With both Pepper and Spices closing down in the area (Stoke Newington Church Street and Kingsland Road soon to be demolished to make way for the new train line) there is a serious lack of good, quick Caribbean food in the area. Kimo's opened two weeks ago at the top of Stoke Newington High Street, just opposite the Church Street cross street and offers ok Caribbean food in the form of a cheap buffet. It is £5 per plate or £7.50 for all you can eat and you can choose between traditional dishes such as ackee, saltfish, stewed chicken, curried goat and barbeque chicken with rice and peas as an accompaniment. It is a really strange venue, reminiscent of a 1980s nightclub with HUGE flat screen televisions showing music videos. They don't seem to have put any stamp on the decor since they have taken over it, as it was previously a wine bar, but it is still early days. read more

Kimo's - Caribbean Near Me - London, XGL

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I have been 3 times in the last 2 months, the food is very good value with lots of variety, takeaway and sit down are both worth the money and the food is all you can eat. The problem I had was with the less than passionate service, every time I have been there I have asked some very very BASIC questions to which I recieved blank and bewildered responses from the staff. The Manager is the only one who knows the menu but he seems to see the restaurant as a place to socialise instead of as place to work, he hardly ever moves from one spot so this attitude is passed down to the staff, the only person working is the poor cook who is constantly preparing tray after tray to meet the demands of the buffet. I agree with the other comments and hope the management will stop being lazy and decorate the place, (a bit of personality goes a long way)! with an image make over and a bit of hard work this could be north londons best carribean restaurant. loved the food anyway, (compliments to the chef), it would've been 4 STARS but for the clueless staff and lazy owner. read more

It was a bit quiet for 8.30pm on a Saturday night. Just one other couple eating when we arrived. The waiter was quick to seat us, friendly and helpful. Although as the place filled up later on the service did slow down somewhat. We ate ackee & saltfish (£6.50) with plantain (£1.50) and rice & peas (£1.50). All of which was cooked to perfection. Followed by rum & raisin cheesecake with ice cream (£4). The decor was uninspired and the huge tv on the wall absolutely unnecessary. But I believe they turn it into a bar/club later in the evening. The buffet looked to be very good value and we look forward to trying it at a future date. read more

I'm always on the look out for a decent West Indian restaurant as they seem to be few and far between. Unless ofcourse you live in South London and there seems to be one on almost every street corner or so I'm told. My mum recommended Kimo's as she was so impressed with the food. I knew it must be half decent because my West Indian mum is always overly critical of West Indian food. Even before I tasted the food I was very impressed with the all you can eat plate for £7.50. I often find that West Indian food is not worth the price for the amount of food I get. However the buffet choice was excellent with traditional dishes including curry goat, bbq chicken, rice and peas. I'm hoping that Kimo's will open a branch in West London because there has been a huge gap for a reasonably priced West Indian since the closure of Mr Jerks. read more

I went twice previously to this last and final visit... never again!!! The food and service gets worse each time while the prices go up. The prices have now officially doubled! Greedy greedy management, think we're all mugs, that's why it's always empty now. Never again! Avoid like the plague! They don't deserve your money! read more

Really really poor quality establishment, simply a waste of money and an embarrassment to Caribbean cuisine. Slow lazy staff!!! Why open a restaurant if you have no interest in food or customer service? I made an annoyingly obvious mistake going there :( read more

I was looking forward to the night as it was in celebration of my friends birthday. 1) I experience the staff were not helpful, lacked motivation, AND one staff in particular had attitude. thumbs down on the cocktails/drinks (no ice) that night 21/2/09... 2) Chip and Pin machine was not working, mind u that was after I had already ordered the drinks to be told "go outside there is a cash machine to the left!!!!" No signs indicated it was out of service either.. 3) Considering it was 8pm and there was another large group of diners the food in the trays were half empty or not there at all! 4) To be told "if you want to stay on and listen to the music at round 9.30, u have to go out and pay £3.00 to get back in"!! On a good note what food I did manage to get my hands on was nice so comps to the chef. Hopefully anyone out there who decides to go may have a better experience than I. read more

