Burn Theory Fire Kitchen — Restaurant in Lee's Summit

We were looking for a locally owned BBQ spot and chose this place because of its 4.7-star rating. The location is pleasant, right next to a lake. Unfortunately, our experience was negative overall and left us with concerns you should know about.

Atmosphere & Setup Despite the name Burn Theory Fire KITCHEN, this is not a traditional restaurant — it’s a food trailer (see photo), serving a microbrewery, Diametric Brewing. This was not clearly stated on the website, and with “kitchen” in the name, I could understand anyone’s confusion.

Upon seating, we noticed the reusable plastic cups still had stickers attached to the bottom. The A/C was very strong and made some in our party cold, so we walked around to warm up. The children’s area was a nice touch, but many books and toys were sticky or dirty. The nearby smoking area smelled strongly of smoke, with ashtrays full of cigarette butts. Just beyond, a corner was heavily covered in bird droppings — all detracting from first impressions.

Service & Wait Time You pay and tip ahead of time at the bar then take a number. We waited nearly an hour for our order, which felt long for such a casual setup. During this time, we saw food being carried inside within plastic containers from a green trailer outside. We were never checked on, meaning if you need help, you must wait in the beer line to speak to someone.

As our wait stretched on, we realized we had little time before we had to leave. I stood in line for 10 minutes to ask if our order could be packaged to-go. While waiting, I saw a staff member arrive at our table and began to transfer our food from plastic to metal trays. I politely asked for it to be packed to-go, thinking all that was needed was a bag for the trays. The staff member’s response was visibly frustrated and curt as she turned away without acknowledging me. A child in our group even asked why “the lady was mad,” which says a lot about how the exchange came across.

When she bagged our food, now repackaging everything into paperboard containers, she chatted with co-workers and patrons, poured beers, and took a long time despite knowing we were pressed to leave. I inquired and mentioned we'd be happy to bag our items, she flippantly replied that “it would take a long time for all the food YOU ordered.” as if we'd done something wrong. The entire interaction left us feeling as though our time and patronage were not valued. Had we not needed to leave quickly, I would have requested a refund. A first for me.

Food Quality In fairness, I won’t deduct points for texture/temperature, as we had to eat our food later. However, the fries were soggy as soon as we opened them on the way to the car. The Brussels sprouts were slightly charred and overly sweet (despite our dietary note), and one entrée was missing. The smoked wings had an impressive smoky depth of flavor, but I cannot fairly evaluate texture of the “smo-fried” preparation since they weren’t eaten right away.

Areas for Improvement Transparency: Clearly state that this is a food trailer. Efficiency: Shorten wait times or set better expectations. Offer a way for food-only customers to communicate with staff without standing in the beer line. Streamline the packaging process. Service: Acknowledge requests politely and avoid showing frustration in front of guests — especially small children. Cleanliness & Details: Refresh the children’s area, remove stickers from cups, clean them thoroughly, and relocate the smoking area farther from the entrance.

Final Thoughts If you’re coming specifically for Burn Theory Fire “Kitchen" at this location, be prepared for long waits, self-service, and unacceptable customer service. Regardless of food quality, the combination of delays, communication challenges, and unprofessional service keeps me from recommending this...

I'm not sure what to say after reading all the reviews on here... I think we were in a parallel universe or something! We stopped in after an appointment I'd had on a Monday in Lees Summit. We decided to have a quick early dinner here in town, and did a Yelp search for "great places to eat near me". This place was high in the list. We read the reviews and found ourselves driving around a building that had ZERO markings for the Burn Theory Fire Kitchen on it, but our Maps app said we were here. Turned out, the food for Burn Theory Fire Kitchen was cooked in a food truck in a parking lot and served inside the Diametric Brewing Company which is located at the address listed for Burn Theory Fire Kitchen. I will say, my husband ordered a special beer called "Cherry Street Wheat" and it was very unusual, and seriously tasty!!! I'm not a beer fan, but would drink one of these any day! So, getting back to the food... we'd both ordered a trio of street tacos that we did a mix and match of with their various proteins. We ordered this way to share with each other. We also love to discover new and unusual bites. After reading the reviews and their menu, we were excited for the promise of something uniquely delicious... and were completely disappointed!!! All but one (excluding the shrimp) of the six different tacos we'd ordered, bordered on the inedible side. The proteins were seemingly overcooked, folded into little leathery tortilla shells, and served to our table cold, dry and tough. They tasted as if they had been reheated from the weekends leftovers. Maybe we came on the wrong day. Perhaps if we'd visited on a weekend, or on the same day they were actually cooking the meats initially, we'd had a better experience. I don't know, and frankly do not plan to find out. Additionally, to be fair, their condiments (ie: the Ketchup and BBQ sauce) seemed to be made fresh and made from scratch. They were sadly the best part of our meal. Honorable mention to the Diametric Brewing Company which served us one of the most delicious and unique beers we've...

Sorry not sorry. First time and last time going. I’m a little disgusted our food came in these cheap greasy containers, people think ECO and just forget the appeal. But it’s a doordash storefront so idk. Chicken was okay tasted like it was fresh off a grill from a community block party. Whoever made the sauce put wayyyyyyy too much water in it tasted like a water downed version of carribean jerk/rib sauce. Idk. Idk. Very disappointed. But the chicken was smoked good gave me elementary nostalgia. The fries were okay just tasted like lawrys seasoning, would be good drenched in ketchup. Can’t go too wrong with a potato we ate those. My boyfriend liked his burger. He ate it all pretty quick hence the two stars. .5 for cook on the chicken and the soggy fries with lawrys seasoning. When you know how to cook just eat at home because you run into problems like this. I might be too picky. Because that bbq sauce needed some more flour, seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, butter, just something to thicken it up and a good cook so it stayed on the chicken. But you might like it don’t let my review scare you, I just wanted to share me my and my boyfriend’s first and last experience here. And yes EVERYTHING went in the trash after...