Kíkí Queer Bar — Local services in Reykjavik

Having read many, many highly negative reviews of Kiki, I was hesitant to even visit. In fact, I had to wait until my 7th visit to Iceland to summon the confidence to even visit the establishment.

One of the most common complaints is that staff and security are unpleasant, rude, aggressive etc. My experience was anything but. I found them to be friendly and welcoming throughout. No issues at all.

The bar area is smaller than you'd expect for a gay bar, but it's sufficient. The bar staff were friendly throughout, too, and never found an issue. It was a Thursday night and karaoke was going on - and we really enjoyed it; in fact, stayed much longer than we had originally intended.

The only small issue is that the front door is kept open the entire time, meaning the actual bar area gets quite cold! Too cold, in fact, and most had to put on their jackets. I understand that Iceland is cold, but the bars don't need to be! This was the only bar in Iceland in 7 visits where I felt too cold.

In all, I enjoyed my experience here and it was thankfully not the negative experience that others claim to have had. It's worth remembering that many young people hold a grudge against bars because they are probably too tipsy or on the verge of it - and take that out at the security staff, assuming there's some hidden motive. More often than not, there isn't - and I guess this is the reason for most negative reviews.

Would I come...

If you are looking for a queer bar or something close to it, don't go here. The bar is always so dirty and the workers are rude af, if they see you aren't local they might try to over charge you. Pretty funny that a queer bar hires straight gorillas high in steroids that are looking for conflicts. Yesterday night they tried their gym fight moves on a drunk girl...the girl slightly push one of the security guards as she was leaving the bar after he had a really agresive posture against her. He literally took her to the ground like is she was nothing...pinning her down in the floor for over 10 minutes(3 gorillas against a drunk girl), with her shirt up, one of them had his knee on her belly. Obviously the girl was really distress and kept trying to get free but she was eventually calm and even then they didnt let her go. Police came and some of this gorillas were heard saying she tried to punch them...just not true. ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING security guards. Right after the police took that girl, one of they guards was trying to fight someone else in line. In resume, a wannabe queer bar that employs dopehead...

Fine... if they aren't busy and you're not American. I had fun until the Friday of pride, when the upstairs bartender refused to serve me. I get it, it's pride, you're busy, and locals come first. I stood there for 25 minutes for my second drink from the woman working alone at the upstairs bar. When I reached the front of the bar, standing directly in front of her, she refused to make eye contact with me and served 8 locals/groups of locals, behind me, who all spoke Icelandic to her. The breaking point was when a guy shoved me to the side and she served him after witnessing him do this. They carried on chatting while she continued to ignore me. She knew I was American, because she asked me where I was from during her making my first drink. I went downstairs and was helped by a great bartender in about 5 minutes. They don't have AC, which is typical, but they also didn't open enough windows, so the bar got very hot. It's fine to visit if there isn't a line, and it's not a busy period, but if it is, save your time and visit some of the other bars. You'll have a...