After reading the reviews, I was looking forward to going to Kimo's; big mistake. Considering in Dec 08,the price was £7.50, at booking a few months after, it was £10 but when we finally went, it was £11.50 for all you can eat. Dont get me wrong, the majority of the food that was served was ok but the not a lot of variety. 2 kinds of rice, curried chicken, curried goat, beef, fish and callaloo with salt fish. Oh, and of course some soup. So, if we were charged £7.50 I would say fair enough, good value. But £11.50?? Where were the potato dishes, fried chicken? Fried dumplings? I believe one lady asked and she had to pay extra. I was even longing for some kind of vegetable without fish attached and I am a person that tends to hide the veg in the nearest plant pot! The drinks?? Even worse. The fridge didnt appear to keep anything cold, therefore there was a need to add ice to everything. End result the ice melted faster than a snow man on holiday in the Caribbean! Soft drinks were from a big bottle so by the time the bottle was half empty, it was incredibly flat! Would I go back? Not at all. read more

This place really is as good as it gets, nice vibes, great food, nice talkative staff! i have no complaints what-so-ever!

I'm not entirely sure where to start... The biggest thing that irked me was the false advertisement. As I walked down the high street I was pulled in by the £7.50 "all you can eat" buffet. To me, all you can eat implies just what it says, all you can eat. After sitting down I was informed that the buffet was open and told I could help myself. I had two plates worth of food and when I got the bill I had a big surprise. Turns out that the £7.50 all you can eat deal applies only if you make one trip to the buffet. Two trips or more and they charge you £13. No one at Kimos actually explained this ridiculous rip-off clause to me prior to being served. The service was non-existant. I was there mid-day and there was only the owner who stood by the bar, didn't move, and pretty much just socialized the entire time. The restaurant itself is pretty poor in appearance. It has more of a club feel to it than a restaurant and this is probably due to the fact that Kimos does push itself as a club/lounge on weekend nights. The food was alright but I've had much better West Indian food. Lily's Social Eatery served a higher quality meal. Unfortunately, it is now shut. Terrible experience and average food. Avoid. read more

I visited the place in mid october on a saturday and i was not impressed, we had booked a table of 8 and when we arrived we had to wait about 10mins before we were seen too and then the one waiter had to sort out our table, and set out chairs and cutlery, that took about another 10mins, the place was'nt very packed and the service was very slow, the waiter who was working said he was there by himself as the other staff aint rolled out of bed yet. Then we met one of the owerners who started serving us, when ever we asked him a question about food he had no idea or clue and replied well i'm not usaully working here i don't know....they showed us no menus as they said they were changing them and all they had was stew chicken, bar b q chicken jerk chicken fish or mutton, everytime we ordered something it looked like the owner had to run to the off licence next door and buy some ingredience, we was also told there was going to be a dance from 10pm and when we asked the owner he said nothing in life is definate. then we had desert with a choice of either banna cake or rum chees cake one person found a grey hair in her banna cake and another had a rotton rasberry put on her plate when we showed the owner he said o you wasnt supposed to get that one. O and the hot sauce they gave us was a year out of date. the decor of the place was ugly and not neatly done and the toilets dont lock properly and theres only one toilet, i'm guessing the place will not be open in the next 5 years and if it is it's because the owners have put some voodoo over the place. I wouldn't want to go there again and I wouldnt suggest it to people. read more

Went to Kimos for a meal last Friday and stayed for, the Soul Boutique thing. What a night. Lively singalong crowd. Atmosphere was live, good night all round. Off to it again tonight. The chef has really found their own style of cooking caribbean food. Careful you could over eat. read more

