Although it only charted at number 120 on the Billboard 200, Apollo Kids received universal acclaim from music critics, who praised its gritty aesthetic and Ghostface Killah's unfiltered rapping.

[6] Entertainment Weekly's Simon Vozick-Levinson viewed it as a timeless addition to Ghostface's catalogue and complimented its "jittery pulp fiction and zany free-associative zingers over scratchy soul, funk, and rock samples".

[13] David Amidon of PopMatters stated "it feels like a work of boundless energy", but is, "essentially, the safest and most accessible album yet from Ghostface Killah, often hinting at the associative insanity he’s capable of without ever fully taking us there".

[11] Pitchfork Media's Ian Cohen noted a "lack of any sort of organizational principle" and commented that "basically arbitrary sequencing never allows too much momentum to build", but commended Ghostface's "harried intensity" and stated "he's still an incredibly ostentatious lyricist, just one that's easier to parse".

[10] MSN Music's Robert Christgau gave the album a three-star honorable mention,[20] indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure.