Winstead’s

Great spot for a quick, flavorful, classic burger. Inside feels exactly the same as the plaza location, minus the drunk people. This place helps my wife and I forget we’re old and live in the suburbs; it is practically like a Saturday night on the plaza. Also love being able to have rings AND tots. Simple menu, good food.

Perfect stop for breakfast: great food, not crowded, service is top notch. Two of us went on Thanksgiving weekend and the place is clean, decorated for the holidays and server was on top of the coffee refills. Total ticket price including 20% tip: $ 19.

Hey, Winstead’s is always a fair choice! A Kansas City icon with good service.

Classic local Kansas City food. The burgers are a bit on the slimmer side, but their crispy onion rings, shakes (butterscotch is the best), and cherry limeades with sherbert in them make up for the lacking of the burger patties.

I frequently inhabit this Winsteads. I always get top notch service, and perfect milkshakes!

Hadn’t eaten here in years. Had lunch here the other day and found it to be as fantastic as I remember (different locations). Extra pickles on my steakburger and well done onion rings along with a diet cherry limeade – man… really hit the spot! :)

Winstead’s is a Kansas City hamburger icon. The most famous one is on the Country Club Plaza and this one is in the suburbs of Johnson County. With the same menus I looked for differences and found few (a good thing).
The look is pretty much the same (not counting the charmless suburb), so on to what really counts.
Great surprise was that the burgers and fries were almost identical — with but one exception: I’ve never had to add salt on the Plaza, guess that’s for the milder constitutions in Overland Park. (I’ve also found this in their BBQ spots).
Back to the burgers, great seasoning (less salt), fresh buns, actually melted cheese, and really thin. But don’t worry, there’s enough meet. Usually a thick burger guy, I will always make a Windstead’s exception!
Fries are full of flavor and never burnt.
But to do it right you need to add a shake or limeade, and finish off with their famous ultimate sunday — the serious «Skyscraper!»
So if you can’t make it to the Plaza, and can do without a charmfilled neighborhood (that means ignoring the Sonic next door), this one should be you hamburger heaven — don’t worry, there’ll be a salt shaker on your table.

Horrible! Now I know why it was empty at noon. Sprite with sherbet for a lime ade. Raw hambuger if you can believe that vanilla malt was just ice cream barely blended. No napkins, salt and pepper in my to go order.either. So long Winsteads. Your glory days are over! Totally unacceptable!

Get a steakburger made the way you want — the options for toppings are extensive enough without being ridiculous. THE ONION RINGS ARE AMAZING. I don’t live in the Kansas City area and this is always a must stop when visiting family. Did I mention that the onion rights are amazing? Our waitress was fun and engaging and made sure that all three of us received exactly what we ordered and stopped by several times to check up on us. We each had ordered different toppings with our burgers which means that they are flexible. This time I ordered a limeade — I’ve had it before but forgot how good it was with that scoop of lime sorbet in it. Mom had a chocolate shake (too good for words!) and husband had an Orangeade. Between the three of us, we had one order of fries and two orders of onion rings. By the way, did I mention that the ONION RINGS ARE AMAZING? If you want the taste of old-​fashioned burger goodness, then Winsteads is the place to go.

We were there last night and were very disappointed. The burgers were extremely dry and we’re still wondering how they can advertise it as a «steak» burger. We decided to split an order of french fries. At $ 2.45 per order, we decided there should be plenty. Not so — just a few and the waiter dropped some of those. The fries appeared crisp, but upon biting into them, they were mushy. (HOW can this be?)
The décor was an «old time» diner theme that is something we really like. It was a place that should be ROCKING. However, it was nearly empty.
I know why. Décor isn’t everything when you are hungry…

This place hasn’t changed since I was a kid. The old juke box is still there. I love the taste of the double winstead. I always search for the taste of this bite in every burger I eat. It tastes like my childhood with an onion ring smooshed in the middle followed by a bite of chocolate frosty. Yummy. I love you forever Winstead’s!

Double with cheese, everything on it.
If you live in the KC area and haven’t had a Winstead’s steakburger, stop reading this review, go to one of their many locations around the area and feed your 1950s personality.
I’ll pick Winsteads over McDonalds and other fast food chains any day of the week. Their steakburgers, fries, and onion rings are some of Kansas City’s old fashioned burger joint style food at its finest (but no comparison to more refined burger restaurants). Yes, this location along with all of their other locations is drab. Yes, service is a little spotty. Yes, they cut corners to avoid paying extra people or fixing up the joint. But would you expect your experience at this Kansas City landmark to be any different? You’re paying for no-​frills environment that hit every branch of the pink and blue pastel tree on the way down.
The night we dined here, the first evening after a morning of snowy weather, only two other people were eating. One server and one food runner worked behind the service area. Our server never stopped smiling and was diligent until 30 other people strolled in taking up a bunch of tables and filling the restaurant One was a 12 top. It’s not their fault they had the same burger craving, right? With only one server on duty and woefully understaffed, our gal handled the room with ease, albeit a little slow. And I think that’s the moral for Winsteads and perhaps life in general. Take life a little slower at Winsteads. Stop and smell the milkshakes. Take the less road less traveled (grilled cheese sandwich). Let go and let good.
It’s a three star review because it lacks a lot. It’s not so clean in here. Tables are often left dirty and atmosphere is not always priority number one. You can, however, count on one thing. When you order a single, double, or triple with or without cheese, you’ll be eating the same style hamburger they’ve been serving in Kansas City for years. It ain’t gourmet and it won’t knock your socks off. It is however, a blast from the past in all its greasy spoony goodness that is sure to take you back.
I won’t rush back, but a trip here every once in a while feeds the need for a simple burger and a side. Don’t miss a stop here if you are traveling or just in need of a simpler meal.

