Price Guide (average entree): $ bargain - $6 or less, $$ inexpensive - $6 - $12, $$$ moderate $12 - $19, $$$$ expensive - over $19.
Quality Rating: Superb is the highest, considered the very best possible. Notes are qualifiers allowing insight into the reviewer's rating. Disclaimer
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | Downtown |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | **** superb | Notes: | If you like cosmopolitan.... GO |
| Food: | **** superb | Notes: | Fresh pasta, wonderful sauces, great game selection. |
| Service: | *** excellent | Notes: | Courteous, ( albeit, busy) well educated staff. |
| Favorites: | Sampler Platter- definitely the best buy. |
| Comments: | If you are looking for real southern Italian cooking... this is
the place. We have visited three times, greeted with a menu to reflect the season, wonderful food and a great wine selection. Not only will I go back, I would recommend it over any Italian food in town! |
| Reviewer: | Meredith |
Date: | 5/15/00 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's Kansas City | Location: | KC.Mo Art district, behind Union Station |
| Cuisine: | Northern Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | *** excellent | Notes: | Nice location, great decor |
| Food: | * average | Notes: | Pasta was a bit watery and soggy |
| Service: | *** excellent | Notes: | Good waiter, efficient service |
| Favorites: | |
| Comments: | Did not live up to my expectations. However, I'm not a big fan of northern italian cuisine to begin with. Would be nice if they had a lunch menu. pasta sampler was a bit bland. Bread was terrific. |
| Reviewer: | Bart |
Date: | 5/22/00 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | Downtown |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | *** excellent | Notes: | Looks great, but a bit noisy |
| Food: | ** very good | Notes: | |
| Service: | * average | Notes: | |
| Favorites: | |
| Comments: | I ordered a substitute side item. The waitress went to see if
that was allowed - it was. Several minutes later she came back to say they were out of that side item. Several minutes after that she came back to say they were out of the entre I had ordered. What I ended up getting was good, but I was very surprised that this highly-touted restaurant would run out of food. |
| Reviewer: | Bob |
Date: | 8/10/00 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | 20th & Baltimore, KCMO |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | ** very good | Notes: | |
| Food: | * average | Notes: | Many of the sauces seemed no more original than something a |
| Service: | ** very good | Notes: | |
| Favorites: | Pasta Sampler |
| Comments: | After hearing numerous people rave about the food, I have been on 4 different occasions and have been disappointed. The Pasta Sampler was on all 4 occasions lacked taste (bland). |
| Reviewer: | Mark |
Date: | 9/15/00 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | 20th & Baltimore, KCMO |
| Cuisine: | Northern Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | *** excellent | Notes: | |
| Food: | **** superb | Notes: | |
| Service: | *** excellent | Notes: | Friendly, timely, and highly efficient |
| Favorites: | Lemon Chicken |
| Comments: | Our first visit here and definitely far from the last. This was as near a perfect dining experience as I have had in years. I've paid at least double for lower quality food etc. than this. |
| Reviewer: | Art |
Date: | 8/27/01 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | Freight House, Crossroads |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$$ expensive |
| Ambience: | **** superb | Notes: | Blown glass lighting, large stone fireplace. |
| Food: | **** superb | Notes: | The best Ravioli I've ever eaten, excellent gnocchi |
| Service: | ** very good | Notes: | Wait from time to time for refills, etc. |
| Favorites: | Wild Mushroom Ravioli, Pesto Gnocchi. Excellent desserts. |
| Comments: | A wonderful place to visit. In my top 3 dining experiences. My wife and I go often. The music is a bit loud, but the food overwhelms everything. Home made pasta and the under $20 dollar wine list make it an interesting meal for many budgets. The Atmosphere is just as impressive. |
| Reviewer: | Michael |
Date: | 2/9/03 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | Downtown |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | ** very good | Notes: | |
| Food: | * average | Notes: | Sauces were so-so. |
| Service: | * average | Notes: | Waitress was rude. |
| Favorites: | Pasta combo |
| Comments: | Asked waitress for separate checks for 4 women. She said it
wasn't restaurant policy, then proceeded to lecture me on how busy she
