Tell me about Kona

[jjarman]

We are scheduled to be in the world 1/28/12 through 2/4/12. We have all our ADRs done and our last night there we had Planet Hollywood or San Angel Inn with ADRs. We were able to get two reservations at once because we actually have two reservations but we were cancelling one later. I got to looking at the dining plan brochure and Planet Hollywood is not listed and San Angel Inn was not on there yet either. The family really wants Planet Hollywood but I am thinking it will not be on the dining plan so we needed something as a fall back. I booked Kona. I have never eaten there and wanted to know how good is it? What are the things we must eat?

 

[slduck]

The tuna is great! I also love the choc. torte (like a a volcano cake)

 

[jjarman]

The tuna is great! I also love the choc. torte (like a a volcano cake)

Yum. I don't like tuna but the desserts were something we looked at. The pinapple upside down cake looked good.

 

[B-Ride]

I always get the Teriyaki-style New York Strip. Love it. The bread with Macadamia nut butter is amazing.

 

[Cat0727]

I love their chicken in peanut sauce and the chocolate cake. And of course the BREAD!

 

[natebenma]

Here's the review I posted in my trip report from our dinner at Kona in July.

We arrived around 15 or 20 minutes before our reservation. In fact, Kona wasn’t even open yet. So we explored a little around the Polynesian Resort.

When we first walked into the Grand Ceremonial House, we stopped at the railing to look down at the beautiful fountain. Then I looked straight across and gasped! I had never noticed before that you can see the castle from there!!!

So cool!


We have been here a few times before- several mornings for breakfast at Kona, one dinner at Kona and one dinner at ‘Ohana. I stayed behind last July by myself and watched the Electric Water Parade (Pagent) and the Nightastic Fireworks.

Since the guys did not stay with me last year when I watched the fireworks from the beach, they did not see the really cool volcano pool, so we started out by taking a walk out that way. There was someone at the entrance to the pool checking room keys and handing out bracelets. I didn’t want to ask him if it was ok if we just crossed over to the beach, so we turned around and went back into the building.

It was time for dinner!

Our waiter, Maykel, was excellent. We were joking around, telling him how much we love eating at Kona and that we were really looking forward to some Tonga Toast and Macadamia Pineapple pancakes. He smiled and said we would have to wait a few hours for that.

He took our drink orders, brought over the delicious Hawaiian sweet bread and Macadamia butter and took a picture of us.

We looked at the menu and found that there were so many things that we wanted to try. Fortunately, they had a “Kona Experience” offering allowing us to choose an appetizer, entrée and dessert from a selection of menu items, so Mark and I decided to go with that.

Mark chose the Potstickers, Pan Asian Noodles with Shrimp and Pineapple Upsidedown Cake. The potstickers were for Ben, so Mark ordered the Tempura Shrimp Sushi as well.

Pan Asian Noodles - Asian egg noodles with sliced chicken, pineapple, seasonal vegetables, and a housemade sweet and sour sauce

Pineapple Upside Down Cake - with Lemongrass and Caramel Sauces

I ordered the Shrimp and Coconut Curry Soup, Coconut Almond Chicken and Kilauea Torte

Coconut Almond Chicken - sauteed chicken breast served with Asian greens tossed with honey-lime dressing, golden pineapple, strawberries, and toasted almonds

Kilauea Torte - An explosion of warm liquid Chocolate inside Chocolate Cookie Volcano

Nate ordered the Ribeye and Banana Chocolate Crème Brulee and Ben ordered the Pan Asian Noodles with Chicken with the ice cream sundae.

Banana-Chocolate Creme Brulee - with a chocolate spiral

I actually suggested that Mark and Ben split one of the Pan Asian Noodle dinners instead of ordering two since we had so much food coming, but neither one of them really liked that idea.

The food was amazing!

But there was WAY too much!!! I don’t think any of us finished our entrees or desserts! It was a shame to leave what we did on our plates, but there was no way we could comfortably finish what was there.

We paid our bill and went out to catch the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom.

 

[Hopefully]

We are scheduled to be in the world 1/28/12 through 2/4/12. We have all our ADRs done and our last night there we had Planet Hollywood or San Angel Inn with ADRs. We were able to get two reservations at once because we actually have two reservations but we were cancelling one later. I got to looking at the dining plan brochure and Planet Hollywood is not listed and San Angel Inn was not on there yet either. The family really wants Planet Hollywood but I am thinking it will not be on the dining plan so we needed something as a fall back. I booked Kona. I have never eaten there and wanted to know how good is it? What are the things we must eat?

Nice Pictures Natebenna, Thanks
OP, If I read your post correctly, you now have 3 ADR's for the same evening. Am I wrong? When do you plan on cancelling the ones you will not use? Other families are trying for one ADR.
We like Kona too

 

[Darkside]

The pictures are making me drool. Kona is our families favorite restaurant. We eat there every year.

 

[jjarman]

Thanks so much for the review and the pictures. I think I am going to do all I can to make sure we eat there out last night.

As far as the multiple ADRs, I have 2, one for Kona and one for Planet Hollywood. I will cancel one once I know for sure if Planet Hollywood is on the dining plan or not. I guess that will be after the first of the year.

 

[MrsLS]

Kona is very good. We go almost every trip, never had a bad meal and the servers are always great. I don't have a favorite dish, but we've tried the fish of the day, tuna, porkchop, asian noodle stir fry and some others and they have all been very good. The sticky wing app is good. We also lately have been getting sushi as an app which is very good too. Its one of my and my DH's favorite in Disney.

 

[wish*i*was*in*the*vi]

We never miss a chance to eat at Kona, it's one of our favorite restaurants at WDW and it's never a disappointment. We leave for Disney 2 weeks from tomorrow and I can't wait to eat a couple meals (or more) there. We've never eaten lunch there but their breakfast and dinner are wonderful!

 

[tigger175]

I would definately pick Kona. We ate there every year. Kids love it too.
Tuna, steaks, crab cake, and sushi are our favorites - great desserts too.

 

[pixarmom]

Kona is a seriously good restaurant. (As usual, great photos and report, natebenma!) I'm not a fan of Planet Hollywood (and it's available elsewhere.) San Angel does have benefits (we have an ADR there in April) but for food quality alone, I'd pick Kona.

 

[T1nkerBell]

We had dinner at Kona on our first day (8/19/11). All three of us enjoyed the food. It was fabulous. People rightly rave about the Hawaiian bread and nutbutter, and we loved our entrees (strip steak, ribeye and noodles).

We had a less than stellar seating, though, which took some away from our experience. If you at all can influence the seating, I suggest avoiding seats right at the entrance of the restaurant. We felt "outside" the restaurant and somewhat bothered by the throng of people waiting to enter.