Date Night Ona Bridge
One place that has been on our list to visit has been the newly redone landmark the Rock Island Bridge. This bridge is a 120-year-old bridge across the Kanas River; it connects the Missouri side West Bottoms to Kansas side the Armourdale neighborhood. Originally the site was used for a connection to the Kansas City Stockyards. The bridge stopped being used by rail service after the decline of the stockyards in the 1970s. It has now been redeveloped as an entertainment district.
Michael and I had heard talk of it for years. It felt like that this bridge would be open as a restaurant. It opened on April 1st 2026 to which we both thought this might be an April’s Fools joke. Luckily it wasn’t. However, our schedule being how it is we hadn’t ever gotten a chance to go visit it. We were also a little bit wary on if we wanted to try a brand-new place with Lizzy. So pushed it off as a potential date night somewhere down the road.
Well that meant waiting four months, so in August 2026. Michael and I had a date night since Lizzy was spending the night with some friends. We were nervous when heading out as it started raining and this is partly covered. Honestly, I would recommend going when it is raining cause watching the rain hitting the river was enjoyable. We ate at the River House which is the first rivertop dining experience.
As we were sitting 60 feet above the Kansas River, we peruse the menus. We quickly decided on Chicken Ona Bridge substituting cucumber salad for charred broccoli and cauliflower because the meal is big enough for two to four people. Our drinks were Mother of Dragonfruit and Bourbon Ona Bridge. We enjoyed eating and watching the trains as well as the river.
After finishing up, we decided to do a quick stop to Amigoni Urban Winery. A winery we hadn’t visited since possibly 2019. We did a tasting enjoying most of the wine and talking with the bartender. When we finished up our tasting and buying a bottle for our wine rack at home, we went back to Rock Island Bridge.
This time we went up to the American Royal Hall, which was having live music. They had bar service. We sat on the opposite side of the bridge. Enjoying the music though Michael was greatly disappointed that while they were taking requests none of songs or artists he requested, they knew (poor Good Charlotte). We got two additional cocktails of Island Painkiller and 1905 Nightcap. We had fun chatting, watching trains, and dancing when a good song came on.
Afterwards we did determine that this might actually be a good place to take Lizzy for dinner at some point since the views of trains was fun and the fact you are near the river.
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