Kansas City Restaurants With Live Music
If you want dinner and live music in Kansas City without checking a calendar first, Chaz on the Plaza is the safe bet: a jazz band plays its lounge every night from 6 to 10, and the kitchen serves prime steaks and seafood. Downtown, The Majestic Restaurant & Jazz Club sends its full steak and whiskey menu down to a basement jazz room five nights a week.
Jazz is the main genre at six of these twelve, so the choice is less about genre than about which comes first, the meal or the music. Chaz, The Majestic, Lonnie's Reno Club and Stock Hill are dinners with a band. Knuckleheads Saloon, Tin Roof and Black Dolphin Lounge are music rooms that happen to serve food, and BB's Lawnside pairs blues with barbecue.
Our picks
- Any night, no calendar needed: Chaz on the Plaza. A jazz band plays the lounge every night from 6 to 10, and it is the dressiest room on the list.
- A supper-club night you plan ahead: Lonnie's Reno Club. Lonnie McFadden headlines Friday and Saturday, shows are ticketed, and tables book out well ahead.
- Barbecue and blues: BB's Lawnside Blues & BBQ. Bands play Tuesday through Saturday evenings for a small cover, and the Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening sets are free.
- Live music before noon: The Phoenix. A live jazz brunch on weekend mornings, and minors are allowed with a parent or guardian before 7pm.
- A casual night on a small budget: The Ship. Thursday jazz has no admission charge, weekend concerts generally run about ten dollars, and the menu skews Cajun with gumbo and po' boys.
At a glance
| Option | Address | Area of Town | Cuisine | Music Style | Music Nights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 931 Broadway Blvd, Kansas City, MO 64105source | Downtownsource | Steakhousesource | Jazzsource | Most nightssource | |
| 1111 Grand Boulevard, Kansas City, Missouri 64106source | Downtownsource | Americansource | Jazzsource | Weekendssource | |
| 302 West 8th Street, Kansas City, MO 64105source | Downtownsource | Jazzsource | Most nightssource | ||
| 325 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Missouri 64112source | Country Club Plazasource | Americansource | Jazzsource | Nightlysource | |
| 4800 Main Street, Suite G-001, Kansas City, MO 64112source | Country Club Plazasource | Steakhousesource | Select nightssource | ||
| 1205 E 85th Street Kansas City MO 64131source | Barbecuesource | Bluessource | Most nightssource | ||
| 1221 Union Ave, Kansas City, MO 64101source | West Bottomssource | Cajunsource | Varietysource | Most nightssource | |
| 2715 Rochester Ave, Kansas City, MO 64120source | East Bottomssource | Varietysource | Most nightssource | ||
| 417 E 18th St, Kansas City, MO 64108source | Crossroadssource | Pizzasource | Select nightssource | ||
| 424 Westport Road Kansas City, MO 64111source | Westportsource | Bar Foodsource | Varietysource | Weekendssource | |
| 1829 McGee St, Kansas City, MO 64108source | Crossroadssource | Americansource | Jazzsource | Most nightssource | |
| 1813 Grand Boulevard, Kansas City, MOsource | Crossroadssource | Jazzsource |
Dinner with a band, or a show with dinner
The dinner-first rooms put the music in the background on purpose. Stock Hill, a four diamond steakhouse, runs its sets in the lounge and on the patio, and the move there is to book the dining room and treat the band as the backdrop. Lonnie's Reno Club serves beef Wellington under a smart casual dress code, and Chaz is the room people book for anniversaries.
The show-first rooms are the reverse. Knuckleheads is a several-stage complex in the East Bottoms that pulls touring folk, blues, jazz and bluegrass acts, and you come for the show and eat while you are there. Tin Roof in Westport is loud and young, with bands on weekend nights. Black Dolphin Lounge is 21 and over with a short food menu, so eat first. Ted's Taproom sits between the two camps: an intimate Crossroads jazz bar with flatbreads, dips and other shareable plates.
