Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro

I’ve enjoyed Ya Ya’s since I returned to Kansas City in 2002. Atmosphere, service, and food at the former location were first-​rate. My friends and I enjoyed many meals there. I was pleased that Ya Ya’s seemed to carry that atmosphere to their new location, but I’m disappointed that quality of service, especially, and food has declined. I’ve recently moved to their new neighborhood and eaten their six times. On one, I ate my lunch uncomfortably while a manager used the area beside my table to scold a waitress. Most recently, I was seated and waited for over thirty minutes without being asked by anyone about my intention in coming into the place. I may have been at fault for not raising an objection about the wait, but I thought that an un-​retrieved menu on my table might have been a clue to any passerby, and that management might have emphasized the importance of prompt service. Service at Ya Ya’s leaves much to be desired; they haven’t seemingly mastered some fundamentals. As to food, it’s no longer first-​rate. If you’re expectations are not too high, try their eggs Benedict; if you want to stretch your imagination, try a glass of their lemonade. Most other dishes I’ve tried are not, in my opinion, superior to those of other restaurants in the immediate area.

We went in for lunch. Love the fresh baba ganoush. Their gnocchi is the best! My friend had the burger and said it was perfectly cooked. Love the new place. Yayas always has great service. Manager visited with us and gave us a welcome bag for visiting the new restaurant.

Great spot with a good view of the fountains/​waterfall. Nice patio for spring/​summer.
We arrived at 6:00 on a Friday evening for an early Mother’s Day dinner. Seemed like a lot of waitstaff as we entered and were sat at our table, we kind of had to weave through them. Also when we left about 6 different people said goodbye and thank to us. Great service, but maybe a little over the top? Our server was attentive and polite.
We started with some complimentary bread and baba ganoush which was refreshing and flavorful, better than the typical bread and butter. We also ordered the hummus/​pita and the polenta/​duck confit which was rich with flavor and the balsamic reduction was fantastic. Their dinner portions are huge and since we were all getting the chocolate soufflé for dessert, we opted for the pizzas. I had them make the pancetta pizzette into a large pizza which was worth it with the fig jam as the sauce. My sister was the only one that opted for a dinner entrée, she had the roasted chicken which was half a chicken with a large portion of potatoes, she could barely eat half of it.
The chocolate soufflé was well worth the wait. It was like a warm fudge brownie/​lava cake all in one.
We usually don’t travel «south» to the «burbs» to eat, but this was worth it and we will be back!

After coming here two times, I must say that the service was terrible both times.
On the second time, our waitress only ordered our drinks at the beginning and gave us the check at the end. A guy (probably the manager) served us the rest of the time but never apologized for the poor service. He asked us if we had seen our waitress and we told him we hadn’t.
On a side note, I gave it a four star rating because the food was great on both occasions. The bread pudding was super delicious.

What can I say… excellent does not begin to describe the dining experience at Ya Ya’s. My wife and I have been regular Ya Ya’s customers for many years and like wine, they just get better with age. We are bar patrons and the staff of Steggy, Ally, Phil, Evan, and most recently, Bailey are some of the best in KC! Food is great and is only surpassed by the service. If you want a top-​notch restaurant that is reasonably priced — you have found it!
Jeff and Susan

To be fair, I’ve got to give four stars. I’ve read other reviews, which are a little less complimentary, but my visits to Ya Ya’s have always ended well.
I live a little south of Kansas City during the week and eat at the south end restaurants regularly. I’ve been trying to get to Ya Ya’s since the new spot opened about two years ago. I was in the former location in Leawood about half a dozen times, usually for lunch, and always had a good experience. This past Wednesday…
I was greeted by a smiling hostess as soon as I entered and ushered to a booth in the main dining room. The vibe is pretty much a carbon copy of the old place. I’m guessing they’ve kept their loyal clientele since the locations really aren’t that far apart.
I was wholly amused by the busboy’s explanation that the water he was pouring was the «cleanest water you’ll ever drink.» Wow! That glass of liquid nutrients had been filtered more than a carton of Marlboros. I also enjoyed perusing the wine list on the tablet. Even this ol’ Boomer can appreciate those details. One suggestion, however, would be to provide tasting notes on the wine, rather than merely information about the winery.
I try to eat lighter fare during the week, so the grilled salmon salad seemed to me an optimal choice. The fish was cooked to a perfect medium. The greens were fresh, always a plus, and the add-​ons of gorgonzola, feta, bacon and walnuts were portioned to complement, not overpower, the dish.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the baba ganoush. It accompanies the crusty bread that’s served each table. Ya Ya’s makes theirs from Greek yogurt instead of the traditional eggplant as in the eastern Mediterranean. Yum! I’ll take this over olive oil and balsamic vinegar any day.
What should dinner-​for-​one, with wine plus tip, cost at a full-​service, well-​accoutered restaurant? I think 50 bucks is about right.
Finally, I always appreciate the host, maître d’, manager, whomever, stopping by to ask, «How was everything?» Nice touch, Ya Ya’s.

