I really am not sure if I could ever be a Michelin Guide restaurant reviewer. It’s because the Michelin stars are given out based on, allegedly, the food alone. The quality, the uniqueness, the chef’s spin on it are all the things that go into Michelin stars. The problem for me is that, even when the food is absolutely outstanding, if the service is sub-par, or the ambiance of the place is meh, it impacts my experience way too much. I suspect that’s the case with most restaurant-goers. I was super excited to try the highly acclaimed Corvino in Kansas City, and while the food was absolutely incredible, the service and atmosphere really detracted from the experience for me. We ate here in early November, 2023.

This restaurant is in a brand new building in Kansas City, which i find odd, considering all of the super charming buildings that seem somewhat vacant in many of the cute neighborhoods around this city. The space itself is high-ceilinged and vast, and there is virtually nothing to soften the space. The tables, chairs, and bar are all linear and boring. The walls are grey and the place feels cold. The best part about this space is the stage in the front. That night, a jazz combo was playing, featuring a woman with a really incredible voice. I absolutely loved the live music at this restaurant.

The service started off enthusiastic and kind, however quickly fell off. The restaurant focuses on shared plates – to the point where they even encourage you to share things like a cheeseburger or a steak. This is fine, but a shared plate meal needs to be paced out pretty darn perfectly to work well. Typically at places like this I will rarely order everything at the same time, as I don’t trust the pacing. Our server, however, promised that if we ordered everything at once they would ensure that everything would be paced out for us well. Boy, the pacing ended up being a total disaster, with dishes that were supposed to be served together being served a long time apart, lots of gaps in service, and some things coming way too quickly before we were finished with the previous course. It was a complete mess, and put me in a bit of a bad mood.

The food, however, is truly outstanding, and if Kansas City had Michelin stars, this place would probably have one. Honestly, while trying to separate the food and service is difficult, I really cannot sing the praises of the chef here more. Everything we ate was absolutely stunning.

We started with the flakiest sourdough bread I have ever had. The crust was almost like a phyllo dough pastry it was so delicate and flaky and we absolutely loved it. We really enjoyed the butternut squash agnolloti. It was creamy, flavorful, with al dente pasta, and the breadcrumbs gave it a nice crunch.

We also ordered the xo fried rice which was full of umami, and crunchy, as if coming from a stone bowl with all the good crispy edges. I was hoping this dish would have come out with the crispy pork ribs, but there was a massive wait between the dishes. Either way, though, the crispy pork ribs were incredibly flavorful, and definitely delivered on the crispy.

Finally, for our last savory course, Brian wanted to try the fried chicken. If you come to Corvino, please do me a favor and get the fried chicken, it might be the best you’ll ever have. The chicken itself obviously comes from local happy chickens – the meat is pink, moist, and delicious. The breading was so good I really can’t find any more superlatives to describe it. It wasn’t thick or caked on – it was thin and delicate, and barely there, but definitely enough for a nice crunch. The spices were perfect, and it was *just* greasy enough without drowning in fat. Yum!

For dessert we ordered the “milk and cookies” which, for me, fell a little flat. The milk ice cream was pretty tasteless (which I get is sort of the point), but the cookie also was pretty uninteresting and definitely not gooey enough. They do have a ton of dessert options, so I’m sure some of the other offerings are amazing, just like the rest of the food.

I would give Corvino a recommendation, solely based on the extraordinarily high quality of the food, with a big boost given from the awesome live music. I would, however, warn against letting them pace your food out for you. Try ordering 1-2 things at a time and go from there.