Sunday's Fish Counter, Minus the Wait
Grace Chicken + Fish runs on a simple premise: fry the cod right and keep the line moving, and a counter-service Southern spot earns its regulars. The after-church rush is the room's real test, and by most accounts the kitchen passes it, food coming out at a steady clip even when the dining room fills fast after Sunday services. The tender meal deal is the anchor order, chicken tenders done consistently enough that repeat customers order it without hesitation. The cod, the dish that draws people in specifically on Ash Wednesday and other fish-forward occasions, gets particular attention, a sign this kitchen understands its role in the city's Lenten and Friday fish traditions the way any Catholic-adjacent Southern kitchen in this metro should.
Fish and chips rounds out the trio, straightforward and unfussy, the kind of plate that does not need embellishment to work. The counter-service format keeps things fast and keeps the price moderate, which matters for a lunch crowd that wants to eat and get on with the day. Younger staff have been handling the order line with real efficiency during peak rushes, a detail worth noting because a counter operation lives or dies on how well the front of house manages volume when everyone arrives at once. That said, the value equation is not universal: at least one accounting found the fish portion thin relative to the price, the fish itself tasting fine but the plate not stretching far enough for the cost.
That is a fair caution for anyone ordering the fish specifically rather than the tender meal, where the portion-to-price math seems to land better. St. Louis has no shortage of options for a Southern-inflected, church-adjacent lunch spot, but Grace fills a specific niche: fast, casual, and reliable enough on a Sunday that the after-service crowd keeps coming back. It will not replace a sit-down fish house, and it is not trying to.
