Girls Night at Kona Grill

Danielle and I were next door neighbors for years who officially met when we were in high school. I was a senior who managed to keep locking herself out of her house and she was the freshman who always came to my rescue. We’ve always had a bit of a big sister little sister relationship throughout the years however she continues to rescue ME when I find myself in sticky situations and I need her expertise like THIS time when I convinced myself that I needed a change at home and she ended up painting my whole living room for me while I was at work :/

So when Kona Grill invited me in to check out their Orange County location I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to thank my little big sister for her years of friendship and support in the frame of our own girls night.

The first thing that I noticed about Kona Grill was the aesthetic. I’m the kind of girl who has to have both great aesthetic as well as great food to really enjoy a dining experience. There are those folks who enjoy going to that “hole in the wall” because the menu is authentic, but I rarely enjoy those kinds of outings because for me dining is both an experience in taste and visual. I’ll admit I can be a bit of a snob when it comes to that kind of stuff, but I like what I like.

Kona Grill is what I like to call a sushi and more restaurant. The front of their menu has all of their sushi rolls while the back of their menu has their hot dishes.

To begin the night we started with an appetizer of calamari. I’ve had many different types of calamari so I know what I like in the dish. I prefer to have both crunchy and chewy pieces throughout and I love a calamari that is seasoned well. Kona Grill didn’t disappoint. It also came with a spicy aioli sauce on the side which really helped to bring out the flavor.

Danielle worked at a steak house for years so she ordered the Kona Churrasco which in her words “was grilled to perfection, they were able to get the steak off the grill in enough time to have the perfect char yet not lose any of the flavoring”.

I opted for the broccoli chicken stir-fry which came on a bed of white rice with carrot, cabbage and crushed pepper flakes throughout. It too, was very flavorful and had hints of both garlic and Sarracha which really kicked it up a notch!

No dinner is complete without a dessert to bring it all together. I’m a pretty simple dessert person, give me a no frills no fuss yellow cake with chocolate icing and I’m happy. Kona Grill had a butter cake on the menu that I’d been eyeing but instead of going for that I asked our server what he recommended. He stated that their key lime pie was actually one of the most popular things on the menu. Again, Danielle having worked at a steak house knew how she liked her key lime pie so she asked all the right questions to get down to whether or not this one would be worth its calories in gold.

and it definitely was! What’s great in a key lime pie is the zest, but a lot of times that can be the most overwhelming thing about it as well. What made this pie perfect was that it balanced out that zest with its macadamia nut crust and fresh whipped cream.

The service was impeccable (so much so that we gushed to the manager about our server) and the food was perfect (we seriously couldn’t stop talking about how well cooked that flank steak was for a more Japanese themed restaurant).

I truly enjoyed my Kona Grill dining experience and it was the perfect girls night for two hard-working friends who still manage to be there for one another throughout the craziness that life can be.