The Worst Pint of Guinness in Kansas City, MO
Here it is then. The final photo of Kennedy’s Bar.
Once was Kennedy’s.
3 days after the burning of Kennedy’s, and Waldo’s 75th St is still closed. And so is the pub.
But no more is there even a burnt out facade
Last year I drank in Kennedy’s more than any other pub in Kansas City, other than O’Dowd’s on the Plaza. But I don’t want to make out that it was something it wasn’t.
In the 12 years I’ve been living and visiting Kansas City, the worst pint of Guinness I ever had, by a country mile, was in Kennedy’s 10 years ago. You never forget a bad pint.
And the worst service I’ve ever received in KC was also in Kennedy’s. 10 years ago. 9 years ago. 8 years ago. 7, 6, and 5 years ago. You get the idea. It has been consistently the worst, every year.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not that fussy about service. You don’t have to smile, or wipe my table or my chin. And I, for my part promise not to go and have a nice day. But I do want to be actually served. That’s all I mean by service.
It’s strange to be standing alone at a bar with money proferred, not to be met with the barman’s eyes. Ever. And stranger again when he resists your seductive words of charm attempting to order alcohol and tip him for his effort.
Sometimes I would go back to my table and company without any beers, having given up after 25 minutes at the sparsely populated bar. Even with changing barmen through the years Kennedy’s always did this to me. And Kennedy’s alone.
So why keep going? Being ignored saved me money. And I like rejection. It’s the only time I’ve met a pub that played hard to get. Plus things were improving. 2006 was the first year I’ve got through without walking out unserved at some stage.
See Also:
• Photos Kennedy’s on Fire
• Photo of Kennedy’s after the Fire
• History of a pub, an Irish pub
Eolaí gan Fhéile:
You didn’t start that fire did you?
Are all the bar staff accounted for?
I would burn a bar like this too.
Well done.
Anyway, it looks like Moe’s.
I just read this commentary for the first time. And to think that I’d been taking the poor service personally…
Maybe if you were not such a loser and actually had friends to hang out with at the bar someone would have noticed you.
If you wanna gaze into the barman’s eyes to pick up your at the wrong bar. Go back to the UK and order a Guiness with your next Ruby and Tea.
Dear AA - I may well be a loser but if you read the full post you would know my visits were with friends, who incidentally many times over the years had the exact same experience at the bar as I did.
How many friends does one need to get served anyway? In most pubs anywhere in the world you usually just need to meet the legal minimum age requirements.
Perhaps you manage to order drinks without making eye-contact, but I haven’t witnessed too many people pull off that trick - O’Donoghues of Dublin’s Merrion Row excepted.
Tell me though, what’s Ruby and Tea? Something you drink in southern Africa? And why would I go back to the UK when I came from Ireland? Reading’s not your strong point, is it?
Ha! Ruby Murray what born in Northern Ireland you idiot and the term Ruby lives on as slang for what you eat at tea time. It even made it down to Ireland.
I do read. You wrote alone at the bar…bars and tables are two different things.
The only friend you need for a drink is the bartender. If you drank there more than any other bar, why were you not friends with the bartenders? Oh wait dont tell me - they could care less about losers and ping tracking IT nerds like youself who don’t know how to tip properly.
I’ve also spent plenty of time in Dublin and O’Donoghues for that matter. They probably just gave you the beer as a reflex to get you to leave, and go back to your table.
Maybe the UK will take you since Ireland didn’t want you and neither does Kansas City…
American, “alone at the bar” refers to there being nobody else for the barman to consider serving, not to be being without friends. The friends you suggest I didn’t have, were several feet away. Does context mean anything to you?
And I didn’t drink there more than any other bar; you might want to try reading the post a third time.
Most of what you say is just nonsensical name-calling, so there’s little point in addressing it, but for anybody else who is reading I should point out that anybody familiar with O’Donoghues would be familiar with their unique way of serving to which I am alluding.
If you’re going to insist on replying with just silliness rather than substance, you’ll be wasting your time.
Merely takin the piss for hittin my old local while they were down…
Aside from that, I can appreciate what you have going here.
Sliante mhaith!
Fair enough.
The strange thing was that just before the fire happened I had planned to write this post anyway, and then I guess felt it was the last chance.
I miss the place, which is why I kept going.
Well I have been to Kennedy’s before, and it was a shithole. I mean it was a great place if you like huge chunks of plaster falling off the ceiling. There are too many places in KC with real character to find a “good pint of Guinness”. Kennedy’s - RIP
I guess no one will read this now, but a “Ruby” = Ruby Murray which is cockney rhyming slang for Curry. Not “tea”, Mr “American Asshole”
cheers
D Kennedy, London
London Kennedy, for Americans (and I’m guessing from the name American Asshole is one) tea is a drink only, and American Asshole clearly indicated Ruby, as he is using it, is a food. So you’re putting “tea” in quotes like he said Ruby is tea is inappropriate. He didn’t and wouldn’t call it tea.