This was my very first Italian restaurant experience and It was definitely unforgettable. Man, I wish Minnesota had This restaurant too. Everyone there was extremely helpful and nice! I ordered the salmon fettuccine and the first taste brought me to another world! The portion sizes were pretty big XD. When the waiter brought over the dessert, I was mind blown. I was extremely full already with ¹⁄₅ of my fettuccine and my salad on the side that when i saw the amazing desserts, i wanted to cry. I really wish that they could reduce their portion sizes, so people can try a variety of their «mindblowingly» amazing food.

I had an amazing experience here! Awesome service, fantastic food and a great environment!
Great for both seafood and meat lovers. The manager came out and give us a two for one on their brunch do we will check that out soon!!!
Update.
Went back for brunch and it was absolutely amazing! I will be back!

Ya Ya’s Euro Bistro is a Mediterranean inspired restaurant in the suburbs of Overland Park. With a sleek bar and oak fired pizza, Ya Ya’s seems like the place to be with family, friends, and other loved ones on a weekend night.
I took my family there for my mom’s birthday in the fall. The staff was excellent, and treated us well. We saw the local weatherman at the bar entertaining folks. This place was packed with middle age Kansans looking for consistent food.
There area few vegetarian options on the menu, including pizza, pasta, and salads. The food was actually much more middle of the road than I expected for the price and the atmosphere.
The bruschetta had excellent bread, though I wish it wasn’t goat cheese that came on the plate, because it turn out the margherita pizza was covered in goat cheese.
The margherita pizza was downright disastrous. The pizza had globs of goat cheese and cherry tomatoes everywhere. What?! I should have looked more closely at the menu description; the whole pizza probably had half a basil leaf on it. I guess I thought margherita pizza was universal.
The housemade pappardelle came in a butternut curry purree, which was interesting because it didn’t look natural, but tasted just fine. The Brussels sprouts didn’t have any texture, and were boiled. Broiling or roasting them would have really elevated the dish. But the noodles were cooked well, and the dish had crunchy nuts that went a long way.
I would come again with a group of people, but I would probably stick to a salad for myself. I might be too spoiled by Mediterranean food to enjoy inspired Mediterranean.

I had their Beet Salad and added their Steak. It was Amazing! Service was wonderful and the atmosphere was upbeat. We also had Hummus and Banana Bread Pudding. The Bread Pudding was to die for! I could have had two more helpings! Can’t wait to go back!

Me and the wife had an excellent dinner tonight and we even had the busy area table «Hells Kitchen table» with a great view of the kitchen and all the fast paced action… Place was packed for restaurant week but you couldn’t tell by the quality of the phenomenal service we had! Austin the manager was very friendly and as with the rest of the crew were always checking on us to make sure all was good. I had the lasagna and the wife had the chicken and both were outstanding but I promise you can’t eat it all and will have some great leftovers… had bread pudding for dessert and it was great as well… We will definitely be going back in the future

When you trust an establishment with a special occasion involving a loved one, it’s only natural to experience a mix of apprehension and anticipation.
We were celebrating my wife’s special day (shortly after New Year’s) and my marker went down on the ‘Ya-Ya’s’ space on the ‘food-​choice gameboard’!!! Great Decision! Hint: let them know in advance it’s a special event and you might be surprised…
Upon settling into our booth the manager, Austin, stopped by to say hello and best wishes. He keeps his fingers on the pulse of the business and is wonderfully engaging!
Our server for the night was a delightful young lady by the name of Katie, who aspires to be an LPN, and her attention to detail and care of her ‘charges’ was greatly appreciated. She didn’t miss a beat despite being very busy among several tables. Not one of us lacked attention!
With the restaurant usually packed full on the weekends, I’d made an advance reservation. By noting any special event you are celebrating at the meal, they voluntarily join the ‘party’ by wishing the special person best wishes.
While menus change from season to season, birthday girl had the Arctic Char fish, over pan roasted vegetables with quinoa and kale.
My choice went to the ‘Build your Own Duet’ which is a Bistro special PLUS one of their house made pasta dishes! I selected (and recommend) a combo of Filet Mignon and the house made Parpardelle Pasta with butternut curry purée, toasted hazelnut, brown butter, and roasted Brussel sprout hearts. Superb!
Their house made pasta is hand made by their head chef, who relocated from Maui Hawaii for family purposes, but carries credentials into our area which make him (and Ya-Ya’s) a treasure to the city.
The Wine List is very easy to navigate via a tableside iPad, we chose the blend called ‘F’ which bridged the beef and seafood quite well!!!
Dessert was a Double Chocolate ‘eggroll’ of a piece of brownie, fudge, encased by toasted Filo dough accompanied with vanilla bean ice cream and nuggets of raspberry coulis (almost a jelly.)
All in all, a wonderful time! If you are choosing to come here for a special event… or enjoyable meal… have no fear, Ya-Ya’s is your place.
It’s definitely a destination to anticipate!!!
Enjoy.