Which nights the music actually plays
Only Chaz is marked Nightly in the table. Six rooms play most nights, but most nights means different things: The Majestic five nights a week, The Phoenix six days, BB's Tuesday through Saturday with Sunday evening too, and Knuckleheads only while it is open, Wednesday through Sunday. On nights The Majestic's club is dark, solo pianists still play the dining room upstairs.
Lonnie's headliner plays Friday and Saturday, and Tin Roof's bands play weekend nights, with weeknights tilting toward DJs. Stock Hill plays three nights, Thursday 7 to 10 outside and Friday and Saturday 8 to 11 inside. Grinders Pizza is the least predictable: its patio sets are free but seasonal and irregular, so treat them as a bonus.
Covers, tickets and reservations
Ted's Taproom and Black Dolphin both charge a ten dollar cover, Ted's on Fridays and Saturdays and Black Dolphin at the door with open seating and no reservations. Lonnie's and Knuckleheads are ticketed, and The Majestic asks for reservations because seating in the basement is limited. Free sets include Grinders' patio, The Ship's Thursday jazz and BB's Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening sets.
The options in detail
The Majestic Restaurant & Jazz Club
A century-old steakhouse in the Fitzpatrick Saloon Building downtown, where the basement speakeasy is now a jazz room with its own stage. The kitchen sends the full steak and whiskey menu downstairs, so you can eat a real dinner a few feet from the trio. Live music runs five nights a week, and the club asks for reservations because seating down there is limited. On the nights the club is dark, solo pianists still play in the main dining room upstairs.
Lonnie's Reno Club
A supper club on the lower level of the Ambassador Hotel, run by trumpeter and tap dancer Lonnie McFadden, who grew up blocks from 18th and Vine. Dinner is as much the point as the set: beef Wellington, Atlantic salmon, Prohibition era cocktails, and a smart casual dress code. McFadden headlines Friday and Saturday nights, with other acts filling in through the week. Shows are ticketed and tables book out well ahead, so this is the one on the list to plan rather than wander into.
The Phoenix
One of downtown's oldest live music rooms, on the ground floor of the historic Phoenix Hotel in the Garment District since 1990. It books jazz, blues and soul six days a week and runs a live jazz brunch on weekend mornings, which makes it one of the few places in town where you can hear a band before noon. The kitchen runs a full menu, so it works as dinner and not just drinks. Minors are allowed with a parent or guardian before 7pm, which is unusual for a club like this.
Chaz on the Plaza
The restaurant inside the Raphael Hotel on the Country Club Plaza, and the most dependable live jazz in the city: a band plays in the lounge every night from 6 to 10. The kitchen does prime steaks, seafood and seasonal American plates in a dark, quiet dining room that people book for anniversaries. It is the dressiest room on this list and the easiest to plan around, because there is no calendar to check. Expect hotel restaurant prices to match.
Stock Hill
A four diamond steakhouse just south of the Country Club Plaza that puts live music in the lounge and on the patio three nights a week. Thursday sets run 7 to 10 outside and Friday and Saturday sets run 8 to 11 inside, with local players including Emily Dix, Marcus Lewis and Tyrone Clark on the bill. The restaurant never names a genre on its own pages, though the roster reads as jazz. This is a special occasion dinner first and a music night second, so book the dining room and treat the band as the backdrop.
BB's Lawnside Blues & BBQ
A 1950s roadhouse on 85th Street that has been pairing Kansas City barbecue with live blues since 1990, and the closest thing the city has to a blues institution. Founder Lindsay Shannon was a blues radio DJ and a founding member of the Kansas City Blues Society, and the bookings grew out of that rather than out of a marketing plan. Bands play Tuesday through Saturday evenings with a small cover, while the Saturday afternoon and Sunday evening sets are free. The Nickle family, whose pitmaster has worked the granite pit for thirty years, took over in 2022.
