Perfectly Imperfect Arts By Mittie’s Daughter

We stopped in to Vivian’s to eat on our trip back to Colorado. Absolutely fabulous!!! I will plan our trip to Michigan with a stop at Vivian’s next year. We ordered the three piece fried chicken with two sides. I had greens and baked Mac and cheese, my husband greens and red beans & rice. Our meals were over the top delicious. We compare everything to Babes Chicken in Roanoke, TX & Gus’s in Memphis. Vivian’s is now added to our Favorites list for fried chicken. Jill was our waitress and she was awesome.

Awesome food, probably the best meal I have had in Cedar Rapids in a long time. Had the blackened fish, red beans and rice and my souse had the fried chicken. All was outstanding and the service was top notch. Will definitely return!!

Staff are friendly but not very attentive. Waiting for a long time just to get drinks even though they are not busy. Arrived there at 5 pm on Tuesday. Ordered catfish, fried chicken, and fried shrimp, all are tasty, very crispy but borderline salty. Yam is very good. Baked Mac and cheese is good and creamy. Collard green is salty. Corn bread is hard. Not sure how to rate our visit. We have mixed feeling about it.

Vivians WAS a destination for me. I drive over an hour just because the fried chicken was the best. Now... not so much. first clue was the dining room was mostly empty on a Saturday night at 6pm. second clue, when the server tells you about what they are OUT of, and recites 1/2 the menu instead of telling us about the nights special. Daughter got the chicken and waffles, i got the gumbo. Had them before,used to love it. Waited 1 1/2 hours for what can accurately be described as a 50/50 mix of campbells and alpo with some shrimp on it and a yellow brick i assumed was cornbread. this was 15 minutes after the dare i call it chicken and waffles (technically chicken/technically waffles) came. they comped the gumbo. I don't know what happened, maybe the original owners sold the place to some meth addicts, they should change the name to let people know. the only reason i gave 2 stars is the wait staff tried so hard. I hope this was a one off bad day because it's not worth the drive across town. almost cried.

I'd read about this restaurant, and one evening recently, I spied it while driving by. Spontaneously, I decided to stop, which turned out to be a great decision! Disappointed that they were already out of the special of the day (**** chicken), I tried the fried chicken instead, with red beans and rice and collard greens. It did not disappoint, and the portions are very generous, so I had more than one meal from it! Recently, I was in the area before leaving town and made it a point to stop and get a takeout meal once again. This time, the special was pot roast, and again, it was wonderful. Sides chosen on this visit were collard greens and the baked mac & cheese. Since I live outside of Cedar Rapids, I intend to make this a regular stop either on my way into town for an evening or upon leaving town at the end of the visit. My goal is to try everything on the menu, as this Southern comfort food spot has such wonderful offerings - everything I've tried so far has been excellent, and there are so many dishes on the menu that I want to sample! Although this restaurant has been around for a few years, previously at an even more hidden location, the food is well worth the effort in searching it out. Located in a former Zio Johnno's building near the former K-Mart location on the SW side, it has seating for in-person dining, as well as a bar. Although I've only stopped for takeout thus far, I look forward to meeting friends here in the future and dining on site! I've only stopped in and ordered on the spot but have noticed many customers coming in to pick up online orders, which must be easy, based on what I've observed. Lesson learned is if I want to try the j*** chicken special, I need to order earlier in the day, and I intend to do that sometime soon!

I stopped by for lunch at the recommendation of a few guys from the business that I was visiting nearby. I am glad that I listened to them. I got there at open before anyone got there and was greeted and seated quickly. The server was very friendly and helpful. The menu was relatively small but I had a hard time as most of the selections sounded outstanding. I went with the Fried Chicken with Baked Mac and Cheese and Red Beans and Rice. Come hungry as the portions are big! The fried chicken was crispy and juicy and perfect with the hot sauce that they bring to the table. The Mac and Cheese was delicious. The Red Beans and Rice were some of the best that I have ever had. Loved it all but had to waddle out of the restaurant completely full. I will definitely be back as the Shrimp Po Boy is next on my list.

I found this on TripAdvisor and gave it a shot. This was sooooo good. I had fried chicken, collard greens and gravy and rice (I did not know that was a thing?). The food was really good, chicken was crisp and moist on the inside. Staff was super nice and I really enjoyed my server. I would recommend coming here on an empty stomach as the portions are large.

We had take-away from Vivian's Express Grill for supper last night: one shrimp po'boy, one catfish po'boy and fries. Ordering online was easy, pick up was on-time and efficient, and the food was delicious. Not much room for dining in (especially in these socially distanced times) but the restaurant seems designed for take away. Highly recommend.

I loved every bite. The portion size is on point and the chicken was seasoned to perfection. I had the chicken and waffles and it took me back to my childhood. I think our waitress was new because she was very confused about the bill and we had to remind her to charge us for the drinks we had.

We've been supporting local-owned businesses during COVID to keep them thriving when sales are down. For my birthday, I had many many restaurants to choose from, but decided the shrimp and grits from Vivian's sounded delicious and an amazing birthday dinner. Ordered the takeout, paid for it, went to pick it up, only to have them give away my food to someone else. An honest mistake. These things happen. However, the man behind the counter then tried to act as though WE were to blame for them giving away our food. And then lo and behold, a shout from the cooks that they were then suddenly out of the shrimp and grits so we couldn't have them fire a new meal for us. The worker throwing around the blame offered no apology, no attempt to make it right, just the guilt trip. That night, I sent a message to the owner via the restaurant's website, giving Vivian's the chance to remedy this customer service disaster. No response, no apology, nothing. If this is how seriously they take their customer service, you should find somewhere else to give your business. Sad that I'm forced to do the same.

I had the southern fried chicken. I loved it. My favorite of all-time side was rice and beans. The fried okra was crisp and tender, no slime and not limp. We also had crab cakes, shrimp ( great sauce, spicy but not too hot). Great slaw. I have no reservations about recommending Vivian’s. We appreciated the carry-out window.

We stopped in for lunch over the Memorial Day weekend and had their delicious fried chicken, red beans & rice, and collard greens. Everything was well prepared and the service was great too!

Down home country cooking like Grandma used to make! We had meatloaf, fried chicken, short ribs and shrimp, with sides of baked mac n cheese, mashed potatoes, fries, candied yams and corn bread. A bit of a wait to get our order, but SO worth it!!!!