KC Tourist

P&L is tight, but very commercial/touristy like. Westport is where the younger local crowds go.


But that's all I know unless you come to STL.

I'm 27, lived in KC since I was 22; here's my two cents:

First off, I would recommend grabbing trolley tickets for $10 each on Saturday night. You can ride it all night and it will take you to various bar districts to see more of the City and visit more areas of the city. Plus you can take booze on them. Anyway...

Bar districts:

Power and Light: fun in the summer, it's not really a spot where locals spend much time. Like mizslu said, it's pretty touristy/flashy, but it will be fun for a night for a group of visiting guys. PBR Bar usually has some decent ladies. I don't know what it's like on Thursday night; but there will probably be some free show going on there tomorrow night (usually are on Fridays in the summer and they can be pretty fun). But just FYI, these bars are overpriced, loud, and usually packed on weekends.

Crossroads: Not so much a bar district, but it's just south of downtown and there are some decent restaurants and bars. The Cashew is kind of a cool bar, but it's pretty low key and isolated from other spots.

Westport: Few miles south of downtown; popular spot for fresh out college/younger people. Lots of bros, mix of laid back sports bars and hipster spots. Usually some live music at various spots on the weekend. Harpos and Kellys are probably my favorite bars out there. I'm pretty sure Harpos has a good drink special on Thursdays and it usually gets pretty rowdy in the summer. You guys could have a good time out here, though no guarantees if you are looking for ladies.

Plaza: Just south of Westport. There are a few bars down here, but it tends to be an older/wealthier crowd. Probably not where 9 guys want to spend the night on a weekend trip, but there are some decent spots to eat. Gran Falloon is solid spot to start your drinking and get some decent bar food, I just don't recommend staying out here for an entire night.

There are some other bar districts further out south such as Brookside and Waldo, but I'd probably skip those as they are more 'neighborhood' bar districts and can be pretty uninteresting. There is some stuff north of downtown as well, such as River Market, but I rarely venture down that way.

Restaurants:

Joe's Kansas City BBQ (formerly Oklahoma Joe's) - Kansas City, KS. Best bbq in town, call ahead or you'll wait in line for hours.

Q39 BBQ - Westport, Kansas City, MO. Best ribs in town, will probably be slammed all weekend but it's delicious.

Beer Kitchen - Westport, Kansas City, MO. American pub food; lots of beer. Small place, might be tricky to get 9 of you seated.

Minsky's Pizza - Locations all around KC. It's pizza. And beer. Best of the local variety.

Stroud's - Several locations. Pan fried chicken, delicious but you'll feel awful after eating all that grease.

Pierpont's - Union Station, KC, MO. Classier establishment, cool bar and location.

Grunauer - Crossroad, KC, MO. Austrian/German food. Classier establishment, my favorite restaurant in KC.

One additional note: Kauffman Stadium (Royals stadium) is way the hell out east so be prepared for that. Tailgating before the game is a thing, and pretty fun, but you'll want to get out of that area after the game as there is literally nothing to do around the stadium.

Have fun in KC!

KC is a blast. Have fun man.

Update:

KC was freaking awesome! I was not expecting it to be that "happening". We saw at least 10 bachelorette parties on Saturday night out in P&L district. That place was insane.

My favorite BBQ was the Burnt Ends at Gates. I got the ribs at OKJoes and wasn't too terribly impressed (don't shoot me).

Went to Hollywood casino and got stranded till 530 AM because there were no cabs to take us back to the plaza.

Kaufmann stadium was way out there and was actually smaller than I was expecting but I definitely liked the layout better than Turner field in atlanta. I had an awesome time there Saturday night.

My two biggest take aways:
1) KC is a very clean city. No garbage laying around, buildings seemed well kept.
2)Forget the Southern heat, KC was freaking scorching.

I'm glad you had a positive experience in KC. Most people have a negative misconception about the city. I'm not sure where that comes from, but I like to hear stories like yours.

quote:

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Most people have a negative misconception about the city. I'm not sure where that comes from

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It's the name. People hear "Kansas" City and think of kansas, and subsequently associate it with boring, flat, cow-town with nothing going on/nothing to do. People from the east coast probably assume we don't even have electricity.

It really is cool to hear almost every person who visits KC say it was not at all what they were expecting (in a good way). In my completely biased opinion, KC is one of the most underrated cities around. It's a cool/fun city without the reputation for being cool/fun.