Kiki College Hill

Absolutely incredible experience. Kiki offers dishes with absolutely top tier, high-end quality in a setting that feels less stuffy and more copacetic. My favorite restaurants in the city all happen to be of the tapas-style variety and I can confidently state that Kiki has entered the pantheon with Abigails and Mita's but Kiki is even more reasonably priced in many ways. We tried around six things and I could tell immediately that each and every one of them felt expertly crafted and tasted like a final evolution of a concept or idea rather than a rough draft. The Yakiimo, The Karaage, The Cod, The Wagyu and Gyoza were especially exquisite.

Finally made it to Kiki for the first time. I'd like to give it another try before rendering a final judgment. The food was good but the service a bit lacking. Ordered a cocktail that didn't arrive until I asked again for it. Pickles were super good. Fresh and nice flavor. The cauliflower was decent, nothing crazy. Pork Gyoza and Pork Buns were fantastic, must orders. The kimchi ramen was also good. Great noodles. The tofu in it was just okay, a soft silky tofu that didn't really add much.Service was mostly very friendly and helpful but a bit slow at times. The decor and vibe are great. Much bigger place than I thought. Parking not an issue.

We came here on a Sunday night and had a great experience. The scallops and curry pan were definitely the highlight. The scallops melted in our mouths and the curry pan was savory and well balanced. So sad that they are leaving this location, but excited to see what's in store for them next!

Vibes: hipster, casual izakaya with plenty of bar seating; bring a friend or a few Tasting notes:Black cod kushiyaki: crispy skin and flaky meat with mildly sweet, light miso flavor; crunchy, slightly salty cabbage was a good contrast; solid portion for one person Karaage with oroshi ponzu: perfectly battered thigh meat; loved piling the flavored oroshi on the big pieces of chicken Kinoko bowl: earthy, tender mushrooms made up in portion size by number rather than thickness; sauce is on the sweet side, picked up well by generous portion of rice Seafood wonton ramen: not too spicy, subtly flavored broth, loved the shrimp/scallop wontons that were big bite-sized with fresh meat inside; light on the noodle portion but excellent springiness Matcha gimlet: very sippable and refreshing; just sweet enough with good balance of matcha and lime Matcha oreo gelato: shareable portion; soft with mild matcha flavor; wish there were more Oreo pieces Other thoughts:- friendly, attentive service - the dishes were satisfying for two moderately hungry adultsImpression: light bites or a full meal, Kiki hits the spot when I am craving izakaya-style food!

I love Japanese food for its honor and focus on creating beautiful looking and tasting food with the freshest ingredients. Kiki nailed it. Every dish had the right combination of texture, unique flavors, fresh ingredients, and artfully created presentation. You should definitely give Kiki a try if you like the Japanese food vibe with a flare of unique food creations.My wife and I visited Kiki on a Sunday night and it was completely full. The restaurant has mostly tables for parties of 2-6, with many places to sit around the bar. The interior gave me a hipster vibe.The menu has mostly smaller sharable option which I liked because my wife and I could try more items. We got the Gyoza, Beet Skewer, Japanese sweet potato, Shio Ramen, and the Poke bowl, tonight with sashimi salmon. For drinks I had the Kiki lager from the neighboring Brinks brewery and my wife had the Yuzu lager from the Kiuchi brewery.Let me give a very brief review of each dish, because they all deserve part of the spotlight. Yakiimo - Japanese sweet potatoes. I want to marry this dish it made me so happy. The sweet potatoes were crispy and had a butter and salt mix on the top. I could eat this all day.Beet Skewer - I love beets and this dish had perfectly grilled beets with hazelnuts, which made them even better.Gyoza - the presentation of this Gyoza is like nothing you've seen AND had a very nice citrusy dipping sauce.My Poke Bowl had a perfect balance of sashimi salmon and precision cut cucumber for crunch.My wife's Shio Ramen was phenomenal. The broth EAS TO DIE FOR. The other stuff was good too, but that broth was heaven My Kiki beer was like a typical lager with hints of tea. My wife's Yuzu lager had a delightful layer of citrus flavor. Both beer were a fantastic step away front the beaten path.This is definitely a place I will recommend my friends and family that truly love food that respects freshness and unique flavors. I will for sure come back many times.

