretzel bun, plus an “Elvis Pretzely” shake, which had peanut butter, bacon, and bananas! The burger was amazing, but the shake was too heavy on the peanut butter for me, so Ryan and I ended up trading. The chocolate shake was perfect (check out the fat straw that came with it…totally necessary, too!), and he liked the one I ordered, since he’s a bigger fan of peanut butter than I am.

This is a fun restaurant with tons of personality. The food is great, and if you follow them on Instagram, you’ll quickly see that while their standard sandwiches and burgers are fantastic, what they really specialize in is coming up with over-the-top specials. Burgers with ingredients you’d probably never have thought of, brunches that will leave you drooling, and other sandwiches that are fresh takes on old standards. It was a bit spendy, so I don’t think we’ll be able to go very often, but it’s great to see another successful restaurant in the Dogtown area!