visiting in again. it has gotten sooo loud there. the wait staff get in a sh*tmood when they cannot here us; then the customer(us) get frustated cuz we cannot here them. friends have had interesting encounters in past too. read more

When we entered the hostess asked us "how many?", and after I responded "two", she pointed behind us and said "there's open seating over there". Even though she didn't appear to be busy, she was apparently too busy to show us to a table. We walked to the other side and passed at least three servers and one bartender, but not one person greeted us or offered to help us find a table. We chose a table and sat down and waited for a server to come take our drink order. No one ever came over. Not even ten minutes later when we stood up to leave. What a complete waste of space. read more

Kong Grill is like a place you go to more because of the hype than anything else. Really let's face it this is one of those restaurants that everything was good at the beginning and like most places with time they started going down hill. The yellow tail sashimi I used to order was thickly sliced and had about six to eight slices. The sashimi you get now is hardly visible because of how thin it is and it only comes with 4 pieces. The sushi rolls are tiny and literally flavorless. This place is ridiculously over priced for the amount of food and the quality you receive. Not to mention the mediocre service I received. Servers are rude and snotty, on top of that they always forget things you ask for. $80 for hardly visible sashimi appetizer, three microscopic rolls that taste like nothing, and 2 ice teas, no thanks I'll pass. Save yourself the feeling of being robbed and go elsewhere that actually appreciates and values their customers! read more

The decor is awesome; however customer service is not very good and the sushi orders come out looking less than mediocre. This is a big problem with El Paso, we get a nice resteraunt and service is horrible. They forget to bring silverware, plates for sushi, sauce you name it they are horrible. Hope El Paso doesn't ruin Kona grills great name. read more

The food is okay, not to die for but it is okay. Especially if you go out in a big party. Only problem besides the prices of some items is how busy it is and it does not help that they are underhanded at times. read more

this has been the worst experience, our waiter was the worse!started off with the wrong drinks then he was never there when we needed him! i just looked at my bank account and they took 15 extra dollars after i had tipped him! will never come back again! worst place ever read more

Went there a couple of weeks ago.Its has a very trendy and appealing decor, much like the other Kona Grills, however this one seems a little more modern than the rest. It's a very nice place to go. The food is good and the prices are a little steep, but you are also paying for the ambience. I was a little disappointed with the Vegas roll, but the salad was awesome. Smoked salmon was excellent. I will be back. read more

Really great atmosphere. I love how we can see the kitchen. We ordered the vegetarian roll, Margherita flatbread, and avocado egg roll. I really enjoyed the avocado roll and vegetarian roll and would come back for it. I could've lived without the flatbread.it was mediocre. I expect a flatbread to be crispy. The service was amazing. If you want to eat here make it a reservations, it'll just make it easier. read more

tables are dirty, wait time is long, atmosphere is not comfortable, but very loud, waitress overcharged us,... read more

The food was good but noticed one of the waitresses was wearing her long hair loose. Pretty sure this was in violation of health standards. Took about 40 minutes to get our order which was a salad and hamburger. read more

Once a month, a bunch of us meet up for lunch at a pre-selected restaurant. In November, it was the Chop House. We liked it so much, we went back to the Chop House in December. In January we were celebrating two birthdays and Kona Grill was the selected restaurant. Our waitress was Janet or Janette. I understand most of the lunch patrons are people in the workforce. But when we walk in holding gift bags, the waitress should know that we are not working (business) people. We are here to enjoy a good lunch, chat a bit, drink a little, and tip big. Unfortunately, our waitress was probably one of the worst servers we've had in quite a while. Each time we needed something, we had to go find her (and I mean each and every time). We each ordered the $19 lunch special which comes with soup or salad, main dish and a brownie. Even though they had cleared our dinner plates, it would take another ten minutes, and only because we had to find the waitress and ask her about it, that we were served the brownies. I barely ate my brownie....too sweet with all that chocolate, caramel and sitting on a bed of white icing. Not only that, it was cold. Needless to say, I've written this restaurant off our list to visit again. Food can be good, but if the service sucks, then it's all for naught. read more

I used the open table app to make reservations for two at 6:15pm. We arrived and the restaurant was fairly busy but not crazy. This is exactly what the two of us ordered. We started by ordering two Hendricks Gin and tonics as our drinks and a Sunshine roll as an appetizer. The roll was very good and came out fairly quickly. Next we had the Tomato bisque soup which also was good. As our entrees we had the Hawaiian Red Snapper and the Miso-sake marinated sea bass. Neither plate we thought was very good considering the price. It just seemed like the plates lacked flavor and the taste that made you want more. The atmosphere of the restaurant was ok if you like a modern look and feel. I personally think if you're going to pay in the $130 range for two people and want really good food I'd suggest going to Landrys or Mesa Street Bar and Grill instead. Plus because I think this is a new restaurant the service was mediocre at best. read more

