This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.
The Easy Inn is a neighborhood bar and grill at 322 N 6th St in Strawberry Hill, Kansas City, Kansas. The building went up in 1961 as the Colonial Club; Blake Lostas, formerly of the Blind Tiger in Westport, bought it around 2017 and reopened it under the present name. It is one of the few bars in the corridor running a kitchen — smash-style doubles, wings and a pork tenderloin, priced first-party — alongside karaoke, live bands and a back patio. Its own tagline: “This ain’t no goddamn country club.” Tier 1 — owner-operated, single-location, wholly Wyandotte County. Confirmed operating: own domain with current menu and hours, plus first-party Instagram post 9 August 2026.123
Description
The Easy Inn sits on N 6th Street in Strawberry Hill, on the same block-run as the now-closed Sammy’s Tavern at 222 N 6th and fat-matts-vortex at 411 N 6th. When Kansas City Magazine surveyed the neighborhood’s dive bars in June 2021, it treated the Easy Inn as the corridor’s newcomer — “the newest area addition” — and singled out the Edison bulbs strung above picnic tables on the back patio and a retro garage-rock aesthetic.4
KCUR’s December 2022 feature is the fullest published account. It describes leather seats and carpeting that one patron compared to “grandma’s basement,” a deer head, wood paneling, a pool table, and kitsch holiday decoration; Hamm’s, Modelos and Campari shots at the bar; and cheese curds and cheeseburgers arriving from the kitchen by dumbwaiter.2 The regulars quoted include Dan Doty, who two years later would co-open the-blue-palm a few streets away — a small but real illustration of how tightly this corridor’s operators overlap.25
The bar’s own site leads with “Kansas City loves Strawberry Hill’s favorite dive bar” and the line “This ain’t no goddamn country club.”1 Visit Kansas City, KS listed it in July 2025 among Strawberry Hill’s dive bars, flagging a pineapple margarita as the thing to order.6
The Easy Inn is one of the corridor’s few bars operating a real kitchen and publishing prices for it, which places it a step up the price tier from the cash-only rooms nearby.
Ownership and history
Blake Lostas is named as owner by KCUR (December 22, 2022, Celisa Calacal and Allison Harris), which reports he previously owned the Blind Tiger in Westport and purchased the building “about five years” before publication — i.e. roughly 2017 — reopening it under the new name The Easy Inn.2 The same article dates the building to 1961, when it was built as the Colonial Club, and notes it ran under various names before Lostas took it on.2
No exact reopening date, legal operating entity or Kansas ABC licensee of record was located on this pass. The Lostas attribution is documented at 2022 and has not been re-confirmed for 2026.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1961 | Building constructed as the Colonial Club2 |
| 1961–c.2017 | Operates under a succession of names |
| c. 2017 | Blake Lostas, formerly of the Blind Tiger, buys the building and reopens it as The Easy Inn2 |
| 2021 | Kansas City Magazine names it the newest of Strawberry Hill’s dive bars; notes the Edison-bulb back patio4 |
| 2022 | KCUR profiles the regulars; documents the dumbwaiter kitchen, the 1961 Colonial Club origin and the Lostas purchase2 |
| 2025 | Listed by Visit Kansas City, KS among Strawberry Hill’s dive bars; pineapple margarita called out6 |
| 2026 | Operating; own domain live with current menu and hours; first-party Instagram posts through 9 August13 |
Menu
menu_status: partial. The Easy Inn publishes a food menu with prices on its own domain — first-party, not a delivery platform.1 Recorded items:
| Item | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Easy Double | $13 | own domain1 |
| Rodeo Double | $15 | own domain1 |
| Bleu Cheeze Double | $15 | own domain1 |
| Pork Tenderloin | $15 | own domain1 |
| Cheese Steak | $15 | own domain1 |
| Wings (6–12 ct) | $10–$18 | own domain1 |
| Sides / appetizers | $4–$10 | own domain1 |
Marked partial rather than verified because no drink prices are published first-party. KCUR records Hamm’s, Modelos and Campari shots as house pours without prices; Visit KCK names a pineapple margarita without a price.26 Aggregator pages circulating a “Taco Wednesday — three tacos, beer and a tequila shot for $8.99” promotion were not first-party corroborated and are not recorded here.
