My boyfriend and I love going out to eat. A date night for us, is taking our taste buds on a journey at a new restaurant in the Kansas City area. I encourage everyone to do this, not only does it switch up the environment but it also allows you to try new flavors and have new experiences with your partner. You learn a lot about another person through their food choices believe it or not. We try to avoid chain restaurants but out of convenience, Old Chicago was the choice of the night due to its late hours.
There are 3 locations currently in KC; Overland Park, Independence, and North Kansas City. We visited the Independence location which seemed to be strategically placed next to Main Event, a late night entertainment spot for people of all ages, and conveniently right off the highway.
From first glance inside, the place fit the description of a chain restaurant, with the tacky all over the place wall decorations that I thought was still only in existence in Applebee’s and TGIF and our waitress who put on the “waitress” voice as she gave us her pitch for appetizers all in one breath before she asked us our drink order.
The menu was overwhelming. I felt like I had to take time to mentally organize it. If you have ever been to the Cheesecake Factory and flipped through their endless options of a menu, that is exactly how this menu felt; never ending. There is a section for “Taproom Bites” and “Taproom Starters,” aren’t these both sections for appetizers? A lot of redundancy and a bit of an insult to my intelligence.
We started off our meal with “cheese curds.” (Photo below) Little deep fried balls of white cheddar cheese. I was startled by the fact that these little curds cost $9.49! I don’t know about you, but I don’t think an appetizer should cost more or as much as the meal especially for something so bite size!
As reluctant as I am to admit it, these little balls of cheese were good. They came with a side of jalapeno ranch to dip them in that was complimenting.
I probably won’t order those again though unless it was a happy hour special. All of their appetizers cost about the same and there wasn’t much variety. Everything looked very filling. Side note: An appetizer is a pregame to the meal. It shouldn’t fill you up.
So finally after stuffing our faces with these little cheese curds, our pizza arrives. We had ordered the “Chicago 7” from their section of “Classic Recipes”. The pie was covered with pepperoni, Italian sausage, red onions, black olives, green peppers, sliced mushrooms. I do give Old Chicago props because that pie looked just like the picture. No false advertisement in that area. (See featured photo)
The waitress kindly asked to serve our first piece. I don’t know if they usually do this or it was out of kindness but either way, I wasn’t going to stop her.
The pie was thick and covered in toppings. There wasn’t one slice that was bare.
While it wasn’t bad pizza, it wasn’t great pizza. It was…..meh. To be a little positive, I think it would be the perfect day-after, leftover pizza.
But realistically and honestly speaking, I wouldn’t go back if the choice was mine.
The meals were overpriced meritocracy and the focus was clearly not on the food, but on their extensive beer selection. I don’t mind having a large selection of beer, but you could tell that that is where this business focused on. An example of a company that executes balancing their beer/food focus well is Yardhouse. Old Chicago needs to take some notes from them.
I think this would be a good place to go to when you want to escape from the family and watch the game,…….just not to indulge in pizza.
If you have any suggestions on where to go next for pie in the Kansas City area send me an email or comment or press follow to see where my stomach leads me next!
Slice Time 