Lion’s Choice In Lee’s Summit Take 2: Delicious Is All You Need To Know

In late December I wrote an article talking about the best regional fast-food places in Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas.

In Missouri, Food & Wine named Lion's Choice the best fast food in Missouri. Well, right after that, I was in Lee's Summit and decided to stop at their restaurant on Chipman Road and check it out. The restaurant saw my review, which was pretty lukewarm, especially regarding their signature roast beef. They invited me to come out and try it again on them, and this time I brought Mike and his fiancee Amanda.

We met Lion's Choice Regional Manager Tyler and the store's General Manager Alyssa just after 11:00 AM and Tyler got a bead on what we wanted. What did we want? The roast beef, medium rare of course. And fries. Tyler said he'd also bring us out their signature sauces and the au jus that they serve with their french dip sandwich, which is a little different than the au jus in the dispenser next to the napkins.

Mike was immediately impressed with the ice. He liked that it was crushed ice. He went for the sweet tea, Amanda went for the barrilitos strawberry hibiscus from the bubbling juice dispenser, and this time I chose a Coke Zero. Any place that serves Coke Zero gets points from me.

The sweet tea was good. Amanda could taste the hibiscus in her strawberry drink which was tarter than she expected. And the Coke Zero tasted like a Coke Zero. I also tried The Lion's Choice Lemonade, which was tarter than I expected.

Now for the main event. The fries and roast beef sandwiches. Tyler brought out the fries and sandwiches for us and a variety of the sauces Lion's Choice offers.

Sauces include au jus, sweet and smoky bbq sauce, tangy bbq sauce, buffalo sauce, chipotle ranch, honey mustard, and Horseradish sauce, along with their signature seasoning. Tyler mentioned the sweet and smoky bbq sauce was similar to Arby Sauce.

Tyler suggested swiss cheese on the sandwiches because he likes it the best, and for many years was the only cheese Lion's Choice would put on its sandwiches. These days you can also get Pepper Jack, Cheddar, or Provel as well. We went with Tyler's suggestion of Swiss and got the cheese sauce on the side, which Alyssa, the store's General Manager, said was great with the fires. Tyler also brought us cups of au jus that they serve with their french dip, it's a little different than the au jus you can get from the dispenser and he recommended that.

We all enjoyed the fries, which I think taste great naked. Yet, Mike and Amanda really liked the signature spice, and yes, I'll say, they made the fries taste even better. We also dipped the fries in the chipotle ranch sauce and it was delicious. We also all liked dipping the fries in the cheddar sauce, and I also tried dipping them in the au jus. I'll just give it all a blanket thumbs up. Mike liked the chipotle ranch sauce so much, he asked for a few packets to take it home to make it part of a meal he's planning for next week.

The roast beef sandwich wasn't all that hot, which Amanda noticed. Mike said he figured since the meat is medium rare, you can't make it piping hot. It made sense to me and the au jus was heated, so really, after I dipped my sandwich in the au jus I didn't really notice it. After the first bite, I'm not sure it mattered.

This was the delicious roast beef flavor I was expecting last time. The taste of the beef came right through, and the au jus just brought the flavor out more with every bite. I did try the sweet and smoky bbq sauce on some of the meat, and I thought those flavors worked well together. If you're looking for a flavor close to Arby Sauce, put this on your sandwich. It is a little stronger and thicker than Arby's sauce.  Myself, I'll stick with the au jus they serve with their French Dip Sandwich. That's just perfect.

Amanda tried the horseradish sauce which she liked, she said it was a little milder than Arby's Horsey Sauce, which she appreciated. It didn't assault her nose as the Horsey Sauce does.

We all really enjoyed our meal. We found the sauces and seasoning to be very good too. In fact, that was a big selling point for Mike, who misses the variety of sauces that Arby's used to offer.

As we chatted after the meal I asked Tyler what he thought the odds of Lion's Choice coming to Sedalia were. While he couldn't look into a crystal ball and tell us. He did say Lion's Choice was aggressively expanding before the pandemic, and they were starting to get back to that. Additionally, he told us, all the stores at this point are corporate. However, the company is looking into franchising as well.

As for Mike and I, we think Lion's Choice would be a big hit if they opened a store in Sedalia.

One last pro tip, get the custard before you go. It's really good and the perfect way to top off your meal. They offer the typical cones, concretes, sundaes, and floats. But, they also have mini cones available for 50 cents, I think it's 75 cents if it's dipped. It's a nice small tasty treat and the price is right too.

Our bottom line, there's more Lion's Choice in our future.