With all the accolades, nominations, and a visit from Guy Fieri, I expected Kiki to knock our socks off. Well, this was not the case. We ate early on a Sunday and our server Joel was friendly and explained how the menu worked. I ordered a glass of pinot grigio, but they were out of that, so he suggested another white. We ordered the Curry Pan, which looked fun, but tasted bland and dry. The Inari Soba was a dish I've never heard of, so we ordered that. It was also bland and dry, and there was no where near enough dressing on the soba noodles. The "shell" was also mushy. It looks pretty in a picture though! Next was Chicken Karaage. The tempura batter made the pieces super crunchy, but it really lacked seasoning. There is a choice of 5 sauces from which to choose at $1 each. The gyoza was the star of the small plate dishes. The presentation was unique with the apron of batter holding them together. You can taste that the filling is an original recipe of Chef Hideki and Yuko because it is unlike any gyoza we have tasted. The sauce was so citrus forward that, although we didn't enjoy it, must have been a perfect compliment to the gyoza.Lastly, I ordered the Shio Ramen. It was good, the noodles were springy, and the pork belly and egg were cooked perfectly. After returning from Vancouver where there is a great ramen joint on every corner, this one to me was only good, not great. I wish there was more of it, and more toppings. There are also good ramen spots near me in West Chester.

Can't believe I haven't made the drive out here before, food was really great, not a single miss. The chicken karaage were juicy and large pieces, ponzu sauce and house mayo were great. The ramen was probably the most authentic Japanese ramen I've had in Cincinnati, not a fatty broth, very simple and flavorful - yes it is better than mochiko if you are looking for something more authentic. The fried haddock was delicious, could have been cooked maybe 30s-1min less but it was definitely not overcooked, fresh and flavorful. And the matcha oreo gelato was amazing, yuzu was good too but matcha one was best. Lovely ambiance, will be booking a reservation again soon!

We had a party of 12. Once there they told us they can't separate checks if theres more than 10 people in the party, also we noticed on the menu a 20% tip will be included on the bill. We tried a lot of different items from the menu. Our fav was the jackfruit bao buns. Our opinion is the ramen was lacking flavor, I wouldn't get it again. Honestly the only reason I'd return here is the bao buns but even that isn't worth it. Nothing great but not horrible. Just meh

Made a last minute reservation on a Thursday evening and we were seated quickly.We ordered the oysters first which were from Nova Scotia and so petite and delicious. Next we split the tamaki hand roll which was $28. Generous amount of fish and so flavorful. Two people can get several hand rolls each with fish, rice, kimchi.We then ordered two types of ramen, the shio ramen and the kimchi ramen. The kimchi ramen was very good but a little saltier than I prefer but the shio ramen was outstanding. Overall, the service was extremely fast, the food was fresh and delicious and the experience was super positive. I will absolutely be returning to try there branzino with chimichurri.

Kiki is a relatively unique restaurant within Cincinnati that pairs Japanese izakaya style food with a casual but trendy atmosphere. What most impressed me was my cocktail - the matcha gimlet was excellent: refreshing and flavorful with a great balance of sweet and sour.As far as the food, my favorite was the pork belly bao buns, which were flavorful with very nice job of getting the right amount of crispness to the pork. They gyoza and curry pan on the other hand were both enjoyable but unremarkable. I ended the meal with bowl of mango yuzu sorbetto which was tasty - good flavor and texture and not overly sweet.My biggest complaint about Kiki is the timing of the food. At a tapas style restaurant, I want to be able to order a few different items and have the server/kitchen time them to come out with some spacing in between, and not have everything come out in rapid succession leaving some of it to get cold sitting on the table.