Kansas City Steaks
Kansas City Steak Company Reviews - Best Online Steaks
When we buy anything from Kansas City Steak Company we do so just to write reviews. For us, that is kind of unusual as we are frequent online steak buyers just for our own personal use and for entertaining. We don't come back to Kansas City Steaks because we have found the steaks to be average, at best, and come with a USDA Prime price tag.
About the Kansas City Steaks
Kansas City Steak Company was founded in 1932, during the Great Depression, by Giovanni Scavuzzo and his three sons – Santo, Edward, and Carlo. It was a family run business that focused solely on providing meat to the food service industry, including hotels. The company operated in the private food service sector for more than 50 years before entering the mail order sector of food service. In 1984, the great-grandson of Giovanni Scavuzzo added a mail order catalog section to the company and began selling their prime cuts of meat on the QVC channel.
- They offer a wide array of meats including American Style Kobe, grass fed, pre-seasoned, USDA prime, and gift options. Their featured cuts of beef include Filet Mignon, Kansas City Strip, Top Sirloin, T-bone, Porterhouse, Ribeye, Beef Tenderloin, Chateaubriand, Prime Rib Roasts, and more.
- They wet age their steaks for up to 28 days, which makes us wonder if they know how long they age their steaks..
- Kansas City Steaks offers meat from their own stock. They offer free-range and grass-fed beef, so customers can customize their order to taste. They offer American Style Kobe and USDA Prime and Choice beef products to ensure their customers receive only the best.
- We found many of their product descriptions omit the grade the beef you are buying.
- Kansas City Steaks offers a full line of other meat products, including pork, chicken, lamb, turkey, lobster, salmon, and crab. They also offer company made extras including appetizers, side dishes, seasonings and sauces, and desserts that have been carefully selected for their customers to enjoy.
- They offer a 45-day unconditional guarantee on all meat products. This guarantee includes a replacement or refund if a customer is unsatisfied with their product, or if there is a defect. There are three options to provide this guarantee, including refund, replacement, or gift certificate reimbursement to be used with a later purchase.
Ribeye served with Sliced Potatoes and Spinach
Our Kansas City Steak Reviews
USDA Choice Ribeye 10 oz. $20 ea.
Not a good steak. On their website if a steak is USDA Prime they make a point to tell you. If not you nothing, except as in this case, some tricky wording that makes their steaks sound like they are high-quality: "Each boneless Ribeye Steak is carved from the aged Prime Rib Roast, an unbelievably tender and tasty cut."We had to find these were USDA Choice in the FAQs section.
We didn't find sufficient marbling in these steaks, nor did we find them to be tender and tasty. We buy and taste a lot of steaks from a lot of companies and it seems like we just never finish eating these steaks, even though they are small. We found these Ribeyes to be on par with what you might find at your supermarket, on a bad day, and those would probably be less expensive and better because you can cook them fresh.
Ribeye served with Mushrooms
USDA Ungraded Prime Rib Roast 3.5 lbs $80 - 3 Steaks 19 oz. for $27
We were so unsettled about the quality of our Ribeye steaks that we went back to the website and ordered a Prime Rib Roast so we could cut out own 18 oz. Ribeyes, which would cost $27 each. If you were to give yourself four steaks, you would pay the exact same price of $20 a steak, but get a 14 oz. steak instead of a 10 oz. We couldn't find a USDA grade for this roast on the website.
Kansas City used very thin (a.k.a. cheap) cryovac packaging that leaked during the defrost. That is something you really have to watch out for with this company. We found the marbling was about the same, and the flavor was just a little better. We did season it heavily this time to pull whatever flavor we could from the steak, and we did create an amazing bark which was the best part of the steak.
While we could say the Ribeyes we cut from their Prime Rib Roast was slightly better, and a much value than buying their Ribeyes, we still gave it a thumbs down as we can recommend many other Ribeyes are are much better.
Filet Mignon served with Potatoes and Spinach
USDA Choice Super Trimmed Filet Mignon 8 oz. $27.50 ea.
