Town Topic

Reviews 4

KE

Kevin Davies

Were new to the area, saw all the good reviews, and decided to go here for lunch. When we got out of the car outside, the smell was wonderful! We thought we were going to be in for a good time. We were excited. Walking inside, it was much smaller than expected, but thought it was kind of cool and added to the overall ambience of the place - a classic "hole in the wall". We were excited. It was busy, we ordered our food, we were excited. Then we had to try to find a spot to stand, in hopes of eventually finding a spot to sit and eat. All the good vibes started to dissipate at this point. Because of the tight quarters and what turned in to a VERY long wait, we got to witness a lot of things that caused the rosey-tinted lenses we had originally been looking through to eventually fade away, leaving us staring at the nasty, cold hard truth of the dung-heap we were in. We happened to be standing right by the grill, and got to watch several other orders be prepared while we waited (including several orders that were placed AFTER ours). What we witnessed was nothing short of absolutely horrendous food handling practices and a health code inspectors worst nightmares. One spatula for all the food on the grill. The chef wearing one pair of gloves the whole time, touching raw ground beef patties, raw bacon strips, hot dogs, fries, the freezer handle, food bags, onions, ketchup bottles, etc. Never once even thinking about the raw meat juice being spread all over everything as he went. Grabbing buns off of the grill with ground beef juice gloves. Wrapping burgers up in paper with ground beef juice gloves. Wiping sweat off his face with ground beef juice gloves. Handling to-go bags with ground beef juice gloves. You do realize the purpose of the gloves is to touch the meat, then dispose of them, right? The gloves arent to protect your hands - theyre to protect the consumer from the very juices you went spreading around on almost quite literally everything. We waited FOREVER. At least 25-30 mins for our food, so we got to witness a lot of other orders being made. We finally found seats to sit at, which happened to be right in front of the grill, providing a continuous front row seat to the "E. coli Show". We waited and waited and waited for our food, seeing several other later-placed orders pass us up. Finally, 3 out of 4 of our plates were served (plated, of course, by the ground beef juice gloves), and the 4th plates food was just being put on the grill, and we were told curtly by one of the employees, "Well it will just be another five minutes. Do you want to wait or do you just not want it?" Yeah, that fourth person was really just hoping to sit there and watch the rest of us eat anyway. The first 3 of us got cheeseburgers, fries, and onion rings. The hamburgers were burnt - like black burnt. Hard and dry. The buns were crispy and burnt. I havent ever had a burger as dry as this. Terrible. Like biting in to a dry and crispy cooked cow pie. And a very small piece of burnt cow pie at that. The fries were average at best, your typical straight from the freezer to the fryer. The onion rings, I will admit, were decent, though also from the freezer. Finally the 4th plate was served, and it was a very basic egg sandwich. As in, a couple of cooked eggs placed between 2 pieces of bread. All, of course, prepared and plated by Mr. Ground beef juice gloves. We left almost in amazement of the totally disappointing experience we had. Completely dumbfounded at how this place is such a classic icon. But needless to say, we will be reporting them to the Health Dept. because its obvious that it is only a matter of time before something really bad happens to someone eating here. If the food had been good, I could see myself saying, "Well that place was dirty as all get out. But hey, the food was great! Somehow theyre pulling it off without killing someone!" But I cant say that. Im left thinking, "Well that place was disgusting, cramped, and dirty as all get out. A total waste of our money and time, and potentially our good health."

AR

Aritra Bhattacherjee

This five star means something else! Remember, stars are always contextual. There are 1-5 stars in fine dine, 1-5 stars in dive, 1-5 stars for chains...and even for ghettos! and they are not comparable! They are star rated in their own right and within the genre!....Now, town topic is another thing altogether. It is historic, in how long it has been there; fantastic in that they operate 24-7; amazing in the efficiency and smile with which they handle the overwhelming crowd even at 3 in the morning. It has a charm of its own!! they cook your burgers right in front of you on the grill fresh, 24x7. So if everything else is closed in town, you know where you can still get food!!! As a reviewer, I also have responsibility to make few points for first timers: It is a very small place. Lot of people mostly do carry out. However, you can sure eat in there, they will serve you on plate for that, but you are sitting/standing at little bar space right in front of your server or a bar/counter top behind. If you show up later at night, especially on weekends, a good percent of your fellow diners are young people returning after local bars shut down. And it can be crowded in those hours. But trust me, that makes the place someway more lively :)! Everybody is very joyous, accommodating and waiting patiently. Make your way forward and get your burger, chili and even slice of pie, will really enjoy it! The place always has a positive vibe. So I hope you understand my rating and will sure enjoy if you went at the right time and with the right expectation!

NI

Nick Gover

What can I say about Town Topic that hasnt been said, good or bad for that matter. Well, how about this, dont know how many people have tried this, I picked this tip up a while back. Have you tried their shakes? Yeah, theyre damn tasty. What about their pie? Yep all the time I bet. But have you had them put a slice of the pie in the shake? Now thats where its at. Yes, just pick a piece of pie, now chose a shake flavor accordingly and have them put the slice of pie in there and blend it up. Its ghetto fabulous, all the silky ice cream with pieces of strawberry, or coconut or what have you, and the chunks of flaky, buttery pie crust, ohhhh yeah. Ive been here more times than I can count, probably because I was stinky drunk for a good portion of those times. One of my only complaints that I can think of is the waiting and/or no room at the counter. But, what are you going to do? That, and the pinball machine is always busy when Im there. Nothing, thats what. Youre going to shut your hole and wait for your chance to pony on up and get you a few little beefy, greasy, tender, disks of heaven. That, and a one of those pie-shakey things that I mentioned above.

BE

Ben Gruber

This is THE burger joint in Kansas City. Its been operating 24/7 straight since 1937. Its older than you, and with that age comes burger wisdom. They know how to make the best, juiciest, most mouth-watering burgers on earth. Get a half pound bigger burger - or better yet get two, one there and one for the road. Everything else they have is on point too - great fries and rings, awesome desserts (what other greasy spoon has two dozen types of pies made daily?!) Get the best breakfast downtown here too - their pancakes are literally bigger than the plate and about an inch thick. Yes, you read that right. And they have a local color and history that seriously cannot be matched anywhere. Theres Town Topic, and then theres everybody else.