Voltaire — Restaurant in Kansas City

A somewhat upper scale restaurant with a pleasant slightly darker relaxed atmosphere.

A little outdoor seating. A nice little lounge area just inside. The music played on vinyl was reminiscent of, but NOT David Bowie.

The Pommes Frites, lightly breaded French fries, with parsley flakes and a port wine ketchup were very crispy and the sauce was good if served with too little. Couldn't really taste the garlic on them.

The pan seared Lion's Mane Mushroom dish was pretty good, the mushrooms were well cooked and had a good texture, although they could have been a little crispier on the outside for my taste. The flavors were varied and interesting. The piquillo pistachio relish was pleasant and added some depth. The sauce verte was also good, although very kicky with black pepper and another strong herb that I can't quite place - somewhat citrusy. The radishes were nicely cooked, the pureed cauliflower was pleasant. The sherry miso sauce didn't really show through much amid the other flavors. The leeks ... had a nice flavor, but the outer half of the layers were almost impossible to cut with a sharp knife or chew - so that put a bit of a damper on the dish and made it a little frustrating to eat.

The service was welcoming, knowledgeable of their dishes, and friendly.

I have had some really good food from Voltaire at an event before. This visit was interesting to try, and probably worth trying, but I wouldn't quite say that it lived up to the price vs...

Not sure when Zagats was here but Voltaire is a pretty average new American bistro. I rank places on overall execution of my meal and experience based on that particular restaurants self-marketed theme.

While I generally dig the vibe of dark, neo modern American joints like this I didn't feel particularly welcome here. Came with a group. I'm a business owner in the area and I had visiting artists with my wife and I (we are their ideal demographic). We all eat at places like this all over the country. Yet, somehow it seemed to annoy the staff that we showed up, to a mostly empty restaurant, without reservations.

There inlies the problem. Voltaire is average comparied to everywhere else in the nation doing this same over-played 'modern' concept. The drinks are solid but they should be; they are a focus of the theme but average $10 drinks. The food is good, but for the high concept, average also. The fancy ingredients laul most into thinking the cuisine is top-notch but it's simply executed at an average level. Nothing special. Just expensive ingredients you find on better menus.

So in summation this is the kinda place I take friends when I'm not expecting anything special, NOT the kinda place I take my wife for a...

I was excited to try this place. Had a 6:30 reservation for 4 that my wife had made. Got there at 6:20 and taken promptly to our table right next to another couple in an empty restaurant. My wife asked the hostess if she minded seating us elsewhere so as to not be rubbing shoulders with strangers in an empty restaurant. Instead of saying " sure" or "no problem " we got, "yes I do mind" and walked away. All of us were uncomfortable and after a brief "what was that" and "did she really say that?" we decided to leave. As we were walking out, again in a completely empty facility other than wait staff, and one couple, we got a snarky "bye" from this lovely young woman. Granted we're not tattooed up hipsters, but 3 of the 4 of us run our own businesses and we were pretty shocked at not only the lack of customer service, but the rudeness and dismissive attitude. Maybe it was for the best. Obviously we, and our non cool Johnson County friends, won't be back. Instead we went down the street and dropped our $300 on a more appreciative establishment. A good hostess can make, or in this instance break, a place. This place was...