I dig this place. Â The patio is bigger than the venue itself but the small venue is one of my faves. Â I love catching up and coming acts here in an intimate setting before they hit big. Â
The inside though has one of the worst layouts ever. Â The viewing area and the bar are positioned wrong the bar is on the lower level and you have to take a step up to stand in front of the stage.....which leads to opposite theater seating...but whatevs the place is still fun and they have great music.
I've only ever heard dance music played on the patio and i LOVE it. Â I love hearing something so infectious you cant help but get your body moving. AND the patio bartenders are the best in the city. Â Quickest drink I've ever gotten at a packed bar.
Riot room has my heart!
I love The Riot Room. I saw signs tonight about remodeling and that makes me scared. I hope they do not remodel it to death.
Things I like about The Riot Room include, but are not limited to:
Lots of seating, good variety of shows, two bars (in & out), outside stage and seating area, you can usually find decent parking even though it is in Westport, even though I'm getting old(er) the crowd is mixed so I don't feel like I'm the grandma of the group
Oh the delicious brews they serve. Â I had heard Riot Room's famed reputation for having beers on tap long past when everywhere else in town ran out but had never experienced this for myself. When one of my favorite, and lesser than obscure Vancouver bands, scheduled a show there for the first weekend in March, I was ready to test this for myself.
The brew that had me so worked up? Among others (trust me, I didn't have to drive home so I mayyyy have taken a little extra advantage of their selection than I normally would have) Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout. Â And Southern Tier's Creme Brulee Stout. For well under $10 a glass when most places were charging upwards of $20 for both in bottle, it was a tad more pricey than I would have liked but still much better than other bars where they were only found in bottle format.
The atmosphere in the Riot Room is intimate-one room concert room with stage set about one step above the bar area and extra standing room area for larger concerts. Â Lights are dim and the unique circular bar in the middle of the room allows listeners to walk around to see what is available on tap but if it's crowded, there is huge chalkboard opposite the door with all the brews listed. I loved this bar design and never had to wait very long. Â With their GA shows, if you want to get up close and personal with a band, Riot Room (much in the vein of Record Bar or Czar Bar) let's you get right up to the stage or if you'd rather relax and just observe, there is a tiny seating area stage right. Â I'd recommend getting there early because when that seating is gone, there really isn't much to choose from.
Now that I've seen it for myself, I can say that I will be paying Much closer attention to shows that are scheduled there. Atmosphere and drink selection alone make this a concert venue to attend, but the music and people you can meet there make it a venue to love. Â You have found a new fan, Riot Room. Well played. Â See you soon.
Ooh, that smell!
We walked in moments after the place opened on a recent Friday night before a concert. Â I can only attest to the drinks and service.
They had plenty of taps and both people working there were very friendly. Â I think it would be a fun place to see a band.
On our way back, the place was hopping! Â The atmosphere and smell inside brings back good memories of a place back home that I LOVE, so I would totally go back.
I go back and forth with this place. This musical acts that are brought in are great. The patio is also great, good size to move around and it isn't crowded. I do have a slight issue with the womens bathroom, one of the stalls doesn't even have a door, haha.
Generally I do enjoy the riot room.
Local music? Â Check. Â DJs? Â Check. Â Craft beers on tap? Â Check. Â A dimly lit bar with hint of sleaze? Â Check. Â Add all these up and you'll get a pretty f'ing cool bar nestled in Westport. Â Combine the aforementioned with a midnight reverse happy hour, and you've got one heck of a good night on your hands. Â Â
The Riot Room is one of the best local music venues. Â Outside there is an open dance/music area where warm weather debauchery takes place. Â Inside, you'll find a more traditional stage where you can find music form cover bands, to DJs, to metal bands. Â In fact, you might even see all three of these in just one night at the Riot Room. Â
Service can be a little slow, but the drinks definitely have a good alcohol to mixer ratio. Â The Riot Room has become one of my favorite local hot spots.
Oh boy. Please leave your inhibitions and pretenses at the door, but please bring your enthusiasm and a designated driver if possible. If not then please put Yellow Cab's phone number in your phone.
The Riot Room has arguably, Kansas City's finest craft and specialty brew selection. Â If you still want an old standby like PBR or Miller Lite, they have that too, but if you're a little bit picky and want a higher quality malt beverage, this is the place to be.
The venue books a lot of up and coming good bands mostly in the hipster indie and the blue collar louder rock niches. Â The deck out back is a perfect place to lounge and to see and be seen. Â Beware, it seems like many of The Riot Room's customers are smokers and they are not bashful about lighting up. If smoke bothers you then you might want to hang inside.
I will say at peak times the bar staff, while very friendly, can become a little bogged down and lines will form around the round bar. At the same time this happens at a lot of bars at peak times. Â I recommend coming out a little early and having a few drinks already in you so then the wait isn't as bad.
I will say this is one of my favorite hang outs in Kansas City. If you decide to stop by, please hang on and enjoy the ride.
It's hard for me to rate the Riot Room. This past weekend, Cursive played a late show there during the Middle of the Map Music Festival.
Don't get me wrong; the act was incredibly good, and the bar has a very interesting vibe, and I wish I had seen that they serve Hendricks-- it's my favorite gin and it's very rare to find a bar that does serve it.