I went with some girlfriends for a dinner on a weeknight. We were seated at a perfect table to be able to visit and enjoy our evening. Our server was perfect; knowledgable about the menu and wines, there when you needed him and delivered a perfectly timed meal. We all enjoyed our drinks, an appetizer of polenta with duck and a variety of entrees: halibut, salmon, pasta, and steak. Everything was prepared to perfection. We had a wonderful evening. Looking forward to returning soon!

While every detail is still fresh in my mind.
I’m from California and needed to find a place that had the space and a menu for 18 people.
I’ve never done this before and based my decision from other reviews. So here it goes.
Ya Ya’s is a 10 hands down. Molly and Vanessa were fantastic from the moment we came in the door. I had no idea what to ask for to get things rolling and Molly was right there to help. She suggested a few choices of wine and appetizers to get things started, and then when it came time to sit down and order dinner, … she described dishes to a point that we were sold and no second thoughts.
Vanessa and Molly are a perfect team. I thank you two for making my challenges become non-​existent.
As Kristin put it… It was FLAWLESS
Also… I want to add Vanessa was fantastic making us feel like we were the only table that she had to take care of. She was GREAT. Molly was Great.
Compliments to the chef too for all those great plates.
Thank You Again :)

We came into Ya Ya’s to use a gift card and would definitely come back.
The atmosphere was nice, upscale/​casual that had a welcoming, European feel with stone pillars and a large bar upfront. We had a group of 8 coming in ~30 minutes before the posted closing time. We worried about being hurried or holding up the server, but after being seated, greeted and served water, the server assured us there was no hurry and we could take our time.
We were offered complimentary hummus, a bonus for 1^st time diners, and the bread with a very tasty babaghanous. So good. I could have had those for dinner, but my hubby and I decided to share a pizzetta with goat cheese along with the gnocchi appetizer. The gnocchi, by far, was the BEST thing we ate. It was sooo good. I’d come back just for that dish. The flatbread was good too, the gnocchi was just so unique. Loved it.
Others with us got a cappatelli pasta dish with TONs of garlic — Yum. No holding back for fears of bad breath here. The whole table smelled like garlic due to this dish, which for us (who all love garlic) was not really a hardship. Our gluten-​intolerant friend was able to get a pizza on a gluten free crust which he said was the best gluten-​free crust he’d had so far, so he was very happy with his meal.
All of the meals were well complimented by a great wine list. The electronic bar menu was nice to be able to scroll through everything, though it took a while for the 1 ipad to make it’s way around the table as each dinner perused.
Service was great, clear up until the very end (we were the last of 2 tables left in the restaurant), when we struggled to track down our check. Overall, very good. It’s way out of the way from where we live, so I don’t think we’d make the 45 min. trip just to go, but if we were in the area, we’d definitely plan to stop back by.

Ya Ya’s is a restaurant with an identity crisis. Their website looks like fine dining, but the lousy exterior that shares a parking lot with JC Penney had us scratching our heads. As we walked inside the place looks fancy with high end finishes and beautiful décor, then the oddly out of place alternative music at a above average volume enters our ears. Did we just walk into an Applebee’s? We were seated quickly and greeted by a pleasant server that was attentive. Our server was great but the venue seemed crammed and I felt like we were almost on top of the next table. Trying to have an intimate evening out with my wife has turned south.
As first timers we were offered a complimentary hummus appetizer, we obliged and to my surprise I really liked this dish. I am not a fan of hummus but I could have eaten this all day. When our entrees arrived I was starting to wane on my first impressions. The risotto entrée was served with corn, prosciutto & shrimp in bowl. Presentation was non-​existent and the dish tasted like lime juice with rubbery shrimp. My Wife had the trout and she was unimpressed with the bland fish. By the end of the meal we had concluded we should have gone with our instincts when we first arrived and turned around and found some place different.

