Empanada Madness

Amazing! Great food, went here for lunch and had their lunch combo. I had the chicken and avocado arepa and fried plantains with beans and rice. So filling though, couldn’t finish it all. Their three sauces are amazing. Would recommend for sure!

So I was all excited to try this place out after I have read so much about it. So I headed down there with my girlfriend last night and imagine my disappointment when 1 hour before close we were told we couldn’t dine in. Never mind the half a dozen people that were already dining in. Since we didn’t want to get our food to go, drive 25 min back home, reheat our food, we decided to leave and head to Manny’s instead.
I expected a place that was supposed to be so awesome to be far more welcoming than we received.

Possibly my favorite food in all of Kansas City. Everything there is perfect, but the ground beef empandas are just ridiculous. Get as many of those as you can eat, no sides or anything, and go to town with their three insanely delicious sauces.
If you don’t trust me, take Salvador Perez’s word for it, learned by watching him devour empanadas sitting a few tables away.

Well Kansas Citians, I have been wanting to come dine here ever since the Royals run to take the World Series Crown! This is by far the best South American food that I have had in my life, especially when it comes to arepas and empanadas! Salvador Perez, et. al. were not kidding… this place is legit!
My favorite item here is the arepa that is filled with pulled chicken and an avocado like mousse; it is absolutely delicious! My second favorite item is the empanada that is filled with: potato, eggs, and queso fresco; it is also delicious! One thing I really like about dining ‘in house’ is that you have full access to the three different types of of homemade sauces! My personal favorite is the white mild garlic sauce, I load my arepas up with this sauce! The medium & hot sauces are also outstanding, but certainly spicy!
My food has arrived and I am going to eat now, and I am so excited! Thank you Kansas City Royals, not only for bringing us a World Series Crown to KC but also for telling us locals about the fantasticalness of the food at this quaint & fairly inexpensive South American eatery!

I’m a big fan of «the boulevard» and all the deliciousness it packs in such a small strip. So it’s not surprising that I really liked Empanada Madness. Quite frankly, it really charmed the pants off of me, but not as much for my husband, hence the 4 stars.
What I liked: Seemingly authentic food. Delicious food. Very affordable. Adorable and updated interior that you don’t always find on the boulevard. Kind, energetic staff.
The specifics: Shredded beef empanada (yes!), Arroz con pollo (okay), horchata (Yes!), Pabellon (shredded beef, beans, rice, plantains and mini arepa — Yes!), and finally the tres leches cake which was awesome! I rarely get dessert out, and I’m so glad I did here. Delicious!
EM is a great way to get some Latin flavor without leaving feeling bloated and self-​loathing like I usually do from the typical Tex-​Mex places. I can’t wait to go back and try more… especially the arepas, empanadas, and tortas.

Great South American food!
Right here in Kansas City!
Venezuelan, Colombian, Peruvian and great home for the Kansas City Royals players!

My review is based on service only because we didn’t receive food. Went in here today for lunch. There was only one other table. We seated ourselves. After about 5 minutes of sitting there, the server brought us menus, dropped them on the table without a word and went on to the other table chatting up a storm. It became obvious we weren’t going to receive service so we left and went to La Fonda. Save yourself the time and go to La Fonda.

Wonderful surprise in the heart of Kansas City! Service is slooow, and the ambience is a bit lackluster. Dirty plates are usually left on tables or stacked on the counters for hours. And the temperature of the restaurant often falls to the extremes — hot in the summer or freezing in the winter. On a recent visit, I ate in my long down coat and hat. It was incredibly cold! A new HVAC system is needed pronto!
But the food, the food, the food!!! The food is muy delicioso! The bandeja paisa is tender and savory. Arepas are perfectly fried with a great balance of crisp and moist. The empanadas were good as were the assorted beverages.

Very unique and very good South American food.
What to get? The place is called «Empanada Madness» so what all know what you should order… but the few times I have tried other things on the menu it has been quite good. One of my favorite KC places to go.

I was told about this place because KC Royal’s players frequent there. It’s a small local place which brings big flavor in their food. All the fried foods were crisp but weren’t saturated in grease. Authentic foods from numerous Spanish speaking countries. The prices were great! We were served by a friendly gentleman who was courteous and very helpful when we ordered

Although I drive down the Boulevard nearly every day I very rarely take the time to try all the great places that it has to offer. Well today I finally tried one of them!
I must admit I came not at all familiar with South American cuisine but am glad I discovered it! My wife ordered a couple of empanadas and I tried them for the first time ever… they were amazing! I ordered the Lomo Soltado, which feature steak, rice, onions, and french fries — some of my favorite things — all mixed together!
I would rate the food 5 stars but can’t go above 4 stars overall at this time because although they are friendly and work hard there, they aren’t really staffed to fully handle the lunch rushes that they get, which can mean you have to wait quite a bit longer between interactions than you’d like!
Still, if you aren’t in a big hurry, I would highly advise you give them a try!

