Whistle Stop Coffee & Mercantile — Restaurant in Lee's Summit

Whistlestop is a Lee's Summit downtown coffee shop. fixed with a casual atmosphere, fast paced staff, and lots of coffee with menu items to get you either a nice pastry or a sandwich as well.

We went at a time when there were a lot of people there, so keep that in mind while reading.

The restaurant itself: Whistlestop has basically 2 entrances when they are open; The front door, and a back door that is garage style looking, that leads to a back walking alleyway. When you walk in the front door you will see a nice array of booths on the side walls and tables in the middle. In the center of the room is where the magic of coffee happens. The space itself is a tighter space, so to maneuver around you need to squeeze by people if there are other people there. Now the space isn't bad at all, in fact we were able to move around nicely even waiting in line. And if you think the space is tight then have some sympathy for the staff, because they were all stuffed in the middle maneuvering around about 5-6 people at once. The website states that they take "pride in the comfortable space" and I have to say they should be proud. even when busy, the space is indeed comfortable. That being said, at the busy time it was pretty loud in the main area, we could speak but the noise during the busy time was noticeable. However, when we went to the back area to eat it was very quiet and a comfortable space. Their website doesn't lie very pleased.

Cleanliness: A place of business can be a make or break in this department. one bad experience and you want to give a 1 star review, so presentation matters. So is Whistlestop clean? Yes, very clean. I even got a small glimpse into the kitchen on my way by and could see that they take cleanliness seriously. Tables were clean, machines were clean, booths were clean, the bathrooms were clean, even the staff looked clean and well groomed. In this area, I am very impressed that even during a rush, and lots of people, the place managed to look and stay cleaned. whoever is operating the cleanliness is doing a very good job.

Food, Drinks, and Menu: Including Breakfast, Lunch and Pastries, we have a total of 52 items listed on the website to choose from. Quite the selection, not including Pastries, we have 33 items to choose from for breakfast and lunch. Everything on the menu was for all day, so having 33 items that need to be cooked once ordered, is quite a lot of items. Going to the counter and ordering seemed a bit overwhelming with the amount of items displayed, along side the coffees. Easy to navigate, takes some time, but perhaps too much. This comes to make sense when we get to the food. -Food: From the menu we got the Quiche, Protein power bowl, blackberry jam bar, and a donut. The Quiche was very good. had the flavors you'd expect to be in there, good consistency with the crust, and good mixture of the ingredients, making it one of the better put together Quiches we've had, however it did taste like it was just microwaved. We didn't ask if it was made in house. but still good. The Protein power bowl, was ok. It tasted kind of bland, and not a lot of seasoning on any of the meats. the sauce is what made the bowl shine, but unfortunately, the eggs tasted like just salt and pepper and a little overcooked. The rest of the meats were ok, nothing to write home about though. the tomato's and cheese were ok. the Blackberry jam bar, and donut were very good. the crust on the bar wasn't too hard or too soft, and melted in your mouth, and gave your mouth an amazing aftertaste . the donut was very good too, and creme filled, which surprised me, very good. nothing to complain about on those. Drinks: I got a brewed coffee, and got there volcano blend and it was amazing. in terms of coffee and just the blends, they have that nailed down. My Wife got the Cherry Pie latte, with coconut milk. very good. we have to say that this is probably our go to place for coffee if we ever go downtown. The owner wants Whistlestop to be a staple for the community, and I believe she has achieved...

You WILL leave here smelling like a fry cook. That's a promise. 2 minutes inside or a solid hour, fry oil smell that sticks to your clothes all day.

I used to be an avid Whistle Stop goer, my coworkers could count on me coming in on Friday with my white cup pre Covid. During Covid I used door dash, and now I'm back to going in stores, rotating Whistle Stop to once a month with other LS coffee places. I realized this morning I had 12 punches and hadn't been to Whistle Stop in a while, couldn't figure out why it had been so long. When I got to the store I opened the door and was immediately hit in the face with the atrocious fry oil smell. I remembered why it had been so long...

There was no line and employees were running around stocking items. Approached the counter and the employee stocking the shelf right there got up and came around the counter. Ordered my White Mocha and Hazelnut latte, extra shot. Employee said my card was for a small only, but my card didn't say that, only the new ones. Well whatever, kept my large coffee and paid for it. During my time placing the order a line long line came in behind me. I went around the bar and sat on the benches, ready to wait my average 10 minute time it takes them to make a drink. The group the was behind me eventually came up next to me and also took a seat when I made a realization- the espresso machine wasn't going. I looked up and not a single other employee, I counted 5-6 in the store, were behind the bar. What? I understand they were busy, but so was the counter. Eventually my coffee was made, like I said, 10 minutes with no one in front of me. As I sat in my car the fry oil smell began to stink up my surroundings so I rolled down all the windows to air it out. Even as I'm sitting here, after having run several errands spanning several hours, my clothes stink. The coffee leaves a film on your tongue, and I think the employee forgot my extra shot, so that's cool. There are other coffee places in LS, this one isn't terrible to try, but just expect to stink after. I'm sure I'll be back in another 6-12 months, wondering why I haven't been back and then make the realization when I...

Wait times are horrendous here. I choose to come here over other near by coffee shops due to better food choices. However I often have to rethink the choice because it takes forever for them make your food. So they have lost a lot of business from me and my coworkers because we can't wait forever for our food and we frequent these places downtown alot. The times are worse then a sit down restaurants quite often. However my experience this weekend was beyond ridiculous. I got there and since it wasn't super busy figured I had time to order a sandwich before work. Welp I should have known better because after waiting 20 mins for my food and being made late to work. I had to finally just cxl my order. It was one sandwich! Nothing else! I could see the people in backing talking alot which might be why stuff wasn't getting done. Then to top it off, I could not get my money back because apparently no one there could cxl the order or refund my money. So I was told to come back the next day when the manager would be in. Which is more time and energy wasted. So I called the next day on a Saturday and again was told no manager was in today. Wait, why are we lying to customers or just making stuff up! It gets worse. So, then they told me that the manager would be in tomorrow. So when I went to call today, Sunday, I see on Google that they aren't even open on Sundays. Like come on! Can we not prepare food in a timely manner, give customers their money back when we we drop the ball or get them correct information. So now I've wasted my time two days in a row and will have to again waste more time on Monday and hope someone is actually in to refund my money for a sandwich I didn't even get and also made me late to work for....