KC Restaurant Week 2025 is back and bigger than ever: Our staff picks can help narrow down the options
Photo by Sarah Sipple
KC Restaruant Week begins this weekend, and runs from January 10-19.
Over 240 restaurants in the Kansas City metro are participating by offering specially priced set menus. The annual event put on by Visit KC and the Greater KC Restaurant Association serves severeal purposes.
First and foremost, KC Restaurant Week (KCRW) invites diners to celebrate our culinary scene—particularly at a time of year that is tough on many restaurants and small businesses. While some restaurants offer discounted pre-fixe meals compared to their standard prices, all restaurants offer options priced at $20, $40, or $55.
An additional purpose of KC Restaurant Week is to raise funds for a local charity partner, as well as the non-profit organizations of Visit KC Foundation and the Greater KC Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Participating restaurants pledge to donate 10% of sales to these causes.
The featured charity partner for Kansas City Restaurant Week 2025 is House of Hope.
The North Kansas City-based organization launched in 2020 and has three primary programs, focusing on grocery and meal distribution, clothing women and children, and breaking cycles of poverty through employment. House of Hope has distributed over 2 million meals across Missouri and Kansas.
This year, Gift Card Market is the presenting sponsor. The company launched in late 2024, and while it was founded in Kansas City, the online service grants shoppers access to gift cards at millions of businesses across the country. The website focuses on restaurants and salons, and provides an option for businesses to utilize gift cards (via the Mastercard Prepaid Gift Card system) without having to invest in their own gift card infrastructure.
At 245 participating restaurants, this marks the biggest KCRW in the event’s 16-year run. Last year, 225 restaurants participated. The free KCRW app for Android and Apple users helps diners see the full list, make reservations, bookmark favorites, and filter by location, cuisine, and more.
Reservations are already filling up for some places, but with this many restaurants to choose from, there will be an old favorite to support or a new joint for you to try. We tapped our Pitch staff to offer their recommendations.
Mike Dahlor, Contributing Writer: Roots Seasonal Cuisine. Definitely a five-star experience without the five-star price tag.
Brock Wilbur, Editor-in-Chief: BEER KITCHEN is partially responsible for why my family moved to KC from LA, so it would be hard for me not to toss a ‘hard recommend’ at making it out to their restaurant week. The multi-course meals for brunch, lunch, and dinner have a wildly extensive set of options. The Butternut Squash Tacos, Cheesy Ancho Corn Dip, Smokestack Burger, or Huevos Rancheros are must-tries if you haven’t made it out to BK before.
Abby Olcese, Film Editor: South of Summit! KC has plenty of great Mexican joints, but South of Summit offers a three-fer of great value, vibes, and variety that’ll have you coming back no matter what week it is. Whether dining in or grabbing takeout, it’s become one of my favorite go-to neighborhood spots.
Dayten Rose, Contributing Writer: Bizz and Weezy’s confection case is enough reason to stop in, but they also do sweet-and-savory menu items like no one else. In case you need to sink your sweet tooth into an actual meal.
