Mingle

New menu is great. Fun games outside on the new patio with a outdoor bar. Give Mingle a try if you haven’t been in awhile or ever. It’s a new atmosphere, happy hour, food specials and more.

There are several things going on here that confuses me. The space itself is terrific. There’s a large area with a bar on the left. The first impression I got (outside) was good. The front door especially was awesome and reminded me of an old wine cellar. When you walk in, the walls are brick, some painted blue, green, and a burnt orange. There’s a large chalkboard with the beers available (makes it nice to decide). There were several wine bottles in a rack on the shelf, but no wine list in sight. Not sure how anyone ever can order wine without a wine list. The furniture around the bar are mismatched and old… some falling apart. The space behind the bar is cluttered and doesn’t look like it’s been cleaned in a VERY long time. Cleanliness alone is something this place could easily do and really make a difference. For example, after we ordered, my husband went to the restroom and told me how dirty the bathroom and kitchen looked as he walked by. This alone made me wish we didn’t order food. When we sat down at the bar, we were informed that they used to have a draft system, but they took it out. This blew my mind a bit. She told us that they rotated beers too much to keep them. This told me that they didn’t keep up with the required cleaning of the lines or were just too lazy to deal with it. I ordered a bottle which she poured in a glass (without asking) and didn’t show me the bottle.
When it came time to order food (we had a groupon), we were informed that they had lost a deep freeze, so there were a lot of items we couldn’t order. We opted for the jal poppers with goat cheese, which was actually really good… I’m just sad that there were only three. We also got the BBQ Chicken pizza which was okay. If you like thin pizza (cracker crust), it would be a good choice. All in all, this place does have potential. There are a lot of little tweaks (and a lot of cleaning) that could be done to really turn this place around. It is a great location with a good space, just up to them if they are going to take care of it.
One thing that I did see that really bugged me was watching the bartender tell customers she didn’t have liquor that she did (another girl at the bar came around and showed her where it was… she does work there apparently) and then when making a strawberry margarita, she tried to shake it, but when the shaker wouldn’t fit on the glass, gave up and just mixed it. CRINGE. Anything with sweet and sour should be shaken, otherwise it will be way too overpowering.
I’d come back IF they cleaned and maybe trained their employees a little better. Potential is there, it just doesn’t seem like they want to do it.

We went back again. Sad to say. Just as bad. Only 10 people in the place. We only had drinks and the bar staff acted depressed and did not care we were there. What is the deal? This place could be great. Management are you there? Owners, Hello, is there any one at home. Still a big No.

The food, Drunken Sliders and Shrimp Salad, were fine, though disappointed they had no food specials, no steaks and no beer on tap. The service was definitely not impressive. The heavy set host/​lady behind the bar kept stating her wi-​fi was working when very clearly I could not access it on either my laptop.
She and a lady she was schmoozing it up with, also kept trying to give me the username and password to a place next door and it wasn’t working on either my laptop or phone. She kept saying «we’re a restaurant» as if I didn’t already know that, but the way she offered me no solutions and her attitude and demeanor in general, has lead me to a conclusion that she is not a very good person at serving the customer.
Should’ve gone to the peanut. Very disappointed. :(

Drinks are great, bar staff is friendly; but food is not very good. We have tried to eat here before the menu change and after. Still not up to par with the competition

Sadly, it has really gone down hill. A year ago it was a great casual place with top notch food and service (I even brought my inlaws there for their birthdays). Tonight we were met with an aroma of «sewer issues» a run down look, lack luster service, and a very much reduced menu. After waiting way too long (considering there weren’t many customers) for our drink orders to be taken, and even longer for food orders, we decided dinner was the priority and went to Unk’s Burgers (also in the Lee’s Summit area).
On the plus side, the beer selection was outstanding.
How the mighty have fallen.

