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Kickin' Devil Cafe
Category: Restaurants Cajun/Creole Cajun/Creole [Edit]
2017 NE 27th AveGainesville, FL 32609
(352) 505-6660
- Hours:
Tue-Fri 11 am - 2:30 pm
Tue 5:30 pm - 9:30 pm
Wed 5:30 pm - 10:30 pm
Fri-Sat 5:30 pm - 1 am
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Very Loud
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
14 reviews for Kickin' Devil Cafe
14 reviews in English
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Review from sherrie p.
Gainesville, FL
4/10/2011
The gumbo was too hot for me but I had a rosemary bread, grilled cheese (cheddar was one of four cheese choices) sandwich and it was amazing. It had a tomato on it.
Service was great and I was there during open mic night so the music was outstanding. It's like that in Gainesville. i'd like to thank this place for opening up a new venue for music. -
Review from Tara E.
Orlando, FL
7/15/2011
I had initially read some pretty good reviews about this place, so I really wanted to try it. My friend and I drove a good 20-25 min from the UF campus towards the middle of no-where, expecting to find the hole-in-the-wall, down home kind of place with amazing food that you would see featured on "Diners, Drive-In's and Dives" or some thing.
Well we definitely found the hole-in-the-wall...but no amazing food. The decor of the place was pretty cool, and it seemed like it could be a fun hangout, but for a Friday night around 7pm, it was pretty dead. The food seemed to match the atmosphere. I ordered the Jambalaya and the chicken and shrimp were seasoned okay, but the rice (which is a big part of the dish) was dry and swimming in the broth of the chicken mixture, which was itself, pretty bland. My friend ordered the pulled pork with rice and was disappointed as well. It was very greasy and made up of a lot of the more fattier pieces of meat. the rice was also very bland. The only thing really worth eating were the chicken wings we had as an appetizer. -
Review from Jennifer K.
Gainesville, FL
7/16/2011
I've been wanting to try Kickin' Devil for a while now. I did. No need to go back.
First, for being in an industrial park, it's kind of pricey. I think they are isolating a good client base by charging $7 for a burger. There were 3 customers (us included) at noon and it didn't pick up much.
Secondly, I heard great things about their vegetarian options, and was especially looking forward to some Cajun cookin'. Too bad for me because they were out of the Hail Saitan. I then ordered the carrot dog...out of that too. Come on peeps, it's a carrot. Anyway, I settled for the tempeh burger which was pretty tasteless, and not at all Cajun.
Our bill was close to $20 for 2 tempeh burgers and a beer. On the plus side, the waitress was very friendly and attentive. -
Review from Marie O.
Gainesville, FL
4/15/2011
I found my way to Kickin' Devil tonight with two friends. I'm from New Orleans and have really been missing some delicious Cajun food, so you can imagine how excited I was. (To preface the review, this is not just coming from someone who's used to authentic New Orleans-style food. Both of my fellow dinnermates, neither of whom are from Louisiana, had very similar thoughts.)
Sheer and utter disappointment was all that followed. The appetizer, "Toasted (fried) Green Beans," wasn't too bad, but it was all downhill from there.
The first thing that immediately struck us as the plates were set down was how small the portions were. We all paid at least $10 for each of our entrees but definitely did not receive our money's worth.
The jambalaya looked nothing at all like jambalaya. My friend got the vegetarian jambalaya ("Hail Seitan," I think it was called), which was basically just seitan sitting on top of rice. My "Kickin' Cajun Shrimp" dish looked and tasted just like cooked shrimp tossed over a small scoop of bland yellow rice, all doused in Tabasco sauce. Even the French fries were mushy and unappealing.
Guess I haven't found a good local place that can tide me over until I can visit back home again. -
Review from Anita L.
