I'm not much of a poke person, maybe had it 2 times? and not enjoying those raw fish morsels with whatever sauce it was mixed in when I tried it.
That being said, I do love sushi and been craving some kind of raw fish recently.
But the Yelp reviews of + or - had me really intrigued as well as scared to try. Drove by multiple times, making excuses like it's close to closing time don't want leftover fish. Or how do I order these things, so many choices. What if the tall young guy is there that everyone is unhappy about? Do I still try it?
Finally got a chance 2 weeks ago and was still hesitant since it was close to 7:30pm and wasn't sure if ingredients would be fresh.
Pulled up to parking and saw maybe 2 tables outside eating the poke, so it reduced my alert level from red to orange. Saw someone walking out with food and further reduced from orange to yellow. Entered and it was just the older gentleman slowly restocking the rice and felt safe to level green.
But then seeing the spread of all the ingredients and all the steps on the menu had me a bit worried and back up to yellow.
Went ahead with 2 large bowls ($15 for large I think) to maximize trying the fish varieties between me and wife. Wow the large bowl or rather deep plate gets a LOT of rice! I can't eat that much rice, but had to get large to get the 5 small scoops of fish.
Not even sure what I picked on the 1st station with veggies and salads. Avocado, onions, cilantro, corn, edamame, seaweed, etc.
Before going to the 2nd station, a lady from the back came out to reload the salmon in the station. So fish was still being refreshed 30 mins to an hour before closing time, so I felt much better, level back down to green.
The 2nd station was the raw section with the tuna, salmon, scallop, albacore, spicy tuna, shrimp, etc (maybe there was octopus too, not sure). Think I put in the first 5 on my list since they seemed to be safe choices.
Then adding the sauces and rest of the available additions.
Of course, no idea what sauce to add (like I said I'm no poke expert), but can't go wrong with Ponzu right?
Said ponzu and gentleman drizzle it over the bowl.
Then he held up the next sauce I assume eel sauce maybe, why not, go ahead.
Then he put spicy mayo and I was worried maybe it'll be spicy, but he said not too spicy.
I figured the ponzu and eel sauces would make things too salty so stopped there.
Add the wasabi, furikake, garlic chips that everyone seems to like on reviews and called it a meal, He put a lot of wasabi on there, but too late to say that's too much!
Paid with CC and left with heavy bag of 2 large orders. And another customer had walked in by then and she knew what she was ordering.
Seems like the store has a nice number of local/regulars who seem to come to get dinners, so it was a good sign.
As far as service, the gentleman did not say much and I guess moved kind of slow but part of that is my fault for not knowing what I wanted as well. So I didn't have any problem with the service (maybe got lucky with no young guy? or since can't mess up when I am there ordering?).
Onto the food.
Surprisingly delightful, even though I probably made a strange combo of ingredients!
The sauces I thought was too much was not overpowering at all, in fact next time I would want more of the sauces all over to eat with all the rice, lol.
Fish qualities were fine and fresh, it's not like eating sushi but with the sauces and ingredients providing different flavors in every bite, it was actually quite refreshing!
And the dollop of wasabi I was worried about having to throw away, it wasn't the usual blow up my sinus type of wasabi. Very mild, I could just add decent pinches of it to my bites to add more flavor, without the nose burns, wow!
I think it's a great bowl to have when craving some raw fish, but not ready to go all out and get sushi. This is quick and fresh and satisfying for when you want to grab a quick fish bite.
I would grab this again when I feel like having the raw fish/rice since all the additional ingredients just makes for a delish meal.
Not sure how to rate the food, I guess a 4? 4.5?
Not a poke person, so not sure how good other places are, but this seems plenty satisfying to me.
The tastes actually was a surprise, was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did, lol.
If on the fence like I was, give it a try. Definitely better than what I was expecting.
Wife loved it. I didn't get to taste the scallops but she said those were good too.
Maybe next time I'll get half rice/half salad, although I did end up eating most of the rice since things were tasty. More ponzu sauce maybe I would have finished all the rice, lol. read more