By Let’s venture out to Katy, shall we?
That’s where ROKO Grill restaurant is located. ROKO dubs itself as a fast casual restaurant fusing South American flavors with traditional BBQ. It was established in 2017 and is family-owned and operated. We like the sound of all of that.
We visited on a Saturday morning, right when they opened, and immediately liked the outside appearance – very colorful! Which is good because it’s a small restaurant in a strip center, but the colors let you know you’re in the right place.
The inside is also cozy and inviting and there’s even a swing seat. Yup, an actual swing, but sit at your own risk. The maximum capacity is displayed, but there’s not a lot of butt room. Basically, the swing seat is for kids, so let them have it, adults!
Also, if you care, there was a plethora of Adele covers being played in the background. If you’re like Val, that’s a thumbs-up.
We asked the cashier what the most popular menu item is … it’s the ROKO burger: two angus beef patties, two slices of American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, banana peppers and ROKO sauce.
We’d also been eyeing the heart attack fries (the pictures had been swirling all over social media). After a bit of convo, we decided on the heart attack fries (waffle fries with chicken, bacon, BBQ sauce, cilantro sauce and chives) and the ROKO sliders, which include minis of the ROKO burger, ROKO oink sandwich (chopped fried pork, pickled onions, tomato and mustard) and ROKO buffalo sandwich (chopped chicken, lettuce, pickled onions, buffalo sauce and blue cheese).
Verdict
Everything was up to par. Did we mention that all diners get complimentary fried pork rinds (or chicharrones)? So fresh, you can still hear the “crackle” at the table. If you’re a fan of pork rinds, you’ll love these.
Now the heart attack fries – we’re fans of sticking meat and sauce in between waffle fries (think our affinity for Waffle Bus). These didn’t disappoint. You can pick your protein of choice – we chose chicken. They also offer beef, pork and sausage. As we mentioned, we’re fans of sauce, so in full disclosure purposes, we added some of the garlic sauce (ahem, crack sauce) to the fries and that turned them from good to great in our opinion.
On to the sliders – that delicious garlic sauce that looks like mayonnaise, but isn’t, made its way to the top of our our buffalo sandwich as well. This sandwich was tasty – blue cheese was just potent enough to offset the spicy buffalo chicken and sweetness of the pickled onions. ROKO also has a homemade BBQ sauce, which we added to our ROKO burger and oink sandwich. Let’s start with the burger – it was in fact, very good. We see why it’s the restaurant’s best-seller. It’s in the beef – tasted natural and just plain good. If you’re into pulled pork sandwiches, then the oink is for you. The pork also had a good flavor (ROKO does well with its meats) and the BBQ sauce we added really worked wonders.
Would we return? Sure. If for no other reason than to try full-size options of the ROKO burger and for that delicious garlic sauce – yum!
ROKO Grill is located at 406 W. Grand Parkway S. Ste. #340, Katy, Texas 77494.
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