Kiki's Chicken and Waffles — Restaurant in Columbia

Wait staff had no sense of urgency and they were not busy. But the food was good. The chicken had a really good flavor and was not hard.....just the way I like it. The waffle was good. Will b going back to try other items on the menu n to give the staff another chance.

7/31/2021 Went back today. Looks like a few years later and had the same kind of experience. Today I actually ordered food there instead of sampling someone's order and I will say i enjoyed the food. I planned to go back soon until someone in my party realized their salmon was raw in the middle. She immediately told the waitress who pick the plate up asap and told her she would get her another one made right away. Ok but no apologies for serving raw food or for her eating a portion before realizing. She brought another salmon filet to her which was cooked to perfection however she ordered it with no barbecue and this one came out with barbecue. She did not complain because she was hungry and was happy it was cooked. So jump forward to the check......now I'm not saying that her meal should've been free or anything because I just dont believe it needed to be since they resolved issue immediately but if we would've been at a franchise a slight discount for the inconvenience would've been given. Now I know they are a smaller business and that may not be an option that they chose to provide and im fine with that but here is my issue with this situation........the waitress said nothing no apology no nothing. She asked to speak to the manager who came over and acknowledged that she knew about the raw food incident. She stated that what they do is offer to remake the order and if accepted n brought out correctly then no financial compensation is given. Im fine with that but the situation was still not addressed until we as the patrons addressed it. The manager didn't even apologize for the incident until something smwas said about an apology. My personal opinion on what I would have liked to have happened (I have 20 years customer service and management experience) was for the waitress to apologize bc thats normally an automatic response, her make the manager aware then then manager either come over immediately or to bring out the new order so that he/she could address the situation and to explain their compensation which in this case was replace meal and if good no financial compensation. I dont care about the money but I just drink your customer service could be better. We shouldn't have to ask you about your policy when your staff messed up. Sometimes an apology is all that you need to make something bad...

Chicken and waffles is my absolute favorite meal, but I’ve been so disappointed with restaurants that have chicken and waffles on their menu. I’ve traveled for work a lot and I can honestly tell you the best places to get chicken and waffles in every state. It has always been super disappointing to me that my home state didn’t have a really good chicken and waffles on any menu much less a restaurant. I’d heard about Kiki’s on social media, but we live a little over an hour away so I’d never had the opportunity to try it. Well, today is my birthday and my husband reserved seats at IMAX for Jurassic World Dominion because the Jurassic Park movies are my favorite and he thought I should get to see it on a really big screen. He asked me where I wanted to go for dinner, and I jumped at the chance to finally try Kiki’s. Y’all did not disappoint. So good y’all! The chicken has so much flavor and the waffles y’all…holy Moses. So incredibly heavenly. I highly recommend the sweet potato waffle. 10/10, would recommend. As good as the food was, the staff was even better. ♥️ Our wonderful waitress (Please forgive me because I know I won’t spell her beautiful name correctly) T’leaha was so sweet and personable and gave us her recommendations and told us about her favorite menu items. My husband told her it was my birthday and next thing I knew the staff came out to sing Happy birthday to me, and it was hands down the most sincere and genuine happy birthday I’ve ever gotten from strangers. Your staff are all very sweet and a joy to be around. And your manager is as well! Such a wonderful human being, and so thoughtful too! Y’all definitely made my birthday memorable and I can’t tell y’all just how much it meant to me. Between the food and your staff, we will most certainly be back, regardless of the long drive. I’m so proud to have a great soul food restaurant to recommend to folks from my home state. Can’t say it enough, y’all are awesome. Thank you for being so wonderful and making my day amazing. I really appreciate it, and later on tonight, so will my...

Whenever I travel I make purpose of finding Black-owned restaurants to try especially when they say they specialize in soul food. As a soul food chef, it's my specialty and I love to try others interpretations of this Southern food. First, it's a nice place, with friendly staff and servers. Could use a deep cleaning. Our table was sticky. My aunt ordered a waffle. The first one came out cold. The second was hot. She said it was ordinary, and from the amount of syrup she poured on it, I believe her. My husband ordered the fried whiting sandwich. He said the fish was oily with no taste, but he ate it. I ordered a bunch of sides. The baked macaroni and cheese was dry and tasteless. The sweet potato souffle was whipped sweet potatoes, which were too sweet, and sprinkled with additional brown sugar and butter. Could have used some cinnamon or nutmeg, a little vanilla even. The greens were ok, they weren't cooked or cleaned properly as the stems were literally pulling out from the leaves. The rice and gravy would have been fine if it was made from scratch gravy, it was not. The corn muffins were good, I question whether they were from a mix, can you say Jiffy? The portions were on point. The sweet tea definitely a winner. Let's say I left disappointed and unsatisfied. Columbi, if this is your best soul food, you haven't had real soul food. Appreciate by observing the other guests, they enjoyed it. We didn't. This is just one chef's opinion to another. Stop cutting corners. Raise your prices if necessary. Think about the product you put out versus the celebrities that visit your restaurant.

This is an addendum. I realize now that at one time this was a James Beard-nominated restaurant. Even more reason to be disappointed because at some time this restaurant was highly recommended. I hope they get back to that level...