8/30/2009
So I've been really looking forward to going to Kickin Devil Cafe, especially after reading all the great reviews and the menu looked very promising. However the service and food just did not live up to my expectations. We ordered the Boudin app, Jambalaya and Country fried steak for entrees. Also added a side salad to my meal (was looking forward to trying the caesar). We went on a Saturday night and for some reason, there was only one server for the entire restaurant who was also the bartender. Needless to say, we made the mistake of telling her we needed one more minute to decide because she did not come back to our table for 20 minutes and my boyfriend had to literally wait at the bar and just tell her rather than wait for her.
When she did come take our order, there was no apology even though we made it very clear we were displeased, especially since she took orders for two other tables that came after us when we were ready.
Also there was a live band that night, but it was more just a show than background music. The music was exceedingly loud and it was hard to hear yourself think let alone talk. We were there at 8:00 for dinner. Band was folk/country whom seem to know everybody in the restaurant because everyone there was there for the show and all aged above 45. Maybe we were discriminated upon for being college-aged and actually wanting to eat there and not just there for the country music.
The Boudin was different. I actually enjoyed it. Not a typical sausage texture but it's very smooth and pasty. It was great smeared on the loaf of bread with side sauce. When we ordered it, we told the waitress we'd be sharing the app, but it was brought out on one plate and she did not offer to give us another one. Exceedingly difficult to eat since it was a small plate and had no room to cut the sausage without knocking the other stuff over.
Jambalaya was not that great. Dry and bland, but too spicy. There was no seasoning in it aside from the spiciness, and the sausage/chicken/shrimp had been cooked to death and dry. Ordered the mustard and collard greens which were okay, a little bland. Definitely would be better if made with ham hocks/bacon, but I think they try to keep their vegetables vegan/vegetarian friendly. Waitress forgot my side salad. When I asked her about it, she replied, "Oh, I guess it never made it." Okay... forget it then.
Boyfriend ordered the country fried steak with garlic mashed potatoes, which came with a side of rice. Rice had no flavor. I enjoyed the mashed potatoes myself since I like skins in mine. I also thought the country fried steak was one of the better things we had that night. It was still crispy and smothered in white gravy, yum. He however felt the steak was too overdone and was fried close to being burnt and the gravy was overwhelming.
Also, we never heard from the waitress again since she set our entrees down. So I just waited by the bar to pay for our food so that we can leave because clearly she was too busy to deal with her patrons. I was really disappointed, she NEVER once offered an apology or to check on us. The service alone was enough to deter me from ever eating there again.
So I would definitely avoid going on a Saturday night when they have their live music because it seems they'd rather run the place as a venue rather than a restaurant even though it was 8:00pm. Maybe try going for lunch or something. Maybe they just hate young people even though we spent over $30 plus drinks eating there.
The highlight of this place was definitely the Wild Blue beer. Sweet but still beer-y. Also there was a cute cat outside.
Also it's before Waldo, BUT you still need to be on Waldo to get to it. On Waldo, go north and when you see Sonnys, there's a little road before it and a sign that says Kickin Devil Cafe, and you just follow it. We found that was the easiest way to get to it. Hopefully you will have a better experience than I did. -
Review from April O.
Updated - 11/23/2009
**Once again, I am an acquaintance of the owner's friend. Full disclosure.**
I showed up here on Saturday night when there were three musical groups playing back-to-back. In case you haven't seen previous reviews complaining that service gets wonky as the place fills up, I'm here to let you know that it absolutely does. Also, the boudin seems to have gone away completely, which makes me sad.
On the flip side, although food was taking quite some time to get to customers during the big rush, everyone who got their food seemed perfectly happy with it. Probably because they were drinking first, ehehe! :)
I would recommend eating dinner here on a night that is NOT Saturday! ;)1 Previous Review: Show all »
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4/28/2009 First to Review
**full disclosure: I am an acquaintance of the owner's friend ... so essentially, a friend of a… Read more »
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Review from lauren r.
