Kip’s

This place is cute… very nice décor. I came here for lunch with my BC. I got the catfish he got the 4 – 6 oz steak. The catfish was OK, it didn’t have the traditional cornmeal style breading… more a beer batter which I wasn’t expecting for a Cajun/​Creole place. The steak had good flavor but was on the small side and pricey. Good place for a snack, cause you’ll leave hungry and broke.

I don’t know when Michael R. went to Kips last, but maybe it wasn’t 12/​19/​2010. I went there yesterday (¹²⁄₂₃) and it was CLOSED. A look through the glass leads me to believe PERMANENTLY — no liquor at the bar, walls bare, furniture stacked.
I was really looking forward to my first visit! :(

This place is fantastic. Super friendly service and they were all knowledgeable about the menu. The crawfish étouffée was AMAZING. My husband and I went here on a Friday and the service was fast. We ended up ordering crab cakes for dessert. The chef and owner stopped by our table to see how everything was. Definitely returning soon.

I went there for lunch for the first time and really enjoyed it. My husband has been there a few times and recommended going there. The service was friendly and the food was fresh and delicious. The sweet potato fries are freshly made there and were still warm. The portions are perfect size unless you are an over eater. I highly recommended Kip’s and look forward to going back.

2^nd time we went and the food is as yummy as ever!!! We ordered a whole bunch of items from the smaller plates and passed them around the table so everyone could have a taste. Totally loved the Watermelon salad! Hands down the best is the short ribs witht he jalopeno cheddar grits! The staff is so warm and friendly and the owners go to each table to make sure everyone is good and to personally thank them for dining there. It is so nice to have a totally different kind of resturant! I think El Segundo has a new favorite resturant!

Absolutely LOVE Kips!. Great food, great atmosphere, great service. I eat out every day and I have to say trying a new place is often tough. I live in Encino so to make the drive; a place really has to be worth it.
While eating in El Segundo a while back we met a great guy at a restaurant named Johnny. He mentioned he had just started working at a new Restaurant called «Kips», he invited us personally to come visit him at Kips so we figured why not try something new… Saturday after work we walked into kips and were greeted by Chef Johnny Messina, I almost didn’t even recognize him in his chefs outfit. We were immediately seated and served with some fresh baked bread. We started with some of the appetizers and were also introduced to some new Chef creations that were not on the menu…(amazing). Chef Johnny’s creations were delicious to say the least, so much flavor and variety. Just absolutely stellar all around!
The bread was fresh and delicious and the home made sauces created the perfect accompaniment. The sauce is SO good, just could not stop eating it all up. The Blackened Cod was unmatched both fresh and flavorful.
The restaurant is beautifully designed and has a comfortable and relaxing atmosphere. It almost felt like we had our own personal Chef. I highly recommend this place to anyone. Chef Johnny Messina has a variety of specialties so be sure to ask what’s cooking?

Never been more disappointed! My boyfriend and I went to lunch at Kips to patronize this new restaurant in El Segundo. Walking in, we definitely had an appreciation for the atmosphere and the décor even if this «Cajun» restaurant was playing Frank Sinatra. Tip #1: It might be a good idea to keep in line with your theme. We were quickly seated, given menus and a bowl of bread, which I might admit was pretty tasty. After waiting for a several long minutes in a mostly deserted restaurant (as I silently debated whether to fill up on bread), we finally had the opportunity to place our order. I ordered the shrimp and arugula salad. He ordered the fish and chips. Shortly thereafter, Kip returned to the table and inquired if I wanted the Prix Fixe lunch. For $ 17? No, I think not. How about this salad right here that’s on the menu? Surprise! Yes, there it is right in black and white: shrimp arugula salad. Tip #2: Know what’s on your menu, Tip #3: Who offers a Prix Fixe lunch for $ 17? Save that for your dinner menu! It’s lunch time. Most of us have to go back to work. Which leads me to Tip #4: You’re gonna have to speed up your service if you want to solicit business during lunch hours. Since service is sooo slow, Tip #5: Place some appetizers on your menu!
After the food finally arrives (and our lunch is almost over), I am devastated to see that my shrimp arugula salad (grilled shrimp) arrives with approximately four shrimp, which have been halved to make it look like eight whole shrimp! The shrimp are cold and served grilled side up so that you don’t see the side that ‘s not grilled! AND, one of my shrimp was mangled, like it’s already been chewed. Are you serious? Anyone who cares anything about quality would not serve food like this! The Cajun fish and chips have an overload of Cajun seasoning on the OUTSIDE of the battered fish. What about seasoning the fish. The batter on the outside of the fish is so thick it’s like a protective cage. And, what about the spicy, fire ketchup? Not so much… just ketchup with more of that Cajun seasoning that they just can’t get enough of. Tip#6: If you’re going to offer a spicy, fire ketchup really have one. When my boyfriend asked if the shrimp was supposed to be served cold, and didn’t his meal come with a fire ketchup, the response was «Let me check the menu.» Please refer to Tip #2.
We were asked if we needed a to-​go box, our response, «No. Thank you!» I had one forkful of arugula, and was scared to eat the rest of the meal. I refused to touch the cold, mangled, grilled shrimp. My boyfriend ate a decent amount of his fish and greasy chips; however, he advised that he was starving, and not at all impressed.
Kip’s was a terrible experience. No to mention that neither Kip, nor the server appeared at all interested in the fact that we did not seem to be enjoying our dining experience. Kip’s offers high-​end pricing for low quality food. For what they charge, they’ve got a lot, and by a lot I mean A LOT, of work to do if they intend to stay in business, which leads me to my last and final tip: Tip #6: Encourage feedback and comments from your customers! You are a new business. You need to approach your customers and find out where you are lacking, and you are lacking!
Good Luck! We won’t be back.

