Wide Open Saloon

Wide Open Saloon occupies a historic 1940s building on US-85 in Sedalia, the original Johnson's Corner, and it has done the rare thing of building two great outdoor spaces instead of one. We rank its patio the best in Douglas County, and it is not particularly close. This is a genuine roadhouse: comfort food and barbecue, cold beer, live music, and a come-as-you-are crowd.

The outdoor setup is the headline. The Garage Bar opens through huge roll-up doors onto the Handlebar Patio, which centers on a ten-foot fire pit strung with market lights and cooled by fans, and there is a separate rooftop lounge above it. It is dog-friendly down to the water bowls. Between the fire pit, the lights, the roll-up doors, and the rooftop, it offers more genuine patio experience than anywhere else in the county.

The food and music hold their own. The kitchen does barbecue and roadhouse comfort food, and there is regular live music that turns the patio into the center of the night. The one honest caveat is the location: you are on US-85 in Sedalia, so there is highway frontage and it is a drive from most of the county. The fire pit, the lights, and the rooftop more than buy that back.

Go at golden hour, start on the Handlebar Patio as the fire pit gets lit, and move up to the rooftop as the music kicks in. For a summer night out in Douglas County, this is the destination.