Kevin’s

Soooo good. Great atmosphere too.

Just visited with friends for dinner on Friday night. The waiter was thoughtful, informative and took excellent care of us. The entrees were fantastic with ample portions and a beautiful presentation. Do yourselves and favor and enjoy a meal here because the entire experience was pure pleasure and way too good not to share:)

In need of a quick place for brunch we stepped into Kevin’s a local restaurant in Red Hook after searching for seafood restaurants. We really wanted the oysters that were advertised on the sandwich board outside for $ 1 a piece. When we inquired about them, our server told us they didn’t have any for the day. (In hindsight, was this a «bait and switch»?). He told us there was a festival behind IKEA where their oysters were being served but not for $ 1 a piece. Thinking it was some kind of oyster festival we decided to order something simple and fast and maybe run over to the festival. The cioppino was very good, full of mussels, clams, scallops and calamari a good value for only $ 14. The light tomato sauce was not too spicy but the rice or actually cut vermicelli on the bottom was lost in the broth. Nevertheless, it was tasty and satisfying. Understandably, they deserve all the accolades for their food. My scrambled eggs and side of bratwurst was good but nothing to write home about but opting for the salad instead of home fries was probably a good move on my part not only nutritionally but because of all the past complaints of it being served cold. The iced tea was a lovely surprise. There was a hint of something fruity but not overly scented as it was unsweetened. Our server told us it was his top secret recipe which even the kitchen didn’t know. We ended up going to the waterfront after brunch which was really just a small celebration event for Red Hook and had some Kumamoto oysters at Kevin’s tent. They were $ 2 but still worth it. We’d go back to Kevin’s probably for dinner instead. We learned through Gene, Kevin’s brother that Kevin has another restaurant on Governor’s Island called Little Eva’s named after his daughter. Maybe worth checking out the next time we’re on G.I.

My fiancé, future mother-​in-​law and I were looking for a seafood place to have lunch in Redhook area. Thanks Unilocal,You helped us again. We Loved Kevin’s. I had the yellow tuna sandwich, it was amazing! My mother in law had the New Orleans shrimp style gumbo, and absolutely loved it. My fiancé had the burger and was so happy with it. Kevin’s has a perfect intimate setting with very friendly staff. Wonderful food and fantastic place to just enjoy.

Poor waiter is all alone. However, he does a good job. Water poured and re-​poured. Made reservation on the phone and table was held till we arrived even though all other tables were filled.
Gave us bruschetta with white bean paste and grilled shrimp. Needed salt.
Shrimp and corn chowder was hot and had plenty of shrimp, was quite tomato-​y and needed salt.
Grilled calamari salad with avocado was good.
Pappardelle with shrimp and scallops was based with the soup and needed salt.
Shell steak was medium and not medium rare, which is basically a waste but was flavorful and the peppercorn sauce was good.
We came for the soft shelled crab (so in the mood) and while they were unfunky (always a plus) they lacked flavor.
Maybe everything needed salt and/​or maybe everything just needed more flavor. Either way, nice place but a return is not warranted.

Just moved to the neighborhood and went there for dinner. A bit nondescript but turned out to be incredibly tasty. I was with two others and all of our meals were fantastic. Waiter was very nice too. Nice space and atmosphere.

We’ve been to Kevin’s for brunch dozens of times over the past few years and it never disappoints. It’s never crowded for brunch, although it deserves to be. The best blueberry pancakes I’ve ever had, and that’s saying something. The Makeba egg sandwich is also one of the best egg sandwiches in the city, and there’s nothing like Kevin’s cioppino to warm you up (and fill you up) on a cold day.
Please don’t go to Kevin’s – I want to keep it for myself!

I’ve been to Kevin’s at least twice. Each time I’ve gone, I had brunch and each time I left with a smile. The corn flaked French toast is official tissue. They make real home fries and I appreciate the vibe of Kevin’s. My group was about 5 and our waiter really took care of us. Great service. We didn’t want for anything. Kevin even came out to thank us for our patronage.
One of my favorite places to get Brunch in Brooklyn for sure. Can’t wait for the next episode.

I really like their food. Brunch special is super tasty. You also have to try their French toast. Yummy.

