The Peachtree Restaurant in Kansas City is a well known soul food restaurant franchise.  In 2007, it was announced that in the makeover of the Kansas City Power and Light District, the Peachtree would move their establishment to this prime downtown location.  Roy Wilmore, General Manager and heir to the family business said

"The Peachtree Restaurant has been my parents' shared passion for years, we were not sure that it would be possible to stay Downtown, so we could not be more pleased with the opportunity to be a part of the Power & Light District and the transformation of our city."

Since it's opening, the Peachtree has received mixed reviews.  Earlier this year a review by Charles Ferruzza in The Pitch stated:

The food was excellent at that meal, but I noticed issues that remain problems three months later. Either the dining room is seriously understaffed or the staff is undertrained — or both. As a former waiter and busboy, nothing irritates me more than seeing plates stack up on tables: appetizer plates not removed before the salad course, dinner plates shoved to the side before dessert. On my last visit, I noticed that it wasn't just our table that hadn't been bused but all the tables around us. I got so annoyed that I almost asked for an apron to do the job myself.




Servers are clearly working hard. The bus staff, on the other hand, gives a somewhat languid performance. And don't get me started on managers who linger at the hostess station when there are plates on any table that obviously need to be picked up. I've worked with a lifetime of those divas, and they can kill a good restaurant.

And continued on...

It was a pleasant, home-style Sunday supper in a comfortable, occasionally theatrical setting. (One of the women at the next table wore a hat designed like the one Aretha Franklin had on during the presidential inauguration.) But the little mistakes kept ratcheting up the irritation quotient. When our server brought coffee for Lauren and me, she announced that the kitchen was out of cream so she had brought milk instead. That was fine, but she had brought it in a coffee cup...

Yes, you pay extra for the pricey Power & Light District setting, including the five bucks I shelled out for parking. And it's a gorgeous dining room, no question about it. But I confess: I like the buffet better, too. To hell with martinis.

When looking for further reviews on the Peachtree I was able to find the following excerpts:

From Yelp.com:

A friend chose PT (dinner) for twenty of us. Multiple drink orders were wrong, multiple plates were strangely chipped, a wine glass came w/ lipstick included, the salad was very average. The pork chops, save saltiness, were free of flavor. The one urinal was out of order, our waitress refused to separate the check beyond "by table", who cares if gratuity is fixed at 18% just do your job. The service could not have been slower for a place that was maybe 2/3 full. The pumpkin cornbread, however, was pretty killer. Please go there and experience the definition of lackluster. Also, the band didn't know any Nina Simone. Come on!

We ate here on a Saturday night. The place was busy, but not completely full. The fried chicken was excellent- the best in Kansas City. But, they don't have mashed potatoes. What gives? Mashed potatoes and fried chicken are inseparable.




Gripe #2: the service. The service was friendly, but strangely slow. This is the type of place that I would expect prompt, attentive service. Seems like a common complaint- why are they working to fix this?


Give it a shot for the great food- but don't expect top notch service.

From Trip Advisor:

Let me start by saying I called the restaurant twice to verify the time they would be open and asked if I would need a reservation. I was told by Kevin that no reservation was needed but I made one anyway. My reservation was for 5pm and when we arrived the hostess was telling those without reservations there would be a 1 1/2 hour wait...(so glad I didn't listen to Kevin). We sat down and Bobby took our orders we told him all the items we wanted because we had 7pm tickets to see The Color Purple. We waited 1 hour before our peach tea arrived and advised again that we had to be gone at 6:30pm. We didn't order anything that needed major cooking we ordered an appetizer which never arrived and the rest were sides which should have been cooked. Our food arrived at 6:15pm and our waiter Bobby stated that he is the one who made our salads and prepared our plates. I don't understand why this place did not have the staff in place to handle a crowd when they know events are happening in the area. It was sooooo bad that when the wait staff brought food out of the kitchen people began to clap. I will say that Bobby did the best he could (he was doing more jobs than he is paid to do). I will never set foot in this place again. VERY DISAPPOINTING!

This tragic incident took place on December 5th approximately 7:00pm

I would NEVER recommend anyone to eat at your restaurant, first of all the manager came to our table after we had been seated for approximately 15 minutes and ask if our sever had come to our table yet (we were a party of 3), when we replied "no", she did apologize then left our table (I imagine in search of our missing server Shaneka) another 10 minutes went by and our server Shaneka finally appeared at our table, young gal, she apologized over and over and over again, and then went on to let us know it was not her fault!, she ask if we were ready to order and since we had been there for nearly1/2 hour now we were famished.

Our beverages came pretty quickly, I thought, OK we are on the right track now, boy was I wrong, it only got worse. another 1/2 hour goes by and the Shaneka came back but without our food, she told us our food would be coming shortly, also she told us she would bring back bread while we were waiting, that never happened, 15 to 20 minutes later she came with only two meals, mine and Carla's.

Carla ordered fried cat fish, she ask for tarter sauce the server explained she would bring back "bread" and tarter sauce, that never happened either, in the mean time Carla and I were trying to eat slow because Susan still did not have her food, another after 15 or 20 minutes, Carla got the attention of busboy and ask if he would find the manager for us, the manager came back and again she apologized again, and said she would take care of us

(I was thinking what she meant by take care she would "comp"our meals), at the same time the manger was at our table Shaneka showed up with Susan's meal, Carla and I were finished with our meal by that time. Shaneka went on and on and on about how sorry she was and that she just started that job last week and she was single mother, and how it was not her fault but she would take responsibility and in the same breath, she would say it was not her fault!!!

Susan only took a couple of bites and was ready to go. Once we got the bill I was taken back, not only did they not take anything off my bill, they overcharged me!!!, and they took a whole $2.00 off Susan's bill ( the one who didn't get her meal at least 1/2 hour after Carla and I received ours). we had to call the manager again, I let her know the price of what I ordered, and she politely said , "she will be back with a menu", and low and behold I was right, she again apologized and said that she hit the wrong key, duh... OMG,

After all that I still paid for my meal, and the ONLY reason I paid and did not raise a ruckus, is because my meal was pretty decent.

But I'm going to stop payment on that debit card and you can either compensate me for ALL your mistakes that night, or you can GTH.


You know who I am

Now, there are some good reviews of SOME of the food, but mostly-the service comes up on almost every site, in almost every review I see.  The following was sent in by a friend of the Friends' about HER experience at the Peachtree...

From the Friends' Inbox 10-14-09:

So many folks have asked what happened at Peachtree the night of my birthday dinner, so I thought I'd write it up for everyone to read.

I made dinner reservations at Peachtree in the Power & Light district for 8:30...so I arrive at the restaurant at approx 8:05ish and find Adrian standing at the host stand where they had just told him that someone had called and cancelled the reservation. Well of course since I'm the one that made the reservation and organized the dinner and I'm standing there at that moment, obviously I didn't cancel. So after Adrian informs me of what's going on I approach the hostess to see what's going on and she tells me same thing. I told her that I was the one that made the reservation and hadn't cancelled. So after attempting to slightly argue with me, I asked her would it be a problem seating us and she said no. I said, "Are you sure?" She said she was sure. So after everyone arrived we proceeded to the bar to have drinks while we wait for our table.


So we're at the bar waiting and only a couple of us managed to get drinks (there were 12 in our party) because the bartender was waiting tables on the main floor and wasn't serving folks at the bar (well wasn't serving us, I should say). So we waited and waited and waited...Conway went to check on status of our table and the host wasn't at her post, she too was waiting tables. So finally around 9 something she tells us our table is ready, we proceed to the table only to see it's set for 6 people. So we're all standing there (all 12 of us) looking like idiots. So we turn around and go into this little lounge area that we had discovered hidden away out of sight. So we're talking, starving, taking pictures, starving, talking, starving.....so we're sitting there kinda quiet and I'm sure all thinking the same thing...and Adrian, says what's on everyone's mind, "black people." All we can do is shake our head in disgust and laugh.


So I decide to go talk to hostess to find out what the status is...and she didn't know anything. So by this point there are several empty tables in restaurant so I have to tell her to put this table with that table and that table with this table and make it for 12. So then she makes table for 10, then 11, then FINALLY she learns to count and gets it for 12! So we sit down finally around 10:30pm! YES YOU READ RIGHT, 10:30pm! And a couple had suggested leaving but others felt with 12 ppl in the Power & Light district, it would be difficult to walk right into another resaurant at that point and get a table.


The server approaches the table, no smile, no enthusiasm, nothing....takes our order. At this point it's so late until any drinks, appetizers, whatsoever are out the window. We just want food. OH DID I MENTION THE VALET CLOSES AT 11:30 and we still haven't eaten yet. At any rate, she takes our order then comes back to tell Patrick that they are out of meatloaf (but yet he can order a hamburger) then she proceeds to other end of table to tell someone else they are out of whatever they ordered.


At this point the restaurant is empty with exception of like 3 other tables. One table right next to us obviously had a bad time because the manager came back out and gave each of them gift certificates. So after sitting for about 15-20 min, Patrick inquires about the bread that we are supposed to get. Well obviously they had forgotten because the guy that Patrick asked made a beeline for the kitchen and moments later out came cornbread and she proceeded to tell us they are out of rolls too. Of course they are, hell its' closing time now!


So finally around I guess 10:50, 11:00, the food comes out. So I bite into my deep fried shrimp and almost had a heart attack it was so salty, green beans stark cold...other ppl had problems with food but folks were hungry. Now prior to food coming out we had asked for the manager and she walked by the table like 5 times without stopping. Once the food comes out (about 20 min later) she comes to the table and just looks at us. So I start telling her how dissastified we were, we're celebrating my birthday, etc and she proceeds to argue with me and tell me I cancelled the reservation. By this point I'm so exaspperated that Ericka takes over and basically lets her have it! In a nutshell, Ericka tells her that they have ruined our plans, my birthday, etc and instead of arguing with us they need to accommodate us and tell us how they plan to fix this. She looks at Ericka and says, I'm going to talk to the GM and walks off.


Then, why did the manager never come back to the table and sent the server back to the table with our checks and to tell us the GM will give us 25% off. So I look at her and kindly say, "That's unsatisfactory." So she says ok and goes back into the kitchen. Next thing we know a man dressed like a cook/chef, whatever the hell you wanna call it, comes out the kitchen and goes to the bar and from the bar he yells, "25% off that is all they are getting! 25% off and I'm not giving them anything else!" So of course now I'm mad, so I go over to the bar to see what the hell is his problem, yelling out to us like he's crazy (or yelling so we can hear him, neither of which is acceptable). So I ask him what is the problem and basically to see why he hadn't even come to the table to discuss this with us. He has his back to me initially and turns to me and is pointing his finger in my face telling me I better get from behind the bar and he's not giving us another penny, etc. So now I'm really mad because this mf is all in my face with his finger and telling me what I better do. So I told him he better get his fucking fingers out of my face and asked him what the fuck was he gonna do since he wants to get all up on me like that. So then this mf puts his entire hand in my face and I don't even know what he said because all I saw was red and at that point you can imagine what all I said. Well by this point, the men in our group had come over and Nyauna. The GM is yelling that he's calling the police if we don't pay the bill, etc. So the guys are trying to talk to him, etc.....

So I'm not sure what all took place when they were talking to him but he admitted that he was wrong for yelling from bar and talked about how it's been a long day, they were short staffed, etc. He wanted to get aggressive with a woman but all calm with the men. So he then agreed to comp my meal and give the rest of them 25% off, which is bullshit but they agreed (sidenote, it was agreed before Patrick could say anything because he didn't think that was satisfactory)...and neither do I.


So in a nutshell that is how my birthday dinner went!It didn't help when we got to the next spot and found out that we also missed some sorors that had come down to hang out with us but had assumed we weren't coming since it was so late and we hadn't shown up.

Leigh Ann