I loved the stage area they had set up. It's very intimate and you can get really close to some really wicked bands.
I want to update my review when I can be more fair, because, you see, the Riot Room was just far too packed for my taste this night. I thought I was going to pass out from heat exhaustion as I exited the bar -- early, I might add, I didn't get to finish Cursive's set. This may be poor planning on Middle of the Map's part, but I'm unsure. All I know is that I had to absolutely leave this place because I was tired of being shoved up against the stage.
Took my first trip to Riot Room several weeks ago, it is now one of my fave dive bars in KC. The ambiance is fantastic - the beverage/beer menu has a few hidden gems too.
Saw Toro y Moi show there and also attended for Middle of the Map Fest. The patio brings back memories of endless nights on Mass Street in Lawrence, KS. If you haven't been yet, you need to venture there soon. The back patio is where it's at!
True to its label, Riot Room is a dive bar. It's a great place to catch a show on the cheap, provided you don't expect a five star venue. The stage and dance floor get crowded; with poor ventilation, it's kind of nasty at times. I would recommend that they get some ventilation going in there.
That having been said, it's a small, intimate venue with cheap drinks and good location. If I'm passing by on a night in downtown KC, I probably won't go in unless there's a band I really want to see playing. If you do want to see the band, though, it's a decent venue.
This afternoon I wake up to bobby pins and feathers...everywhere. Â Last night we attended Rockabilly Prom with all the other riff raff in KC. Â My first time at the Riot Room, I loved the atmosphere. Â We saw several bands, danced our asses off and enjoyed $3.50 PBR tallboys. Â
They have an extensive beer selection for the dive bar that it is. Â I highly suggest this place for seeing a show. Â As far as the prom went, they had a photo area too, fantasticly naughty prom photos were taken. Â A great showcase of Rockabilly music was shown. Â I'd see another show here in a heartbeat.
This is the evil step-child of the Westport corridor that everyone likes to get completely shit-canned with, sleep with, and regret most everything in the morning while "waking-up-with-their-makeup". Â Still, it seems the patrons return for repeat peformances. Â This place offers an award ceremony involving chicks sporting pasties, ascending on stage and dancing somewhat provocatively to rock-a-billy and punk tunes while trying to win over acceptance from tons of super wasted, sweaty, creepy bearded dudes (and chicks, only slightly trimmer beards..jk). It also allegedly offers a possible GHB trip per the horse's mouth, but the patrons here seem to mumble lots of filthy rumors oddly while one may be trying to cut loose massive amounts of "tall can" PBR poison in the bathroom. Â The bands that play here are hit or miss, meaning you may be forced to listen to horse-manure metal or a band desperately seeking to emulate the band Failure in exchange for their friend's cover charge-and I like metal and Failure! The outside patio often has a local DJ or 5 doing a mash-up patio remix party which appears to translate as a sloppy hooking up zone with abrasive dance hits. Â It can also be an area to act like you're having a conversation with someone special but mutually realizing the only way to converse is to go nuts on the dance floor with cigarettes as an afterthought. This can be the best type of conversing, especially if you are unknowningly GHB'd out and swerving your brains out on cheaply priced PBRs. You will likely lose count and make a mess of everything here as decision making often takes a bad turn down a road of obliterated brain cells with Slayer or Michael Jackson as the soundtrack. The music can only sound better from there, whichever side you choose.
You likely won't make any memories here but you will make some dance moves.
I have had way to many good times at the Riot Room to not like it. And hell, regardless all the memories, drinks are cheap, shows are good, venue is comfortable. It's just good, so don't hate!
The bathrooms, as always, are my only complaint... but really... it's a dark, dirty, dingy rock bar... i never expected clean bathrooms.
The outdoor patio in the back is rad too!
Totally a fan of the OUTDOOR PATIO at the Riot Room. Every other Tuesday 2 girls do a show called Wake Up in your Make Up. and every other Wednesday I do. They play mostly hip hop ranging from the 90's to now. Ton of fun. Drinks are well priced, fair, however since there is only the small bar outside sometimes it can be hard to get to. I really don't hang out inside, except to use the ladies. They always have bands inside but they are always SUPER loud (maybe hence the name Riot Room) .
However, I do think it is strange that if you enter on the Main Street side they have a cover of between $5-7 that everyone has to pay but if you enter on the Pennsylvania side through the McCoys parking lot it's free for girls and $3 for guys, yet you could still go inside the Riot Room and go in between spaces. Kinda strange concept to me, but I don't own it so I will continue to enter on the free cover side. Also, when we inquired about it on the Main Street side the door guy had no clue what was going on on the outside. Thought if you worked somewhere you would know.. but whatever.. I will return to the outside patio!
This place is as close as you can get to my favorite NYC East Village/Lower East Side rock & roll bars, like Manitoba's, CBs (RIP), 7B (as it used to be), Lakeside Lounge, Otto's Shrunken Head, Motor City...you get the picture.
The main difference is, you can get drunk on 20 bucks here, catch a kick ass show AND not have to fight your way to the bar past the EV/LES Â thrill-seekers that now populate the above bars on any given weekend night.
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