Kona Grill in Oak Brook

Although large chain restaurants are not normally my thing nor the subject of much comment on this board, I think I will have to go for the sake of my family. If any one has been to the Oak Brook (or possibly Lombard) location, I would love a report. I think it is basically a steakhouse with possibly Disneyan asiain overtones,

Thank You

babaluch

I've only been to the Indianapolis Kona Grill a fair amount of times when visiting family. I would flip what you characterized it...it was basically an asian place (noodle dishes, sushi) with a couple of steak dishes. I usually go for very basic sushi and sashimi, but BF had a filet there and some wasabi mashed potatos last time we were in Indy visiting. He said the quality and tenderness of the steak was surprisingly good. While not the best restaurant I've eaten in, it's certainly not the worst and you can get a decent meal there even though it wasn't your choice.

Their Chicago-area locations are in Oak Brook and Lincolnshire.

If you're curious about their menu offerings, you can check out the menu on their website at http://www.konagrill.com/

I'll second greygardens opinion on Kona Grill. There are some decent choices on their menu like the Macadamia Nut Chicken, and Basil Pesto Linguine. The sushi isn't Katsu, but it's good for a chain.
What we enjoy is their happy hour Monday-Friday 3-7. They've got a nice patio with a fireplace that doesn't overlook a parking lot. We usually split a Sake Bomber, which is a 22oz Kirin beer and a small carafe of sake. My wife likes the sake and I'll drink the beer. Not bad for about $5.00. All of the appetizers, pizzas and some of the sushi rolls are half price. It's the best happy hour I've found up north and if you're out late they have a reverse happy hour starting a couple hours before closing

Kona Grill
940 Milwaukee Ave
Lincolnshire, IL 60069
847-955-1210

nsxtasy wrote:Their Chicago-area locations are in Oak Brook and Lincolnshire.

If you're curious about their menu offerings, you can check out the menu on their website at http://www.konagrill.com/

We went to their Lincolnshire location tonight. This was our first time at any of their locations.

Atmosphere and service were good, no complaints. The sinks in the restrooms were an interesting cascading granite rather than the usual bowl. We encountered a few oddities: When we arrived after dark at 5:30 pm, the sign was not lit up, so it would be difficult to find (or even notice) if you didn't know it was there. One member of our party received an outdated menu that did not have a few selections that were on the other menus. One coffee arrived in a cracked cup. Nothing major, just odd stuff.

Here's what the four of us had, and how we would rate it:

Appetizers:

- Potstickers - very bland, the Chinese place in your neighborhood probably does a better job - not terrible, just not all that tasty (ditto for the sauce)

- Avocado Egg Roll - also very bland - again, not terrible, just not all that tasty (ditto for the sauce)

- Sweet Maui Onion Rings with seared pineapple chipotle ketchup - these get points for creativity. They take extra large onions, and instead of slicing them into rings, they cut them in half and only use the few outer layers. Think of taking the skin off a softball, keeping the spherical shape, and cutting it in half, and that's about what we're talking about. Taste was only average compared with onion rings elsewhere, though. The "ketchup" was only mildly different from Heinz.

Entrees:

- Baked Seabass - the fish was outstanding. Very buttery tasting. The accompanying shrimp & pork Island rice was not very good (the pork was awful, the shrimp had no flavor) and the Szechwan string beans were spicy (good) but almost raw (bad).

- Sweet-Chili Glazed Salmon - again, the fish was outstanding. There's a certain flavor that some places give to grilled items, with a very thin sort of char crust, that I love, and that's how they did the salmon. Same story with the shrimp and pork Island rice as noted above.

- Macadamia Nut Chicken - this was excellent also. The cheddar mashed potatoes were good and (fortunately) not very cheesy.

Dessert:

- Key Lime Pie - this was very good, if you like the style they used, i.e. very creamy with only a very mild lime flavor. If you like a lot more lime flavor, you might be disappointed.

With one drink apiece, the check came to $41 per person including tax and tip. (Appetizers were NOT half price.)