I love Me a Winsteads burger. They are always perfectly cooked, get a double they’re the best with everything. The skyscraper malt is great for sharing with 2 to 3 people.
I usually a get a cherry Coke or a vanilla Coke. The 50 – 50 or the french fries definitely are amazing.
Service here is just as good as any of the others. Fast and efficient, and always friendly. This restaurant is clean and usually you can get in and out fairly quickly. The drive-​through is very fast as well.
Great place for a quick lunch.

We have been to several Winstead’s before, and this experience wasn’t much different. I had a triple burger and I’m glad I did as the patties are very thin. The burger had the same good taste. For my drink I had a thirst quenching limeade.
We were pleased with the service as the waitress was quite attentive and friendly. If you have a chance to stop in for a quick bite, I recommend it.
The only downfall of our visit was the bathroom with it’s very sticky floors.

Not bad for a diner. Burger was good

This restaurant is falling down, falling down, falling down.
The tile falling off the façade should’ve been a good indication of what was to come, but we ignored all signs that the place was crumbling to bits and made our way inside. I don’t think I’d been to Winstead’s since 1998 and huge coincidence, I don’t think this Winstead’s had been cleaned since that year.
My sister’s chair had French fries on it that, apparently, made it past the person busing tables and the servers (our server was training a new staff member). The four of us picked up our laminated menus in the center of the table only to notice that they were stuck together with dried food and grease. After ordering my meal and putting my menu away I went to the bathroom to wash up.
The burger was exactly as I remembered it — the steakburgers are thin. My French fries were a bit soggy and not quite cooked. I ordered a cherry limeade. The last time I had one there they put a small scoop of lime sherbet on top, but I didn’t get any this time. One of my companions ordered a burger with only pickles and ketchup, but got everything minus pickles and ketchup.
The staff was lackadaisical. The décor is tired — exactly the same as it was 15 years ago, just add 15 years of grease — and could use a lot of freshening up. The whole place is greasy. Haddad Restaurant Group, owners of this concept, should hang their heads in shame.
Winstead’s used to be a Kansas City institution, but it’s really fallen off a cliff. I think it’ll be another 15 years before I consider going back, but I doubt they’ll be around that long.

Walking into this Winstead’s location at 12:45 and seeing it with just 3 tables filled and it’s dingy, old-​fashioned décor, I didn’t have much expectations for the place. However, I have to say that I was happy with my experience here, both with the service and with the food.
Our server was very attentive and did everything right: treated the kids nicely, brought the food out on time (we ordered kids first, then the adults, so we all ended up finishing at the same time), came back when we wanted to make another order to-​go, etc.
The food was very good. My single steakburger with everything but onions and cheese had great beef flavor, despite the fact that the patty was so thin (I think the quality beef and brown crust helps in the flavor department). I thought the pickles were a *touch* too overpowering, but it wasn’t a big deal. I could have used an extra onion ring in the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ order, but the fries and onion rings were crispy and delicious. And all of our chocolate, vanilla, and cherry milkshakes were a bit too thick for my taste but very tasty.
It’s too bad that Winstead’s doesn’t have more business. From what I hear, this is a Kansas City institution and deservedly so. In this world of thick, gourmet burgers with crazy toppings and local made buns (which I love but it has a time and a place) and In-​N-​Out (sorry, Melisa V., but their burgers, fries, and shakes don’t compare) Winstead’s may have lost some of it’s steam. But it is very good, decent in price, and fast. I’m looking forward to coming by and getting another steakburger here again.

This place seems like the original Steak and Shake from back in the day. I am not sure about whether it is authentic or modeled after a 50s style burger place. The burgers here are delicious, thin patties cooked to perfection. I had a double Winstead with cheese and everything on it and a side of onion rings. The onion rings are huge and the side is big enough to share. I also split a Cherry Limeade with my boyfriend since his mom raves about them. I can certainly see why! They even put a scoop of lime sherbet into the drink… yum!
This place is going to become a staple on my visits to KC!

Is this place supposed to be a burger place? Ick!
I bought the single «with everything» plus cheese (cause cheese isn’t everything… only pickles ketchup and onion are everything) and fifty/​fifty (fries and onion rings). The total was $ 5.25. What I got was a bag of soggy, grease dripping fries, some less than impressive onion rings and a ketchup, pickle and onion sandwich. You will notice from my photo that the cheese slice is about as thick as the patty thickness.
You can hardly even see the meat on the burger. Pitiful.
Stick with the cherry limeades. I’m not gonna lie… the last one I got was mainly siera mist and had hardly any cherry flavoring in it… so I really hope that was a fluke.
Plus side — the drive through people are always really nice.

Winstead’s is a perfect place to go when you’re craving a yummy, simple burger. If anything were to compare to In-​N-​Out (just the burger) this would probably be it.
It doesn’t stop there though… limeades (w/​a scoop of lime sherbet), chocolate malts and vanilla diet cokes are also on the menu here along with a lot of other diner fare.
the service is a little spotty, but the food is always good. It’s a place I love to go whenever I’m in KC.