Kudu - Coffee, Craft Beer & Wine — Restaurant in Charleston

Knew we were starting down a slippery slope as soon as Kudu got WiFi…

After a recent, sudden, seemingly hostile regime change, the endearing charm, community, and convenient competence of what has been a CHS staple for over a decade are now all but gone, seemingly replaced by despotic corporate overlords and (mostly) woefully inexperienced baristas. Nearly all of the former/wonderful employees left all at once virtually overnight, which I think is extremely telling. It’s pretty sad to see. Even if you don’t care about any of that stuff, the quality of the product itself seems to have declined as well.

I’m just one random dude nostalgically romanticizing, but I’ve probably spent thousands of dollars over hundreds of trips to Kudu over the years. And I’m sure Kudu will be just fine without me, but I’ll now be taking those dollars elsewhere and suggesting to anyone I talk to that they do the same. I don’t feel good supporting an operation that is so glaringly anti-labor, which is, by extension, anti-human. These new guys own Lodi Coffee too.

No need to take my word for it. See the reviews from “Olivia B” and others in the past few weeks echoing the same sentiments, to which management replied saying they “did not fire a single person” and that “most of the changes you see are related to normal seasonality,” both of which are just patently untrue, evidenced by the simple fact that you can find all the former employees at other spots...

This place is awesome. I haven't tried the beer, but the coffee is incredible. The atmosphere is really great, too. They have relaxing music playing that is very natural and acoustic. The colors they chose are very appealing and calming (navy/grey and orange, white, and some red and black accents). The building is really eclectic and personable and inviting on the inside. The people are also really nice and have a great personality; very helpful and patient.

I had an Italian cappuccino (their way of making the ideal size of cappuccino, so the exact measurements for espresso to steamed milk to froth).

Holy wow. The espresso was rich, sour, bitter, savory, almost had hints of grains like wheat; it had a very chocolately flavor and was dark. The milk was full-bodied and smooth, perfectly steamed, and mixed very well with the espresso. The froth was also amazing; it had its own flavor, very bitter, like they put the espresso grinds into the milk as they frothed it. Really added to the depth of the drink. The presentation was beautiful. The barista made a classic flower with the milk, filling the cup to the very brim.

TL;DR: If for nothing else, go for the coffee. While you enjoy their well-crafted brews, you can relax to calming music in a well-designed space. Staff is very helpful...

The staff was friendly, but the coffee and baked goods were just so bland and not worth it. This place was obviously just a hangout for hipsters to pretend that they have a life. My wife ordered an iced chai latte and I had a hot cappuccino. We ordered something so common we thought that it couldn't go wrong. Both of the drinks tasted exactly the same (except for the temperature of course). It tasted like water that had like 3 whole coffee beans in it- and that was it. They have a thousand dollar coffee machine and my coffee tasted like water. I thought that was unacceptable. My wife had the chocolate croissant and there was barely any chocolate inside. I had the cinnamon raisin bagel and when I saw mine I thought the barista had given me some sort of diet bagel. It was a little thinner than my index finger and probably should have been called "just cinnamon bagel" since it seems like the two raisins that were in the bagel somehow accidentally...