All in all, we had an enjoyable time primarily because we enjoy getting together with our friends. As you can see, the entrees were very good, the accompaniments and appetizers were not so good. We wouldn't choose to go back - there are many other places that do better - but if we found ourselves going back as a result of someone else's choice, we would go, knowing we would find some foods that we enjoy.

FYI, the appetizers/drinks are only on happy hour special if you sit in the bar (smoking) section.

I've been to the Kona Grill in Lincolnshire a few times, and although I wasn't overly impressed, my meals have still been good. I've had the tuna wasabi appetizer, which is basically sashimi tuna with some sort of wasabi sauce on it, and the sweet maui onion rings, which were described as well as I could by someone above. The sushi was decent, my only complaints would be the price (it's REALLY expensive compared to other area sushi places) and the rice kind of fell apart the first time I went there.

Their drinks are ok, pretty pricey but decent, they have appletinis, sake, and cosmos on special for $5 (I think??) during the happy hours.

All in all, Kona Grill is okay, but as far as the Lincolnshire location goes, I would prefer to go to Simon Lin's over Kona for the same price-- and for more creative sushi.

I think my mom and I are headed here tonight....I'll fill you guys in on how it is. Unless anybody has any last minute warnings for us.

A bit of an outdated opinion, but my wife and visited the location in Lombard several months after it opened, perhaps 3 years ago (not entirely sure when it opened). We were hoping to get some drinks and sushi/appetizers. Our overall take away was that everything was overpriced and shockingly bland, particularly based on the menu descriptions which had us both fairly optimistic, but left us disappointed.

At the time we remarked that the seafood restaurant to the East (Tin Fish perhaps), which has since closed, was a far better option all around.

KSeecs wrote:At the time we remarked that the seafood restaurant to the East (Tin Fish perhaps), which has since closed, was a far better option all around.

Yes, Tin Fish's location in Oakbrook Terrace closed a couple of years ago. Fortunately, if you're interested in seafood, that area has two of the very best seafood restaurants in the Chicago area: Parker's in Downers Grove, and Reel Club in the mall in Oak Brook.

I have not been back to any Kona Grill location since my post above, four years ago. As I said there, we had a good time primarily because we enjoyed spending the time with friends.

My mother and I did indeed visit Kona Grill last night and we were actually pleasantly surprised with our meal (although we headed in with rather low expectations)

Our waitress was cute and friendly and the bar was hopping at 5:30 pm with happy hour guests, though the restaurant itself was more lively when we left after 7pm.

We started with a simple salmon sushi roll ($5.75) to split between us. The roll featured acceptably fresh fish, cucumber, avocado and carrot rolled in a little too much rice and sprinkled with a few sesame seeds. It was simple if not spectacular and we do intend to go back and try more of the sushi. Perhaps some sashimi or maybe their signature rolls.

I had a grilled rainbow trout entree with pineapple salsa, broccolini and jasmine rice. The trout was beautifully cooked, slightly crisp at the edges, but tender throughout and the salsa complemented the fish very nicely. The broccolini was beautiful, tasty and the serving was generous. My entree was the market price grilled fish, and I really appreciated that our waitress mentioned the price ($19) when she introduced the item. Lots of restaurants tend to not mention the price of market price items and sometimes I feel awkward asking, although I know I shouldn't.

My mother ordered one of their seasonal specials (we asked our waitress how long these would be offered and she checked for us. They will be available until February 1st) - the miso-marinated black cod with green tea soba noodles and shrimp and edamame dumplings in a shiitake mushroom broth ($23). My mom loved her dish and cleaned her plate. The cod was cooked so there was just a hint of pink left, perfect for my mom. The dishes are beautifully plated, and for a chain restaurant, I'm impressed by the variety of options they have on their menu. They definitely have several non-seafood dishes, like the macadamia nut chicken (one of their signature dishes) for those that don't like fish. Our one complaint was that my mom was not given a spoon to drink her broth with, but when we mentioned this, our waitress quickly took care of us.

We didn't try any of their desserts, since none of them really stood out to us, but there are many other dishes on the menu that I would like to try. So next time we are in the area, I foresee another visit.