Buzzard Beach

I am slowly becoming more and more in love with this place. This is by far the weirdest bar I have ever been into. The crowd here isn’t any less weird either. You can walk around Westport and literally point out every single person that goes to Buzzard Beach. However, you can’t point out everyone who does go there. If you catch my drift. It’s such a mixed crowd it’s fantastic.
The entire place is wood. Wood everywhere. And creaking. Lots of creaking wood noises. And smells. An odd smell. Of wood. And alcohol. And all the things that have soaked into the wood over the years. All of this really gives the bar its character. There’s a large wrap around covered patio to smoke on as well as a downstairs bar with pool tables, darts, shuffleboard, all the cool stuff. The bartenders here are unique as the bar and they are awesome. Cheap drinks, lots of shots, lots of Hamms, Schlitz, and PBR.
This is the perfect place to come if you are planning on getting white girl wasted. Or any kind of wasted really. If you go there, remember my review, and drink a Hamms and a shot of Jameson for me.

The beach is homebase. Cheapest drinks in westport and very low-​key. Anyone who likes local divey bars will enjoy it.

End all be all dive.
Definitely my favorite dive bar in KC and I’ve only been threatened to be stabbed here once. The crowd stays consistently weird. If you go here on a weekend night look out for Rico the resident mascot of Buzzard who will probably be dancing around in hot pants and a weird hat. The beer is super cheap. The drink of choice here is PBR pounders.
My favorite memory from this place was hanging out here in torrential downpour and the bar was actually was leaking water through the roof to the point they had to for lack of a better word «sweep the water out the front door, fun times. For sure an interesting place to stop at least once and checkout.

Fun place with tons of charm!
I had this place bookmarked and just stumbled upon it while waiting for some friends. Glad we did. This place reminds me of a great little place in Chicago — it’s got the basement feel with the divey-​ness I love in a bar.
The servers were so friendly and the drinks so strong, I will hit this spot up the next time we are in town and actually stay there quite a while.
Check it out for the service and the charm of the joint!

Strong 3 stars, minus 2 just because it’s pretty divey, even for a dive bar.
Pregame here with the Bergen Malt — light beer, baileys, and jagger! Delicious! And strong.

I had a great time. This isn’t a fancy place, and that’s why I like it. Cheap-​ish drinks, friendly staff, and games downstairs. I love to play pool and they had two tables and no wait when I was there, so I was excited about that. I will definitely return next time I’m in KCMO.

It’s a dive but who cares. Staff friendly and prices were good for happy hour. Seating is hit and miss so plan on standing around for awhile. We always hit this spot when in town and it is the same every time.

Buzzard Beach is one of those places you always end up, but not entirely sure why. They have cheap beer, quick service, and an unpretentious appeal. I usually can find a seat around 10ish, but after 12ish, good luck. The basement has games!
Buzzard Beach is quite the experience.

This place is very dirty. The bathroom is utterly disgusting. I had ordered a cocktail, but the bartender had overpoured the alcohol. It’s great if you want to get wasted, but not so good if you want a decently tasting drink.

I like the drink specials, pool and the basement. We have been a few times and had a good time.

I’d say avoid this place. Only thing the bartender was willing to serve was bottled beer, shots of vodka soda. Lazy bartender in a dive bar. What a shame I couldn’t even get a rum and coke here. On to another bar

I want to give more stars but the smell dude. Otherwise, it’s the best of the dive bars. Low prices. No frills. You can take beer to go. No one will bug you and it’s a… diverse crowd.

I seriously love this bar. Heaviest pour and latest last call around! It’s been my favorite place to go for probably 7 years now. Great staff, awesome prices!

This place is great for what it is. A hole in the wall is what I would like to call it. Cheap drinks, cool atmosphere, and a friendly staff. I would definitely come back with friends if I just wanted to have a chill kind of night, nothing outrageous. You must read the writings on the bathroom wall… HILARIOUS!!!

Cheap, familiar drinks in Westport. The cheapest. It comes at a different cost, though. This is the very definition of a «dive.» The smoking patio is mostly enclosed, guaranteeing that you’ll go home smelling like smoke if you step outside to talk, and despite really incredible efforts to clean the place up in the past few years, the inside can sometimes smell like what it is, a very old building that people drink and make bad decisions in.
Bartenders are generally friendly. Bouncers do a great job keeping the place in line.
Clientele is of mixed age. Hard to see that anyone could ever feel «out of place» here.
Just watch yourself near 3am closing on weekends, as the area outside Buzzard Beach turns into something of a scene from Mad Max with all the bars letting out.
EDIT:
A friend organized a show here this past weekend. I’d seen punk shows in this bar before and they were just annoying and made the place feel even less welcoming, but a couple of really incredible banjo players and a one man band played here Sunday and it was great and fitting for the bar.

