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All Reader Reviews of...

Kiwiana

847 Union St., Brooklyn, NY, 11215
nr. Seventh Ave.
718-230-3682

Avg. Rating

9
Food: 9
Service: 9
Décor: 8
"Highly Recommended"

Average Reader Rating on a Scale of 10.

75% would go back.

 Write your own review

new american? new zealand? ...why not say it's both?

By bcbrown75 on 4/18/2012

  • Overall Rating: 10
  • Food: 10
  • Service: 10
  • Décor: 8
  • Yes, I would go back!

I'm typically located a bit of a ways from Brooklyn, but thanks to busy season I've been spending the last few months here and have found myself returning to this neighborhood gem a lot. The first time was with colleagues -- not the best company, but when you're 100 miles from home you make sacrifices -- and I found that the fried chicken was just really good. It was served with a light slaw-salad and special honey sauce that my coworkers fauned over. I came back a few more times, once even with a new friend, and tried at some point the ribs, the venison, the lamb burgers (twice, once during brunch), and one of the fish (most likely snapper, it was good but I just don't remember fish names). In all, kiwiana was consistently good -- it even seemed to get better each time I visited! I don't know much about the supposedly hotshot chef, but just going off my experience, kiwiana consistently offered solid fare. Plus, the waitresses were shockingly down-to-earth, they made me feel like a local. I'm going to miss kiwiana when I move for my next client

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9 out of 15 people found this review helpful.

Baby back ribs

By massiveturkey on 4/15/2012

  • Overall Rating: 9
  • Food: 9
  • Service: 10
  • Décor: 9
  • Yes, I would go back!

We've been to Kiwiana a few times now and one of the stand out dishes that I keep going back for is the pork ribs on the dinner menu, braised in marmite and manuka honey. Simply delicious and fall off the bone tender. How is this possible and why cant I ever get this right when I'm cooking? The menu is creative and unique. Try the smoked and pickled green lip mussels to start and finish with the pavlova, a meringue that is crisp on the outside and soft and marshmellow like on the inner. Topped off with kiwifruit. The beer selection is mostly from N.Z wth my favourite being the Tuatara. The staff are pretty good with recommendations and are very friendly. This would be a good place to impress your foodie friends from out of town. Chances are they wont know what the lamingtons are. On a side note- the pickle juice from the pickled mussels makes for a great dirty martini. Thanks Big John for the advice on that one

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11 out of 17 people found this review helpful.

Kiwi Love

By lizbklyn on 4/14/2012

  • Overall Rating: 10
  • Food: 10
  • Service: 9
  • Décor: 9
  • Yes, I would go back!

We went to Kiwiana for our monthly Girls' Night Out and LOVED it! We shared the octopus salad and the beets to start. The octopus was cooked perfectly. Two of us had the snapper which came with a chorizo/saffron risotto. Loved that there was dill in the risotto, such a wonderful surprise. My friend got the burger and was a littly iffy about the friend egg and beet that it came with, but our server encouraged her to try it. She loved it. My other friend got the lamb and really enjoyed the curried peas. We were too full for dessert, but they looked good at the table next to ours. Great selection of antipodean wines.

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8 out of 13 people found this review helpful.

wanted to like it

By brooklynjen on 3/11/2012

  • Overall Rating: 6
  • Food: 5
  • Service: 7
  • Décor: 7
  • No, I would not go back!

Not bad but I thought pretty mediocre, and pricey ($25-ish for most mains) for what it was. We shared a bunch of dishes - the ribs were bland; scallops on a bed of cauliflower I thought were well-seared and very tasty, and a surprisingly interesting contrast of textures and flavors for what sounds like an uninspired pairing; lamb was tender and fine but uninteresting. Among the starters, I thought the steamed mussels didn't have much flavor (though I should say others at my table liked them), the butternut squash soup was under-seasoned, and the fois gras was fine but very ordinary. They had some nice and unusual NZ wines though, and the service was lovely. We were there on a Sunday night so maybe it wasn't the A team cooking.

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8 out of 22 people found this review helpful.

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