Ingredient117th and Nall
Leawood, KS 66206
Website
*DISCLAIMER*: Sorry it's been so long since my last update, but life has been hectic with a new baby! I'll try to stay on top of it from now on!
HOW I FOUND IT: Some friends had mentioned this place and said they always wanted to check it out, so my wife and I went for lunch one day, and it was mainly an excuse to eat some righteous gelato at Paciugo next door for dessert.
ATMOSPHERE (SCORE: **): Just looking at the sign, you can kind of gather what to expect. They write it out "in-gre-di-ent" as if it were a phonetic spelling in a dictionary. Then you walk in and see a sign that says, "In-gre-di-ent: formulate satisfaction" and proceeds to list the definitions of those words, in case you're incompetent and thus should probably not be allowed out of the house unsupervised. The place has kind of a contemporary layout, but it's confusing. There are two entrances, one that is near the front, where you would order your food. We inadvertently came in the other entrance, which is NOT near where you need to order, but rather near some sort of coffee/dessert bar which was unattended. After figuring out our mistake, we walked across the restaurant, noticing that while the place was empty, there were plenty of dirty tables, and plenty of staff standing around not doing anything about it. Overall, the place felt cold, and like it was trying too hard to be hip.
FOOD (SCORE: *): Good lord. Looking at the menu, it's easy to get overwhelmed. The main "trick" of this place is that there is a cornucopia of various ingredients, and if you choose not to go with the handful of menu items, you may build your own salad, sandwich, or pizza. Personally, if I wanted to select all the ingredients, I'd probably just go to the store and buy those things and make it myself. I go out to a restaurant to eat what THEY chose to put on the menu for me. Anyways, I figured I'd try something off the menu, as did Cyndi. She ordered the "wasabi turkey burger". I decided to go with the daily special of a falafel sandwich. It was hard to decide that it was indeed a special, since there was just a chalkboard with "FALAFEL" written on it, followed by a definition of that food. It didn't say if they were selling it, there was no price; I didn't know if they had it, or just wanted me to know what it was. I ordered that, and we both ordered some chicken tortilla soup.
The soup took way longer than it should have, and when it arrived it had a nice little skin on top of it, telling me that it sat in the window way too long before a wandering server decided to bring it to us. As a result, it wasn't piping hot, but just warm enough that I was able to eat it. Which was a mistake. Because it was bland and boring.
Then our entrees arrived. Cyndi took one bite of her "wasabi turkey burger" and said, "I don't taste any wasabi in this." I craned my neck around to look at the menu board and its description of the turkey burger. Sure enough, wasabi wasn't even listed as one of the components. Yikes. I tried a bite, and like the soup, it didn't really taste like anything.
My falafel surprised me. And not in a good way. When it arrived, it looked absolutely fantastic. The lettuce was crisp, the falafel dark and crispy, the onions bright, and the roma tomatoes were vibrant red. Like hooker lipstick red. I was ready to rock. Then I took a bite, and tasted nothing. NOTHING. How they could take seemingly fresh vibrant vegetables and make them taste like a pita sandwich filled with air is beyond me.
Mind you, none of what we had was BAD, per se, but it was just so mediocre. This is the kind of food I picture Town Center frequenting Desperate Housewives of Johnson County going crazy for, which I guess makes sense since the place is located just across the street. But for me, it showcased a lack of interest in cooking, a lack of respect for seemingly good ingredients, no pun intended.
SERVICE (SCORE: *): We kinda figured the service would be shoddy when we walked into an empty restaurant with no other customers, and the tables were still dirty. Nobody greeted us, nobody informed us of where we needed to go to order our food. When we finally figured it out and stood there, staring at the huge menu, nobody said, "Is this your first visit with us? Let me tell you how this works." Instead, the guy at the cash register just stood and almost glared at us until we ordered.
On their menu, Ingredient devotes a whole corner to saying how they don't accept tips, so as to ensure consistent service. I thought that was kind of interesting and unique. Until I realize you don't even have a server. You pay the cashier, and get your own drink. Then you sit and someone will eventually bring your food, and then they leave. And that's the extent of your service at Ingredient. So them making a big deal about not expecting a tip is like a babysitter advertising that they won't shake the hell out of your baby.
VALUE (SCORE: **): Honestly, the prices at Ingredient would have been reasonable, had the food and service been also reasonable. Sadly, you pay way more than a fast food joint and receive more disappointment and anguish.
OVERALL (SCORE:*): I don't think I need to go into great detail here, if you've been following along. It's gimmicky, the food is mediocre, the service nonexistent, and even if you wanted to complain, we didn't see a manager type person in the place. The fact that this place is still in business while so many good restaurants in this area close regularly is mind boggling and aggravating. In short, In-gre-dient is A-waste-of-your-mon-ey.
