The Cigar Box

Shitty place. The so called women bartenders only pay attention to men.

Boy, did I pick the wrong time to go here. I scoot in just before dinner to beat the rush, and apparently the TV gets turned to Fox News and cranked like it’s worth listening to. Sadly, my party’s conversation couldn’t cut through the noise and the entire meal was tainted with pseudo-​news. All these other reviews sound so positive, but this atmosphere kills it.

I’ll start off that if I would rate this place five stars if the very entertaining Al Latta was the only consideration, and is the only reason this is not a one star review. We thoroughly enjoyed his Karaōke stylings!
We visited on a Saturday night specifically to enjoy Al, drinks and conversation with friends. We did not order food so can’t comment there. However, I’ll say that the management needs to call Bar Rescue and see if John Taffer can fix the mess behind that bar. No drink specials. I had to provide drink recipes to the bartender. What we did get was overpriced and watered down.
If you do go, stick to something bottled or on tap. Hopefully they can open a bottle and pull a lever.
We will definitely return to see Al again but will avoid the bar.

This is a great place, has a well stocked humidor and a good ambiance. I had the pastrami and corned beef combo with a little horseradish and mustard. Great sandwich. The fries are also cut fresh and were cooked and seasoned well.

Might be better if the bartender didn’t call me «ugly broad» after I had been polite and given him a good tip. He was mad because I had commented he seemed a little harsh with another customer who accidentally took someone else’s drink. «Don’t tell me how to run my bar, ugly broad,» were the exact words. I don’t recommend this place ever.

Live singer to sing oldies, strong drinks, a full menu when the kitchen is open, and a fun atmosphere. If you don’t see what you want on the drink menu, tell the bartender what you are hankering for, and they’ll make you something close to it. Everyone here is extremely nice, it’s not odd to see people dancing together even though they have never met prior.

I love this place. Always a great time. Natalie takes incredible care of us. Al keeps the mood up and I love his jazzy voice.
Great place to head for a night cap or to tie one on. (It’s right next to the strip club so all the bachelor parties come in pretty frequently)… Which makes for good entertainment!
I’ve never eaten here but hear the food is amazing! It’s on the ‘to-​try’ list!

Late night drinks on a Monday? Yup, this place delivers. Great atmosphere and bartender. Loved it!

Great place to go if your into the lounge scene. Great cigars that are premium quality! Also next to a strip club (Temptations) for you that love to see the ladies go up and down that pole! But all jokes aside, great place to relax at with comfy chairs to smoke in and an atmosphere with down to earth staff.

I rarely know what to expect going into the cigar box. No two visits have been the same. From the raspy yet soothing voice of lounge dinner Al Latta, to the one armed cook that makes amazing Italian food, this bar is fitting of its own sitcom. The crowd is a mix of young men with lite buttoned shirts, middle aged white collars, attractive women groups, hipsters, and wedding parties. And they all mix and get along fantastically, even singing asking to the ballads that Al started them on like the background of the piano man music video.

This is one of my favorite restaurants in Kansas City. Mostly because of the atmosphere. The food is good, the french fries are incredible, but the staff is friendly and ambiance is great.

The Cigar Box is that cousin that borrows money and never pays it back, the friend that borrows your car and brings it back wrecked («it wasn’t already like that???»), your favorite neighbor that has family from out of town staying with them. in an RV parked in the driveway, the co-​worker friend that steals your cheez-​its. You get the point.
For me, The Cigar Box is a place that once played a part in an evening where I literally had to rebuild what happened from Unilocal check-​ins (still missing two hours — true story).
At least one benefit to not working in a traditional office is that when friends from work decide to go out for lunch on a Friday, it’s probably going to be a place like The Cigar Box. And it’s probably going to be a two hour lunch. And it’s probably going to include cocktails.
So when we organized a little going away lunch for a friend and co-​worker. A dozen advertising people descended on The Cigar Box and we were clearly marked immediately.
Most everyone ordered drinks which varied between beer and Manhattans. Everyone ordered food. I ordered a 10″ veggie pizza with peppers, red onions, and zucchini and the server didn’t flinch — good news.
The food came pretty quickly for being such a large order — or maybe we got lost in the cocktails. Now that I think about it, maybe that’s where the missing two hours of my life went.
The lovable jerk part of The Cigar Box is when the second round of drinks started showing up. No one ordered a second round. But they came. And then the third round showed up too. So note that finishing your drink triggers another.
We also learned when we got the bill that the third round of drinks we didn’t explicitly ask for were doubles. Jerk. But by this time, if you drink it, you pretty much ordered it.
Every order was right and every drink, ordered or not, was great. The server split the bill and never complained.
Sure, The Cigar Box, like your cousin, friend, neighbor and co-​worker, has it’s eccentricities. In a world where Hooter’s and Applebee’s are actually things though, I thank my lucky stars for places like this — and you should too.

