KCI Airport City Market — Restaurant in Kansas City

Barbecue, border wars, Bo lings. The three things that make Kansas City the truly above average city it is. As a lifetime Bo Lings aficionado, it is my duty to inform the people how this newest establishment in Mr. Lings culinary empire compares to the rest. We’ll explore this question by examining the key aspects of their signature dish, General Tso’s chicken: Presentation, rice, broccoli, chicken, sauce and price.

Presentation

Served in the same paper bowl as the $18 salad place you’re girlfriend makes you go but, anything to reduce the plastics in our oceans (did you know 80% of ocean plastic is from the fishing industry? We hate bycatch here in KC). Not up to the standard of Mr. Lings primary eateries but this is to be expected for airport cuisine. 6/10.

Rice

Not quite up to the “fresh outta the steam shower” feel we’re used to from Mr. Ling’s rice, but does put the Baltimore airport Panda Express to shame. 7/10.

Broccoli

Who eats this? -/10.

Chicken

The chicken… the chicken. Mr. Ling don’t miss when it comes to chicken. The man wrote the book one tender nuggets, and his latest edition is no exception. Tender, juicy, perfectly sized at 1-2 inches (or so my girlfriend says). 9/10.

Sauce

Mr. Ling was handed down the sauce recipe from General Tso himself while on his deathbed after a battle during the opium wars. It’s his legacy and, some say, the greatest export to ever come from China (second and third being gunpowder and Mao Zedong bobble heads respectively). On the recipe’s journey to the new terminal of KCI airport, unfortunately, it appears a piece of the recipe was lost while hitting potholes up I-29. It lacked the consistency and flavor that has become synonymous with Bo Lings. 7/10.

Price

For the same price as one 25 oz beer at the K, you can hop the North Korean border south, make your way past the Great Wall and have a true Chinese experience in the heart of your newest Midwest layover...

The options for breakfast at KCI are extremely limited, so there was a long line. I don’t mind the wait if the service and food are good. However, once I got to the cashier and ordered a bagel and cream cheese, I was told they were ‘out’ of cream cheese, at 5:30 in the morning! So I ordered a muffin instead and a medium coffee. I then went to the pickup counter and they handed me my muffin then disappeared. I waited quite awhile and then asked how much longer for my coffee. She asked me for my receipt and I told her the cashier didn’t give me one. She then walked away and I waited a few more minutes before asking again. She walked away. After a bit more time (now it’s getting close to time for my flight to board), I walked back over to the cashier and asked her what was going on. She said she had ‘forgotten’ to charge me for the coffee! Was no one going to tell me this??? I took out my card to pay for one, but then another customer told me they had finally set out a cup for me. By this time I was nearly in tears and had to run to my gate. Horrible experience! KCI needs more options for coffee...

Let me start my saying I Love Kansas City and have enjoyed going into each of these local businesses at their locations.

But the experience at airport is very average. Look at these Menu cards.. which are barely surviving. Why can’t these be laminated as the basic standard?

Buffalo State Pizza ran out of options on their menu, so they repeated “Le Royale” again.

Disappointed to see Boulevard (one of my favorite brewery) print their menu on lousy print paper.

I understand this is a new airport, but these are basics to get the Customer Experience right. I wish they up their game as we surely can do...