Gainesville, FL
1/20/2010
I have been here a few of times and have always left happy. The food is always good, but some times have been better than others. They have good vegetarian and vegan options. The veggie meatloaf was pretty good, but my favorite is most definitely the Hail Seitan which is a seitan jambalaya... mmmmm. They have a homemade strawberry balsamic vinegarette salad dressing that's pretty scrumptious. Tempeh burger is awesome too. They also have daily specials.
The service has always been ok and the wait staff and cook have been nice and accommodating. I really like the atmosphere of this place, makes you feel like you could be out in some bfe swamp town. Also, they seem to always have some live music going on at night. I would definitely recommend checking this place out, just don't expect anything fancy. It seems like a pretty laid back establishment. -
Review from Brea G.
Gainesville, FL
12/30/2009
Went here for an early dinner.
The service was really good - though the place *was nearly empty.
The food was decent - home cooking style - but I expected the Kickin' Cajun Shrimp to have some spice to it.
Prices were ~ $9 / plate for entrees.
Had a chile chocolate desert that was really pretty good.
The place has a really nice comfortable feel and I'm looking forward to coming back to see music here. -
Review from Dan W.
Gainesville, FL
5/11/2011 1 Check-in Here
Against my better judgement (what with this place being so famously creole), I ordered the philly cheesesteak... And it was DELECTABLE. The atmosphere was very laid back and the live music was pleasant. Enjoyed quite a bit. Lyk.
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Review from Beth G.
West Palm Beach, FL
2/3/2010
My friend and I went to Kickin' Devil for lunch and were, well, unimpressed. The first thing we noticed was that there seems to be an ant problem in the place. The first table we went to was covered in ants and at the second we noticed ants trailing up and down in the wall in a line along the molding. They didn't seem to be interested in us, but they were all over, which was a little gross.
The food just wasn't that good - one of the biggest disappointments I've had in Gainesville. We started with the Kickin' Cajun Shrimp, which had a nice flavor, but absolutely no kick. I got a side salad, which was perfectly serviceable, as well as the chicken and sausage gumbo, which was a gelatinous mess with little flavor. My friend got the Hail Seitan - the seitan jambalaya - and it was seriously lacking in the flavor department as well. If you want to be a cafe that happens to serve some Cajun-influenced American food, that's fine, but since this is marketed as a restaurant with Cajun food, I was seriously disappointed.
The service was completely competent, but I don't think I'll be returning because of the flavorlessness of the food. One dish - two dishes even! - that aren't that good can maybe be overlooked, but to have every dish be edible but nothing special means that I won't be back. -
Review from lance s.
Gainesville, FL
7/28/2009
went there for dinner this past Saturday ,had Cajun spicy shrimp as an app and Jambalaya for entree. food was priced well and delicious.
service was fast and the band that night "the Root Doctors" was fantastic. -
Review from Kerri O.
Gainesville, FL
1/14/2010
OK, I didn't eat here, so cannot comment on the food, which my friends said was good. HOWEVER, if there are only 3 tables in the whole restaurant with people at them then I should not have to wait or beg to be served a beer. Also, when my friends who had been eating leave, maybe someone should clear the table of their plates and bottles if there are a few of us sticking around to hear the music? Is that asking too much? I would come back here if there was a good musical act and MAYBE try the food, but the service totally, totally sucks. Don't arrive hungry or thirsty, that's for sure. This place has potential, but that is all it has right now. I got better service when it was a run down dive and I was waiting for my car to be fixed in the local industrial park.
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Review from Jhimli S.
Gainesville, FL
3/7/2011
We went here once so far and had a good time. The place is very casual, which was great for taking our 3 yr old and 4 yr old. The menu is limited but everything we ordered was good, so it doesn't matter much if there are only a few things. The jambalaya and gumbo were both prepared as expected and the salad I got (can't remember which one) was also tasty. All in all, I enjoyed the food and the prices are low enough.
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Review from John C.
Gainesville, FL
11/27/2010
Groovy mellow atmosphere with good lighting, live music and friendly staff. Red beans and rice was exceptional,as was the jambalaya. Hamburger was good grade beef, grilled med rare, with fresh toppings.
