Sarah S.
Yelp
All five of these stars are for the bartender David J who served us when we were here for my wife's birthday last month.
We were staying at the Swan in preparation for my wife's Skyliner birthday bar crawl the next day. After having a big dinner, we stopped in to Kimonos to have some after-dinner drinks. We also thought we would see some karaoke, but (fortunately?) it didn't start until 9:30pm.
We ordered a couple drinks off the menu from David, the bartender. I got the Chai Espresso Martini, which was good. David gave my wife with a mochi birthday surprise. We were having a great time, so we wanted to stay for another drink, but didn't feel particularly inspired by anything on the cocktail menu. Sensing our hesitation, David asked us both about what kind of drinks we like and made us custom cocktails, which were still very much in theme to the restaurant. Seriously, I think this guy should be in charge of the cocktail menu because his creations were way more interesting than what was there.
For me, he made a Roku gin-based drink with negori sake, sakura powder, yuzu bitters, and soda water. If that had been on the menu, I would have ordered it in a heartbeat. For my wife, he made a bourbon-based "umami bomb" which she loved. If I see David behind the bar again, I will surely stop in.