Once again, fancy marketing copywriting has us turned-off about the true quality of this beef: "cut from the center of the finest aged tenderloin"" Wouldn't the finest aged tenderloin be USDA Prime? And in case you didn't know, all steak is aged to relax the meat from rigamortis after harvesting. In our opinion there is nothing unique or special going on here except for a marketing department potentially trying to justify their pricing. We found the USDA Choice grade in the FAQs section.
Of everything we have ever purchased from Kansas City Steak Company, their Filet Mignons were the best we've tried. 8 oz. is small, and we should have followed our own advice by buying the 12 oz. Filets for $36, but these are USDA Prime prices that you can get equal to or lower from other reputable vendors who don't tap dance around the quality of their product. If you received a gift certificate from Kansas City Steaks, we would say use it on Filet Mignons. If you are buying for your own use, or entertaining, use our Steak Matchmaker and we will help you find the perfect steak at the best value for your needs.
Kansas City Strip Steak served with Potatoes and Spinach
Ungraded Kansas City Strip Steak 12 oz. $24 ea.
Like the Filet Mignon, we felt the Kansas City Strip was okay, but not worth the USDA Prime price it comes with for a 12 oz. steak. We have purchased, cooked, and tested over thirty NY Strip steaks from different suppliers and would rank this one about average flavor at a below average value. Bonus points for the packaging not leaking though.
This cut is more famously known as a NY Strip for your comparison purposes. They are exactly the same steak. In fact, these steaks were originally called Kansas City steaks until a restaurant in New York City called Delmonico's put it on their menu as a NY Strip steak. It is the public who coined the phrase "Delmonico Steak." Today, the cut is most widely known as a NY Strip.
Not a steak we would recommend unless you are cashing in a free gift card you received, and if that is the case, you're better off using it up on the largest, thickest, cuts available.
Our Conclusion
Unless it's USDA Prime, Kansas City Steak Company does not tell you the grade of their beef, and they very careful in their product descriptions to make their steaks sound like it's Prime when it's not. What may even confuse the average online steak shopper is the price they charge, which is easily in the realm of a USDA Prime product.
The only way to guess the quality of the grade is to buy the steak and look at the marbling. We have found in the steaks we had purchased that the marbling is pretty close to USDA Select and when a steak did have some USDA Choice marbling the steak tasted okay but indeed was not worth the USDA Prime price Kansas City Steaks puts on their beef.
So right off the bat, we have a trust issue with Kansas City Steaks. When a consumer is going to buy steaks online, trust is an essential element in the relationship. Yes, you might make the argument that Omaha Steaks doesn't tell consumers the grade of their beef, which is true, but Omaha doesn't try to make their products sound USDA Prime, nor does Omaha charge USDA prices as KC Steaks does.
In the end, we fell you can get the same quality beef at much less cost by visiting your supermarket.
Kevin Bouchard
BestOnlineReviews.com
Submitted Customer Experiences
I bought $300 of steaks and burgers. I ordered on a Sunday and they sent me a email back right away saying it would be here by the following Saturday. I called them right back and told them I was in no hurry and I would not be here Saturday so don’t deliver then. The man said he would have someone call Monday at 1:00 pm. Waiting like a fool to here back I called them at 2:15 pm. I explained everything with Customer Service who was very nasty and told me off and said we never deliver on Saturday so that should not be in the email. Then that Friday I get a email that said my Meats would come Tuesday. So I went up north Saturday only to come home to $300.00 worth of Meat Products that sat in the 90 degree sun for a day on Saturday. I called them four times the week before I left only to be talk to like crap after they received my order. Now I have to go to the dump to pay to get read of this big container of maggot stink. Customer Service did not seem to care about my time. I feel like all I did was work for them for nothing for over a week. Lousy Customer Service. A Service should understand that they need you. You don’t need them, and when they cost you money and time they should pay for it. After all they charge enough. Never again.
-Jeff Raddatz
Wisconsin
We tried the Sirloin and the Porterhouse steaks. The flavor was excellent on both but they we so very thin. It was extremely difficult to barbeque them a true medium rare to rare. We did notify them of this issue. We are extremely pleased with their response. They explained why the steaks were cut that way. Also, they stated the the filets are the only cut of meat that are much thicker. They also suggested that they send us Custom Filets or a 50% discount on our order. We chose the filets. They are truly awesome. Thank you so much for your incredible customer service.