We had a party of 6, Friday last week.
Initial observation was that the place looked like a reworked over restaurant. So being newly opened, we figured there was some growing pains in order.
The service was very cordial, though our waitress did not have a command of the menu, nor portion sizes and prices yet. Not an issue for a new restaurant, but they need to get their act together on that one.
Food? Overpriced for portion sizes. I asked for the Blackened Cod and asked for the size. It was 4 — 6 oz. Which one? $oz or 6oz, as for fish it makes a huge difference. It turned out to be a very small portion and I had to toss ¹⁄₃ of it away, as the cut had a lot of the dark mercury filled meat. The black rice and yellow & red corn side dish was very tasty though.
Folks at the table ordered the short ribs… not that great.
Fried catfish. Nice portions (2)
Crab cakes, not that great.
Cajun Caesar salad was good.
Soups were too salty.
The worse part of the evening was the incessant banging of metal trays, dishes, pots-​n-​pans in the kitchen. It’s very loud in the restaurant; there is no baffling or sound absorption material anywhere so there’s a constant rumble of voices and a lot of banging noise. I asked someone, who later I was told was one of the owners (a husband and wife team), to tell the chefs and busboy to tone it down. It was very obnoxious and quite disturbing.
What I don’t understand is that if I was an owner of a new restaurant, I’
d e sure to stop at each table of patrons and have a short conversation thanking them for coming into my restaurant. But that’s me… Customer service is most important in a service oriented business. It was not present here.
Needless to say, we will not go back to this restaurant.
Prices are much too high for the quality and quantity of food provided.
And we got the «stink eye» from one of the chefs when, after a lot of noise when she threw a tray into the sink, I turned around to look. Not a nice look from her.
I’d be surprised if this restaurant isn’t closed down within 6 months.

Great grilled watermelon salad! The tenderloin was yummy! The catfish was good as well. The coffee was weak. The chef asked us how our meal was and when I told him the coffee was terrible he went out and got me a cup of coffee. When I told the owner, he seemed to not care at all. Our dessert was not ready after having waited for almost ½ hr so we had the bread pudding. The bread pudding was okay. The right thing to do would have been to comp our dessert altogether. I hope Kip remembers that if he treats his customers like his business depends on it, maybe he will stay in business. The food was good… that is a good start.

Sorry to poop on the party, but our experience last night really merited only one star. I’m giving two stars because we only ordered a soup and salad (and wine), and also because it’s fairly new. The décor was very nice too. Good wine list.
My wife and I had been looking forward to trying «the new place on Main» and finally got a chance. Once we were sat, I ordered a glass of wine and the plantation chicken salad. My wife got the corn chowder. After about 25 – 30 minutes of waiting, we got the starters. I couldn’t tell if it was missing an ingredient, but the salad had virtually no flavor. Tasted like oily lettuce. Soup was okay/​good-​not great and definitely overpriced. We kept the menus after we ordered our first round and were never asked if we wanted to order entrees/​dinner. I was going to order an entrée, but after waiting a half hour for a salad, I was afraid catfish might put us back a whole hour. Nobody checked on us after we ordered, while we were eating, or even after we finished. I had to ask for the check about 10 mins after we finished eating.
Service was awkward-didn’t know whether to seat ourselves or not-​minimal talking by all staff-​that sort of thing… Not to mention lack of attention. It was busy (6 tables occupied including ours) and there was really only one person working the floor. The young waitress seemed nice enough, she just wasn’t getting enough help (it seemed) from the other two people we saw (probably owners/​managers). There was definitely an organization issue; we saw three times that food brought out from the kitchen initially went to the wrong table. This shouldn’t happen at a place that’s charging $ 9 for a side salad or a glass of wine.
I wish we could give them a second chance (and possibly improve my review), but its just too overpriced to risk another costly mistake.

We went to Kip’s recently. Very enjoyable. Kinda pricey, but the food is very good and the presentation is perfect /​beautiful. The interior space is very, very nice, and the wait staff is very nice and looks very nice. I had fish, and it was very good, and the potatoes au gratin with it was excellent! Nice wine, too. Two entrees, two glasses of wine, less than $ 75 including tip. Very worthwhile.

I am giving Kip’s 3-​stars because they are brand new and I think they have to work out the kinks. When my friends and I were walking up, the bus boy was carrying bread that they must buy from Chef Hannes, in his bare hands leaned up against his shirt. They have a great menu. My friend had the game hen and it was so tiny for $ 20 she was still hungry when we left. The service was a bit awkward, but very nice. I think they are getting comfortable with the place. And I tried talking to Kip like the other reviewer, but he was a man of few words with me. Maybe it was an off night for them, but I do think there is great potential and I will definitely go there again after they have been open awhile. The ambience and décor are absolutely great and I do hope they have great success. I will update my review the next time I go there.