The film was a "New York Times" Critics' Pick: after seeing it at the Astor Theatre, Bosley Crowther called it "a warm and beguiling based on Sally Benson's memoirs of her folks ... The Smiths and their home, in Technicolor, are eyefuls of scenic delight, and the bursting vitality of their living inspires you like vitamin A. Miss Garland is full of gay exuberance as the second sister of the lot and sings, as we said, with a rich voice that grows riper and more expressive in each new film. Her chortling of "The Trolley Song" puts fresh zip into that inescapable tune, and her romantic singing of a sweet one, "The Boy Next Door," is good for mooning folks." Crowther concludes: "As a comparable screen companion to "Life With Father", we would confidently predict that "Meet Me in St. Louis" has a future that is equally bright. In the words of one of the gentlemen, it is a ginger-peachy show."