Chaz on the Plaza

Mediocre at best describes our experience at Chaz. After reading several positive reviews we selected Chaz on the Plaza. Made an 8p reservation on a Friday night. Establishment was fairly busy but not a packed house after arriving promptly at 8p. 45-​minutes later our appetizer finally arrived. The Espilette Braised Shrimp and Grits was only highlight of evening. Diver Caught Scallops with Lobster Tail left an unfavorable impression. Waiter included an additional lobster tail since main course didn’t arrive for another 40 minutes later. Decided to skip dessert since already been a two hour meal. Waiter was inattentive entire meal. Highly NOT recommending this establishment. Proceed with caution.

Looking for a good happy hour in KC? This is the place to come. There is live music playing and since it’s in the historic Raphelle Hotel it feels a little like going back in time, maybe it was the Jazz music. The bartender makes delicious cocktails and I had the best French 75 I’ve ever had. We ordered the Fried Green Tomatoes and they are the best in KC. I loved the sauce and parmesan cheese sprinkled over top. I wanted to come back but didn’t get a chance too but this place is worth coming too and would be a great place to take a date before strolling the fountains of the Country Club Plaza across the river. If I am in KC I would love to stay at this hotel.

The music and ambience was perfect ⁹⁄₁₀: food ⁶⁄₁₀: wine is over priced but good ⁸⁄₁₀:
valet ⁶⁄₁₀: service ¹⁰⁄₁₀:

Wooo. Where do I start? If I could rate six stars, I would.
When you first walk in you automatically feel like you are getting the royal treatment. The hostess and serving staff must have extensive training because everything was refined yet not stuffy, like Barry Manilo.
The wine list was very extensive and I had no problem finding a wine that would suit my dinner choices. Whoever thought through the wine list has a vision deeper than David Bowie. Our server was Chanel and she started us off with the Calamari. Move over Kona! McCormick what? It was one of the best Cephalopods Ive ever munched on! We moved on to the grilled caesar. i thought, salads arent grilled?! However, it was one of the best caesars Ive ever had. For my last course I chose the Steak Dianne. Dianne is one lady that will not let you down. She is the perfect plate of meat and potatoes that you will not let you down.
Hands down one of my favorite restaurants in Kansas City. Also, it makes it even better that it is attached to the best hotel in the city.
Chaz is always the right choice, and you can take that one to the bank!

We walked in around 9am after check out, good timing because they started taking reservation seating after us.
Quiet setting, friendly staff.
Food was great!
Had the French toast banana foster, wow!
That breaks was homemade and thick! Not to sweat and oh so good.
Hubby had the prime fillet, which was a tad small and he ended up eat if my omelet. (I order it thinking the foster would be thin and small) He said it was very good and cooked to perfection.

«Average» is probably the best thing I can say about my experience at Chaz this last weekend. We wanted to get a nice, quick breakfast before heading out for the day and had hoped that Chaz (the restaurant in our hotel) would be the place to do so. We went in about 9:15 or so on Sunday for breakfast. We were greeted by a woman who didn’t quite seem to know what was going on because once she found out we didn’t have reservations, she told us to wait by the door cause she didn’t know if she would be able to get to us. This seemed a little odd to me after walking through the restaurant from the hotel entrance and seeing a bunch of open and dirty tables without there being anyone in the waiting area.
We waited for a while without anyone ever giving us an idea if they were going to work us in or not. We finally got tired of waiting and started towards the exit. As we opened the door to leave, the woman came over and said she would seat us. She walked us back to a dirty table (trash on it) which was the same dirty table we had walked past earlier.
Our waitress, who wasn’t wearing a name tag and did not introduce herself, seemed sick and was constantly sniffling and wiping her nose. It was a little unpleasant to think about her handling our food and drinks. She was nice, but she was not in a hurry of any kind. We were ready to order our meal when we sat down (we had gone over the menu in the hotel room) but she insisted to first take our drink order and then come back several minutes later for our food order.
I ordered the Bananas Foster French Toast and my Girlfriend had the Power Breakfast. We both had Orange Juice as well. The French Toast was actually pretty amazing. However, my Girlfriends Eggs had almost zero seasoning and her Sausage was kinda dried out. We both had the Potato Cake which was equally amazing as my French Toast.
Our meal totaled over $ 45.00, which kinda blew me away when I realized there weren’t any mistakes. Some of the food was great (some kinda ‘meh’), but still would be considered WAY overpriced.

