Discover the 15 Most Anticipated Kansas City Restaurants in 2024

Get ready, food enthusiasts! The year 2024 brings a diverse range of new restaurants to Kansas City, from barbecue dive bars to omakase sushi experiences. We’ve compiled a list of the top 15 most anticipated restaurant openings in the area, so you know where to go for a culinary adventure.

1. Vita’s Place

Underdog Wine Co. owners Ryan and Jenny Sciara will open a small neighborhood wine bar at 5514 Oak, just around the corner from their Brookside shop. The anticipated opening is in early January.

2. Whole Harvest

This Leawood spot at 4853 W. 117th St. focuses on health, serving zucchini bread, loaded sweet potatoes, lentil pancakes, edamame dip, and more. The Kansas City-based meal delivery service plans to open its first restaurant in the second week of January.

3. Tiki Taco

With two locations in Kansas City, Tiki Taco is set to open its first spot on the Kansas side at 7514 W. 80th St. in Overland Park. Expect the same customer favorites, including crunchy tacos, nachos, and burritos. The projected opening is in January.

4. 1981 K-Chicken

Located at 10412 Mastin St., this Korean chicken restaurant and bar will take over the space previously occupied by Steve’s Villa Capri, an Italian restaurant. This is the first concept from longtime friends Kue-Jin Hwang, Sung Jo, and Kyoungmin Kim, who have dreamed of opening a restaurant for years. The projected opening is in January.

5. Aqua Penny’s

The owners of the popular Park Place Thai restaurant Bamboo Penny’s are opening a seafood and oyster bar concept in the same Leawood shopping center. Aqua Penny’s will be open for lunch, dinner, happy hour, and brunch, with a projected opening in February.

6. Lottie’s Get Down

The Nashville-based firm behind the Westport music venue Tin Roof will open this Southern-fried chicken concept at 4057 Pennsylvania Ave. The building was previously Mickey’s Hideaway and McCoy’s Public House. The projected opening is in early 2024.

7. The Blue Palm

Owners Dan Doty, Roxie Danner, and Houston DeFoe plan to open a tiki bar at 204 Orchard St. in Kansas City, Kansas, in the Strawberry Hill space Mockingbird Lounge vacated. The projected opening is in early 2024.

8. Green Dirt on Oak

Sarah Hoffmann, artisan cheesemaker and owner of Green Dirt Farm in Weston, will open a Crossroads fine-dining restaurant at 1601 Oak St., serving breakfast, lunch, dinner, and her award-winning cheeses. The spot will feature a rooftop deck, an event space, and a production facility, with a projected opening in early 2024.

9. Osteria Bianchi

Las Vegas culinary transplants Josh and Kelly Bianchi plan a traditional Italian restaurant in the former Trago Bar & Tapas space at 9261 N.E. 83rd Terrace, near Liberty, Missouri. The menu will include tonnarelli cacio e pepe pasta, wood-fired pizzas, and a pork trio served with spaetzle and red wine-braised cabbage. The projected opening is in early 2024.

10. Meddys

After successful openings in Brookside and Prairie Village, the Wichita-based Mediterranean restaurant is expanding to Lenexa, on the southwest corner of West 88th Street and Maurer Road. Meddys offers shawarmas, hummus plates, and salads inspired by owner Alex Harb’s Lebanese culture. The projected opening is in March.

11. Sushi Kodawari

Austin transplant Karson Thompson plans to open Kansas City’s first omakase restaurant at 2100 Central St. The fine-dining sushi experience will be one of the city’s smallest restaurants, with just an eight-seat counter offering two seatings per night. The projected opening is in spring.

12. Carne Diem

Louis Guerrieri and Sarah Nelson, the husband-and-wife team who opened Ombra in 2022 at The Village at Briarcliff, are planning an upscale meat market and seafood counter at 4179 N. Mulberry Drive. The projected opening is in spring.

13. The Fresh Mediterranean Co.

This Middle Eastern restaurant, which started inside a Lawrence Cenex gas station, will expand into a fast-casual concept and take over the space at 3904 Bell in Kansas City, where d’Bronx Authentic Deli and Pizzeria closed in 2022. The projected opening is in spring.

14. Night Goat

Fox and Pearl’s Sunday barbecue pop-up will get its own permanent space in the West Side restaurant’s basement, at 2139 Summit. Expect a honky-tonk dive bar setting with barbecue sandwiches and tacos on the menu. The projected opening is in late spring or summer.

15. Enjoy Pure Food + Drink

Staci Cross, owner of a health restaurant in Leawood’s Mission Farms, is expanding her concept to Lenexa. The new restaurant will be part of a project dubbed Restaurant Row near 87th Street and Renner Boulevard, with a projected opening in September.

With so many exciting new restaurants to try in Kansas City, food lovers will have plenty of options to satisfy their cravings in 2024. Don’t miss out on these anticipated openings!