I love dive baaaars!
This one is located partway down an alley off of a street in the area. To be honest… I might not have found it had I been out on my own or if I tried to find it again…
I was brought here by my friend who lives in the city while I was here visiting. We came in on Thanksgiving night.
The blue-​green haired bartender was great (once she got the hang of my slightly off-​the-​beaten-​path drink order).
The crowd was a good mix of people.
Bathrooms weren’t terrifying (always a possibility at just about any bar)
If I lived in KC… this would potentially be one of «my» places.

I definitely enjoy Buzzard Beach.
Pros:
This divey bar has a low key and laid back atmosphere. This is definitely a place to come if you’re wanting a more intimate atmosphere.
I’ve been there on different nights of the week, including the weekend and I always enjoyed myself and the people. The bar-​goers are easy going and very very friendly. I went there with my friend once, but she had to leave and I still had beer left, so I stayed and hung out. The bartenders made me feel welcome (and not like a lonely alcoholic) and people came up to me and chatted with me a lot! Of course, they wouldn’t chat with you if you weren’t open to people coming up to you. I even stayed for a few more drinks! Something I would never do at another bar!
Upstairs they have live bands sometimes, but there’s a downstairs you can go to. The downstairs holds a few games: pool table, foosball table, shuffleboard, and a few video games, as well as another bar.
The bar may be categorized as a «hipster/​hippie» bar (I honestly don’t know the difference; people are people, in my opinion), but I’m not the stereotypical «hipster/​hippie» and I feel absolutely comfortable in there. … Have I mentioned the staff? Just awesome, down to earth, friendly people! They are welcoming and not intimidating at all! AND go ahead! Buy them a shot! I know you’ll get something good out of it!
Cons:
The only bathrooms are upstairs by the door and they are super tiny, luckily the bar isn’t usually very packed so it’s easy to get in and out of the bathroom.
The smell… is something you either get used to, ignore, or put up with. It’s just very musty, but there is a deck on the top (main) floor you can hang out on (where the smokers go) and there is a small patio on your way out of the basement.
Overall, I really really enjoy this place, not everyone’s cup of tea, and on the outside it can seem intimidating, but go on inside, they won’t bite. :)

Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard… Where to begin…
I love this trashy little establishment. I frequent here for the cheap drinks, shuffleboard, pool and people watching. Mark is a fantastic bartender (downstairs) and the staff in general are nice and quite humorous. I can’t tell you how many awkward nights I’ve had here where someone either ended up either being asked to leave or I’ve met a new friend.
Watch out for crazies in the bathroom who may try and motorboat your boobies or make out with you, but the lovely tattoo covered folk here are bound to be your buddy for the night.
Pour me another Pale Ale! :)

Yeah, yeah, it’s a bit smelly, but you’ll find the cheapest drinks and the most chill time at Buzzard Beach. We visit every time we go to Westport because of the bartenders and awesome drink prices.
Their happy hour lasts for about 4 hours every day (I’m pretty sure), and you can get $ 1.25 drafts (3 options, including PBR) and ~$ 2.50 wells (it’s a bit more for drinks with juice). This is a steal! Their bartenders are really cool and laid back.
And the best thing about Buzzard Beach… the famous Bergen Malt. It’s a drop shot with Jäger and a topper of Irish Cream. You have to drink it fast or it curdles! Surprisingly good!

I love the smell of dead flesh, piss and shit as much as the next carrion bird, but Buzzard Beach doesn’t have enough to make me fly back.
Let me be perfectly clear: I LOVE dive bars. I love dark, old places where you can open your eyes without squinting from the lights and people watch the night away while sipping a stiff drink. Unfortunately, this is not a dive bar: it’s a piece of shit bar. Diver bars have charm, and only slightly annoying qualities. They at least try to clean the floors occasionally, and the servers are usually only rude accidentally, or incompetent on accident.
At this place, the servers are purposefully rude, the bathrooms reak of shit and filth, there is no air conditioning and the place is filled with grime from floor to ceiling. About that free popcorn… I wouldn’t eat it — someone told me a worker pissed in the popcorn machine. I’m not saying it’s true, and I’m not saying it isn’t, but from the looks of the rest of the place and the people working here, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.
Give me a dark hole with less attitude from employees, someone who knows how to use a mop and a bathroom that’s been cleaned once in the last fifty years. I’ll gladly pony up the extra fifty cents I’d save to avoid this dirty beach.