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| - Bar and grill places at the mall do not excite me. They tend to remind me of a TGI Friday's, no matter how modern and fun they are. Kona Grill, despite being a chain bar and grill at the mall, was a pleasant surprise.
We were looking for a place to watch a World Baseball Classic game, and all bars in Old Town Scottsdale were overflowing with thirsty baseball fans. Fortunately, one of the locals suggested Kona Grill. We parked our rental car in one of the covered garages and went in.
The restaurant looked nice and modern without being pretentious. We decided to sit on the patio, despite the lax smoking laws in Arizona. The weather was perfect, and the covered concrete patio with wrought iron chairs and tables seemed like the place to be. We patiently waited until the Arizona State basketball game was over, and patrons started leaving for greener pastures. We grabbed a huge round table in front of the biggest TV on the patio and sat down. That's pretty much how we spent the next 3 hours.
We ordered just about everything on the menu: mini sliders, onion strings, taco, pasta and a huge plate of sushi. Kona claims that its menu is where East meets West. In reality, it means that you are getting Western food with an Eastern flavor. You don't come here for authentic Asian food; you come here to watch a game with friends and/or have a drink or two.
A word about the staff here. They could not have been friendlier, nicer or more accommodating. The manager showed up with the remote to turn on the game that we wanted. A waiter literally walked me to the bathroom instead of pointing me in the general direction. Our waitress was chatty, funny and super helpful. She talked me out of getting the Thai-Peanut chicken noodles: "Are you sure you know what it is? I wouldn't order it, unless you really like salty peanut butter. 'Cause that's what it tastes like." I ordered the Pad Thai instead, and it was pretty decent. The string onions were pretty good, and the sliders were just average.
We even had a celebrity sighting at the table right behind us. A San Francisco Giants outfielder, let's call him, ummm, Baron Crowand, was enjoying a light dinner at Kona. He was not, however, enjoying the company of his three female friends. In fact, at one point during dinner, we thought he had ditched the women and bolted for the door. That wasn't the case though.
Hey, if this place is good enough for a major league baseball player, it's good enough for me. Above average food + fun and relaxing atmosphere + friendly service = I will be back!
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