Sour Potatoes

The Kona Grill ~ 3000 1st Ave #184 Denver, Co 80206

For my husband’s recent birthday we paid a visit to The Kona Grill, a trendy place with nice ambiance. It features an open kitchen, a gi-normous fish tank, and a lovely patio. The Kona serves a mix of modern American and Asian cuisine and also has a sushi bar with what I understand is a pretty rockin’ Happy Hour. Our family enjoyed a very nice Chicken Satay appetizer with two very good sauces (a teriyaki and a peanut sauce) and my husband and I had a lovely Moscato wine.

Sadly, everything else about our experience was very, very average. In fact, that is being kind. It was on the low side of average. From the super stylish, teenage hostess who neither spoke nor made eye contact with us (maybe she was in the Witness Protection Program?) to the waiter who knew absolutely nothing about the menu, the service was terrible. I am not kidding, my husband asked the waiter which dry white wines he had and his response was, “I don’t know.”. Then we threw a real curveball at him, we asked which microbrews he had. Apparently, he had some Shrug and Blank Stare on tap. When I returned to the table and asked him another question he pointed to my husband as if to say “You have the floor”. I wish this had been the low point of the evening. I might have been willing to overlook the bad service for an amazing culinary experience but, alas, it was not to be. I had a Thai Noodle Salad with (what I thought were) gorgeous Beef Medallions. The meat was tiny and unfortunately cooked, medium well in the middle and very well done on the edges (it was supposed to be medium rare) and the noodle salad was okay but had a decided fish taste to it. Both Adam and the kids also had disappointing experiences, with Adam’s Ribeye being full of fat in the center and the poor kids who ordered the Mac n’ Cheese off the kids menu and received about 3/4 cup of pasta and no side. Paying the $85 bill was extremely painful given the waiter’s neglect of our table and the poor and inconsistent preparation of the food.

Although, I’d tell my friends to skip the Kona Grill for dinner, you may still want to give that rockin’ Happy Hour a try and let me know how it goes…who knows, maybe they’ll even know what kind of drinks they serve.