What a lovely evening! My husband and I had reservations for our 24^th Anniversary, and were so pleasantly happy with the attention to detail and excellent, attentive service we received.
We were greeted by the host and seated at a table set especially for our celebration with champagne and an anniversary card. Our server, Nicky, did a WONDERFUL job taking care of us, and had many spot-​on menu suggestions. The food was superb (the gnocchi appetizer? Oh. My. Word. — loved it. Make sure to dip their yummy bread in the gnocchi’s incredible sauce. Also enjoyed the Caesar and spinach salads, filet mignon, and the handmade farfalle pasta made as a vegetarian version for me.) Save room for the Belgian Chocolate Soufflé! And, accompany it with one of their after-​dinner coffees — like the vanilla latte with Rosemary biscotti I so enjoyed.
Ya Ya’s management: Thank you for the gift of this evening. You made us feel celebrated, and helped create a treasured memory.
From start to finish it was a wonderful experience!

I was excited to go to this place since I love Mediterranean food. The food looked good but didn’t taste good. It was good portions but the flavor was a little off. The drinks were delicious though.
The worst part was our server. Her name was Molly. She was horrible. She didn’t seem happy and talked to us rude. I didn’t appreciate how she had an attitude. I asked her for more water (she never came back and filled our waters since she seemed busy chit chatting) and she grunted right in front of me. I didn’t say anything but I was in shock.
What’s funny was I was talking to a friend about yayas how it was ok and our server, Molly being rude she said she had the same server!!! So it wasn’t just a bad day. So when you go to this place make sure you don’t have her.

The baba ghanoush. That alone is worth a visit!
We ate here for a business lunch, and I was immediately impressed with the more upscale lunch experience than I’ve grown accustomed to at other restaurants. We were seated immediately and offered a choice of sparkling or still triple-​filtered water. Then, we were brought a plate of baba ghanoush and bread. I’m normally not a huge bread-​eater, but I ate four pieces of this bread and seriously could have eaten all of it with that awesome baba ghanoush. It was silky, smooth and perfectly seasoned. If that’s all I had for lunch, I’d have been a happy girl.
But, that was not all I had, and the rest of my meal was equally impressive. After all that bread, I didn’t want anything too heavy until the polenta in the small plates section of the menu caught my eye. Polenta with duck confit and mushrooms in a balsamic sauce — so wonderful. The polenta was cooked perfectly, and the duck confit was rich and deeply flavored. It was so rich, I could not eat all the duck but did enjoy all the mushrooms, sauce and polenta. I also had a side Greek salad with my meal, which was topped with a light citrus vinaigrette.
We had very attentive and friendly service. Great dining experience!

This place was hard to find because I was not familiar with the area. According to the Unilocal map, it’s on the corner of W 135 St. and Metcalf; however, it’s actually on the other side of Metcalf and I know that doesn’t sound helpful but look for JCPenney as the landmark. If you see Bolings then it would be on the other side of Metcalf. The parking lot was shared with the JCPenney so there shouldn’t be an issue finding parking.
I met my date (she looked great!) for dinner. I made reservations and it was a good thing I did because this place was pretty busy around 7pm on a Wednesday. If I had to guess, then restaurant week was probably on everybody’s minds. This place had a bar that people were sitting at probably while they waited for tables to open up. I took a blurry picture from our booth of the restaurant’s interior because people were looking at me like why I would do that especially in their direction. I usually don’t post stuff like that up, but it will give you an idea of how bright the place was and the décor since there’s no pictures posted on Unilocal.
The restaurant week menu was simple and I was looking forward to trying the entrée; however, they actually ran out of it and couldn’t substitute the entrée for something else. That was a bummer. We looked over the regular menu and it ranged from pasta to salad to pizzas to some specials they had. I asked our waiter what he would recommend since I didn’t really research the regular menu posted on their website before coming here. He recommended the Risotto (if you liked pork belly) or the Whole Wheat Pappardelle. I ordered the Whole Wheat Pappardelle and my date ordered the Campo Lindo Chicken. Our waiter told us he would do something special for us later because the restaurant week entrée was sold out.
The bread and dip were nothing special to me and I didn’t want to fill up on the bread either. We talked with each other so waiting for the entrees to come out didn’t feel that long. When our entrees came out, we were both surprised just how big of a portion the Campo Lindo Chicken dish was. It was a lot of food and it looked good. The Whole Wheat Pappardelle portion was not as big. The beef tenderloin strips in my dish were dry and the rest was not bad. I tried some of my date’s chicken and potatoes in her dish and those were both delicious. If I had to recommend either one, then it would definitely be the Campo Lindo Chicken.
Our waiter brought out a dessert item for free after we were done with our entrees. I should have asked what it was but I could probably guess the different components. It was a combination of bread pudding, strawberry, and vanilla ice cream more or less. I thought it tasted good but you know almost everything will taste better if it’s free.
Overall, I thought this place was A-​OK and wouldn’t mind coming back to try something else.