Fritz's — Restaurant in Kansas City

First of all, it should be known to the reader that I was born in KCK, in the 70's, and have been a longtime and loyal customer of Fritz's, for literally ALL of my nearly 50 year life. I now reside in Texas, and recently traveled home with my new wife. She wanted to see where I'm from, what I call home. Fritz's is a part of that heritage for me. So we went there for breakfast. The food was very good, on point, as usual. The service was adequate, as was expected. However...... THE DAMN TRAIN was broken, not working!!! That was kinda the whole point!!!! The novelty of having the train bring your food to your table is pretty much the "staple attraction". It's the ONE thing that separates Fritz's from any other normal to better-than-average local food joint. The train was definitely the reason for our visit, and the reason my wife was not only a bit disappointed, but overall very unimpressed with Fritz's. I strongly recommend you guys get that fixed. There are other places in town that serve better food in a cleaner environment and nicer neighborhood. Without the train running, Fritz's is on borrowed time. Please don't let one of my fondest childhood memories die like so many others...

I had read in the Kansas City Star that Fritz's had a good burger. I must say that I was disappointed because a.) I've been trying to get a Fritz's burger for some time, but because they close at 3 pm everyday, except Sunday when they pull a Chick-fil-A and don't open and b.) the burger was not Even that good once I did manage to be in KCK at the right time of the day.

I had the single patty burger with chili, cheese, onions and mustard.

I couldn't discern any type of cheese on the burger. The chili was non-descript and the burger was mealy. Overall, not a great burger.

The food delivery trolley was a nice distraction from the lackluster food.

The drink I ordered, a cherry limeade arrived within seconds of my placing the order on the phone at my booth. The burger arrived via train track into a tray that was supposed to lower itself down to near my table, but the burger was not hefty enough to activate the switch to lower it down and I had to reach up above my head on order to get my puny patty.

If I'm in the area during open hours I might give them another try with a different style of burger, but I'm not waiting at the train station for any length of time to get a great burger...

I must have went to the one closer to Union Station before. This corner location is a small, dingy restaurant which is part of the charm. It smelled heavily of a strong cleaner, like it was trying to mask something, which wasn't pleasant. Every group of 6 or more had to wait as they have very limited seating - no problem for my daughter and I, you seat yourself. I don't recommend sitting in the corner next to the gumball machine lol, between kids and parents clamoring for quarters and gum, and the noise from the train, I wanted to scream. The train is loud but amusing to watch it come from the kitchen and drive around the little restaurant overhead - obviously! You sit down, pick up the phone (too funny) on the wall to call in your order. Then you wait.... and the train passes overhead and drops off your meal. Food was ok, very bland and simple but cheap. My favorite part was the Oreo milkshake. Clearly for the kids!! Bathroom is tiny. It's kind of dirty - menus, phone, gumball machine needs cleaned... floor, bathroom, but mostly just...