was, and how it would take her 20 minutes to figure separate bills. I
don't blame her if it's a management policy, but please don't give me a
speech. It took us 20 minutes to figure her tip, too. Next time, it won't
take that long! |
| Reviewer: | Virginia |
Date: | 2/18/03 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | downtown |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | *** excellent | Notes: | |
| Food: | ** very good | Notes: | |
| Service: | * average | Notes: | rushed, pretentious |
| Favorites: | Lamb |
| Comments: | We were very impressed by the ambience, but were a little
disappointed with the service and food. |
| Reviewer: | Trisha |
Date: | 3/17/03 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | Freight house district, Kansas City, MO |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | *** excellent | Notes: | Nice design, but almost too loud for conversation |
| Food: | *** excellent | Notes: | Sometimes a bit inconsistent |
| Service: | * average | Notes: | The service has REALLY been slipping lately |
| Favorites: | Frico with wild mushrooms (seasonal) |
| Comments: | Lidia's seemed a slam dunk when it opened. The space is raucous but looks great, and the food and service were always top-notch. It's gotten to the point where it's far from a sure bet any more. On more than one occasion I've gotten indifferent and incompetent service. It's too
bad, since when they get it right, they get it just about as right as you
could expect. |
| Reviewer: | Marc |
Date: | 5/26/03 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | downtown Kansas City |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$$ expensive |
| Ambience: | ** very good | Notes: | noisy and tooo close to the next customer |
| Food: | substandard | Notes: | the worst lasagna I've ever eaten |
| Service: | *** excellent | Notes: | |
| Favorites: | |
| Comments: | Lidia's appears to be a very upscale restaurant and the decor supports this. The wine list was average and the caesar salad had a good flavor but was drenched in dressing. The bread was so-so. The lasagna was absolutely bland and tasteless,with no herbs or spices, hardly any meat, the cheese was tasteless and the sauce was light red in color and also tasteless. We will not eat here again and will not recommend.
We hadn't eaten all day and were looking forward to a good dinner -- we left after eating only a few bites. 2 salads, 2 lasagnas, 1 bottle of wine were $67. |
| Reviewer: | carol |
Date: | 7/18/03 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | 20th & Baltimore |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | **** superb | Notes: | design of space incredible |
| Food: | *** excellent | Notes: | |
| Service: | * average | Notes: | |
| Favorites: | |
| Comments: | Lidia's has always been my favorite restaurant, but last weekend we visited and it took 45 minutes to get our entrees (pasta trio and salmon!) after we placed our order. The couple seated after us were served and finished their meal well before we were served. Waiter was very apologetic, but I don't understand why it took that long to get their "special of the house" and a fish!! I won't hurry back. |
| Reviewer: | Shannan |
Date: | 8/15/03 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | 20th and Baltimore, KCMO |
| Cuisine: | Northern Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | *** excellent | Notes: | Absolutely loved the decor |
| Food: | * average | Notes: | Not that impressed |
| Service: | ** very good | Notes: | |
| Favorites: | caprese |
| Comments: | The food is Northern Itailian which isn't really our favorite. The three pasta special was highly unimpressive and mostly bland tasting. Heard about this from many folks (even mentioned in Bon Appetit magazine) but was pretty unimpressed. Probably won't go back. Loved the decor however - I could easily live in the space. :) |
| Reviewer: | Julie |
Date: | 10/8/03 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | Downtown 20th and Baltimore |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | ** very good | Notes: | Tables too close to each other |
| Food: | ** very good | Notes: | Quality is good, but the taste is bland |
| Service: | * average | Notes: | Stuck up waitresses |
| Favorites: | |
| Comments: | Do people know that this is a chain restaurant? Anyway, I have been to Lidia's 5 times. Each time I have had a bad experience and I kept going back because I kept thinking it was that one other time. Nope. The food is high quality but at the same time it does not meet my standards. I grew up in the east coast (NY area) where there was a huge Italian population. Lidia's does not taste like what I have had back home. The pasta sampler is kind of lame.