The Ship
A 1935 bar salvaged from a downtown basement and rebuilt piece by piece in the West Bottoms in 2014, with a restored lounge on one side and a nightclub stage on the other. The menu skews Cajun with gumbo and two kinds of po' boys, though the slow-smoked pastrami Reuben is what regulars order. Something plays almost every night: Honky Tonk Tuesdays, jazz on Thursdays with no admission charge, and weekend concerts that generally run about ten dollars. It is the most casual room here and the one where you are most likely to hit a genre you were not looking for.
Knuckleheads Saloon
A sprawling East Bottoms music complex of several stages tucked beside the rail yards, with a kitchen serving the same menu across the rooms. It pulls touring folk, blues, jazz and bluegrass acts that skip venues this size elsewhere, and Kansas City Magazine readers have voted it the city's best bar with live music, best rock club and best country venue. It is open Wednesday through Sunday and almost everything is ticketed, so check the calendar before you drive out. Come for the show and eat while you are there, rather than the other way round.
Grinders Pizza
A Crossroads pizza and cheesesteak joint that Food Network put on television, with a graffiti-covered dining room and a patio that turns into a stage when the weather cooperates. Patio sets are free and feature a rotating list of local and touring artists, and the attached Grinders KC yard next door hosts the bigger outdoor concerts. Order the New York style pizza or the Philly and eat at a picnic table. The music here is seasonal and irregular rather than scheduled, so treat it as a bonus rather than the reason to go.
Tin Roof Kansas City
A Westport bar and restaurant built around live music, with two stages, five bars and three patios. Weekend nights bring bands from Kansas City and Nashville on one stage while a DJ works another, so the room is loud and young rather than a place to talk over dinner. The kitchen calls its own food 'Better Than Bar Food' and leans on hand breaded chicken tenders and wings. Weeknights tilt toward DJs and drink specials, so come Friday or Saturday if a live band is the point.
Ted's Taproom
The newest jazz room in the Crossroads, a small McGee Street bar with a stage and a menu of flatbreads, bruschetta, dips and other shareable plates. Weekend nights are stacked with two acts, an early set around 5 and a later one running to 11:30, and the calendar is almost entirely local jazz. There is a ten dollar cover on Fridays and Saturdays. It is the most intimate club on this list and the one to pick if you want the music without a hotel dining room around it.
Black Dolphin Lounge
A Crossroads jazz lounge on Grand Boulevard, next door to the Green Lady Lounge and run by the same owner, and the room the Green Lady crowd moved to while that space is temporarily closed. Trios and quartets play early and late sets, with a ten dollar cover at the door, open seating and no reservations. The room is 21 and over and the food menu is short, so it is a drinks and music room more than a dinner destination. Included here because it is where Crossroads jazz actually is this year, but eat first if you are hungry.
How we researched this
Dinner had to come with the music: every room here serves a meal alongside its live sets, though Black Dolphin's menu is short, which keeps some of the city's best-known stages off the list. The Blue Room at the American Jazz Museum serves no food, the Mutual Musicians Foundation is a late-night jam house with cocktails, VOO Lounge serves finger food only, and Hammers Dueling Piano Bar and Nighthawk are drinks-first rooms. Green Lady Lounge was temporarily closed and pointing people next door, which is why its sibling Black Dolphin is here. Californos and Corvino Supper Club have closed, and The 1909 Club is in Lee's Summit. Eddie V's, The Levee and The Brick were left out because their own sites would not give a citable address, schedule or menu.
Most cells come from each venue's own site. Where a venue did not publish a fact, it came from KCUR's April 2026 jazz-venue guide, Visit KC or ArtsKC. The Music Nights column sorts each venue's own schedule into four buckets, and BB's homepage and About page disagree on its nights, so the homepage was used. Where a row is empty, the sources did not settle it: no named cuisine at The Phoenix, Knuckleheads or Black Dolphin, no named genre at Stock Hill or Grinders, no clear music nights at Black Dolphin, and no area for BB's, which sits on East 85th Street outside the listed parts of town. Stock Hill is filed under Country Club Plaza though its own copy says just south of it. Schedules here are as of September 2026, and bookings change week to week.