Kansas City’s Grinders offers great food in eclectic setting

Lisa had heard of Grinders in Kansas City’s Crossroads Art District, because the eatery had been featured on a couple of food shows. My wife is a “As seen on TV” addict. I think I need to find a support group for her. Alas, we decided to check out the place during a recent trip. I had high expectations based on the menu and the reviews I had read. Those expectations were met!

Grinders is an eclectic-looking restaurant with an eclectic-looking menu. The restaurant’s appearance looks like someone took something from Column A and then Column B, and then added more letters to the columns. You see autographed wall hangings. You see mirrors and posters hanging on the walls.

Our table had airline seats and regular chairs. Snow skis are used as part of a wall. It has just a bunch of different things that make the restaurant unique looking and a great place to visit.

The food is awesome! We actually ate here twice during our trip. The first day, we lost all of our photos on the memory card due to a card malfunction. I lost more than 500 photos I had taken that day of a few places. Fortunately, our itinerary allowed return visits to the places, including Grinders.

The first day, Lisa had a Philly steak sandwich. The owner is from Philadelphia, and she confirmed the Philly was of the quality seen in the City of Brotherly Love. I had a sausage meatball Grinder sandwich. The sandwich is baked with red sauce and served on an Amoroso hoagie. The Grinder has four meatballs smothered in cheese and red sauce. It was delicious. We ended up splitting a Grinder on our return visit. The sandwich was perfect size for two people to share.

We loved the name of the side item we ordered – Big Ass Tots. You can also get Big Ass Fries. They are large orders of tator tots and fries. The first day, we split a regular sized order of Big Ass Tots. The second day, we split a half-order of the tots, or a “Small Ass Tot” (not an actual name).

Apparently, they have a fiery brand of chicken wing – Death Wings. We didn’t try the wings during our visits, but they sound good. The sauce choices are Wimpy, Molten and “Death Sauce.” The Death Wings come in three sizes – half order (6 pieces), full order (12) or Big Ass order (24 wings).

The service is outstanding! The staff has a lot of tattoos between them. Some people may be turned off by that, but we thought it added to the restaurant’s ambience. The servers are very friendly. They keep checking on customers, so it’s rare for a drink glass to get empty.

Grinders is well worth the visit. Whether you are a TV food show addict (if you are, they were on “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”). The restaurant has a second location next door – Grinders West.

We plan to stop back next time we are in the Crossroads area of KC. I want to try the pizza. It looked delicious. Enjoy your visit and we are sure you will love the menu.

For more information on Grinders, please visit the website at www.grinderspizza.com.