Studio Restaurant and Bar

I was able to sneak out of work a little early one day this week and finally got over to the Studio Restaurant and Bar at 1118 McGee in downtown KC. I was in a bit of a hurry to get home, not too big or I wouldn't stop off for a beer, but a hurry nonetheless. As I was walking to my car I sang a fun little diddy to remember the address:

Going to the Studio

At 1118 Mcgee

If they don't have f***ing parking

I'm not f***ing stopping

Going to the Studio

for a drink

Sure it sucks but it made sense at the time. I wasn't really in the best frame of my mind to go out, obviously and I didn't even have a drinking buddy for happy hour. I tried calling Wes, but he wasn't picking up and no one at work was ready to get out yet. So all by my lonesome, I found my way over to the Studio.

Since I've seen their website, I had some expectations, namely that I should go there when dressed in regular office wear instead of my version of casual Fridays (no socks on Friday, honestly they're lucky I throw on a shirt). Having the picture from their website on my mind, I almost missed the actual bar. It wasn't a fancy looking place at all, just a regular barfront, not that different looking than John's Big Deck. Luckily, I found a spot on the street right across from the bar, just like in cop shows, and scurried across the street to get some foamy goodness (get your mind out of the gutter, I would have went in the alley for the other foamy goodness). I walked in and the bar was almost full, mind you I said the bar, not the restaurant, the restaurant was empty as far as I could tell, and there were no bar tables, just the bar. So in all there were maybe 8 people there, all dudes except the lady who I found out later was waiting on a manager for a job interview. I found a seat next to some douche who was drinking Bud Light in a bottle when I could very clearly see Bud Light was on tap. STRIKE 1 for the Studio, douches as regulars.

I noticed they had Boddington's on tap (not a unique choice, but somewhat inspired) so I ordered a Boddington's, I even used an English accent when I ordered it, but I suck so bad at accents I'm pretty sure the bartender thought I had some weird lisp or something, I should have thrown a "good sir" on top of the order, that would have been funny. Or maybe I'm a douche, at this point it's a 50/50 shot that I am. I can't be sure about this because I left my liquid measuring device at home, but I don't think my Boddington's glass was 12 ounces, much less a pint. Can we do something about short pours? It's real annoying, this would be STRIKE 2 for the Studio if I could prove it was less than 12 ounces.

Finally Wes was off the phone with Gram Gram and he called me back, he agreed to meet me and walked on over. In the time it took Wes to traverse 5 city blocks, I finished my 10 ounces of Boddington's. As I sat there drinking, I noticed that their special for the day was $2 Rolling Rock (bottles I presume, since I didn't see a tap handle) and $2 PBR which was most definitely on tap. Since they were playing Judge Judy on the TV (only one TV and Judge Judy is on it, I'd rather watch the fascinating cast show from the Big Deck), all I could really think about was my PBR I was about to order. The bartender dude came over to make some small talk with the loner at the end of the bar (me) probably to make sure I wasn't going to snap and start shooting, and I ordered my PBR. Since the majority of this has been rather negative I would like to point out that the bartender was pretty good, we struck up a decent conversation and he was real 'aware' that I felt pretty weird sitting there alone and prolly wanted to talk to the bartender.

Wes finally arrived, I told him of the PBR special, he did the "hmm, wonder what I wa..PBR please" joke. He noted the douche to my left (Bud Light in bottle), I pointed to the tap handle, a knowing glance was exchanged. Next time this happens and I have time for another beer, I think I'll order a Bud Light in the bottle, then look at the tap handles "notice" they have Bud Light on tap and say to the bartender "sorry, didn't meant to be a douche, I'll have the Bud Light on tap". The downside of that ploy would be that I would still be a douche for drinking Bud Light, but the real douche would feel really douchey or just beat my balls in. Maybe I won't do that, silent mockery is probably best.

I did look through the menu, and it looked like a good place to go for lunch. Once again, I was expecting a more expensive stylish place, but the Studio is really just a regular bar and grill. I wouldn't go so far as to say their menu was eclectic, like they do, but they had some items that you can't get everywhere, so at the very least I need to try them for lunch.

On the other hand, there was a real moldy smell at the end of the bar where I was sitting. Douche asked about it (damn, I missed that joke), and the bartender said it was their ice bin at that end of the bar. It definitely needed some bleach water or a flamethrower, something because it really affected the Studio experience.

As we finished our PBR's and were tabbing out, we noticed we were overcharged for our PBR. Having owned a business myself, I know that this was probably an oversight and they would want to know about it. So I told the bartender that their sign said $2 and we were charged more than $2. He couldn't have been more apologetic and did everything he could to make it right. We really didn't care, just wanted him to get it fixed so someone who might care wouldn't make an issue of it.

So, I'm willing to give the Studio Restaurant and Bar another go, but probably in another month or so. Let them get the kinks worked out. I would like it to survive the taxpayer funded bars coming downtown's way in March, because it's good to have local flavor in our downtown. So if you're not used to coming downtown, try the local places at least until March, because they might not be here when the big restaurants and bars come to the Power and Light, I'm pretty sure River Market Brewery won't make it, but I hope the Studio does.