Links
- Website: https://www.theeasyinn.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theeasyinnkck/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theeasyinn/
- Visit Kansas City, KS listing: https://www.visitkansascityks.com/listing/the-easy-inn/658/
Sources
Footnotes
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The Easy Inn — official website (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: address 322 N 6th St, Kansas City, KS 66101; phone (913) 303-1240; hours Mon–Sat 12pm–2am and Sun 5pm–2am; tagline “This ain’t no goddamn country club”; “Kansas City loves Strawberry Hill’s favorite dive bar”; food menu with prices — Easy Double $13, Rodeo Double $15, Bleu Cheeze Double $15, Pork Tenderloin $15, Cheese Steak $15, wings $10–$18, sides/appetizers $4–$10; events including karaoke, live bands, art walk, bar crawls and neighborhood tours; merchandise (caps, hoodies, t-shirts, koozies); links to Facebook /theeasyinn and Instagram @theeasyinnkck. Does not state an owner name, a founding date, or drink prices. This is a first-party operating-status signal for this page. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11
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Celisa Calacal and Allison Harris, “Meet the regulars of The Easy Inn in Kansas City, Kansas: ‘This is my Cheers,’” KCUR 89.3, December 22, 2022 (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: owner Blake Lostas, previously owner of the Blind Tiger in Westport, purchased the building approximately five years before publication and reopened it as The Easy Inn; the building was constructed in 1961 as the Colonial Club and operated under various names before that; Strawberry Hill location; Hamm’s, Modelos and Campari shots; cheese curds and cheeseburgers delivered from the kitchen by dumbwaiter; leather seats, carpeting, deer head, wood paneling, pool table, holiday kitsch; regulars named include Taylor Sanchez, Dan Doty, Joey Cartwright, Luke Dujakovich and Mikey McCrory. Does not give prices or an exact reopening date. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9
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The Easy Inn — Instagram, @theeasyinnkck (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: bio “A LOCAL NEIGHBORHOOD BAR AND GRILL / Mon-Sat Noon-1:30am / Sun 5pm-1:30am / Located in Strawberry Hill / 322 N 6th st”; approximately 5,279 followers; posts dated 9, 6, 4 and 2 August 2026 and 30, 28, 26, 24, 19, 18 and 17 July 2026, promoting BOGO burgers, drink specials and a darkwave dance party. This is the primary operating-status verification for this page. ↩ ↩2
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“Strawberry Hill might just have the best collection of dive bars in America,” Kansas City Magazine, June 28, 2021 (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: The Easy Inn at 322 N. Sixth St., described as the newest area addition, with Edison bulbs above picnic tables on the back patio and a retro garage-rock aesthetic. The same article lists Coach Lite Club, Johnnie’s on Seventh, Sammy’s Tavern, Fat Matt’s Vortex, Breit’s Stein and Deli, Chicago’s, the 403 Club and the Mockingbird Lounge. ↩ ↩2
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Tyler Shane, “The Blue Palm, a tiki bar, will open in the former Mockingbird Lounge,” Kansas City Magazine, November 1, 2023 (accessed 2026-08-13). Cited here only for the Dan Doty connection: it names Doty as a co-owner of The Blue Palm at 204 Orchard St. ↩
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“Strawberry Hill Might Just Own the Dive Bar Crown in KC — and It Keeps Getting Better,” Visit Kansas City, KS, July 7, 2025 (accessed 2026-08-13). Asserts: The Easy Inn is listed as currently operating and is noted for a signature pineapple margarita. Note: this article publishes no addresses; the 2023 predecessor in the same series is known to transpose addresses in this corridor and is deliberately not cited here. ↩ ↩2 ↩3
See also
On the record — ks.city/registry/the-easy-inn · record updated 2026-08-13