-Sandra Bayne, CA
Kansas City Steaks was horrible. Even after I complained customer service suggested I should have ordered a more "premium" cut. spent over $300 for gristle porterhouse and 1/2 thick ribeyes. in my opinion it was like ordering "minute steaks" in the 60"s.
-Paul, AZ
I purchased your steaks thru QVC, they had so much grisel my guest and I were very disappointed fat makes the meat taste but this was grisel we could not even chew it!!!!.
-Judy Walcott
Las Vegas, NV
I purchased a 5 to 5.5 lb prime rib roast. When I opened the box, the contents sure didn’t look like the pictures or the presentation. There was a small, oval vacuum sealed piece of meat that I would have been embarrassed to send to any customer. I put it on my food scales, and their 5.5 prime rib only weighed 4.16 pounds. That means I just paid 25.00 for air. Buyers beware. Check the weight of items received. No wonder their profit margin is up.
-Phil Smolinsky
Erie, PA
I purchased a Porterhouse steak. They say it was 16 ounces, which maybe true because it was very large, but it was so thin I would compare it to a cheap steak I got at a diner, It was also very fatty. There is no way to cook it property as it will be well done before you can get a good sear.
-Melinda Mazo
Atlanta, Georgia
I purchased the Steak combo gift package. We placed three orders online worth over $600.00. The order included A coupon code from retailmenot.com for 8 steakburgers. The coupon code was accepted online but the steak burgers were not included with the shipment. When I called to inquire with them they said they would not honor the coupon but they offered to give me a coupon for the next time. There will not be a next time.
-J. Snow
N. Carolina
I used to purchase Kansas City Steaks through QVC and found their prices to be lower than on their website. On QVC (12) 8 oz Filet Mignon's are $225. On their site, the same dozen of 8 oz. Filet Mignons are close to $350. That's more than $10 per steak if you buy at their website. I don't know why they do that, but they always have since I have been watching QVC. I also see a lot of steaks that are really small, like two and four ounces. My grandsons call them uni-chews because they can eat them in one bite. I just stopped buying because no one got too excited when I served them.
-Helen DeRosa
Palm Beach, FL
I purchased baked potatoes, 4 fillets and 8 miserable Vandalia onion steak burger. The steak burgers (as I tried on my birthday 10/21) were the worst....greasiest, full of fat and gristle I have ever tasted. Turned 62 on 10/21/58 and have read the reviews complaining about the same but chose to trust the reviews wrong. SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!!!! As a buyer on a restricted budget could not be more MAD, Disappointed. Just wanted to find a non fat, gristle ridden burger for the price charge by Kansas City Steak House!!!!!
-Diane M. Croce
Strongsville, Ohio
I purchased the Classic Steak Sampler Box, and these steaks are no better than I can buy in my local grocery store. No flavor, lots of gristle, overall poor quality for what you pay. I would not buy again.
-Jerri
Upstate, New York
I have been buying Kansas City Steaks for almost ten years. I get them through QVC and sometimes through their catalog. I love the steaks, even the small ones, and so did Boomer (the dog) when he was alive. You should be nicer to these people.
-Your Mother
New York
The advertised picture shows a nice formed piece of steak! I received small chunks of meat that resembled the tips you sell and not the medallions. Complained to the company who replied they “couldn’t post my review.” No explanation of why my medallions were little chunks of meat. Will not order from them again!
-Debra M.
North Carolina
I absolutely loved the Classic Steak burgers. 4.5 oz. This is my third order. Best burgers we have ever had. The only concern is the shipping time it takes to get here. My order arrived this morning and fortunately, they were still cold. Shipping to Edenton, NC from your plant should be shipped two day by FedEX. I hope you will take this into consideration on future orders.
-D. Carr
North Carolina
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Additional References
- What is Marbling? - Best Online Steaks Blog
- USDA Certified Beef Programs - Companies certified with the USDA for the type and quality beef they sell. Kansas City Steaks is not listed.
- Kansas City Steaks Website