KIN — Restaurant in Idaho

To preface this: My husband and I travel full time in our RV. We get to see a lot of small towns and home cooking (which i love) but occasionally I want to try a place that really speaks to me and the years of exciting cooking and education I enjoyed in college. I decided to try KIN on a rec from a friend who knows how much I miss an exciting restaurant.

I was NOT disappointed by KIN. This was such a fun and memorable spot! The food here is insanely creative and every dish had something unexpected, whether it was a foraged ingredient (which makes my feral heart sing) or a really playful twist on something familiar. We particularly loved the grilled asparagus and Yakisoba, both incredibly flavorful.

My inner grandma was ecstatic to see mix-and-match thrifted glasses and plates. It gave everything a personal touch and makes me so happy to see restaurants that embrace re-use. SUCH a cool vibe all around.

What I really want to rave about though, is the staff here. I'm huge on customer service, because I've worked in the industry and take pride on being genuine. Again, they did not dissapoint. Their natural ease with each other and clearly strong teamwork made such an inviting space that you really felt all around you. Their energy really buoyed up the entire space, that connection just comes from people who genuinely enjoy working together, and it reminded me of my past job where we all cared for each other like that. Nothing warms my heart like seeing that vibe I miss, family and community, in not just the food, but the staff choices as well. It sets the tone for a relaxed and thoughtful experience. The staff was genuinely excited to reccomend the things they loved and that is something I haven't seen in a long while.

I will also have to give the lady who helped us a shout! She had curls that I was incredibly jealous of. I think her name was Connie or Christy, a C name def. She was busting ass in a way that was effortless, managing all my questions and excitement, and I'm 90% sure she was managing the floor! I saw genuine smiles from other customers, and personal connections with the food and staff. But she also managed to make time for what looked like a few regulars that were in while we were there, while still giving us a curated experience. She knew the menu inside and out, made great recs, and made me feel like we would be great friends if we had just met at random!

Can’t recommend this spot enough. I had had a year of "great places" that had disappointed me and KIN and its chef and stellar staff finally broke the cycle. This place has that rare combination of heart, style, and flavor that makes you want to come back again and again. I know we will be back next time our travels take...

I waited to write this review to allow some relfection. My wife and I went to celebrate our anniversary after hearing some good reviews from some coworkers. Initially greeted by a warm host and got a fun coctail while we explored the art on display. When it came time to dine that is when the dissapointment set in. The first course was a shrimp and radish dish. I'm sure there are complexities being overlooked as the description is purely oral but the presentation was a circle of shrimp mixed into a set gel surounded by different radish offering. Taking a bit of each component or combined was sockingly bland best described as earthy. The shrimp was paired with a super sweet white wine. After the muddy shrimp dish a potato soup was up and was great. Good depth of flavor, complex textures, a little difficult to eat but I suppose you're paying to taste and not to eat? The wine here was a very tart white wine. Next course, again details I'm missing as presentation is only oral, was a mealy raw trout with roast carrots and fried fish skin. The carrots were good but the trout was exceptionally terrible. I struggle to eat the dish, my wife dilligently tried it but after two forced bites waited for the next dish. The people to my left and right also expressed general disgust for the dish as well. This is late in the menu, they change monthly, so I assumed that other people have tried this and they could have had some feedback by now but still presenting this dish to which the majority of people disliked was strange. The next dish was truly awful. A beef cheek and lentil salad/chili with a flank steak and stinging nettle salad. They said they had treated the salad with cold water to remove any toxic effects. On top of my plate was a big mature leaf, I put it in my mouth and the needles eviscerated the roof of my mouth. Surely pain isn't part of the dining experience? The flank steak was 70% fat and cartiledge and I couldn't work through piece as it required so much chewing. I gave it to my wife and she was appaled assuring me that her piece was not that disgusting. This was paired with a tepid red blend. Desert was a grown up ice cream sandwich with a tequila shot. It was a good desert. After much reflection I will not be going back and have shared my experience with others who prompted me to leave a review to save the fate of other couples.

TLDR; Food caused physical pain. 2/5 dishes were enjoyable.

I do see someone reviewed the same menu I enjoyed. Looking at their pictures its clear, at least for the flank steak, I was served something...

Update: The restaraunt decided to respond 10 MONTHS after this review, failed to respond to my email, and effectively turned the response into an advertisement. Not inspiring.

We visited KIN for the supper club on Saturday night for my husband's 40th birthday. We were really excited to eat at this restaurant and prioritized this a month out. We've eaten at many James Beard and Michelin star restaurants in the US and internationally, and I have to say that we unfortunately walked away from this feeling like this was the worst experience that we have ever had. We felt that we didn't get our money's worth in terms of quality or quantity and the ambience and experience left much to be desired.

Specifically, these are some of the things that stood out as making this a suboptimal experience:

1. You all called and emailed us multiple times and wanted details about my husband's 40th (his name, etc.). Then, KIN did absolutely nothing to make it special - a candle, a note, etc. I would have been fine if there was no mention of it being a special event, but you all asked multiple questions in advance, and then it was never mentioned as a part of the experience.
2. The food was bland, the portions were incredibly small for the $ amount, and the price point seemed very high given that there were no ingredients that were out of the ordinary or preparation styles that seemed unique. Frankly, we felt that we have made better food at home as home chefs. I have no problem with the price point...we've spent $600-700 for dinner for 2 people before and left happy with the money that we spent. Not the case this time.
3. We were seated really close to everyone (shoulder to shoulder). No offense, when you go out for a really nice dinner like that, there should be an assumption that people may not want to be communal. They may want to just enjoy dinner with the people that they booked a reservation with. We were seated in the middle, and the people on either side would not stop talking to us the entire time, and there was no easy way out of that situation.
4. The wine was also unremarkable. The cocktails before hand were phenomenal. We were actually initially very excited if that was to be an indication of the evening, but that quality did not hold.

Anyways, I hate to share this feedback, but it really was one of our worst dining...