With a plethora of poke places in the Greater Los Angeles area, ahipoki bowl was recommended to me from a friend who enjoyed their poke bowls. And looking to try some more poke places in the area. I found myself at the Glendora location on a Tuesday evening around 8PM.
Walking into the restaurant, there were no people eating inside when I arrived. But nonetheless, I decided to order a bowl with 6 scoops that consisted of two scoops of Salmon, two scoops of Limu Tuna, and two scoops of Octopus. I then decided to go for the spicy creamy sauce, masago, edamame, crab salad, seaweed salad, sesame seeds, crispy onions, and furikake. This total came out to about $24 in total.
From a quantity perspective, there was a lot of food in the bowl with a majority of protein. And after the meal, I was most definitely full. But for the $24 price tag, definitely consider seeking other options or ordering less. One could argue that the cost of seafood is much higher considering the price of fresh fish. But with typical meal price around $15-20 in this area, there are plenty of other options you could do better with.
Overall, the poke bowl was pretty good all around. But while some items shined through, there were others that fell through the cracks. Beginning with the meat, the salmon tasted good as it was soft and cold with a subtle flavor. But with this, I questioned the freshness of the food overall. The octopus tasted chewy and had some moisture to it which was fine. And tasting the limu tuna, it tasted firm and fishy. But without any pieces of seaweed in the limu tuna, I was asking whether it truly was limu tuna poke at all. Out of any of the meat items, the masago and crab salad tasted the most fresh with the mayonnaise bringing in lots of flavor. The sides were pretty fresh overall and they paired well with the bowl's fish choices. But although they were fresh, they didn't elevate the fish by much more.
After eating here, I ended up having stomach issues which complicated my feelings about this place much more. With a higher price point to feel full, the price to portion ratio is definitely in question here. With fish that was only somewhat faithful to its origins and the quality in question, I'm not exactly sure what went wrong. But because the service was fast and the generous scoops of vegetable and side items, I'd argue ahipoki bowl is pretty decent at a solid 3 star rating. If you're into different variety selections and are in the Glendora, ahipoki is an option that might be worth a try. read more