Kona Grill - Columbus — Restaurant in Columbus

High heels, high prices, and low flavor follow-through.

When you walk into Kona Grill, you’re immediately struck by the atmosphere. Giant glowing blue wall? Check. Fancy chandeliers dangling like they’re auditioning for The Bachelor: Light Fixture Edition? Absolutely. Second-floor seating, sleek bar, moody lighting — it’s giving upscale sushi runway.

But then… you look down. First thing we saw? Trash on the floor. Nothing says “welcome to high-end dining” like rogue napkins and floor confetti.

Despite the messy first impression, our hostess was a total gem and kindly moved us to the patio after I mentioned I was cold inside. The outdoor heaters were a solid touch — cozy, warm, and a rare Easton win. So far, vibes: 7/10. Cleanliness: needs a mop and a prayer.

🍶 The Sips and Bites: Sake Flight: Honestly delightful! A great way to taste a variety of sakes and feel just a little bit sophisticated. This was a highlight — flavorful, smooth, and fun. Five stars for the idea and the experience.

Macadamia Nut Chicken ($35) This dish tried to enter with main character energy, but stumbled in like a background actor with no lines. It arrived stacked like a Pinterest fail: hockey puck-shaped potatoes, chicken slapped on top, and a pool of sweet mango-apple(?) sauce to the side. The chicken was juicy, but it wasn’t $35 juicy. The green beans were decent—coated in sweet chili sauce—but not mind-blowing.

Sushi & Salad Platter: ($23) Presentation was clunky. Salad and sushi on the same tray made us feel like we were at a hibachi buffet in a hurry. We would’ve appreciated the salad in a separate bowl — maybe something chilled and charming, instead of "Oops, your lettuce touched your tuna."

Soy Sauce Saga: Our server kindly poured it for us — but once it was gone, so were our dreams. No bottle on the table? In a sushi restaurant? That's like going to a steakhouse and being told “you get two bites of A1 and then the rest is just vibes.”

✅ Pros: -Gorgeous setting (until you look down). -Wonderful and friendly hostess. -Patio heaters = elite touch. -Sake flight = a very fun experience!

❌ Cons: -Trash on the floor at entrance. Big yikes. -Overpriced dishes with gaudy presentation and meh flavor. -Sushi + salad plating felt rushed and mismatched. -No soy sauce on the table? Unforgivable sushi sin. -Style substance — too much sparkle, not enough soul.

🍣 Final Take: Kona Grill is a classic case of style over substance. It looks like a five-star experience but delivers more of a three-star "Easton flex." The cocktails and sake are worth a visit, and the service was kind — but the food needs to catch up with the chandeliers.

It doesn’t take much to elevate the experience: clean the floors, rethink the plating, and let guests control their soy sauce destiny. We don’t need glam. We need good.

Fix the fundamentals and we’d be back for another round of sake and sushi. Until then? We’re swiping left on this one.

Sincerely and sassily, KandG 🥢🍶

(Columbus’ chaotic culinary truth-tellers — here to eat the pretty lies and roast them...

We had a reservation for a party of 9 for a birthday. We were seated and the server introduced herself to us. She brought us water and took the drink orders. About 20 minutes later we still had not received the drinks from the bar (the restaurant had about 10 tables sat at this point with at least three servers). So one of our party members goes to the bar (because our server had not been back) and the drinks were ready and sitting there, so the bartender took the drinks to the table. The server came to the table at this point and takes our food order (we each got an entree and ordered 4 apps for the table) along with the drink order for a party member who was running late (she ordered a glass of Wine). This was the last time the server was at our table. We saw the wine get poured about 10 minutes later and it was sitting at the bar. About 10 minutes after that, the same member of our party went to the bar to ask for the glass of wine, which was handed to him and he brought it back to the table. After close to an hour on waiting for food, the same person in our party that was getting our drinks at the bar went to the manager to see what was going on, no explanation was given and they brought out 1 app of pretzel bites and said the rest would be out soon. Nothing else came. Our server never came back to the table and appeared to be actively avoiding us. The table next to us had similar issues and told us about what a terrible experience they had and they would not return, We waited about 15 minutes more and after almost 2 hours of being at the reservation with just one app and poor table service, we asked that the manager to cancel our order and asked for the check for the drinks. Half of our party works in the service industry and we are all aware how difficult service industry work is, but the entire experience was just ridiculous. There are ways to handle a backed up kitchen and ignoring your table is not one of them. The manager apologized and just told us to just go ahead and leave and to not worry about the drinks, so we did. We went next door and got tacos at Condados (which had amazing food and service). This restaurant has potential to be great, but this experience was extremely disappointing and honestly makes us not want to go back. The experience put a huge damper on celebrating our friends birthday which is not what anyone would want. Kona Grill definitely has some things to work on to make it a great place people would want to...

We stopped in Kona Grill for lunch this Saturday after the prior restaurant we tried had a 25-30 minute wait. There was no wait at Kona and their menu looked appetizing though pricey, but we figured that was expected for an establishment for Easton.

The good: Nice atmosphere overall. The water vapor light thing near the entrance is really cool. No wait to be seated. Everyone was nice. French fries were deliciously crispy, the best part of our experience.

The bad: The table next to ours was messy throughout most of our visit. It took away from the atmosphere some. Service was very slow despite the place not being busy. Server didn't note down our orders and two of the three came out incorrect: One was supposed to be a cheeseburger with no veggies and it came out as a no-bun lettuce-wrapped burger with onions. My Kona stir fry with fried rice and came out with steamed rice. I had no fork for my entree. I took my sister's since she ordered a burger. Food quality and portions left a lot to be desired: My stir fry was such poor quality I'm positive it was made from frozen. The chunks of chicken were dry and hard. It was edible, but was not worth the price. My niece's California roll, which I sampled two of the pieces after she didn't want to finish it, was poorer quality than you can get at a grocery store. Again, not worth the price. Server asked which soy sauce to bring for the roll, and then didn't bring any. We had to ask another server. The sweet potato fries my niece ordered was a laughably small portion for the price. The corrected burger didn't come out until two of us had already finished eating. The burger meat was grey throughout. My $9 Cream Soda was a single 12-ounce bottle poured into a warm glass. I expected way more for the price. For $2.75 at BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse, you can get their hand-crafted cream soda and it comes out in a giant mug. The fried rice I'd ordered for my stir fry came out as a side dish after I was done eating. They also put it on the bill as an add-on. Anywhere else you go, the option of "steamed or fried rice" doesn't result in a $9 upcharge. The fried rice tasted bad. It had an overwhelming ginger flavor which I've never experienced with fried rice before, and we had to send it back.

Overall a very disappointing experience. We will...