Maybe it was just the expectation I had for Chaz since I have been wanting to come eat at this restaurant for quite some time now, but I wasn’t happy. The food was not bad but after paying $ 145 on a meal for 2, I expected much more in terms of flavor.
The staff was exceptional and while our waiter seemed a little short with us (we ate dinner at 5:30 pm so the place was nearly empty) the bus boy that kept picking up our plates and refilling our glasses was amazing!
We started with Calamari and a Crab Cake. The Crab Cake is served with a poached egg on top with hollandaise sauce and arugula on top. It looked like an Egg Benedict. It was good. The Calamari was ok, but again, not extraordinary. My wife also ordered the Crab Soup and it was surprisingly good. So far we were happy, then came the food. My wife ordered the Chilean Sea Bass and it arrived with lentils and a piece of onion. The fish had no flavor at all. All we could taste was the lentils. Portion size was a bit small as well for a $ 34 plate. I asked for the waiter if he recommended any particular steak and I also asked if they served a «Steak Oscar» since I noticed they had «Veal Oscar» on the menu. He simply said, no we don’t. He recommended the Kansas City Strip Steak and said, «you can never go wrong with that cut.» Apparently I can. While the steak looked decent at it was cooked medium, not overcooked or undercooked, it still could not cut through it. The plate kept shifting and steak was kind of tough on certain parts. It was also lacking in any type of seasoning. I did not ask for A1 Sauce simply out of respect for the chef. I instead opted to sneak a little salt and pepper and forced myself to eat it.
For such a restaurant in such a prestigious hotel, I was expecting so much more. I won’t mention any other restaurants since this is a review about Chaz but the description for the 2 stars says it best… Meh. I’ve experienced better.

My girlfriend, a long time friend and a new acquaintance had dinner last Tuesday. The bartender, a very professional black gentleman was gracious and kind. He knew his way around the bar about cocktails and upscale wines. I was impressed because it is getting hard to find great bartenders in hotel restaurants these days.
Headed in for dinner and the fried green tomatoes are wonderful and probably the best dish of the evening.
The entrees are decent, of course, just not mind blowing, but what dishes are if you’re somewhere to catch up with friends and aren’t paying attention.
Great service staff and I don’t say that very often!
I would return to visit again.

Restaurant Week at Chaz on the Plaza was absolutely fantastic! My boyfriend and I had little to no knowledge of what this place was about and chose it specifically because of the RW menu (so much more exciting and diverse compared to some other choices I’ve seen. Big brownie points!).
We were pleasantly surprised by the cozy and intimate atmosphere Chaz had to offer and oh, jazz! The live jazz music. We were a BIG fan of this.
From the appetizers: The Seasonal Soup and Roasted Beet Salad, to the entrees: Duroc Pork Belle Stuffed with Coppa Ham and Seared Ahi Tuna, + dessert: Black Forest Trifle /​Vanilla Crème Brulee. Everything was «on point.»
We left Chaz feeling relaxed and delighted. Every person we interacted with was just so pleasant and professional. We will definitely be returning again!
Upon leaving this review, I was curious to understand why Chaz wasn’t above a 4 star on here. It seems like much of their downfall is on wait time /​pricing. While I can’t say much for wait time (we came on a slow Monday night) the pricing seemed to be on par with some of my other favorite restaurants in Kansas City. If anyone is unsure of Chaz, I’d recommend doing Restaurant Week (seriously, no disappointments) OR Chaz’s Throwback Thursday offer ($ 40 for a three course meal).

Restaurant week. Incredible. Salmon was on point and lord have mercy the cream brûlée. .
Very fancy. Great atmosphere.

The crab cake is to die for!!! Not to mention the beautiful jazz music and displays they show. Not to miss!!! Grab a group of friends and you are all set!!!

