Tannin Wine Bar & Kitchen — Restaurant in Kansas City

On Valentine's Day my boyfriend and I arrived at Tannin Wine Bar for our Dinner Reservations that had been made over a week prior to the day. I have eaten at Tannin once before and had a great experience. I was excited to share another great time with my boyfriend after the last time we tried eating there they had been closed for a private event.

After being seated our waiter came over with our menus. It was immediately apparent that this waiter was either not in the best of moods, was tired or really just didn't want to be bothered with us. There was no friendly welcome to the restaurant. I don't even remember his name because I don't think he told it to us. He left us with the menus to look over. When he came back he asked if we had any questions. I did. However, his reaction to me actually asking a question seemed as though he was offended. I have a diet in which I need to have protein with my meal. I was inquiring about adding protein to an option on the menu. His response was that it would be enough food for me. Said in a tone that he might as well have said, "Listen big girl, you'll have enough food." After that we both just selected an item on the menu. He asked if we had a drink order and we let him know we hadn't been able to review it yet. He left us to put in the order but without asking us if we wanted an appetizer... which we did. Then he returned but not to ask us what drinks we wanted... no, he just collected our menus and left.

My boyfriend and I just looked at each other after all of this in shock. It wasn't just all the things he had said and done, but the things he hadn't said and done as well. Never once did he make us feel welcomed. From the moment he met us at our table we were made to feel as an annoyance to him. He didn't seem to have a problem serving the two young ladies seated next to us. He also didn't seem to have a problem budding up to the bartender to get a drink.

After digesting all this we decided that we did not have to put up with being treated this way and if he didn't want to serve us, he didn't have to. So, we left our table.

Before leaving we went to the hostess to let her know that we hated complaining but that we were very unsatisfied with our server and no longer wanted to eat there. She apologized and grabbed the manager for us to share this information with. As we began to share with the manager that we would be leaving after having horrible service, our waiter came and stood right behind us making another very uncomfortable moment. They asked if we wanted to be reseated but honestly we just wanted to leave. The manager apologized and took down our phone number and email address and said he would be in touch.

So, here is why I actually took the time to write all this out and share. Because they never contacted us. I understand that sometimes people have a bad day. Sometimes a waiter is like all other humans and has a bad day and messes up. Or maybe this waiter really is a stuck up, rude human being, I don't know. But that waiter made our experience bad enough that we actually got up and left the restaurant (something I have never done!). And while the management of Tannin has now had a week to get ahold of us and make it right in some form or fashion, they have not.

I don't know why the waiter treated us poorly and I don't know why the management decided to slough us off. But I do know it is wrong.

There are a lot of great reviews on here for Tannin and prior to this experience I would have recommended it to others as well. In fact for Christmas I bought my Grandparents a $100 Gift Card to go there. So, you may go and you may have a great time. But if you do go and you do have a bad experience you now know that they won't do anything...

Getting straight to the point, A good dinner was found. Oh My Gawd- wow. Yes. Absolutely, positively yes. This was exactly what my sweet soul was seeking. Superb Casual Elegence! The Food: I had the olive platter, crab dip and Salmon Basil Pesto Risotto dinner. And one dry cider.

The Crab dip has delicious with this almost nuttiness to it; Well balanced- not to crabby. It almost reminded me of really good New England clam chowder. It’s the Mahomes Crab Dip.

Cheese and olive platter- so simple yet with just the right few added herbs and you have this deliciousness with an added fun slice of pickled cabbage, celery and carrots in there that really just elevated their olive shareable dish.

Interlude: The music was jammin- Sweet contemporary smooth jazz and just the cool kind of fancy music There’s a couple TV’s in the bar area but one was off and the other had a fun classic black and white stage show which, idk, just added a playful note in making it relaxed and inviting.

The dry cider : was soft, definitely had the grounded notes but with a peppy tart finish.

The Salmon Dinner Wow. Omg wow. The pesto risotto business is fortune top tier culinary art and flavor. I couldn’t stop eating it! Mmmm! There was sun dried tomato as a trim or layer, I’m not quite sure how they plated it so well but as someone who actually enjoys eating healthy, I appreciated the freshness of the food, the crunch of fresh veggies, the aliveness of it, and oof… I don’t even really know what I just ate but it was perfection. Absolutely everything I A: read off the menu, B: was described and sold C: perfectly delivered, presentation and service! Excellent excellenté.. Yes!!! And to think this place is local and been here they say 15 years- what? How have I never been here? It wasn’t cheap- many excellent things are- But it was well worth the satisfaction and experience! This is a restaurant that represents Kansas City well. Well well. Great job Tannin- the Chefs, the staff, my bartender Michael had flippy hair which went well with whatever strong arm shake these Bartendar’s have to do nowadays with those martini shakers. But he responded well to my many neediness and guided me thru a truly outstanding experience. The teamwork here was apparent and a smooth well-oiled machine. Or so it looked. Thank you! Thank you commenters and thank you Tannins! I will absolutely be back. 5 Effin...

What an extremely disappointing experience. I was in charge of doing my best friends bachelorette party and was told a room would be the best way to book. I had 20 guests confirmed and was informed I had a minimum of $1200. The afternoon of the dinner 8 originally confirmed people had to cancel because of illness of themselves or of their kids so we only ended up with 12. Our waitress was extremely rude from the get go for the reason. When I got up to talk to the general manager about hitting the minimum he in no shape way or form would work with me. I told him the amount of guests that were sick (mind you whole school systems have been closing because of all the viruses going around). I told him I would be happy to make sure our server got her 20% off of the $1200 and he informed me I would need to purchase $600 worth of wine to make up for it. It took him and the server over an hour to get the bottles together, made the whole entire situation a known thing with the guests so they all felt obligated to throw in and the bride herself felt horrible about the whole situation. They made us over an hour late to our next stop. What a disgusting and unprofessional way to make money. If you can’t be flexible with unexpected illnesses and everything else unexpected that happens I have no respect for you or your business. The restaurant was NEVER full so I know they were not waiting to seat people. I will never be returning and since the general manager made it known and got the rest of the table involved I know they will not be returning as well. Do better. Way to ruin what should have been a carefree fun night of celebration for a Bride.

*id also like to add when I asked if I could have gift cards over wine bottles the manager told me no because we would be taking up space. They then also added 20% gratitude on top of my bottles purchased. I’m sorry but I’m what world do I tip 20% on $600 worth of...