Scooter's Bar Journal » Waldo

Bier Station

scooterj — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 18:11:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 1069th bar, first visited in 2015.

This fairly recent addition to Kansas City has already leaped to top spaces in multiple lists of the best beer bars in the US.

Lots of seating — indoor, outdoor, and the upper level patio that’s enclosed in colder weather.

A great selection of beer on tap, but the most impressive feature is the self-service wall of bottled beer. Just grab what you want and take it to the bartender to drink on-site or get it to-go.

120 E. Gregory Boulevard
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
816-548-3870
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Waldo Pizza Tap Room

scooterj — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 18:10:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 1068th bar, first visited in 2015.

It’s been several years since Waldo Pizza opened their Tap Room, but until this particular night I had only been on the restaurant side so I could not count it as a bar.

The Tap Room is a great bar, with an excellent beer selection and terrific food. The only down-side is that it’s pretty much the only bar I can think of where your attempt to peacefully enjoy a craft beer will be punctuated by the shrieks of the multitude of children’s birthday parties surrounding you.

7433 Broadway
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 363-5242
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The Well

scooterj — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 18:11:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 1013th bar, first visited in 2014.

I have to admit I was a little worried about coming here because I’ve heard horror stories from those who have been here late on Fridays and Saturdays. But I found that — at least in the evening on a Thursday — it’s my kind of place after all.

This is very big establishment, with multiple rooms and bars. There’s a patio on the main level, and a rooftop deck surrounds the second level.

Drink prices are slightly high but not terrible. I didn’t try the food but it looked & smelled good enough that I may have to next time.

7421 Broadway
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
816-361-1700
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Kennedy’s Bar & Grill – 2

scooterj — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 17:11:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

MOVED – No longer at this location.
The temporary location for Kennedy’s while the original location is rebuilt after a fire. Moved to its new home in early 2009.

Scooter’s 508th bar, first visited in 2008.

With a bare concrete floor and partially-unfinished drywall, Kennedy’s currently has virtually no ambiance at all. But that’s just fine, because what’s important is that a neighborhood institution has survived a devastating fire in this temporary location. A new building has been constructed in the footprint of the original location, and by Christmas 2008 Kennedy’s is expected to return home.

512 W 75th St
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 361-9788

Piano Room

scooterj — Sat, 11 Nov 2006 18:16:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 206th bar, first visited in 2006.

Third time’s the charm on this south Waldo staple — my previous two attempts to visit this place were thwarted literally at the door. I liked the music here – live piano/horn performances and big band/swing on the sound system between sets.

8410 Wornall Rd
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 363-8722

GAF

scooterj — Sat, 27 May 2006 17:24:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 66th bar, first visited in 2006.

Our bartender on our first visit was a recent transplant from New Zealand.

This place sways back and forth between whether it wants to be a bar with a restaurant or a restaurant with a bar. Currently it’s leaning more towards the latter.

7122 Wornall Rd
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 333-1321
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Governor Stumpy’s Grillhouse

scooterj — Sat, 27 May 2006 17:23:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 65th bar, first visited in 2006.

Restaurant with bar near the front

321 E Gregory Blvd
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 444-2252
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Tanner’s Bar & Grill

scooterj — Sat, 27 May 2006 17:22:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 64th bar, first visited in 2006.

Generic sports bar & grill – though one of the better locations for this chain.

7425 Broadway St
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 822-7525
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Bobby Baker’s Lounge

scooterj — Sat, 27 May 2006 17:21:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 63rd bar, first visited in 2006.

At $4 a draw this was the most expensive beer we bought all day. Unfortunately for B this fell on his turn to pay.

This is a tiny but comfortable place. Try to get the big round booth!

7418 Wornall Rd
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 523-5485

Hanibal’s Waldo Bar

scooterj — Sat, 27 May 2006 17:20:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)
Formerly Fin’s Waldo Bar

Changed hands in early 2008.

Scooter’s 62nd bar, first visited in 2006.

I liked this place better back when it was Fin’s — when it was a dirty-dive with beer-soaked carpet and super-cheap pitchers of beer, a place where you could relax and cut loose with your group of friends without anyone else judging you.

