Kona Grill - Riverton

"I'm really bummed to leave a poor review for Kona Grill. Expectations were high going in. The building, atmosphere, their photos look amazing. Unfortunately the rest of the visit wasn't great. In short: building is beautiful, food was bland and the quality did not meet the price tag. They did seat us fast which was nice, however we tried to come once before and it was a 1hr+ wait. Once they sat us we were greeted by our waiter who gave us our menus. He was awkward and didn't explain much. The menu was overwhelming with so many different types of food it was hard to try and find something because of so many different options. When we asked about certain items the waiter was a little weary about recommending certain items which set an interesting tone and uncertainty about what we were ordering. We ordered the avocado rolls for a starter, a filet with mashed potatoes, and the wagyu with "crispy garlic potatoes". Avocado rolls were pretty decent. Best thing we ate at the restaurant actually. There was a lot of avocado inside though so it was almost hard to eat. The filet was ordered medium and came out fairly dry. The mashed potatoes were not good. We questioned if they were made with instant potatoes. After a few bites they went untouched the rest of the meal. The wagyu was brought out and finished with a torch to melt the butter in top. Cool display but the taste was sub par for wagyu. Now these crispy garlic potatoes.. oh boy.. yeah they just bring out fries with garlic on them. Technically they were correct in the description. They were crispy potatoes with garlic. But please just call them fries. That was pretty deceiving lol. We paid on the kiosk as fast as we could to leave. I don't recommend Kona based off of what we ate. Are there other items that might be great, sure! Can't judge a book by one chapter. But this chapter is going to hold us back from reading for a long time. Unfortunately I regret paying what I did for that meal."

"Just tried Kona for the first time and it was DELICIOUS! They made me feel so special for my birthday. Andrea was an amazing waitress and RaMario, the chef, did a fantastic job! I loved the chicken pad Thai - it might just be the best I’ve ever had. My dad got the fillet with “surf and turf” lobster topping which he loved. The butter cake with icecream and cheesecake were so delicious as well!"

"Walked by and saw their ad for Happy Hour discounts and decided it was a good time to give this place a try. The restaurant was pretty and had a great atmosphere. I'm usually really positive in my reviews but we were disappointed and confused by our experience. The server was odd. While we were looking at the menu, she came up and asked if there were any allergies, which was great, but then when she talked about the menu she pulled a chair out and put her foot on it to do something with her shoe while still talking to us, which didn't seem professional or sanitary. Then after we ordered, the server seemed very focused on up-selling us at every turn. We ordered some happy hour things. The quality varied quite a bit between the dishes. The BBQ flatbread was kind of messily assembled, the chicken was dry, and everything was over salted. We didn't see our server again most of the time. Someone else refilled our drinks, someone else brought our food out, and then we waited a long time to be able to ask for our check. The restaurant only had one other table with guests and the servers were chatting at the bar. Overall the service was poor and the food was on par with a standard diner. Not worth more than the happy hour prices we paid and I'm glad we didn't count on this for a nice night out."

"First off, this place was way fancier than I was expecting. Definitely date night worthy. They have a large menu with lots of variety. The appetizers were crazy good, especially the Avocado Egg Rolls. I wanted something a bit lighter, so I got the Asian Salad, which was kind of disappointing. It was really just a bowl full of the same salad/lettuce they used to garnish the appetizers. They have old fashion soda, that you can make boozy or even turn into a float which is a really nice touch. I definitely want to come back and try out more of the menu options."

"We made a reservation and were seated immediately. The food came out quickly and we had the perfect amount of time to eat our appetizer before the main dishes came out. The kids meal was super cute and definitely worth the price. There’s not much calamari to justify the price and it was a little oily. The burger wasn’t bad, but the fries were tough and a little cold. The surf and turf was also ridiculously overpriced. It tasted good, but for almost $50 it would be nice to have two sides. The bathroom situation was also interesting; there’s no men’s and women’s, just the stalls. I’m a small person and had to squeeze around the door to get into the room. The ambiance was super cool though — there was an aquarium and the music was fun. The servers were super nice and very knowledgeable about the menu."