RESTAURANT REVIEWS

Finding a great sushi restaurant the fits your individual taste and budget is a gamble at best.  In order to assist you in selecting a Japanese/Sushi restaurant that caters to your preferences, www.Houston-Sushi.com visits and surveys one Japanese restaurant per month.  Using our website, we post a detailed non-biased review of the entire meal.  This provides you, the reader, with an objective appraisal of the entire meal without spending the money or deal with the disappointment of a less-than-favorable experience.

Restaurant Review for February 2007: Kona Grill Restaurant

Restaurant Info: 5061 Westheimer Rd.  Houston, TX 77056   1-713-877-9191  www.konagrill.com

Date/Day Visited: Saturday: February 10th, 2007 

Items Ordered: Salmon Roll, Miso Soup, Seven-Spice Tuna Sashimi Salad, Oriental Salad with Chicken and Roasted Asparagus Salad.  Drinks:  Iced Tea.

Description/Stage of Meal: Meal began with Salmon Roll and Miso Soup (as appetizers).  Second Course: Seven-Spice Tuna Sashimi Salad.  Final Course: Oriental Salad with Chicken and Roasted Asparagus Salad.

The Salmon Roll ($5.00) was worth every penny.  The sushi rice was absolutely perfect.  The rice adhered well to the Salmon and Nori (seaweed) and did not fall apart; Salmon was clearly fresh.  The roll was small-to-medium in size, but an acceptable portion for $5.00.  Equipped with sprouts, cucumber and yamagobo, this 8-pieced roll was worthy of a second order. Kona Grill offers regular and reduced sodium soy sauce, allowing us to temper the flavor to our preferences.

The Miso Soup was excellent.  In our opinion....the best part of the meal.  The taste and texture of the soup was amazing.  Our only complaint - we wished the bowl was larger.

The Seven Spice Sashimi Salad did not contain a sufficient amount of Ponzu sauce and the portion needed to be larger for the cost ($10.75).  Although the Tuna was clearly fresh, we quickly felt that the lack of Ponzu sauce depreciated the value of the serving.

The Oriental Salad (with Chicken) was ample sized and quite tasty while the Roasted Asparagus Salad was quite impressive.  An additional portion of honey balsamic vinegrette dressing was requested for the Roasted Asparagus Salad.  After the additional portion of dressing was added to the asparagus salad, it was quite satisfying.  Additionally, the Roasted Asparagus Salad large enough to require a 'to-go box.'  One note about the Roasted Asparagus Salad...you must love the taste of onions to enjoy it.  Large portions of white onion slices are added to this salad.

Iced Teas - Bland, watery and poorly brewed.  If the Iced Tea is fresh brewed, it was too weak to be enjoyed.  After drinking a few glasses, we asked for refills, keeping our fingers crossed that a second (or third) serving of Iced Tea would have restored it's flavor.  No such luck.

Parking/Location: Kona Grill is located in the Houston Galleria.  Parking was ample.  Depending on your parking space, you may find yourself parked less than 100 feet from the front doors of this restaurant.  Advice - this restaurant is parked next to the Border's Book Store.  Find the bookstore and you have also found the restaurant.

Service Evaluation: Acceptable.  Our waiter was friendly and willing to assist us.  He visited our table 4 times throughout the meal.

Overall Decor/Atmosphere: Although very clean and attractive, Kona Grill's overall decor is fairly dark and quite busy.  This is not a typical sushi restaurant.  The vast majority of the available seating is a set up of booths and 4-chair tables.  If you are seeking a quiet atmosphere, Kona Grill is not your destination.  If you happen to be shopping in the Galleria and are interested in a satisfying sushi lunch, this restaurant could easily 'fit the bill.'

The entire restaurant is also open to the mall traffic of Galleria shoppers, ensuring that the occupancy is always high.  Given the menu and the nature of the atmosphere, Kona Grill is worth a light lunch or an early dinner...but we recommend that you may wish to consider their other entrees (Steaks and Salads) rather than their sushi if a full blown dinner is your goal.

For a quick sushi lunch, however, two delicious sushi rolls and a bowl of Miso Soup (Miso Soup was $3.75) is worthy of a visit.

Overall Rating (Out of a possible 5): 3.50