I’ll be brief. The food (brunch) was 3 stars. The service was 1 star.
We paid our bill for brunch, and sat finishing our coffee and chatting. Suddenly, our waiter (who had neither been kind nor welcoming during our entire meal) comes up to our table and very curtly informs us that we have to get up and leave because someone else needs our table. We look around… it’s a small place, but it’s half empty and there are 3 (yes 3!) unoccupied tables right behind ours. The «someone» that needed our table was a couple who came in and promptly chose to sit at one of the said unoccupied tables anyway. Even after the couple sat elsewhere, our waiter said nothing more to us and brushed past our table as we got up to leave. We were so stunned and offended that we just walked out of the restaurant silently. Rudest service experience I have EVER had. I will not be back to this place.

What a charming little restaurant. Seriously. Red Hook’s understandably a quiet little area given how far removed it is from the rest of Brooklyn, so coming here on a Thursday evening, my boyfriend and I found ourselves in the company of only 2 other small parties at Kevin’s. The restaurant is incredibly homey with its lighting and décor, and the fact that the place is run with one server and chef (Kevin, naturally) adds to this effect.
We came on the last day of Brooklyn’s restaurant week, and while they didn’t have a special restaurant week menu available, our server told us we could choose any combination of starters, entrees, and desserts for the $ 25 deal but with smaller proportions. Although once each dish was brought out, it was clear we got regular-​sized proportions. Awwyeah!
The Shrimp Corn Chowder and Lump Meat Crab Cakes were both delicious. The dill in the crab cakes was a nice touch. Raffetto’s pappardelle with lobster sauce was ok but much much better after a few shakes of salt. Without it, the sauce was a bit bland. The Cioppino Fish Stew was tasty and amazingly filling. For the price tag, restaurant week or no, it’s a pretty phenomenal deal for the amount of seafood they provide in that bowl considering how much this city charges for seafood dishes. Scallops, shrimp, clams, mussels, flounder… mMmm. We ended our meal with the apple pie and flourless chocolate cake. Both great and not overly sweet.
Overall, I loved the warm and forgivably occasionally slow service, and the hearty dishes that were equally warm and comforting. If you’re in the neighborhood, treat yourself.

I’m thinking this is the type of place that’s great for brunch and I might just come back for that. However, our dinner was only 75% great. Not failing, but not good enough. I’m Asian, so anything less than a B is disappointing (Filipino, not Chinese– LOL).
Here we go:
Shrimp Corn Chowder– This is how fancy people do chowder. I like my chowder thick, creamy, and even then I want to put 10 saltine crackers in my small bowl. Anyways, back to their chowder… They put a wonderful amount of corn in there, sweet, with a crunch and the shrimp that was in there was perfect. Cooked perfectly, seasoned perfectly, and so fresh tasting. I devoured it even without the saltine crackers
Crab Cakes– They gave one huge crab cake that was 65% cake and 35% crab. Even then, I thought it was seasoned really well with a tangy remoulade and fresh greens. I let the boyfriend eat the majority of that one since I liked my chowder so much.
Cioppino– I’m a huge fan of Cioppino because it reminds me of back home, eating on the SF piers with my dad, and a big chunky of garlic bread. This was a cioppino that I would come back to and for such a great price. There was just so much seafood in there and the broth was spicy and flavorful! My only gripe is that I didn’t like the rice in it and I wish my garlic croûton was bigger.
Raffetto’s Pappardelle– This was the BF’s dish and the dish that fell short. It was so bland compared to my dish and not what we were expecting at all. We were expecting a creamy, inviting dish of pasta. What we got was a soupy, hard to eat mess. However, the shrimp was delicious! We ended up mixing some of my cioppino sauce with the cream sauce to help make it more tolerable– it worked!
Customer Service– I’m not sure of the name of the gentleman serving us but he was so great and attentive. It seems like he knew some of the regulars very well which is always nice to see.