Chaz managed to earn ANY stars because of the exceptional waitstaff and service. Okay, also the fried green tomatoes and shrimp cheese grits (although $ 11 is STEEP for only three slices of tomato) were delicious.
My parents and I drove four hours up from Arkansas to enjoy an evening in Kansas City. We sought the beautiful holiday lights of the plaza and, hopefully, a memorable meal. My last visit had been over 20 years ago and I looked forward to renewing an old love – with the city. My mother has had her ongoing ‘relationship’ with KC since the 1940s.
The plaza was indeed as delightful as memory served, with the exception of no carriage rides on this incredibly beautiful Christmas evening. As we circled the plaza, driving up and down the streets we noted which restaurants appeared to be open. I had already secured a recommendation from the desk clerk at the Embassy Suites. My mother decisively settled upon dinner at Chaz.
I scoped Chaz on Unilocal (and F.S. and Tavel-​ocity), ascertaining their exceptional status and called for reservations. Yes, of course on such an evening we would be forced to wait nearly three hours. My father and I confirmed and reconfirmed that this was where mother wanted to go for dinner (a very late meal for all three of us). She affirmed her decision.
We drove around a bit longer then called Chaz to determine whether we might be seen earlier, the response while not promising was hopeful.
The absolutely best experience of the whole evening was our arrival. The restaurant manager, himself, escorted my mother (wheelchair bound) and me around the (OUTSIDE – frigid cold) restaurant so we could gain handicap access (through the waitstaff backdoor). (HEADS UP for all ADA concerns – this place is NOT easily wheelchair accessible.)
The restaurant and bar was packed – yet mom wanted to wait it out. We perched on the edge of a bench and enjoyed the pleasant sounds of a three person band. Time passes. I secured refreshments for us as we waited (waited).
We were finally seated, in a good location for our ADA needs, and proceeded to order. We ordered the highly recommended cheese and shrimp grits – outstanding, and the fried green tomatoes – also outstanding (I suggest only getting it during Happy Hour at the reduced price).
I ordered a Caesars salad and a strip (medium rare with lots of marbling). My salad was disappointing – if you read another Unilocal review that trashed the Caesar, my experience mirrored theirs identically. By that time, it was too late in the evening for me to continue eating so I asked for my strip ‘to go.‘
My parents ordered the house salad, the She Crab Soup and the fish feature of the day. I sampled the fish, the texture was mealy and the flavor was non-​existent (I recommend against ordering this).
My mother and I requested a crème brûlée to share between us for dessert. It was served at room temperature, meaning, it had not been warmed. This was unacceptable. How hard is it to serve a warmed crème brûlée?
Finally, the greatest disappointment was my strip. It was no where to be found. I had been clear in my request to have it ‘to go.’ That request, was an hour earlier. Most irksome? Instead of inquiring of me and offering the option of declining – they planned to keep us longer by preparing another (what? We were three old people – we needed to retire for the evening). I had to specifically instruct them to remove the charge from my bill (no steak – no charge).
Hence, only because of the wonderful atmosphere, attentive management, gracious (who was that lovely woman in the cute ‘bell’ skirt?) waitstaff, did my experience receive more than two star.
Would I return? Possibly. I recommend sitting in the bar and having a glass or two of wine, soaking up the ambiance and enjoying the service (dinner? Hmmmm).

Great place for gathering with friends! We went here after a wedding and had cocktails.
The peach basil moscow mule was to die for and I have been trying to figure out how to make it ever since!!! The atmosphere was classy and very comfortable. I wish we had stayed here for our trip!

Great place for a romantic dinner. I had the sea bass, she had the steak Diane, both were perfect. In the background we listened to live jazz with Ben Leifer and his wonderful fiancé Megan, sublime! Wine prices are a bit high but the meal is so good that you just need to do it! Love this place.

Love love love the food! So great. We’ve eaten here twice and I’m sure we will at least two more times before we leave. We have the best waiter. Omar. When we came back the next day her knew what drinks we wanted. He soooo nice. Their food is fantastic. Highly recommend.

I spent two nights at the hotel and visited Chaz on the Plaza for a business dinner. Excellent service, great cocktails, and high quality cuisine. The fried green tomatoes were excellent. Highly recommend but beware, their Unilocal gift has expired. :)

We were staying at the Raphael for my mother’s birthday and she wanted to eat dinner here, so I made a 7:30 reservation for a Saturday night. When we arrived at 7:28, I was told that «it would be a little while before our table was ready.» Immediately after, another couple came in with a 7:30 reservation and were told the exact same thing, at which point it became pretty clear that this was just the standard, as opposed to a rare booking error or a table that stayed exceptionally long. We proceeded to wait for 25 minutes, and finally at 7:55 were shown to our table. I would expect a casual chain to cram in people and not honor reservations, but for a high-​end restaurant to do it is really tacky. Needless to say, I started off less than impressed. We had to wait an additional 10 minutes for our server after we were finally seated. Our server was polite, but also seemed like she was trying really hard to be very formal and wasn’t very personable, which made every interaction awkward. The restaurant itself is very beautiful and they had live music that was pretty good (it is a little loud in the bar area, but a nice volume in the dining area).
We were brought complimentary bread and butter shortly after being seated. There were two kinds: a sourdough (decent) and a bread that had garlic baked into it that was delicious. We decided to start off with some drinks and the Cornmeal Fried Calamari. To drink, I ordered the Basil Peach Moscow Mule, which was awesome! The calamari was tiny (7 small pieces) and the cornmeal overwhelmed the flavor of the calamari. Overall this was a miss for us, and we wouldn’t order it again. We also started off with two Chaz Salads thinking we would share them between the three of us. This was a mistake, as the salads were very tiny. As in about 5 bites worth. The salads, themselves, were decent, but not anything great, so another miss for our table.
Luckily the rest of the meal made up for the poor start. All three of us ordered the Chilean Sea Bass for our entrees and it was incredible. The sea bass is a very generous portion and is served with a small triangle or roasted garlic pudding and broccolini in a shrimp bisque. The sea bass was fantastic and the shrimp bisque was extremely flavorful.
For dessert, we decided to go with the «Dessert to Share» option, which is three of the dessert options. We went with the Vanilla Crème Brûlée, the Banana Cheesecake with Butterscotch Sauce, and the Black Forest Trifle. All three desserts were very generous portions and all of them were excellent. The Banana Cheesecake was my favorite, and the butterscotch sauce was the perfect complement to the real (not artificial) banana flavor in the cheesecake.
Although our entrees and dessert were very good, I was overall not impressed with this restaurant, particularly considering the price point. Considering all the amazing dining options in this area, I am not sure I would choose to dine here again. Fixing their reservation system and working on their staff training would definitely improve the overall experience and elevate this dining experience to what you would expect from a restaurant of this class.

