Roni's Pub + Kitchen — Restaurant in Overland Park

My experience here today was nothing short of disheartening. Especially, in 2017. I am a HUGE fan of Groupon and Yelp and frequently use both apps because we travel a lot for sporting events to different cities that I am not always familiar with. Using these apps, gives me the opportunity to enjoy the local businesses and could potentially give me something to look forward to when returning to that area, if the place is worthwhile. I purchased a Groupon for Roni's Pub and Kitchen after reading the reviews and wanting a good burger. We arrived at Roni's at approximately 3pm and because it looked a little more "Pub" than "Kitchen" on the outside than I expected, I went and stuck my head in the door first to see if it would be suitable for my family to accompany me inside. There was a table with a family seated inside the place so I went back to my vehicle and got my children and my mother. We walked inside and the sign at the Hostess podium read: "Please seat yourself" and so we did. The moment we sat down, a waitress approached us and said: "I'm sorry, all of our dishes are dirty and our kitchen will be closed for the next hour or so." I found that kind of odd but because we would probably need them anyway, I replied: "Okay. Can you give us to-go boxes instead?" Her response was: "No, that's the thing.....all of our utensils are dirty too and our grill is off so we can't even cook." Instantaneously, I knew that this establishment was not trying to serve us. I said to my family: "Let's go." and we promptly left. Needless to say, I was absolutely LIVID!!!! We were hungry. Very hungry. I had ALREADY paid for our food via the Groupon. And I am BLACK. I could not, for the life of me, wrap my head around this scenario: It's 2017 and I was just refused service at an establishment, because I'm black!! You don't believe it??? I didn't want to either so......5 minutes after we left, I called. I called and placed an order to go. You know what happened? THEY TOOK MY ORDER!! Because the freaking grill was NOT closed according to the girl on the phone! In her own words, she told me the grill was open. I was floored, pissed, disgusted and they heard about it. Someone in the background was trying to feed the girl on the phone info because she started stammering and trying to explain that she thought they gave me a refund on my Groupon (which I didn't even tell her about, so they'd been talking about us) and then I heard someone tell her to tell me something else but I was already so far into my rant that it didn't even matter. This is so unnecessary. What does the color of my skin have to do with the color of my money?! It spends the same and pays the bills. Period. The most hurtful thing about the entire situation is that it awakened memories that my mother hasn't had to deal with in YEARS and even more so, caused me to have to explain to my children exactly what just happened to them in a time when RACISM should be dead. Shame on you Roni's Pub and Kitchen. The residual stain that will forever remain on your name due to this blatant racist act is your fault and your fault only. Not ever in a million years would I have thought I'd have this happen to me. I'm telling ALL my friends about this. Regardless of their skin color. You couldn't have picked a better person to discriminate against to...

I’m not sure where the glowing reviews for this place come from. Maybe the people leaving these reviews have no semblance of taste and therefore are content with whatever it is they consumed. Regardless, the food my family received was not something I would recommend to anyone. We ordered food for Father’s Day. I should’ve known the prices were too good for the quality of the food to be good, but there were so many good reviews we let ourselves be fooled by the stars. We had a simple order. An appetizer of fried pickle spears with a side of ranch. These were actually okay. Probably better at the restaurant since they were a tad soggy (not the restaurant’s fault, hazard of takeout) but well seasoned. An entree of a burger with a side of mashed potatoes (we’ll get to those in a bit) which arrived with a good sized patty, fresh toppings, bun toasted and soft, HOWEVER “American Kobe” it was not. Period. Unless someone can provide proof of this, I’m not buying it. Ordered medium-well, arrived overcooked and no seasoning. The 2nd entree…I’m going to quote directly from their menu: “Huge all-natural chicken breast hand breaded and fried to golden perfection and smothered in our country gravy. Served with garlic whipped mashed potatoes and sautéed green beans with bacon and onions.” Folks, if you expect your food to have any resemblance to the description you’re about to be disappointed. That chicken breast was cooked to some shade beyond “golden” in oil that was well past usable. It was dry and stringy. “Garlic whipped mashed potatoes”…nope, sorry, those were instant potatoes and there wasn’t a bit of seasoning on them not even salt and pepper. “Our” country gravy also came straight out of a package, but it did have those large pieces of black pepper that come in a certain bulk packaged restaurant gravy. The green beans could’ve had potential, but alas they doused them in salt and pepper until they were inedible. Overall, EXTREMELY disappointed that we wasted our money...

5 stars for the great food! 3 stars for the pub. So I took the average and gave them a 4 overall.

Burgers at Roni's Pub were Rockstar! Juicy & flavorful BIG 1/2 pounders! Maybe the BEST flat top burgers with a perfect crust in town! There were 12 people in our group and everyone had a burger. ALL AGREED it was one of the best they'd had in years! I split one with someone and they insisted on well done (i prefer medium). Even cooked to death (haha) it was still VERY juicy & full of beef flavor! Lots of great topping options too! We got ours with bacon, cheese & a fried egg! Oh, and Monday is BOGO on any burger!

The tenderloin might be the BEST in the city also! Onion rings & fries were also very good, but not first class like the burgers & tenderloin sammies! The fried chicken sandwich looks great and is on special Wednesdays. Very reasonable prices plus nightly food specials.

Our server was a sweetheart! But this is a small neighborhood dive bar that happens to serve great good! She did her best but service was average and some minor mistakes were made. In her defense, I would guess she's never waited on a 12 top before and any mistakes made were corrected immediately! She was also the only waitress and it was busy. The bartender was trying to help, but they were both overwhelmed. Still both were very friendly! Just know that you're going there for great food, NOT great service. The pub was very clean, but most furniture was old and mismatched.

A true dive bar but we liked it and will crave the food till we go back again & again & again & again! Give them a try! You will...