3 Little Monkeys now open on Morganford

The '80s-themed restaurant reprises favorite menu items from owners Zach and Mary Rice’s original restaurant, Three Monkeys.

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Restaurateurs Zach and Mary Rice continue to make their mark along Morganford. After earning a following at Black Sheep Whiskey & Wine and Mama 2’s Biscuits, the couple recently opened 3 Little Monkeys (3172 Morganford), an ‘80s-themed restaurant and bar across the street. The pizza-and-wings concept reprises favorite menu items from the Rice’s original restaurant, Three Monkeys. Here’s what to know before you go.

The Concept

“This place was inspired by the food Three Monkeys did well—like pizza and wings—and by our love of going to pizza places as kids in the ‘80s,” Mary says. “It’s like the final piece of our vision for our restaurants. You can have brunch and then lunch and then dinner at our places. You can play video games and have cocktails. It’s simple and fun.”

The Rices have been working with developers and contractors for nearly two years on the buildout, which took longer than expected because of pandemic-related delays and rising prices. It’s the first time they’ve been able to conceptualize a restaurant from scratch, thanks to its location on the ground floor of the newly constructed MOFO Urban Residences building.

Today, 3 Little Monkeys’ interior channels the bright colors of the ‘80s, with everything from neon lights to arcade games. “Both Zach and I are very nostalgic people, and it’s a nostalgic time right now,” Mary says. “Everything in here—the lockers, the paint, the art on the walls—it’s so personal.”

Zach says “the overall experience we’re trying to re-create is when you were out as a kid to get pizza with your parents and they gave you $2 in quarters to play video games.” With the room’s open floor plan, parents can keep an eye on their youngsters—or on each other. “It’s so cool to see dads over in the corner playing Sega Genesis with their kids,” he says. “I love it when I come out of the kitchen, and I see a chair pulled up to an arcade game because that means a little kid was standing on it. That warms my heart.”

The Menu

Deciding on the menu was relatively easy, Zach says, after operating Three Monkeys for years and knowing what dishes were popular. Former Three Monkeys customers who liked the sweet and spicy wing sauce will be happy to see it’s still on the chicken wings—and on the “It’s T-N-T It’s Dynamite” pizza (along with pulled pork, bacon, and jalapeños).

Other specialty pizzas include the Truffle Shuffle (with goat cheese, mushrooms, and a truffle balsamic drizzle), the Seoul Asylum (with kimchi, spicy Gochujang sauce, fried chicken, and red cabbage slaw), the Savage Garden (with veggies and garlic-tomato sauce), and You're The Pest-O-Round (with pesto sauce, sliced tomato, goat cheese, 3 cheese blend). “We tinkered with the pizza dough recipe to use flour with more gluten, so there’s less ‘flop’ and it’s better for pizza by the slice,” Zach says. It also holds up better to all of the specialty toppings without losing the flavor or chewiness.

The couple has added new wing varieties as well: mango-habanero, garlic-parmesan, spicy Korean, Carolina BBQ, and traditional Buffalo. Salads and a handful of appetizers—including the popular Jungle Love Nachos, topped with pulled pork—round out the menu. All of the sauces and toppings are made in house.

On the beverage side, the Rices were so eager to get the program off the ground that they drove to Jefferson City to pick up the long-awaited liquor license. “Nothing goes better with pizza than beer, so that’s going to be our main focus to start,” Mary says. “We’ll have a straightforward selection on tap with lots of beers in cans and bottles to go, plus a little wine and maybe some canned cocktails.”

In the coming weeks, they also plan to add craft cocktails with a fun, fruity spin, along the lines of Capri Suns and Ecto Coolers. They’ll also be adding more specialty pizzas and a few sandwiches. And eventually, they’ll offer late-night pizzas by the slice from a window in the vestibule.

The Team

Zach worked at Three Monkeys for eight years before the couple purchased the business. It marked the start of five years of continuous change. “We bought Three Monkeys in 2018 and refreshed and rebranded it," says Mary. Then the pandemic hit. "Eventually, we had to close," Mary says. 

After Three Monkeys closed, in 2020, they replaced it with two different concepts: date-night spot Black Sheep Whiskey & Wine and brunch destination Mama 2’s Biscuits. But they had a long-term plan to bring it back in some form. "The 3 Little Monkeys concept was always there in the background," says Mary.

Today, after years spent operating the two concepts at 3153 Morganford while building out a third concept, Zach hopes to be able to slow the pace of change. “Between the two spaces, I’m putting in about 11 miles a day running back and forth,” he says. “It’s been so much fun, but it’s also been a really long process. It will be nice to just run a restaurant without creating it at the same time.”

3 Little Monkeys

3172-A Morganford, St Louis, Missouri 63116

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Wed - Sun: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m.

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