Booked a meal for two at Kimos, using a voucher I purchased from an online deal website, called Kimos and made a booking for the 23rd March at 7.00pm, arrived at the restaurant at 6.55pm and the restaurant was shut (meaning the shutters were down). Phoned the landline which went to a voice mail, however they have a mobile on the voicemail which you can call. I called the mobile and spoke to a woman called Rachel, who claimed the restaurant had been closed all week due to unforeseen circumstances and that she had no record of my booking. However she stated they were having a party at the restaurant later that evening and wondered if I would be coming?? To which I was confused as I paid for a 3 course meal for two not a late night party. Rachel apologised took my number and promised to phone me back the next day with a fresh booking to redeem my voucher, as of today this Rachel still has not called, so basically I've been coned out of £16.00. For anyone thinking of purchasing any vouchers or thinking about booking a table at Kimo's, DONT the customer service is awful and disorganised, go somewhere nice like Cotton's, Mango room or Bamboula. read more

I patronised Kimo's on saturday and initially was impressed with the whole thing, there are very few West Indian restaurants and at first i was sceptical about trying this one. But, like i say, initially it was impressive. Firstly i would like to say the food was satisfactory, and i would not complain about that.My reservations lie with the service we received, firstly we were given menus then told that the full menu was not available and there was only a buffet, secondly the buffet was limited to a few items. Then we were told that if we require drinks we would have to go to the bar, which seemed strange as they claimed to be a restaurant and had staff milling around. In this competitive industry the edge is gained by having the wow factor, this was more whoa than wow, and although i would not dismiss going back it would have to be recommended with rave reviews regarding the service. read more

Kismos is a nice restaurant it has a nice family vibe to it and very nicely furnished. There are buffets at a set price and also single dish menus. However the desserts are not that good their too sweet and taste like they have been bought in from a supermarket and not homemade but other then that its a good restaurant. read more

The food is good value here but that is about it. It is certainly not a place where you would take someone if you wanted to impress them. The decor is dated and the place looks cheap and rundown. The staff are not particularly friendly, in fact the lady who takes reservations over the phone was particularly rude when there was a mix up over a booking. I would not go here again. I would sooner pay a little more to go to a Caribbean place with some class. read more

Sorry but..if it weren't for the fact that we (my 5 friends and I) are generally fun loving people..my birthday 'dinner' (Saturday 15th October 2011) could've soo easily have been ruined by this place masquerading as a restaurant! And then they wanted to give me attitude??? You cannot be wrong and strong as my mother would say!! The list of bad management/organisational disasters is too long to mention, lack lustre staff what little there was..2 blokes . one in jeans, trainers and t-shirt, the other in jogging bottoms, trainers and t-shirt who didn't seem to know anything - like what's on the menu (what menu?? apparently there was no menu as they were in the process of 'changing' the menu.. so the options (which were relayed to us verbally after being told that as its a Carribean restaurant we should have a good idea as to what is on the menu!! ..the options were, chicken, chicken or chicken or chicken in cooked in various sauces (or so we thought - basically all the chicken was cooked the same - only difference was the sauce that was poured over it - barbecue, jerk, or plain gravy (brown stew)!..when we questioned (after laughing) why so much chicken.. response was "well you know, us west indian's like our chicken".. crazy!! after checking with 'Reggie' there transpired to also be some Curry Goat 'left' that we could have....we ordered ackee & saltfish to start and watched as one of the blokes returned from the shop next door with a plastic bag of shopping with the1 tin of ackee (for 6 people!) and the ingredients for the salad e.g. lettuce, tomatoe etc.,..that accompanied the ackee..that was the first of three trips next door that evening.. the final one..he didn't even bother with a bag..which was our ice cream for the desert. ..OMG the desert..banana cake - long brown hair 'binding' the cake together.. blue mould on the raspberry on my plate.. when I showed this to bloke in jogging bottoms..his response was 'you weren't supposed to get that one!!!" so he obviously knew of its existence prior to it ending up on my plate!!! I. oh forgot to mention the 'bottom of the pot burnt rice n peas'!!! Jheeze...how could you think we wouldn't notice!!! You obviously noted we were all of Jamaican/West Indian heritage.. oh and the out of date hot pepper sauce (Sep 2011).. could go on..there's sooo much more.. but bottom line is...unless you hear that the place is 'under new 'proffessional' management" do avoid unless you are REALLY tolerant and not at all hungry... read more