Dinner Review:
The customer service was great meaning the one server holding it down for 8 tables even though there were 4 tables seated on a slow Friday night could not have gotten any better. The food was ok but reasonably priced for seafood.
To start off my girlfriend got the Shrimp Corn Chowder. I had a couple bites and it was delicious. A little spicy kick and the shrimp was cooked perfectly. Oh just to get it out of the way ALL the Seafood was cooked perfectly but the shrimp in each dish stood out the most. I ordered the Crab Cake that came with some greens and a spicy mayo type sauce. Crab Cake was super delicious and had a lot of crab meat in it. It was the perfect appetizer size.
For dinner my dish fell super short. I got the Raffetto’s Pappardelle which was really bland and soupy. It was weird if you eat the pasta its bland but if you have the broth by itself it was pretty delicious. Together though was like pairing a Democrat and Republican on a first date. The pasta was also hard to eat since it was long and wide strands that the fork could not cut through nor spin it so the pasta stays on the fork. It would have been better without the pappardelle. I tried adding a lot of salt but still did not help.
My girlfriend ordered the Cioppino Fish Stew which was so delicious. It had a lot of fresh seafood including the shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops, and calamari over tiny rice in broth. It came with a little toasted slice garlic bread which was perfect for dipping into the broth. It is definitely the best deal for $ 23. None of the items were tough or rubbery and I wish I ordered this instead.
I would probably come back here again… but for brunch though.

Instead of taking the weekend Red Hook ferry to Ikea or Fairway like other people, we took it to explore Red Hook. There wasn’t much to see or do, but eat and drink. So that we did.
We had already eaten breakfast just about an hour or so before arriving at Kevin’s, so actually didn’t have room for much.
He had a beer, I had a few oysters ($ 1 each at brunch time), and we shared the yellow fin tuna sandwich. At $ 14, it was huge and easily share-​able between two. The tuna was fresh, perfectly seared, and sat on a bed of wasabi mayo, between two pieces of warm, toasted challah bread. It was one of the best fish sandwiches I’ve ever had.
The space is pretty small, but is definitely set up to feel very comfy and homey.

After reading the favorable reviews, my wife and I were excited to give Kevin’s a try.
The décor was simple and bright; if only the service was as pleasant. More on that in a bit.
I got the Eggs Chesapeake, which was quite good, but the potatoes and my side of bacon were cold. Actually cold, not even room temp. Bummer. They were tasty, though (taters have some [spiced, not literal] heat, just FYI; not majorly spicy, but if you’re a super-​taster like my wife, you’ve been warned)
Coffee was actively undrinkable. Stumptown makes a delicious roast, but if it’s prepared improperly (like, say, lukewarm in a French press), it’s not going to be good. Kevin: sit your waitstaff down with a YouTube video on how to make French press coffee. Worth it.
All this could have been chalked up to some fixable mistakes in the kitchen, but our waitress was the true problem. She was unenthusiastic and texting the whole time. I ordered a Bloody Mary first thing; she took 5 minutes before even starting it. She was the only waitstaff for brunch, and looked annoyed when I asked for a check after 5 minutes trying to get her attention.
I would give this place another chance if the waitstaff could step up its game. Like an old house, Kevin’s has got good bones but needs some work.

Randomly found this place on Unilocal as always because I always trust my Unilocal buddies to give me a great place to eat and things to order also. Plus I was overdue for a place in Brooklyn especially down by the Park Slope area and Red Hook is just a little small over pass away.
Parking we found like super quick — CHECK PLUS!
The restaurant is very small and just cozy like, love the beige warm soft colors on the walls and the nice white moldings, they have really nice table settings just little basic simple flowers on the table and it was just pretty nice but nothing over the top. They have menus but its only specials there serving for that day its not like different sections and choices of foods its just main courses, there appetizers of the day there making and thats it not even side dishes just what the chef is making that day, which is different but you gotta have a open stomach and def. not be a picky eater!
They have a wine list from the glass to the bottle and also have a small bar area.
We started off with a nice glass of Merlot then for appetizer we enjoyed the mesculan salad with raisins, pecans, fresh cheese and light italian dressing which was perfect for two and mussels which came in a really light sauce tasted more like a chicken broth type, I really enjoy like a nice tasty red sauce in mussels with bolder flavors. Main course I had the hanger steak with potato fries and some grilled veggies, the steak had this really good like sauce was like a ranch pepper sauce which really made the steak great. The BF had a really good seafood stew which had clams, scallops, shrimp, octopus in this spicy red sauce which he really enjoyed and I love anything seafood just i can’t handle the spice! BOOHOOO! But it really looked good!
The chef came out and greeted every table and made sure everyone was okay and even brought us nice large glass bottles of water if needed thats always a good owner!
The place ended up getting packed out by 8pm and thats always a good sign. They don’t take reservations! & also its pretty pricey too for us two it came out to a little over $ 100.

