Kiki's — Restaurant in New York

This place honestly lives up to the expectation of a good quality and fair priced meal. Went there with a party of 3 and we all left stuffed, our wallets too!

We ordered the eggplant dip, grilled octopus, fried zucchini, lemony potatoes, and the mixed grill. While pretty much everything ranged from decent to great, the octopus was a clear loser. The octopus was not properly grilled and could've used a few more minutes on the grill. It had a really strong raw taste which could not be hidden by the sauce and the texture was halfway between cooked and raw. Also hurts that it costs as much as an entree at $18. (5/10) The eggplant was creamy and somewhat smokey with a nice touch of sweetness from nuts, but I've had better. The pita and bread that it came with could've been grilled or toasted at least briefly but it was serviceable. It cost $8 and a decent amount of eggplant and carbs produced. (7.5/10) The lemony potatoes were decent, well cooked to tender and the sauce was alright. Cost $10 and decent amount provided. 7/10 The fried zucchini are thinly sliced so each piece can get a nice crisp to the bite, with a nice sprinkle of cheese on top. The flavor was the overly salty and it was also not overly greasy. The portions were great and the cost was very fair at ~$10, however there were a few pieces. 8/10 Lastly we get to the mixed grill, honestly the highlight of the menu and I'd say that everyone should get it. We could've only gotten the mixed grill and the 3 of us would've been full without any appetizers. There were a mountain of nice and crisp fries soaking up the rendered meat juices. The creamy yogurt sauce on the side helps cut down the greasy taste and adds a nice acidic zing. The beef patty was an extremely tender and delicious ball of flavor, the seasoning was basic but basic can be everything you need. If they made it a burger, I'd consider it one of the better burgers you can find in NYC. The sausage was fairly tasty and smoky, not an amazing sausage but not bad either. Lastly the lamb, and it was sadly something that I would consider the reason I can't give this dish a 10. It was cooked decently to a medium but there was pretty much no flavor. Seeing the lamb next to the beef and sausage is like looking at the ugly ducking but there's no swan at the end of this story. In consideration for the beef, sausage, and the mountain of fries being able to feed 3 grown adult men coming in hungry and leaving stuffed for $46 (yes this was somehow only $46). 9/10

If you want to find a place where you can feed an army on a moderate budget, look no further than Kiki's. It definitely lives up to...

Never come here. The hosts that work here are incredibly patronizing, disrespectful and racist. Never have I ever experienced such poor treatment (not even service) from any human being before.

2 hosts—an Australian Caucasian man and a Caucasian American woman— repeatedly shouted in our faces when we sat ourselves at the table we were meant to be seated for (which we, mind you, waited 2 hours for). Simply because the 5th person in our 6 person group was 5 minutes late en route. We literally offered to show them her location.

We placed orders immediately to the server for about a group of 10 people to acknowledge we did not immediately have the one missing person in our party at that exact time of seating.

The 2 hosts charged at us, made a scene in front of the restaurant and yelled that we had to get up from our table. I have never felt that unsafe, policed, and quite frankly scared from another face-to-face interaction in my life. They proceeded to talk over us when we tried to explain the entire situation ^^

They made us feel like dirt. The woman host screamed in my friend’s face that our behavior was “unhinged and crazy.” We tried to stand up for ourselves calmly and respectfully, for which we were gaslit and told that we were lying about our party size. I completely understand a policy that you do not seat incomplete groups. I’ve been a server and host for a restaurant for 2 years. I pointed out to the host that right across from us was a 2 top sat at a 4 top the entire time we were sat—an incomplete party. He dismissed me right away, said that wasn’t an incomplete party and looked at me like I was an idiot and beneath him.

We’re a group of 6 Asian girls. The hostesses talked down to us all the while speaking to the other parties in the restaurant politely and normally (the demo in there was predominantly Caucasian).

It was all incredibly upsetting. One of our friends told the host calmly that this whole experience felt racially motivated to which he told her “to get out.”

We left. We understood there was no way which we would ever be seen or heard. They decided we were scum upon the first interaction.

To the white Australian male host—I hope you are okay. I hope life treats you in a way that doesn’t make you want to dismiss empathy. I’m truly sorry for what you must have been through for you to feel compelled to treat...

Food and ambience is great, especially in the summer with the outdoor seating. And while initially I was served by a woman with great service, some of the other folks running the place made the whole thing turn sour.

As a first timer, I didn't spot the queue around the corner, so I sat down at an empty table as one do. No complaints whatsoever. I ordered a beer, and started reading my book, soon after that I ordered an appetizer when the lovely waitress came by. So far so good.

Then a waiter comes up and say that he needs to take my full order. He complains that I sat down directly while there is a line, and ask me to order the full meal. I say that I will, and that I just ordered with his colleague. Not accepted. Need to order the full meal, NOW. Well well, I order.

The food is good, I had the tzatsiki and moussaka, which was 4 of 5. Liked it, didn't love it.

I had just finished the meal and asked the waitress (the nice one) if I could have some dessert, maybe a coffee or digestif. Unfortunately, the desserts wasn't my cup of tea, and they had neither of the latter two. She offered a beer, and I ordered one.

Kid me not, one minute later the fella from before shows up again. He asks to move me to the bar as he explains he has 2h of a queue, and I understand that he want the table to squeeze in more folks. However, please don't make your problem my problem, so I respond that I'm not interested in moving from my table. It could have been presented in such a better way. When I say that I ordered a beer, and didn't appreciate him making his problems mine, he replies that he will hand me the bill. Thanks for throwing me out.

All in all, food, ambiance, and the main waitress that served me deserves a 4.5 star rating at least. But these unnecessary parts from the other waiter makes the whole feeling of this place sour. I live around the corner, will I return? No. I will not.

Would I have returned if it wasn't for this guy making me feel like I need to stress down my beer, and leave so someone else can sit? Yeah, I'd probably aim to become a regular.

End of rant. I understand you want to seat a lot of people, but I believe it's quite counterproductive to achieve that through bad service to the ones you already...