Kona Grill - Alpharetta — Restaurant in Alpharetta

This was an unmitigated disaster from the moment we entered the restaurant. I understand sometimes the kitchen is slow, or sometimes the server can be challenging, or sometimes there’s confusion with the bill or sometimes the restaurant has a little wear and tear, but this was everything everywhere all at once (apologies to the movie).

Atmosphere: We arrived with a big group to celebrate a birthday. There were not quite enough seats, but we managed to pull things together and squish a bit. The seat that I was sitting on was torn and really uncomfortable on bare legs with a short skirt. Quite a few other seats were torn as well. The bathroom was also showing some wear and tear. When a restaurant is busy, they should keep the bathroom in good shape, understanding that it will be used frequently. But this one was a bit of a mess. Toilet paper everywhere; they were out of some paper in some stalls. The stalls and the door leading to the bathroom had sticky food marks on them. The bathroom really needs a good scrubbing.

Service: All of that could potentially have been forgiven, if the service was not so slow and confusing. If the kitchen is slow, the server should tell you. If the kitchen is backed up, or out of an item, the server should tell you. But our server arrived, took our order, and then checked on us infrequently. Some food came out, and then we waited 20 to 25 minutes for other food to arrive. I understand when it is a sushi place with lots of appetizers and shared dishes that they can all come out at different times, but we were all finished with our meals and still waiting on somebody’s main dish. When the late food came out, it had clearly been sitting under a warming lamp! So it wasn’t so much that the kitchen was backed up, but rather that our server was really not paying attention to our table.

In fact, the server seemed quite confused on several levels. We asked her for a cider. And she said that she didn’t think that they had any cider. She even said, “we wouldn’t have anything like that.“ We saw it on the menu, so we clarified that we didn't want a hot cider, just an alcoholic cider, and she again insisted that it was not on the menu. So we asked for a menu, and there it was in a big font on the menu. I think servers should know their menus, and that should be a minimum required for waiting tables at a restaurant. If a server does not know the menu, I am very forgiving, as long as the server says, “I’ll check.” Or if a server tells me that they are new new or it is a first day, I am very forgiving and often will leave a larger tip. I also asked for a hot sake, and it came out lukewarm. So I asked her to bring it back, because it was really lukewarm and she brought it back and it was even colder. I did not want to ask her to bring it back a third time! But I did not drink it. It was sort of icky as it was lukewarm… and… so… odd. . The server also told my mother-in-law and sister-in-law that the drink special was really sweet, and not very potent, yet when it arrived, and they tried it, it was not sweet. In fact, it was really boozy. So I feel like the server needs quite an education on the menu.

She also did not check on us. Did not refill our water. We had to flag her down to get the bill. And again, our food came out at various different times. So we just insisted that whoever had food should just start eating it, because clearly the other folks in our party were not getting food soon. The server also described a menu item to my mother-in-law in a way that was not correct, so when the food came out, we told her that this is not what she said it would be, and she said, well, that’s what it is.” It was very odd, and it was my mother-in-law’s birthday, and it was also her food that was late! So just really a...

Great food. Pad Thai was above average, but truly nothing special for a Japanese-American place. The other dish, a rich penne with chicken, was far better, but oh so rich. The pretzel side dish on the menu was described as having mustard and butter. It was dipped in butter, came with a melted butter container, but there was no mustard to be found. ?

The service was ABYSMAL. Absolute letdown, especially for the Avalon. As someone who was a server in an Italian restaurant back in the day, the kids are clearly poorly trained. Nearly every employee serving or food running looked 16, which is fine, but they were not providing the level of service expected of this restaurant and it's fairly high price structure and atmosphere.

We were not greeted by our server for over 10 minutes after being seated. It took an additional 15+ minutes to get out appetizers in. He walked away without taking our entree orders. Then finally came back and took our orders. $14 for a side salad, $17 for full price is ridiculous! A side salad for only $3 less? Come on.

The food did arrive and my pad Thai was a 7.5/10, my wife's dish was 9/10, but the service was so bad. Our server could not be found except for quick water refills, we were mistakenly served THREE TIMES with food for other tables (???), a clearly new server shattered a plate under our table (things happen, but it was icing on the cake for our experience), and I had to flag down our server to provide boxes to go. They had a large number of servers, which is why this lack of service and coordination was puzzling. The servers and food runners need better training, and one server even said something obnoxious to the new kid after he shattered a plate. It was unprofessional and if I had been working at the restaurant, would have chewed him a new one in private after that. Completely uncalled for and not a good look for the restaurant, let alone for the new guys self-esteem.

Also, I booked a reservation using OpenTable. I just received an email saying I was a no-show. I most definitely did show up and spend over $100. Get it together.

We are not sure if we will...

I frequented Kona a lot at least once a week - was in Europe all 2024 so last night I had a friend in town therefore we went. I had an amazing time as usual, food and service was great - I must admit I never paid a bill there before as someone else always picked up the tab😏 last night I paid for myself and just paid the bill - I received a receipt via email and I noted a $2.99 charge for playing games!!! I was shocked of course as my friend and I did not pay any games. I approached the manager - heavy set man, Spanish looking- he graciously explained as I had already closed out my bill it was difficult to deduct it from my bill and it would be a long process to refund me but was happy to compensate me - I advised we were about to leave, he again reiterated that it was a long process for me to get my $2.99 back and he was willing to compensate me accordingly for this mistake - so I said ok we will stay on and you can purchase me what I was drinking a glass of wine, which i think is $9(apologies can’t remember exactly!!!) he refused and said no I will only compensate you for $2.99 - now people there is nothing on their menu that is $2.99 and remember I was ready to leave and he kept saying it was a long process for me to receive my money which they were stealing from me back!!!! I said I want my $2.99 back!!! He then disappeared for 2 minutes, which I appreciated he didn’t take longer to get a paper and pad to take down the details of my receipt including my email. He assured me I would get my $2.99 back, to which as of this morning I confirm I have received back, together with a confirmation email advising that the funds were on their way. I will be returning to Kona and whole heartedly recommend this establishment, however the lesson here is check your bill. I hope this was a honest mistake, if not can you imagine if they do this to every customer who doesn’t check...