Trying new places in the neighborhood for brunch and came across high ratings on Kevin’s.
It was okay.
The food is not bad, pretty straight forward eggs and home fries and toast. My omelette was slightly underdone (running whites) but it was no big deal. The environment is small but cute and has the feel of a restaurant in Rhode Island or something like that.
What really turned me off about this place was the service. There was only one waitress working and she was not so good. She was slow-​moving, which can be okay on a wednesday afternoon, but during Saturday brunch you have to keep it movin! She took our order and got two of our things wrong. My bf got the wrong kind of bread and a piece of our order was missing. When we asked about it, she simply added the item on at the end, which meant it came out only after we had finished our food. The clincher is that the same thing happened to the table behind us!
Anyway, not sure I will be back anytime soon. Could have been a great, low-​key place but unfortunately the waitress’ blasé attitude really turned me off.

Went here after Red Hook Crit with a large group of 14. The place is tiny, but one of the few places in the neighborhood that takes reservations.
Kevin was fantastic. He accomodated a large party, dietary restrictions (vegan, etc) and the service was not slow as some people complained (though he was the only one waiting on tables). Everyone enjoyed their warm and tasty food esp after standing outside in the rain for a few hours — Kevin’s had everything from seafood stew, to steak, seafood pappardelle, to traditional fish plates.
Neighborhood gem for a «nicer» sit-​down meal. Highly recommend! Thanks Kevin’s!

Friends brought us here for brunch during the summer. It is now winter and I’m still thinking about the crab cake Benedict. He crab cake had a lot of crab meat and little breaking, which I think, is a sign of quality. You can tell the chef really cares about the food.
The bistro setting is just perfect for a Sunday afternoon to enjoy with friends. It’s BYOB and just a small uncorking fee. Can’t beat it!

Kevin’s was a serendipitous find. On the way to Red Hook Lobster Pound, I sighted a fish fixture hanging below a sign reading «Kevin’s.» A quick look inside revealed a small dining room bright and simple. A look at the New American menu with a strong emphasis on seafood was enough to divert us from lobster rolls.
Moreso than our initial peek suggested, Kevin’s dining has a warmth that suggests a home, such that while it can work for a special night out, one can just as easily stop by for a casual, relaxing meal. There is also a small bar toward the back, just before the kitchen, whose staff can be spotted working beyond the doors. Service from the single front-​of-​the-​house waitress/​hostess was unhurried, competent, but marred by disinterest.
There’s little besides a steak, salad, and Mediterranean platter for those who don’t like or tolerate seafood. But for the rest of us, its a small, appealing menu that changes seasonally. The bright shrimp corn chowder was a markedly different from other versions I’ve had; neither shrimp nor corn-​forward, it gently melds notes of shrimp and corn, but texturally more like a tomato bisque. A seared crab cake was decent, with the flavor of crab most prominent, but not a personal favorite given that I make Baltimore-​style lump crab cakes at home that are more my preference.
Their Basque-​style paella for two was lovely to behold, with big pieces of seafood dominating the display. Said seafood was wonderful, incorporated at the right time for the right level of doneness for all. The subtle flavor of the broth placed emphasis on the freshness of the seafood. Half the rice was undercooked, however.
Finished off with a good piece of pie and fresh whipped cream, one of two desserts on offer. There is a wine list (it was until recently BYO). Reputedly, they are a good brunch option in Red Hook.
Kevin’s is a good neighborhood restaurant, with a sure hand with seafood. It isn’t especially memorable, but it probably isn’t aiming to be, and is priced a tad high. But it fits well with the small coterie of restaurants in Red Hook, with an ambience and menu that is unique from the rest.