Kansas City might very well be mostly known for their football team. But there is more to this city that meets the eye. Specifically, one of the most prestigious dining experiences takes place in downtown Kansas City. Located in one of the historic hotels of America, Hotel Phillips, Le Petit Chef is turning heads. In this review, I will help you determine if the Le Petit Chef price tag is actually worth it.

About Le Petit Chef

Le Petit Chef is located in 75 different locations, with only two in the United States – Kansas City and Nashville. But one of the more unique experiences is located in Kansas City, Missouri.

When you take a seat, you are treated to a projection onto the tabletop of four tiny chefs each preparing you a different dish from their home country. Each of them are vying for the chance to win your praise as the best chef out of the four. The four chefs and the countries they represent are Spain, Italy, France, and Japan.

This 4-course dinner is priced at $149 per person, but after tax and a 25% required gratuity, it comes out to around $220 a person. The experience takes about an hour and a half.

Le Petit Chef in Kansas City Review

Upon Entering

Le Petit Chef in Kansas City is located inside of Hotel Phillips at 106 W 12th St, Kansas City, MO 64105.

Upon entering the dining area, it was a little lackluster and, for lack of a better word, awkward. The room had 8 tables – 7 of them seated four people, and 1 seated around ten people. However the big table was not taken. In total, there were about 25 people in our time slot.

The awkward part wasn’t that we were seated at a table with other people. No, it was the fact that when you walk in and the subsequent time leading up to the experience was dead silent. There was no ambiance music. It was a silent room with people who were whispering to their own party. There was no decor, or anything happening during this time when other people were being seated. So it just made for a really awkward 30 minutes before it started.

The Experience

Once it started, it was pretty cool! The projection on the table offers each seated guest a great view of the tiny chefs preparing a meal on to your plate. Once they have completed their meal, then the servers bring out the real thing.

I also appreciated that before each dish was brought out, the chef himself came out to speak to us as a group. He offered insight into his journey as a chef, how he brought the dishes to life, and the like. Me not being a foodie myself, it was welcomed information.

As the dinner progressed, the initial awkwardness dimmed but still kind of lingered. The only music playing was the music that you could hear from the overheard projector. Which wasn’t too quiet or too loud. But it is coming out of a projector so it was kind of grainy.

The four courses we were served were:

• A tomato pesto appetizer
• A lobster ravioli appetizer
• An 8-ounce filet mignon with lobster tail and potatoes as the main
• And a key lime cheesecake for dessert

The End of the Meal

In the end, I enjoyed the fun animations. And the chef even surprised us with two palette cleansers in between the main course and the dessert.

The food was good, but nothing to write home about. Again, I’m not a foodie so I’m not sure about the culinary significance of anything. But I’ll be honest, I’ve had better ravioli. I sure as heck have had better filet mignon at Ruth’s Chris. And I’m not a big fan of key lime. Which I understand is not the chef’s fault in anyway – that is just a personal preference.

Final Review: Is Le Petit Chef worth it?

If you were asking me or my husband if the $220 per person was worth it, we would say no. It just started super awkward, and honestly I don’t think the experience truly recovered from that once it got going.

Additionally, for the price tag, I really expected the food to blow me out of the water and it didn’t.

Honestly, I would recommend taking this money and going to experience Hell’s Kitchen instead. Because THAT meal is something to write home about for sure! And we got a lot more food at Hell’s Kitchen for less than this bill was.

I will say that it was a lot of food regardless and I definitely left full. The animation was such a cool experience and I appreciate that fun dining experiences like this do exist!

But going forward, I probably wouldn’t do the experience again. My final thoughts for my Le Petit Chef review in Kansas City is that I am hesitant to recommend it to others for the price-to-awkward ratio.

If you’re looking for other fun things to do in Kansas City, click here!

Want to see some more of the fun animations from the show in action? Watch below!