The chicken parm and the veal parm were both terrible. Worst meal I’ve had in a long time. Was very disappointed.

The only remaining place in downtown that gives you 2 for 1 drinks for happy hour, that includes beer — probably. Can you actually stand straight up and walk out of a happy hour here, probably not. Well, you might have more will power than me.
During the day, you have Pauly. He is sixty or so. He is also a riot, I think he missed his calling as a comedian. He will keep you laughing and loves the ladies.
During the night, we have Al Latta. He sings, he does impersonations, and he also loves the ladies.
The food here is great. The lunch prices are amazing. The dinner menu is so tasty. It is full of olive oils, basil, and sauces. Elastic pants are a good idea.

How is it that I am only being introduced to Cigar Box now?! Ok, so aside from the scores of 21^st bdays and bachelorette parties… I could seriously do without these… this place is perfect. It’s just the right amount of sticky… you don’t have to be dressed to the nines to show up here, though many people are. Very unpretentious crowd. But at the same time, Cigar Box offers the right amount of class. Al, the lounge singer, serenades the ladies to the sounds of Frank Sinatra while floating around the room in his sequined jacket. The tables are adorned with white tablecloths and red carnations. You’ll see twenty somethings conversing with seventy somethings. And if you’re lucky you might get your 10 seconds of fame with the mic. So the bartender didn’t know the recipes to some basics, but he did get the right balance of gin vs. tonic. I’ll be back!

I LOVE the Cigar box! I had been here several times as a teen with family and didn’t really remember it but I am sure glad as an adult I finally made it back! I went here with a few friends had some nice wine and a light dinner, the smell when you walked in was magnificent, it reminded me of walking into my Nonni’s kitchen on Sunday… yummmm
The crowd was very diverse and welcoming :-)
I ordered the portobello sand which on ciabatta it was fabulous LOVED it!!! Who can go wrong with a huge portobello mushroom, eggplant, sauteed onions and green pepper??? Not this Italian girl that was right up my Alley! The Salad was delish and the portion were way more than I shoulda ate… lol
Loved the Vegas type lounge singer it made the night :-)

Before the smoking ordinance became really tough, and there was a cop standing inside the place, the owner himself would help you pick out a cigar from the humidor and light up with you. Alas now, the joy of smoking inside the Cigar Box is gone.
That being said, you’re going to enjoy a great lunch here, or, if you want to see a guy do glorified karaōke to Tom Jones songs late at night, while the older crowd hits on you, come on down.

Honestly? The Cigar Box is the freaking Twilight Zone. It is so zany and quirky and dirty and delightful.
I’m not sure words can do Al justice. All I can do is say his zipped-​down-​to-​there black top with sequins all over it last night was the most amazing fashion choice I’ve seen in a while.
Service is no-​nonsense and quick, prices are fair, atmosphere is dingy and awesome, crowd ranges from bachelorette parties to skeezes hustling through to get to Totally Nude Temptations next door to gangsters to hipsters to townie regular.
Don’t go sober. It’s just weird. Do go at the end of the night to experience the madness.

Something has went down at this place.
For the first time ever it was 90% smoke free and I was carded at the door. A cop was standing out front on the sidewalk. Hmmm, that puts a damper on things. It certainly was not as full as I have seen it on past weekend nights.
It is still one of the more unique places in town.

This is one of those Kansas City places that might as well be from Mars. It is very intimate and seems to share a backroom/​patrons/​owners (?) with the strip club next door. It is located very close the Sprint Center and surely experienced a lot more attention when the shiny entertainment district popped up a few doors down.
On a busy night, don’t be surprised to see the place become very social although it also functions as a supper club of sorts in the evening. I get that many might come here to laugh at people or whatever, but there is no denying this can be a very fun place with a lot of kansas city character. There is a rich, man’s man décor, a boatload of interesting characters, cigar smoke wafting and surely a lot of crazy stories to be heard at the cigar box. Pretty much a KC original.