Anthony's on 8th and Grand is decent! |
| Reviewer: | Kay |
Date: | 1/19/04 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | Near Union Station |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$$ expensive |
| Ambience: | *** excellent | Notes: | Very classy, large windows, airy |
| Food: | ** very good | Notes: | Good food, seems overpriced for level of service |
| Service: | poor | Notes: | Doughter had special, never came back to offer more |
| Favorites: | All 4 dishes were very good |
| Comments: | Total check for our party of four--foru entrees, two appetisers, one bottle of wine--was $175 before tip. Service was VERY slow in a nearly-empty restaurant. Food came fairly quickly, but once we were served, we never saw the waiter again. My daughter had an all-you-can-eat pasta of the house; even though she didn't want more, they didn't come back for 45 minutes to check on us or ask if she wanted any more. Then we waited longer for our check. I grew up in KC and visit about once a year on vacation; I won't be going back here again. There are much better places around for far less $$$$. |
| Reviewer: | Ron |
Date: | 8/6/04 |
| Restaurant: | Lidias | Location: | Kansas City |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$$ expensive |
| Ambience: | ** very good | Notes: | _ |
| Food: | * average | Notes: | _ |
| Service: | * average | Notes: | _ |
| Favorites: | pasta |
| Comments: | I had heard about the pasta sampler platter from friends and was anxious to try it. The idea is that you can try 3 different pastas and it is supposed to be all you can eat. After my first sample plate, I wanted more of one of the pasta selections. A bus boy took my plate away and I assumed they would bring another one out to me. At that point, a server brought dessert. At the end of the meal, I asked my server if they changed the concept of the pasta sampler. He simply said "Oops! That busboy is new and wasn't supposed to take your plate." No apologizes or anything. That was it! Basically, it was $30 for a small bland caesar salad, three tiny scoops of pasta, and a bite of dessert." Not worth it! |
| Reviewer: | Deana |
Date: | 8/7/04 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | Kansas City |
| Cuisine: | Italian | Price: | $$$$ expensive |
| Ambience: | *** excellent | Notes: | warm, intimate atmosphere |
| Food: | * average | Notes: | sampler plate was bland, cold and average tasting at best. |
| Service: | *** excellent | Notes: | We went early and recieved great service. |
| Favorites: | salad |
| Comments: | Wow! What a dissappointment. A good salad and great atmosphere does not make up for the poor quality sampler plate. If I ever go back (which I may....could it be that I just ordered wrong?) I will definately try an entree from the right side of the menu instead of accepting the encouragement to eat "all you want from our delicious specialities". |
| Reviewer: | Sharon |
Date: | 1/29/05 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | 20th & Baltimore |
| Cuisine: | Northern Italian | Price: | $$$ moderate |
| Ambience: | **** superb | Notes: | What a wonderful space! |
| Food: | *** excellent | Notes: | Great attention to detail. |
| Service: | *** excellent | Notes: | My servers have always been attentive and courteous. |
| Favorites: | Zuppa di Pesce |
| Comments: | I've eaten at Lidia's many times since the debut. I have had the privilege of meeting Lidia. Lidia's is my first choice for entertaining my clients. My business success may be tied to the quality of my client's experience at Lidia's. I've never been disappointed! I miei complimenti! |
| Reviewer: | Terry |
Date: | 2/10/05 |
| Restaurant: | Lidia's | Location: | Kansas City |
| Cuisine: | Italian? Got Me | Price: | $$$$ expensive |
| Ambience: | * average | Notes: | Place resembles an old warehouse |
| Food: | substandard | Notes: | Olive Garden is much better! |
| Service: | poor | Notes: | _ |
| Favorites: | _ |
| Comments: | Lidia should come disguised and eat at her KC restaurant, perhaps that is what it will take to get some flavor to the food and some decent service. Our server, whatever her name was (she said it so fast with her wannabe Italian accent that none of us could understand her), did an overkill about the hideous artwork and the food...and she also bragged about the three gorgeous men who would bring our food. YIKES!! These guys looked like ex-cons still on parole! Also, the server needs to update her hair ... the blood red punk look is history! We tried to figure out why the prices are so outlandish and perhaps it's to help pay for Lidia's airtime on PBS. Will any of us go back? NEVER! What a bunch of hype Lidia's is....oh, and the cookbook? Don't waste your $35 because you will never find any of the items from the menu in the book, and the majority of the book is useless filler about her family. |
| Reviewer: | Joan |
Date: | 5/1/05 |
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