Lidia’s — Restaurant in Kansas City

Terrific too-notch service, all staff were exemplary. Beautiful restaurant, extremely full; obviously a favorite local spot. For us it was too loud, but many might like the bustling sound of diners having a pleasant dining experience.

Ordered fritto misto, fegato, and scampi for appetizers. All came out rather quickly.

Fritto Misto - all was cooked just right. Haphazard application of salt practically ruined the dish. The pieces that were unsalted or lightly salted were good. About half the pieces could be mistaken for spoonfuls of salt.

Fegato - extremely good, all five persons at our table who like liver loved the fegato. Really impressive ability to make liver a superstar.

Scampi - extremely cooked shrimp, great presentation, dish likely is normally a great dish. Ours was drenched in lemon, couldn’t taste anything except lemon.

For entrees we got the Osso Buco, Gnocchi, Pollo Al Limone, Brasato, and Bolognese. All came out in a reasonable time and all were served hot.

Osso Buco - meat was extremely tender, but tasted like lemon peel for some reason making it undesirable. Risotto tasted like it was half salt, half risotto; inedible.

Gnocchi - sauce tasted exactly like chef boyardee ravioli sauce. Presentation was similar to a can of chef boyardee.

Pollo al Limone - tasted like liver, couldn’t detect lemon at all; appeared to have been boiled to cook it.

Brasato - tender, but flavorless. Couldn’t find the horseradish gremolata. Very bland dish.

Bolognese - crunchy noodles, somewhere in between uncooked and al dente. Flavorless sauce. Appearance was basic, noodles with a thin sauce light coating. Not something one would normally find in a quality dining establishment.

We definitely were displeased with our dishes and politely informed the waiter as such when I attempted to give him my credit card to pay for the meal so we could leave and dine elsewhere. The waiter heard us and said he’d be right back. He got a leader, possibly the owner, who made the decision to forgo charging us for all of our entrees (we ate half a dozen bites of each meal, checking and rechecking the dishes). Really appreciate the restaurant’s respect for customer opinion and willingness to take action. We were charged for the appetizers as we did eat them.

Note: We did leave an appropriate tip for the waiter, one based on the full charge we would have had if we had paid in full. He did an amazing job and did the all the work of the full meal, we just seriously disliked the food.

Also, the place was jam packed. It is quite possible we had the one-off experience. If others got the dishes we did, I strongly believe this restaurant would go...

Update on our 4th visit, due to a series of unfortunate events, it will be our last. We were seated in front of the kitchen entrance where the traffic was endless. With the size of the restaurant area,why do you seat someone adjacent to where the noise level and staff are constantly back and forth? There were plenty of empty tables further away and we had made reservations a week well in advance. The seating choice was not at all romantic or ideal for date night. The food, that is the most unfortunate of all. Decided to try the duck "breast" with brussel sprouts and polenta. Although I understand the duck was prepared on the medium rare temperature grade, I asked the server if I can just have it seared to well done. She insisted that I wouldn't be able to chew the meat if it's well cooked. I beg to differ for someone who has eaten plenty of Peking duck and roast duck , well done duck is more fragrant and absolutely tender. I asked to have the meat seared a bit longer until it's thoroughly cooked, the server seemed a bit put off that I should ask for something which I prefer not to eat in a rare state. After all that fanfare of convincing me the duck would be tough meat, I still wanted it cooked longer, it turned out as good as the roasted pancetta on the plate and tender in its smoky flavor. However, the so called duck breast must have came from a spring duckling which was served only in 5 thin pieces, can't imagine a breast shrunk to that size. My hubby's osso bucco towered unproportionately. Perhaps the chef's intention or recipe is intended for a smaller appetite or smaller person. The brussel sprouts were at a raw state as well, perhaps to match the rare duck meat? Thankfully I ate it as if it was a salad. Lastly, the bread wrapped in paper was served completely cold. I'm not sure Italians enjoy their bread cold. Overall with the several sly comments from the server, wasn't sure if she was just being sarcastic or just not happy we were trying to have a conversation or ask her for too much during the entire meal. We only wanted to enjoy the evening with good food and a good setting after a long day's work. Neither were accomplished at Lidia's.

1st visit --Love the ambiance and rustic decors. Great cocktails. The food was unique such as the triple pasta special that has a bold mix of flavors. Will return to try...

Fantastic service. Great food. Gorgeous place. Save room for dessert!!

Updated review as of 12/26/24 It has taken me a while to write this note but the more days that pass the more disappointment I am feeling. Lidia's is one of our favorite places in KC for special occasions, see above, except our most recent visit. We booked our table 2 months early for my mom's 60th birthday, they're first visit to Lidia's, and if something could go wrong it did. Our appetizers NEVER came, our server admitted they didn't put them in. During our main course 2 of the 5 whom ordered the pasta trio meal did not get plates; the plates were FINALLY brought out after 2 of the 3 pastas had already came to the table. During this time all 7 people were waiting to eat so we could all eat together; and to add to that we were never offered pasta refills (kinda the whole point) after having to ask for the first 2 to come back since we'd finally gotten our plates.

Then comes dessert where our server brought 5 tiramisus plus 2 other desserts, only 2 people actually ordered the tiramisu. This was blamed on the kitchen but on reality I'm certain it was again a server mistake. This delayed the progression of our meal more since 3 desserts had to be remade, taking long enough those of us that had our desserts and coffee had to finish ours since they were melting (ice cream). After all these items delaying our overall meal experience, we'd just paid the almost $400 bill, and the GM came by to what I hoped was touch base and ask how our meal was but instead told us we'd overstayed our reservation and had to leave. Again, all of the delays were directly connected to the service, not us.

This was not the experience I wanted for our family, especially since I had talked Lidia's up so much. This left a bad enough taste in my mouth it'll be hard for me to return and I know my family will not. I am sure overall that doesn't matter to such a popular restaurant but it's a shame to lose regular (5+ visits per...