Great cocktails (especially the Moscow mule) and awesome life jazz. This place isn’t too crowded and has some great mood to it; definetely worth checking out.

First time here trying it out for Restaurant week. While the reviews are not as good, I had to try it for myself. And boy am I glad I went! We had dinner reservation at 8: pm. Arrived at 7:50pm through a gated small parking lot. It’s located in a nice hotel downstairs to the right. Interior is old world charm. They had a band playing jazz music which is a plus for us. Upon entering, we were greeted right away by a nice hostess who asked if we wanted our coats to be hung. Bar area is small. The hostess apologized our table wasn’t ready yet. Mind you, we were 10 minutes early. Every employee that passed by us were very polite and nice. Loved it! No snobby employees here! Make sure you dress your best. I saw a few ladies wearing fur coats, guys dressed in suits, etc. It is for an older crowd, but I don’t mind that. I love places like this especially the Majestic!
We got sat right on time. Drink menu ($ 12 and up) was in place of a tablet. Husband ordered a merlot, and I, a chocolate martini. They don’t skimp on the alcohol. One drink was enough for me!
Food: appetizers were She crab soup and fried green tomatoes. You have to try the green tomatoes! Sauces on there is on point! Both were delicious! They brought out complimentary bread.
Entrees: we both ordered the steak Dianne medium. It came with fried potatoes, asparagus, and two small size steaks topped with sauce. Steak was cooked perfectly. Fried potatoes were delicious!
Dessert: chocolate mousse and caramel pecan butter cake. Chocolate mousse was too much chocolate. If they added whip cream to the top, it would have been perfect! Cake was a little dry. I took my husband’s dessert, and put the mousse on top of the cake, and devoured it all! I was so full after all the food. (Usually, we go to fancy places like this, they give you very small portions. And after dinner, I always make my husband stop at McDonalds to get me Big Mac and fries. But not this time. Lol!)
Love this place! Will be back again!

I asked my cool Son-​in-​Law where he’d like to celebrate his birthday and found out about one of the best kept secrets on the Plaza. Monday through Friday, 4 – 6 p.m., Chaz on the Plaza offers a half-​price Appetizers menu that is amazing!
Not only is the Lounge a classy area to hang out with soft jazz playing on the sound system, but, then, coupled with a fine level of service that makes you feel very special and wonderfully prepared food from Chefs that know what they are doing and do it very well, we were in for quite a treat!
Among the menu items were cornmeal dusted sauteed Oysters served with a kicky cocktail sauce, generous bowls of Shrimp and Grits, so rich and creamy it brought tears to my eyes. And tasty Fried Green Tomatoes over a purée of creamed spinach and topped with a dollop of Sweet Tomato relish. I’m not doing justice in my descriptions of any of these and you’d just need to try them for yourselves. For instance, the Shrimp and Grits was enhanced even further into the stratosphere with a sprinkling of bright green, frizzled spinach. Yum!
Hubby and a Grandson ordered Steak Burgers and Truffle Fries that made full meals, in and of themselves. Yet both items have a place on the Appetizer menu at Chaz. While we were at it, we ordered a nice Charcuterie board with a selection of creamy, spreadable cheese, thin sliced salami, parma ham and capicola, olives and gerkins served with crispy cracker bread.
There are several further appetizer delights that I would like to explore another time including crab cakes and fried calamari but those will have to wait for our next visit. I was so full I wasn’t even tempted by the dessert menu but SIL and Grandson decided to top off their feasts with Chocolate Mousse. It was generously sliced and even came with a lighted birthday candle in honor of the occasion.
Now that I’ve let this «secret» out of the bag, I expect to have to compete for seats on our next visit. So I’d appreciate it if you’d keep this just between you and me: Chaz on the Plaza is well worth the visit anytime, but their Happy Hour is too good to save only for ‘special occasions’!