Kona Grill has the potential to earn 5 stars. The atmosphere is warm, inviting, cosmopolitan and extraordinary. It brings an element to El Paso that goes beyond the look and feel of most eateries. The food is usually beyond palatable and is seldom a disappointment. Besides all this, their happy hour is probably the best in town when you combine price, atmosphere, quality and quantity. That said, this is where their fall from grace occurs. It's all in their service. Their service could use an upgrade. I'm in the business of attracting new concepts to El Paso and I have come to understand the importance of management in any type of business, from mom and pop shops to national chains. Kona Grill lacks in the management department. Walk into any place, from restaurants to retail stores, look at the employees, look at how they serve, look at how they treat customers, do their work, and you'll get a good idea as to the quality of the manager or management team behind them. It took me all of a first round of drinks and the first serving of our appetizer to recognize that the service was lacking in this place. Myself and a friend (2 of us), ordered 4 appetizers and were ready to order our second round of drinks when we noticed our waitress would not even glance in our direction to see if we needed anything else. This went on even after our 4th round of drinks. I can tell you with all honesty, we were not loud, obnoxious or causing any trouble of any kind. Just a couple of friends, attempting to enjoy a night out with drinks, appetizers, and the money to do so. I typically tip 20% and above. I was so disappointed in the waitress, I was tempted to not tip a single dime. My better side took over and I left a 10% tip which my friend/guest, thought was a little too generous given the lack of attention and service we received. We are not overly demanding, and I consider myself very laid back, but the service here was enough to cause me aggravation. It's not the employees fault in my opinion. One look at the manager that night (11/02/2015) told me everything. I could not see where a company the size of Kona Grill would want that person running this place. This is where El Paso suffers a great deal. A restaurant manager for this type of place requires energy, enthusiasm, character, personality and an ability to lead the team and staff to supersede customer expectations. I like this place, and I hope others are less critical than I am, so that the place thrives and remains open in El Paso. That's only a dream, as I realize this place will end up closing up in the next 2 years or less with this level of service. Like I said, 5 stars are possible for this place, but for now, you are a 3 at best but quickly dropping to 2 stars. read more

I celebrated my birthday here last week on our visit to El Paso. I had heard from a few people that the food was great so I thought I'd give it a try. There were 9 of us, and the server was very nice, but not very good. My fiance ordered a "scotch and soda" he received a scotch and sprite. His mother ordered a "rum and diet" and got some sort of flavored rum and diet soda. I've been in the business a long time, servers should know that scotch and soda doesn't mean soda of the servers choosing, it means club soda. And a rum and diet is house rum, and diet soda. And when we asked to have the drinks remade, we received attitude over something that wasn't our fault. We started out with the vegas roll, edamame, pot stickers and spinach dip. They were all really delicious!!! For entrees on one half of the table... We ordered the Kalua pork sliders, which were really good. The ribeye, which I ordered medium rare that came out medium well and room temperature. My friend ordered the macadamia crusted chicken, also delicious if it wasn't cold. Not room temp, not lukewarm, but cold. My sister in law ordered some shrimp pasta which was also cold. The big island meatloaf was not good at all. For dessert, I ordered the butter cake which was dry and crumbly, and stale. All in all, the food had great flavor, but the fact that it was all cold and the server didn't bother to ask if the food was ok, is a definite turn off. I'd be hesitant to go back here, especially with how expensive the food is here. read more

Disappointing. Poor service. She brought one thing at a time and the noodle dish took so long we got it to go. Barely adequate food, had much better quality elsewhere here. The Kona in Dls so much better. read more

Very disappointed in the service. I booked a table for my birthday and as I sit here almost an hour later, i have not been served. First and last time eating here. read more

Went here for a friends dinner. WORST service ever! Took forever to get our drinks and once we did, took forever to get refills. The food was okay, nothing out of the ordinary that I need to get again. Reason I will probably never go here again is service, they took forever for everything! Finally, when we were ready to leave, we had asked for our checks, it took about 30 mins to get them, once we did, it took her another 30 mins to pick them up (which a number of us had to send it back because they had charged us for things that we didn't order) finally after waiting so long we finally decided to get up and pay at the register they had by the kitchen. They had a big group of us paying there because they took so long! I would be embarrassed if I was a manager that their staff couldn't even handle a table food/drink and checks. On top of that way overpriced. $40 for a basic sushi roll and two beers. read more

