KCRag Forum

flyingember wrote: The old restaurant died being a "special occasion" fine dining restaurant.

The market changed. Plus, you said the food is good. It will do fine.

No, DOWNTOWN died in the 90s as a special occasion destination. Good thing it’s starting to be reborn now. The Savoy is less than what it could have been.

We moved our stay up a few weeks, now that they're opening earlier than planned. Can't wait to see the galleries.

beautyfromashes wrote:I was disappointed, tbh. The Savoy Grill was the cities high end restaurant of its time. They’ve lost that with the new dinning room space that is totally new, but boring and the bar area that kept the old decor but lost the high end feel. They put couches in the bar to try and fill the space instead of tables. I think they tried to match the gothic style, but the furniture just looked like it came from a thrift store. The booth tables they kept but replaced white table cloths with aluminum covered tables. The food was good, but no where near the fine dining feel. Fish and chips. Hangar steak. Burger. Pretty typical hotel bar food. They missed on opportunity to put a great restaurant in there. The old place used to be a great restaurant inside bad hotel. Now, it’s a nice hotel with a lobby bar. Definitely not the special occasion destination that it used to be.

I haven't been but I've seen the photos and I have to wonder what the motivation was for the complete change in the decor. I visited the old Savoy many times and was always awed by the building and space regardless of the drop-off in the quality of the restaurant and their failure to stay relevant with respect to cuisine changes. Not sure why the owners would purposefully choose to not utilize the space and revert to something that could seemingly be created in just about any strip mall unless restoring it its former glory was simply cost prohibitive.

Stop comparing it to the old hotel. The city, market and property have changed to fit today's consumers.

grecobs wrote:Stop comparing it to the old hotel. The city, market and property have changed to fit today's consumers.

Then they shouldn’t have used the same name. If you’re going to call it The Savoy, it’s going to get a comparison. If you just wanted a hotel bar, call it the 21C bar.

Highlander wrote: I haven't been but I've seen the photos and I have to wonder what the motivation was for the complete change in the decor.

It seems pretty apparent to me that the space was meant solely as a compliment to the hotel, which is understandable. They needed a place for hotel patrons to have breakfast so they took half of the Savoy for the area they call the dining room. They also wanted a hotel bar, so left the other half in the original decor for that purpose. Both are fine versions of hotel pieces, they just have barely anything to do with ‘The Savoy’.

I ate here last night. Pretty sureal experience. We ate in the bar side in a booth and ordered off the restraunt menu. Food was excellent and the atmosphere was great. Seemed busy.

Aside from the historic stuff, the decor is pretty wild, with it all being art pieces and such. The bar side felt somewhat...unfinished, though. Woodwork and some lights still seemed dusty and it felt like there was a lot of open space now that the tables are gone. The metal booth tables are too wide for the space and make entering and exiting the booths difficult, which is an odd oversight. The ceiling is purple, which I'm still conflicted on.

Wondered up the stairs into the gallery space. Reminded me of, well, an art gallery. Very nice. They've got some conference rooms, too.

We snuck into the hotel section and wondered around a bit. Looks pretty good. The lightwell has been capped with a skylight and there's a gym at the bottom.

Not a huge fan if the gallery space on the main level, though. Too much grey. Even the old check in desk has been greyed and sealed up. The stain glass dome was turned off, which was disappointing, but I think it was because they had an art piece hanging below it. Maybe they'll get it running eventually.

My biggest takeaway was that almost everything on the ground floor seemed temporary. Even the new walls looked thin and didn't go all the way to the ceiling.

I'll post some pictures once I get them off my camera

Formal opening isn't until July 17. I would expect everything to be lit and clean by then.

FangKC wrote:

KCPowercat wrote:I was hoping they would save the old sign but that sign is super sexy

I hope someone had the forethought to save the old sign, and it's not in some salvage yard.

The old sign was up until like a month ago...I'm sure they saved it.

Former check in desk


Old shot

TheLastGentleman wrote:

I think the 'art' chandelier is really tacky! I was hoping it was just a temporary piece, but according to the front desk it is permanent. The dome was restored but it will not be lit. What a waste of a beautiful feature!!

Also thought it was odd not the use the original front desk location, but not a big deal.

Overall I thought the place looked great. They covered some pilasters in the lobby behind new walls (to hang art). I think they should have just curated pieces to fit between the pilasters and let the historic architecture speak more. Good thing is, they didn't rip any of those elements out and in the future they could be uncovered.

Great addition to KC! Loved the quality and look of the rooms. KC is really upping the hotel game lately. Should give visitors a better impression of our city.

Toured yesterday....overall place is great. The big suite on 7 wasn't that impressive except for the outdoor space. The regular rooms that were listed on the tour were all locked so didn't get to check out s room.

Loved the art....absolutely love that chandelier

Midtownkid wrote:The dome was restored but it will not be lit.

Bizarre. I can't imagine what the logic was there.

But yeah, I'm happy they had the forethought to maintain the ornamentation and such. I could picture the current decor going out of style someday, and maybe then they can bring it closer to how it looked before, or at least turn the dome on.

New 21c Museum Hotel Kansas City Wraps Hospitality Around Art

https://cityscenekc.com/new-21c-museum- ... round-art/

Here's A Sneak Peek Inside Kansas City's 21c Museum Hotel

http://kcur.org/post/heres-sneak-peek-i ... l#stream/0

Still no lunch service. Maybe in a few weeks.

Brunch?

KCPowercat wrote: ↑Thu Jul 26, 2018 7:14 pmBrunch?

Website says breakfast from 7a-11a M-F, until 12p on Saturday and Sunday. Excellent.

Yeah I know but it also says lunch which they aren't doing yet it sounds like

KCPowercat wrote: ↑Thu Jul 26, 2018 7:14 pmBrunch?

When we stayed there last weekend they said they were working on a weekend brunch menu, but it's just breakfast for now.