The Best Sports Bar Has A Familiar Name
Sports bar, pizza, 26 HDTVs, 3 projector screens, vegan & vegetarian options, multiple locations
Every Kansas Citian already knows about Minsky’s Pizza—our local pizza chain that started in 1976. We know Minsky’s provides some of the best, if not the best, pizza in town. The pizza, pasta, sandwiches, salads and appetizers are always top-notch quality, which is why we crowd the 13 Minsky’s Pizza locations in the metro area. But one location stands unique to all the others. Minsky’s Pizza at 427 Main St. in the historical River Market neighborhood just south of the Missouri River, might carry the same name as all the other locations, but it also doubles as the best sports bar in Kansas City.
Sports fans aren’t complicated. When we have to venture out of our living rooms to see a game, we want enough TV’s that we don’t have to turn our heads much. We want a beer selection big enough to let us explore, but small enough we won’t miss a single jump shot deciding on what to drink. And we want handheld food—napkin-destroying handheld food. Minsky’s Pizza in the City Market is the best combo of TV, beer, and food in Kansas City.
Here are the stats every sports fan needs to know: 26 HDTV’s, three movie-screen style projectors,12 draft beers with selections from our local Boulevard and Free State breweries, different alcohol specials every night, and free WiFi (to keep up-to-date on our fantasy teams while watching the game). Minsky’s Pizza in the River Market was named in 2011 and 2012 as “Best Pizza” and “Best Sports Bar” by the Gladstone Dispatch and “Best Sports Bar” 2008 and “Best Pizza” by Pitch Weekly in 2012.
Minsky’s Pizza takes up the southwest corner of the City Market square, the largest farmer’s market in the region. Built in 1939 and refurbished in 1990, the two-story brick building stands as a fantastic arena for sports viewing. The bar area occupies the whole downstairs and families with children are asked to eat upstairs, away from the beer-guzzling spectators. “We’re an urban pizza joint,” a waitress says about banishing the kids upstairs, “not a Johnson County[1] chain.” And that’s where the genius of Minsky’s Pizza in the City Market really shines. The owners aren’t trying to recreate the Minsky’s Pizza experience one can find in 12 other locations throughout the city. They’ve created something specific to the City Market—a rugged neighborhood sports bar that just happens to serve up, arguably, the best pizza in town. This bar caters to the River Market locals, the out-of-town businessmen and women, and the wayward vegan[2] sports fans. But most importantly, if you’re at Minsky’s Pizza in the City Market watching a basketball game and the game goes past the 10 p.m. closing time, fret not, Minsky’s won’t close until every sports fan has anguished in defeat, celebrated triumph, or eaten at least three slices of pizza.