My friend and I stopped here on a Friday for dinner. When we walked in we were stared at by customers (all 8 of them) and staff. The décor was cute/​charming. We ordered a pitcher of white peach sangria to start, which had too much orange juice, no peach flavor and not enough wine. The staff wasn’t attentive, the food was awful (hence, no customers on a Friday night.) We ordered meatballs (a whopping four!) that we could tell were frozen and overdressed with BBQ, disgusting. The chicken spinach sliders were dry and bland and served with a laughable full size wooden skewer. The crab roll bites were cold. We were wishing we hadn’t ordered the full
Pitcher so we could get out of there but we didn’t want to waste the drink. $ 50 later we went to Houlihans happy hour and spent half as much and got twice as much. Will not be back, which is unfortunate because I love supporting locals.

My friend and I stopped in after catching a hockey game on a Saturday night. Holy Cougartown, Batman! I was 20 years too young for the crowd. These women were all hoochied out and on the dance floor. They seemed to be having fun. Guy/​girl ratio was 1:8. That’s ok though, I don’t want to be anyone’s sugar mama ;)

Waited 45 mins for our. appetizer sampler. Didn’t order dinner, luckily. Place was not crowded (hmmm, wonder why). Food arrived cold. The waiter warmed it up for us in the microwave. Who would nuke fried calamari then eat it? Apparently they do and think I would. I won’t be back.

I went here on a Saturday around 4pm. Besides two regular types at the bar, my date and I were the only ones there. We ordered wine and two appetizers. It took 20 minutes for the food to come out, at least. The bruschetta was good, the chicken nachos were so piled up with stuff, you had to eat them with a fork.
What really struck me as odd about the place is it has so much potential, but little effort has been put into it. The menu prices and offerings do not match the bar-​like atmosphere at all. Nor does the pop crap music they played.
I was happy that they had Adam Puchta on the wine list, though.
This place could really do well if the owners decided what type of place they actually want to be.

I’m going to review this place in 2 different ways. First food and service — 1 star. Then entertainment and beer selection. So the food here used to be great before they changed the menu. My fiancé and I took my parents there for dinner and told them the food was great. Well that USED to be the case. Not any longer! My finance ordered the french onion soup. it came out with a limp cold piece of provolone on it. That was the first of the culinary mistakes. We then ordered the Seared ahi tuna. Expecting it to be just seared on the outside and served cold. This was there goal and they missed by miles. The tuna was warm and had been cooked such that half of it had chanced from red to white. just awful. will not eat here again!
Review 2… Entertainment/​Beer Selection — 5 Stars
If you are looking for an after hours place to go this place is a hit. they have duel pianos all night and they take requests. Their beer selection is also quite extensive. and reasonably priced. So go grab a bite at Maggies, Jerry’e, or Stuey’s then hit up mingle after for the show its great.

I held a viewing party for my short film in their private area last night. The staff was very kind and helpful, and there were barely any appetizers left when the night was over, which I take as a sign the food was good. The bits I had after the party were decent if nothing to write home about, but the house cabernet with which I self-​medicated throughout the event was quite good.
Areas for Improvement
Better communication and preparation for events like this. I’d mentioned when I first contacted them that I would be screening a short film and asked if they had a room that would be appropriate for such a thing. I received a one-​sentence response in reply, which gave no detail on their facilities or in any way helped to «sell» the place. I ended up checking out a few places in Downtown Lee’s Summit during Oktoberfest. In person, the folks were much warmer. After my first choice ended up being booked, I was able to book at Mingle (which is free as long as you’re buying some food and drinks).
I wasn’t contacted between when I reserved the room and when I showed up, and I was admittedly a little disappointed to see the room hadn’t been arranged in any way that really counts, either for a sit-​down dinner or for a film screening. Behind the dresser being used as a TV stand (I brought my own TV) was a bunch of – for lack of a better word — junk, which wasn’t visible to the audience but still struck me as a little unprofessional. The chairs had obviously been used for some sort of outdoor function and thus weren’t the cleanest I’d ever seen. The room was also pretty warm, so I had to set up some fans (not ideal for a film screening). It ended up being fine, but it could have been better, which ended up being sort of the theme for the night.
My overall impression is that this is a fairly typical steakhouse-​style restaurant with all the ingredients to make a nice local haunt (interesting interior, set up for live music, etc.). Class up or class down the food/​prices, pump up the emphasis on the wine/​beer selection, and (here’s the most important bit) focus on improving PR/​advertising. Work with people who want to introduce your restaurant to a bunch of new folks (no one at my screening had been there before). The place is eking out three stars from me because I think it’s got a lot of potential.

