A College Hill Japanese restaurant that once appeared on the Food Networks’ Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives is closing in March.
On Wednesday, James Beard-nominated chefs Hideki and Yuko Harada announced they would be transitioning their restaurant, Kiki, from the Hamilton Avenue location. The last day of service will be Friday, March 21.
“From the start College Hill welcomed me and the restaurant with open arms, it was honestly overwhelming. During Covid, the support we got from the neighborhood just to keep our doors open through it was tearful. Thank you for being there for us. I will miss having a business here but I plan to raise my family here for years to come,” Hideki Harada wrote in a social media post about the closing.
Hideki went on to thank his staff for their hard work and dedication, as well as everyone who has visited Kiki in the nearly six years it’s been open, adding, “Kiki is not going away, I believe that we’re just now getting started.”
Kiki opened in College Hill in 2019, where it served a variety of not-your-typical Japanese cuisine dishes like the seafood ramen, house-made kimchi and chicken karaage (fried chicken). In 2023, the Haradas were named semifinalists together in the James Beard Restaurant and Chef Awards category Best Chef in the Great Lakes Region. Guy Fieri visited the restaurant for his show, Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, in 2023 and tried the pork gyoza, which he called “fantastic.”
Kiki, 5932 Hamilton Ave., College Hill. More info: kikicincinnati.com.
This article appears in Feb 5-18, 2025.
