Studio Restaurant and Bar - new place on Mcgee downtown

[MidWestSider]

"Studio Restaurant and Bar"

This place looks ready to go.  Walked past last night and it was packed with what appeared to be friends and family.

[KCFan]

I heard it might open sometime around the 25th or so.

[DaveKCMO]

has anyone seen the garage-door-like things that covered the entire first floor facade? they appeared sometime between saturday and today.

[QueSi2Opie]

The metal garage doors keep the hoodlums from busting the windows out at night. This place should be opening really soon. 

[DaveKCMO]

The metal garage doors keep the hoodlums from busting the windows out at night. This place should be opening really soon. 

i forgot to mention that i emailed them and as of 5/31 they plan on opening "in about four weeks". so i guess by the end of june...

[chrizow]

they have a Boulevard neon sign on the window, so i assume they'll at least have Boulevard on tap.  this is a minimum prerequisite for my patronizing any bar.  they also have a neon sign for some frou-frou flavored vodka so they are apparently shooting for a sort of "upscale" crowd and not, say, the Huggy Bear Bonds crowd...

[PumpkinStalker]

they have a Boulevard neon sign on the window, so i assume they'll at least have Boulevard on tap.  this is a minimum prerequisite for my patronizing any bar.  they also have a neon sign for some frou-frou flavored vodka so they are apparently shooting for a sort of "upscale" crowd and not, say, the Huggy Bear Bonds crowd...

Hey what's wrong with Huggy Bear Bonds crowd?! 

But have to agree, I get rather pissy if a place doesn't carry Boulevard.  And I don't even order it everytime, but I can relax knowing it is always there for me.

[MidWestSider]

per pitch ad:

1st level. Full service restaurant & bar

3 other levels including a pub, luxurious banquet and event spaces and a bed and breakfast.

Breakfast M-F 7am-10:30am, Sat 9am - 11am

Lunch M-F 11-4 Sat 11-3

www.thestudiodowntown.com

opening soon.

[trailerkid]

I predict a complete failure. This place looks like amateur hour.

[ComandanteCero]

how so?

[trailerkid]

how so?

the "everything for everyone" concept, the advertising, the web site.

[KCPowercat]

I'll give it a fair shot....but it does seem to be a strange mix.

[lock+load]

Cityscape: New bar, restaurant downtown

The historic Louis Curtiss Studio building has begun a new era as an entertainment complex.

The Studio Restaurant & Bar has opened on the ground level at 1118 McGee St. with a full bar and appetizer menu. It will kick off an extensive breakfast, lunch and dinner menu in about a week, including biscuits and gravy, chicken strips, and fried green beans with ranch dressing. Live entertainment will be featured on weekends.

“We can grab business. It’s an opportunity to get our foothold in the next eight months,” Plescia said. “Hopefully by the time they open we will be established enough. But the more businesses that open the more it will help everybody.”

Plescia plans to plow some of his profits back into redoing the rest of the building

[PumpkinStalker]

KC Bungalow club went over here for some drinks last week.  The two guys behind the bar were very nice.  Here's my take.

Historic guidelines prohibit any permanent signing on the outside of the building.  Sandwich boards on the sidewalk are ok.  Therefore, the inside streetside windows are forced to look trashy with tons of neon beer signs, or they have no way of drawing in passerbys.

Floor is original concrete.  The whole bar was designed and built by one of the bartenders.  In fact, the two guys running the bar were partners in the business and were in construction as well so they did all of the work themselves with the exception of installing kitchen grease hoods.  That was too specialized with lots of city codes, so they hired that done.

The space was divided, half being restaurant, half bar/stage.  They will be having open mic nights on Thursday I believe, and they have a guy that (for a fee) will record and create a CD if your band plays there.  They are taking applications for bands.  Interesting note, the historic board of whoever apparently put in writing when they blessed off on the whole project that they could not play any type of rap or hip hop music.  Period.  Strange...but frankly, I'm glad.  I'm a 90s alternative child.

The stage is decent, about 2-3 feet off the ground if I remember.  A few banks of spotlights.  There is a digital jukebox on the wall. 


Beer selection is good.  They had some of the latest liquors, including Tommy Bahama rum, Tanqueray Rangpur, etc.  They will be having full food menu shortly, but for now they are training all their staff on the fancy new equipment.  They do have appetizers that included chicken strips, nachos, potato skins, among others.  I had potato skins and they were as good as anywhere else.

We asked if we could see the upstairs, to which the bartender obliged.  It has not been rennovated yet and he only would take 5 at a time.  (Yes, the bungalow club has more than five members!)  I asked about the bed and breakfast that was rumored and he said he had no idea what direction they would take.  They had discussed rental units, bed and breakfast, leasing out office space, etc. and he said there are NO plans set in stone yet. 

The second floor will be banquet space.  The third floor does not have water or electricity, which he acknowledged was going to be very expensive to tackle. 


All in all, a strange little place.  I think this one, unlike a few others recently opening in KC, will find it's calling and settle in to a genre.  As for now, it's a little...off.  The history combined with 50 neon signs in the windows, the stage, and the dark wood stained bar just look pieced together.  If the place was older, in Westport, it would get away with it no problem and it would have character.  Here however, it just seems a little mis-matched.  I'll still go, the bartenders were awesome and I enjoyed talking to them, and they stretched the happy hour time since we got there a little late but brought 12 people.

[scooterj]

How were the beer prices?  I almost stopped in there Saturday but had heard rumor that domestic draughts were $3 and it would only go up from there... so the person in my group whose turn it was to buy asked us to pass on that one.

[PumpkinStalker]

Don't remember beer prices Scooter.  $3 rings a bell though.  Happy hour was until 7 and we got there right at 7, so they were nice enough to give us all a round at Happy Hour pricing...I remember my tab was $24 and I had the following:

Tanqueray Rangpur and tonic
2 Stella Artois
Chambord Margarita
Potato Skins

Happy Hour didn't apply to my choices.  I rarely find something I like on special...I'm a snob!

[bahua]

I rarely find something I like on special...I'm a snob!

Same here.

[DaveKCMO]

has anyone else been in here?

[bahua]

Yes! I actually went a couple hours after leaving that comment on the 7th!

From my website:

we headed back into town and tried out the Studio bar, a new place on McGee. It took me one draw of Nastro Azurro to realize that they had built in what had once been Bender's, where my friend Ryan's old band played some of their formative concerts, and where I had some of my drunkest times in Kansas City. Except for the front windows, the place was completely unrecognizable. After a short time, we were the only ones there, and it occurred to me that the three people that were working were just waiting for us to leave, so they could go home.

Nevertheless, I liked it.

[QueSi2Opie]

It's a shame that many of you have yet to visit Studio Bar.  They had a great band last night made up of 11 musicians...too bad there was only 18 people in the crowd.  I was almost embarrassed by the turn-out, the decor is Hollywood stylish and the stage sound and lights are fantastic. Once you look past the ridiculous $7 cover charge, the semi-classy atmosphere is worth the price.  Great apps until 10pm.