Excellent service & wonderful food. Try the «Bandeja Paisa» & pastelitos. Great bistec Encebollado & Tres Leches. Couple all this great Latin food with a good service by Daniel. Good Job!

Been one of the few Boricuas in KC we are continuously seeking for Puertorrican meals or at least something similar that remind us of home sweet home… Empanada madness didn’t disappointed us! Although most of the plates are from central america, the ones we tried were delicious! We had «el pabellon» and «el jibarito», both were super good!!! And for desert we had a tres leches, which was amazing!!! I would recommend this place if you are looking for good latin cuisine! And of course, the empanadas are awesome!
It’s a comfy little place and prices are affordable. Only few people run the place so they take a little time to get to you. But they are super friendly so I didn’t mind the wait.

Since they’re the first empanadas that I’ve eaten that weren’t homemade from an online recipe (I can cook, sort of), I wasn’t sure what to expect. My reaction to Empanada Madness’s South American food was simple: Get in mah belly!
With a variety of meat and vegetarian arepas and empanadas I believe you can’t go wrong here. This is not health food so prepare yourself accordingly.
Our service was slow, but we came right after a Royals game and they were packed with people.
Next time I plan to try one of the dinner plates with and empanada on the side. ;-)
PS. For dessert lovers, the churros are worth the extra workout time you’ll need to burn them off.

Oh my gosh — this place is wonderful! The food is unique and a great treat on the Boulevard.
The Hairy One was my favorite and I like the variety of choices.
Fun side note — you might run into the Royals players here. Salvy loves it!

One of my favorite places in KC! This place is no frills but serves up some awesome arepas and empanadas. The arepas and empanadas are fried so they are a little oily but they are absolutely delicious. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the two is the empanada is half the size of the arepa. I recommend the ground beef empanada and shredded beef arepa.
They also have some nice salsas that go well with the arepas and empanadas. I would try the mild, medium, and hot because they are all very different flavors.

Love this stop in our Taco Crawl! The empanadas were outstanding, the restaurant is cute, and the service was amazing. We had a great time and everyone loved their food.
Plus…the tres leches cake was outstanding!

Empanada Madness, YES PLEASE! Something different than any of the other restaurants in KC. Amazing flavors, variety to suit anyone, and the dessert… oh the dessert. I had the Hallaca (tamale) and it was amazing. I tried many other items as we were in a large group on a taco crawl. The churros and dessert empanadas were amazing too. I liked the 3 different sauces they had (especially the garlic one). Awesome service, great food, and cool local celebrity sightings :)

This is my favorite Hispanic restaurant on SW Blvd. Today’s taco crawl solidified that and although Los Alamos Market y Cocina was my favorite, Empanda Madness was a very close number two. Actually tied for number one because they were both awesome in totally different ways.
I have tried just about everything here and never had anything bad. The hallacas are my favorite. Meat, raisins, and capers combine for the perfect taste explosion in your mouth. The masa is perfect.
Today we had a nice star sighting of a couple of our awesome Royals players. One of the ladies working gave the impression this might be a regular stop. Great food and our boys in blue? Heck ya!

Holy frijoles, Empanada Madness you are delicious.
We came here during the holiday week to get a change of pace from the ham/​turkey/​potato cycle and I cannot express how good it was. A combination of hunger and excitement basically had me holding a fork and knife ready to pounce on the first empanada that came near me.
I tried the Reinapediada arepa which was a chicken salad blended with avocado, wrapped inside of a fried, crispy arepa. It was as good as it sounds, as was my empanada that was full of whipped potato, queso fresco and egg.
One of my favorite parts of it were the three bottles of sauce that are brought out with the meal. One is a ranchy, cooling sauce that is good on the salad. One is a verde with a bit of a kick and was my all around favorite. It’s good on everything. The red one was perfect with the empanada as well and had the most spice to it.
I thought it was pretty awesome that a large contingent of Venezuelan Royals come in here. The server said they come in all the time during the season.
I couldn’t quite give it five stars mainly because our server left us waiting for the check for nearly 20 minutes at the end. I want to express that this is a family run spot and he was helping out in both the kitchen and with a larger table, so I’m being a bit ridiculous but I have to be fair. When I finally did get up and ask for the check, they overcharged my card for $ 10 more than my actual bill was and I had to catch the error and get the right bill. It’s one of those situations when you’re in a small family restaurant that doesn’t bug you much at all but would feel much more negative at a chain restaurant.
So yes, Empanada Madness. I’ll be back, in fact I’m already looking forward to it. This place is a home run.