Disappointing experience at Kona Grill last Saturday evening. Upon arriving at 7:00 pm to a nearly empty restaurant, we were seated by the next to a table set up for 22. It seemed not to make sense to us so we asked if we could be accommodated at another table. We encountered no resistance and were seated in a booth a little further from the large party. There was a consensus among the four of us in our party that the food was middling at best and the salmon portion sizes simply unacceptable even for guests counting their calories. Two orders of entree sized salads were served incorrectly and when they arrived as ordered, fell short of expectations. The decor is very inviting and the outdoor space very nice. The cocktail menu is full of inventive options and the butter cake (dessert) looked great but I passed because we felt like we'd had too much of a good thing already. It's nice to have Kona Grill as a dining option. Judging from the sea of empty tables on a Saturday evening, many people aren't finding the experience compelling enough to make Kona a regular hangout. read more

Besides being cast aside and told we could sit either at the bar or outside, rather than inside at a regular table ( I guess we weren't dressed up to their standards - jeans, casual blouse, closed toe sandals), the food was excellent. We both had the Hawaiian Rib-eye which was absolutely perfect. As for the atmosphere, it was a bit snuffy. As I said, we were not allowed to eat in the dinning room. The guests were as bad as the employees. Some snuffy women and a few snuffy couples snobbed at us, although they weren't dressed much nicer. We were dressed in jeans and casual (not t-shirts as some other guests were). Could be that my husband is Hispanic and all of these people were White. You wouldn't think you'd find that in El Paso, but we seemed to have found it. Could have been that we were the oldest couple there and the only ones with grey/white hair. Whatever the reason, it was rude, racist, discriminatory, and judgmental. Our meal came close to $100 for the two of us, w/o liquor. We will probably be back again, tell ourselves that it was because we didn't have reservations (there were ppl in the dining room dressed no better than us), make reservations next time. But whether we go back after that depends on how we are treated the second time. read more

The only saving grace here was our server, Kevin. He went out of his way to ensure we had a good experience after the idiotic hostess failed to tell anyone we were outside. She might as well be a box of rocks but even that would be better at its job. read more

Highly recommend! Went during happy hour and service was fantastic despite being busy. They have a lot of good happy hour specials and their lettuce wraps are delicious!!! read more

Worst service ever. Long wait, menu items sound better than they taste. All our meal for 4 was served at different times. Asked about happy hour drinks after our meal and decided to order a drink but waitress still charged full price. Won't be returning to this food chain. I will say that the manager did take off the sushi roll for our troubles. She needs to train new staff and expeditors who seem to not know what tabled ordered what. read more

Service was fantastic, great atmosphere as well. Ordered potstickers, tuna roll, and rainbow roll with whole crab rather than the mix (a few bucks extra, but worth it). I was there early evening, pretty packed but no wait. Food came quickly and was perfect. Fish was the best I've had in El Paso (and I'm from Portland, so spoiled when it comes to sushi). Definitely recommend. read more

I took my daughter here for a date day. I ordered the chicken skewers for an appetizer, it was arounf $11 and was only 4 chunks of grilled chicken with some type of weird slaw underneath and two dipping sauces. My daughter ordered the miso soup and cuban sandwich which was really good and a big portion and I had the tuna tower. I was not impressed with it at all. it was just okay. We left with a bill of $51 which I thought was a lot compared to the portion sizes and the okay food...our server was very friendly and did a great job! I wouldn't recommend this place. I only gave it 3 stars because it was clean, service was great and my daughter's food was good. read more

I've been to the Kona Grill in Austin, Scottsdale, and Dallas...unfortunately for some reason, the food is not the same. I've always loved this restaurant but was a bit disappointed with the one here. Hopefully it will improve with time. However, I love the cucumber margaritas!!! read more

Terrible. Waiters stand around talking instead of servicing customers. Ordered the chicken. Again luke warm. Returned it. Took over 20 mins to replace. Manager making excuses about kitchen. Tried to talk to main manager by phone but gave up when he was over 45 mins late to work. read more

Kona Grill is a very trendy and a nice place to bring a date to make an impression. It's a great addition for El Paso especially for the younger crowd! The hostess and bar staff are young and pretty friendly but service is average at best. I happened to stop in on a Wednesday night, business travel, and it's half-price Wine bottle Wednesday! All of their bottles of wine are half-price and what you don't finish they bag and seal and you can take it home or back to your hotel room. So IF you enjoy wine that's not a bad deal. I know other chain restaurants are doing it too so it's nothing special or unique BUT again if you like wine as I do it was nice to get a great bottle of a CA Cab for half-price! I also happened to be here for the last 45 minutes of their daily Happy Hour in the bar where some of their sushi and appetizers are half-price so the $ value is pretty good! I ordered the California and Fiery Shrimp Rolls and they were not bad I'd say above average but the amount of shrimp in that roll was rather puny. The flavor for each roll was again above average but paying the half-price not a bad deal BUT if paying full price I'd probably too pricey for the level of the food and flavor. There has to be better sushi in El Paso BUT I don't know that for sure. I also ordered the Chicken + Pear salad BUT like the sushi order it took quite along time for the food to come to my table. How long should it take for them to build a salad especially on a Weds night! BUT once it arrived the salad was very fresh and flavorful! So IF you want something light or enjoy a great salad I would highly recommend the Chicken + Pear salad...delicious! So will I come back to Kona Grill?...probably especially IF it's a Weds night...enjoy and overall B- because service is nothing special even though my server was young and rather cute BUT that doesn't always get you a great tip...the service does! read more