Since the buyout and remodel a couple year back, this place looks good. It’s clean, it’s hip, it’s trendy, it has a decent selection of beer and some good-looking food. It has a cool garage door front that opens to a sidewalk patio. And yet, to me, anyway, it’s not quite right.

Despite the open brightness, it comes across to me as stuffy. I can’t relax when I’m here. I feel like all the yuppies are staring and waiting for me to do something to annoy them. Even the bartender came across as a little too uptight.

7438 Wornall Rd
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 523-9964

Kennedy’s Bar & Grill

scooterj — Sat, 27 May 2006 17:19:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

MOVED – No longer at this location.
Destroyed by fire on February 16, 2007. Moved to a temporary location next door. Move back to the original location (roughly) in 2009 after a new building was constructed where the old building used to be.

Scooter’s 61st bar, first visited in 2006.

Destroyed by fire on February 16, 2007. Opened in a temporary location next door. Now a new building is being constructed at the original site and Kennedy’s will soon move back again. Was a dive, don’t know what the new one will be like.

7428 Washington St
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 361-9788

75th Street Brewery

scooterj — Sat, 27 May 2006 17:18:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 60th bar, first visited in 2006.

Restaurant / brew pup. I am a particular fan of their Muddy Mo Stout.

520 W 75th St
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 523-4677
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Lew’s Grill & Bar

scooterj — Sat, 27 May 2006 17:17:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 59th bar, first visited in 2006.

Popular Waldo hangout and live music venue. Seems especially popular with the striped-shirt crowd.

7539 Wornall Rd
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 444-8080
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Tommy Farha Cafe & Bar

scooterj — Sat, 27 May 2006 17:16:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 58th bar, first visited in 2006.

The place with the white hearse in front. Opens at 7am!

8019 Wornall Rd
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 444-0990

Flo’s Poke-A-Dot Lounge

scooterj — Sat, 27 May 2006 17:10:00 +0000

(Waldo, Kansas City, MO)

Scooter’s 52nd bar, first visited in 2006.

At the extreme southern end of Waldo, or arguably at the extreme northern end of South KC, sits a tiny run-down strip mall. In the center of this strip mall you will find Flo’s Poke-A-Dot Lounge.

We found our seats on the south side of the box-shaped bar, the only people in the place under the age of sixty. (Granted, it was 10:30am on a Saturday.) On the wall across from us, a velvet painting of a nude woman graced our presence.

We both ordered Bud Light draws and began talking with the bartender and other customers. Based upon the name of this bar we had assumed the owner was a woman named Florence. Instead we learned that “Flo” is a man named Floyd.

About midway through our beers, napkins were suddenly slid in front of us by one of the other customers. With a look of worry on his face, my drinking buddy leaned over to me.

“How quickly can you chug your beer?” he whispered.

“I don’t know, pretty fast,” I whispered back.

“Do it!” he whispered forcefully.

Unaware of what he had somehow realized was about to happen, I began drinking as quickly as I could. As I took the last gulp, out of the corner of my eye I spotted the need for this urgency.

A gentleman a few bar stools down had pulled a plastic bag full of shrimp out of the pocket of his jacket and had begun dumping fistfuls of it onto the napkins he had just placed in front of the other patrons.

Now I love shrimp, but I’m not going to eat fisted shrimp from a plastic bag pulled out of the pocket of some random guy at an unfamiliar bar. I set my empty beer glass down and my friend and I stood up to leave.

“Wait, don’t you want some shrimp?” the shrimp-fister asked us.

“Ah, no, we just had a huge breakfast,” we fibbed. “Thanks anyway!”

We left the bar and got into the car. As my friend put the car in reverse, there was a knock at the driver’s side window. We saw one of the other customers standing outside the window, cupping some shrimp in his hands. We lowered down the window just enough that he could speak without passing us any shrimp.

“What the hell am I supposed to do with this???” he asked rhetorically, laughing about his failure to escape the shrimping in time.

“No clue, guess you better bolt faster next time!” we chuckled back.

8934 Wornall Rd
Kansas City, MO 64114
US
[launch map]
(816) 363-9571