Went here with another couple on a lazy Friday night in town in hopes of supporting a local business. Kind of wish we hadn’t. It’s such a shame because places like these need local support and totally deserve it… well, if they deliver of course.
Where do I begin? I seems like from the start, just upon walking in, the place wasn’t all there. The ambiance was totally dark and a little dreary — generic ceiling fans, one lone tv in the back, no décor other than a random collection of family portraits on one part of a wall, and that’s about it. Dark walls, dark floors, dark tables. Kind of weird.
Waited awhile to be seated and was greeted by the hostess who didn’t seem to thrilled we were there. When our waitress finally came, she told us about the special when we asked her and didn’t know much more about the inclusions about the menu. Case in point: I asked if there was stock in one of their soups because I am a vegetarian; she went to check; came back to say that there was, but there was french onions on top. Wtf?
Not wanting a salad, I ordered a few sides; the only other veggie option on the menu was a pasta dish. The fried asparagus was a good idea in theory, but executed so that you either had to eat the whole thing in one bite or cut it with a knife (thus defeating the concept of finger foods). My husband had a reuben and said it was decent, which is more than the others in our group could say. If the reuben is the best item on the table, then damn.
Oh, and did I mention that, being seated next to the front door, we witnessed half of the staff take a smoke break IN FRONT OF THE RESTAURANT and then bring the fumes back inside of the establishment with them? Classy…

Mediocre, overpriced food. Period.
I ordered a Cesar salad and honestly… didn’t get one. I mean, have I been out of circulation so long that Cesars are no longer made with Romaine? I’ve never had one that wasn’t. Come on… don’t just throw some greens on a plate, laden it with so much garlic and parmy cheese that I can still just about knock myself out 10 hours later. I’m picky about my Cesar… and that wasn’t it. The chicken (yes, my fellow vegheads… I fell off the wagon last night) was horribly dry. Guess the chicken had the last laugh on me… teach me to fall off again.
Wolfie had a spinach side salad and some fries. Fries were just ok.
When It came time for the bill, alcohol had been added. We didn’t order any. The waitress took the beer off and miraculously the total was higher than when it had the beer on it. The only thing I can figure is that they added the chicken for the salad on to the bill the second time around.

Well… where should I begin? My wife and I were excited to hear that a new locally owned restaurant was opening in downtown Lee’s Summit so after a couple months we finally made our way to Mingle. We arrived at around 8:30 on a Thursday night and the place resembled a cavernous garage with decent lighting. There was no background music, nobody to greet us, and about 5 other people in the restaurant. Not what we were expecting from the «hip» new place in downtown Lee’s Summit.
Food: C– it seemed like everything we had ordered was pre-​made and re-​heated. Pork Chop had good flavor, but was over cooked. The french onion soup was not edible, nor was the pasty chicken tortilla. My wife’s Chicken Cordon Blu had great plate presentation, but again… tasted like it had been pre-​cooked, then warmed for serving.
Service: B (the server was very friendly but it just seemed like nobody really knew what was going on.)
Ambiance: F (as i said, no background music and a lone TV behind the bar showing an episode of «24». Not exactly the setting for a $ 60 dinner)
As a strong proponent of local business I hope Mingle gets it together quick. People in this economy expect a lot when spending money and the patrons in this demographic aren’t going to stand for mediocracy.
As much as I would like to support the locals, we will opt for Houllihan’s next time, where I know I will come away happy and heavier in the pocket book.