I went for wine down Wednesday's and had three bottles of wine and tons of food for only 95$. The manager is a bitch though. She saw her ex boyfriend and went crazy. read more

We were accommodated for a party of 7 last minute. The food was good but the service was exceptional! Athan NOT Nathan was our waiter and he was attentive to our needs. He really went above and beyond to make sure we had a good time! Make sure to ask for him. And come on 1/2 wine Wednesday's!! I read more

My sushi was not good. My wife's chicken sandwich was under cooked had to send it back. Better off at PF Changs for Asian food

Friggin awesome! Had the Sea Bass with shrimp fried wild rice and a Moscow Mule... Service was very good and atmosphere a total win!

this is our second time at kona.the service was very good.we ordered two appetizers,the soft shell crab roll,which was delish and very tasty pot stickers,for entrees we ordered the caterpillar roll and fettucini pesto dish,both were delicious!,the caterpillar roll looked too pretty to eat!,but I did!,it was awesome!,for dessert we had the butter cake which was very flavorful,loved the rasberry sauce and ice cream,complimented cake well!,the place was clean,staff was very professional,food was outstanding!,not a crumb went back,but we definitely will !,my only complaint,you need more bathroom stalls,one dose not cut it. read more

Didn't have to wait. Food was good, sushi was good. The restaurant itself is really nice.

Food was good, but the service was soooo slow. The place was busy, but not packed and there were still plenty of empty tables. More staff than I could count were on duty, so I don't know why they were so slow. Unfortunately, our server (Jacob) still needed more training and/or experience to live up to the potential of this establishment. Seemed like a nice enough guy, just not too quick or attentive. The manager (I believe) looked like he was working hard in the kitchen area trying to get food out, but perhaps he should have been paying more attention to how is customers were being taken care of. If this place can get their act together in the customer service department, they could reach 5 stars. Until them, they're just ok... read more

Eh took forever to get a burger and a sushi roll. My nigiri appeared shriveled they were tiny and dry. Pickled wasabi was good but after 1 time being ignored for seating this time not crowded yet took way too long to receive our order it was my last visit. read more

Very good experience. Sushi was good and the music was enjoyable without being too overbearing.

First time we ever went to this place. It was mentioned to us by some people. Bad experience as soon as you walked in the door. The Hostess were rude, said we are only sitting reservations and you can go sit over by the bar if there is seats open. Very rude and bad attitude. We found a table and sat down. About 15 minutes later a waitress gave us menus and asked for our drink order. There was a lot of waiters and waitresses running around. We got tea and about another 15 minutes or longer we got fed up and told the waitresses we were going to pay for our tea and leave and she became very apologetic and we said no we were leaving and asked for our bill for the drinks. about 15 to 20 minutes past and she walked by and said don't worry about it so we left. AWFUL experience from the time you walked in the door. read more

We have been regulars at Kona, El Paso, for many, many months on Sundays for an after church lunch. We had a few issues now and the and had to have food heated or cooked more. We loved it. Yesterday, Sunday, 10-09-2016, we arrived about noon. We have a favorite waiter as well. He's great! It was really an off/bad day. We ordered 2 battered shrimp bowls. One was warm and one was cold. They heated it for us. A little later, I took a bite - then spit it out as it had a long hair in it. They took one off the bill, and gave us our favorite dessert. We kept a pleasant attitude. My youngest daughter had a chicken sandwich and a salad. She ordered it well-done. I thought it looked too pink in the middle, but she ate half and the salad. Literally in about 20 minutes, she was vomiting big-time. As, I was leaving, the manager (one we had not seen before), was carrying a bowl of soup to another customer. Generally, the manager takes food (to customers) when there is an issue, so he can talk to the customer. So, it appeared as if others were having food issues as well. We don't know if there was a new chef, manager, or what happened. My daughter vomited for quite some time. We had food poisoning years ago, and this is what occurred at that time. Almost immediate vomiting. None of us were ill at all. We were anxious to go, and felt good prior to this experience. We really think food must have been sitting out, undercooked, frozen and removed from a freezer too early - or something of that nature. Truly, it was not very busy at that time either. We need to try to go on their website about this eventful day! We are concerned about their food safety, and hope this is not the start of it going downhill. Thank you. read more

Nice atmosphere, bulgogi tacos were alright but the SUSHI was TERRIBLE the worst I've had in town.

Looks good but food had no taste ! Staff took forever to take our Oder. We will not be coming back.