Forget the food, go for the beer at Kona Brewing
By Matthew Gray
Advertiser Restaurant Critic
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| Aby Lynn serves up drinks at the new Kona Brewing Co. at Koko Marina. Beer lovers will appreciate Kona Brewing's various ales and lagers, even though the beers are not brewed on site.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser Kona Brewing Co. Koko Marina Shopping Center 7192 Kalaniana'ole Highway 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays 394-5662
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This large space (about 7,000 square feet; 5,000 inside, 2,000 outside) is on the docks of the residential Koko Marina. Full-height windows are retractable to provide an airy atmosphere throughout the restaurant. The outdoor seating allows for views of the boats and the mountains that form Hawai'i Kai's backdrop.
The restaurant seats 275 people (its sister Kona location seats 165) and showcases a state-of-the-art beer delivery system with 24 taps.
This new eatery (in the space once occupied by Akasaka Japanese restaurant) is adorned with 'ohi'a-wood posts, copper-mica light fixtures featuring Kona Brewing's myriad and whimsical beer logos, colorfully painted concrete and lovely koa-wood furnishings. Brewing equipment is used as décor: An old brewing kettle and a retired mash tun have been recycled as exterior signs and to form the exhaust hood for the pizza ovens in the open kitchen.
The brewpub carries all of Kona Brewing's ales and lagers, including several specialty beers and pub exclusives. The beers are not brewed at Koko Marina, though. Not including limited-run beer specials, Kona Brewing offers nine beers. Most of the lighter styles cost $3.60 for a 12-ounce glass and $4.32 for a pint. The three higher-alcohol and bigger-bodied brews cost $4.08 and $4.80, respectively.
I especially enjoyed the Lavaman red ale, a full-bodied style with malty sweetness, with hints of chocolate malt in its finish. The Black Sand porter is a smooth and dark brew with a thicker mouth feel than most beers you may be used to. These darker brews have characteristics that are similar to gutsy, strong coffee, attributable to roasting the malted grain longer. They also have a higher alcohol content.
The menu provides concise descriptions about each beer offered.
As to food, there are hand-tossed pizzas, pupu and sandwiches, salads and desserts made with fresh local ingredients — no entrées of the meat-and-potatoes sort.
Described as being made, in part, from "spent grain" — that is, residue of the brewing process — the pizza dough might win awards for inventive use of ingredients that might otherwise be discarded. However, the finished products were tasteless and without character, lacking the flavor and texture associated with artisanal baking. This is especially important because Kona Brewing offers mainly bread-related foods. Only one out of 11 appetizers, Pele's Fire chicken wings ($6.49), doesn't involve bread, tortillas or tortilla chips.
Case in point: The mac-nut pesto cheese bread ($6.99), topped with macadamia pesto, roasted garlic and mozzarella, sounds fabulous but fell flat. Rather than being based on a genuine focaccia as described on the menu, this bread was a light and airy version of bad French bread. Ditto the garlic twists ($3.25) and cheesy garlic bread ($3.99).
The nachos ($9.99) are said to be a signature pupu but were bland and lifeless. Not a single appetizer we tasted here worked.
The pizza dough and crust suffered a similarly tasteless fate, and the toppings were mediocre at best.
The marinara sauce had such a strong, overpowering oregano flavor that purists who prefer their pizza with just sauce and cheese would have a difficult time enjoying it (regular cheese pizza here costs $8.88 for a small, $10.99 for a medium and $12.99 for the large). The same marinara, unfortunately, was served as a dipping sauce with at least one of the appetizers.
Prices rapidly ascend to higher levels ($15.99, $19.99 and $22.99) for choices such as the Mauna Kea pizza with garlic butter, mozzarella, Parmesan, tomatoes, roasted red pepper and rock shrimp.
The barbecue sauce was not what you'd expect, either: that is, a gooey, sweet, smoky blend with a bit of a bite. Instead, it seemed as though it was prepared with a plain tomato sauce with no barbecue flavor.
Toppings are served with a less-than-generous hand, even though many meat, cheese and vegetable toppings are available. Regardless of what they do in Italy, in this country we expect to have an abundance of toppings on our pizzas. Lay it on, baby.
Sandwiches also were uninspired, for the most part. The barbecue chicken and Canadian bacon sandwich ($9.49) combines pineapple mesquite barbecue sauce, barbecued chicken breast, roasted red peppers, red onions, Canadian bacon and cheddar. It has all the right ingredients, but the sum was less than its parts. Same goes for the Big Wave Golden Ale garlic shrimp melt ($10.99), broiled garlic shrimp topped with roasted garlic, mayo, fresh spinach, Parmesan and mozzarella.
Salads, the only options here for anyone watching their carb intake, lacked perky flavors or textures. Perhaps the dressings need to be revamped.
With all these tasty-sounding ingredients, it's hard to fathom why the food at Kona Brewing Co. doesn't work. Perhaps it's because the breads aren't up to snuff, the pizzas sauces aren't well-prepared and the menu is so limited. I visited three times, twice by day and once at night, when the live music was so uncomfortably loud that conversation was futile. If people wanted to listen to loud music, wouldn't they be going to a nightclub or concert hall instead of a restaurant?
My guess is that beer lovers will appreciate this place to the fullest. But if you're hungry, there are better pizza, sandwiches and salads elsewhere.
Reach Matthew Gray at mgray@honoluluadvertiser.com.
