We just landed in Honolulu for our Hawaii trip, and we were pretty hungry. Honolulu is 6 hours behind New York City! Our other friends had arrived a few hours earlier than us and suggested we check out this slight hole in the wall shop for poke near their hotel. My poke impression has always been pretty indifferent, so I was curious what is it about Hawaii poke that people rave about.
Ambiance & Service
This take out store was a store on the side of the building with not much foot traffic.
Here are the prices and how to set up your bowl.
Here are the options. You just ask the attendant to scoop you things, which is the same as what other poke places do. A couple of the selections incur an additional cost.
Food
Our Poke Bowl ($15+) came with Hawaiian style ahi, spicy ahi mayo, edamame, seaweed, and imitation crab. The ahi here tasted pretty fresh, and the texture had a pasty sensation similar to when you have flour mixed with some water. There was no sense of fishy-ness, albeit, the seasoning was fairly heavy. The Hawaiian style ahi tasted as if it had soy sauce and sesame oil. The sushi rice was arguably one of the surprises because it had plenty of that vinegar acidity that cuts through the fish. In all, I was pleasantly surprised and thought it was pretty good. It’s by far much better than New York City poke in that the whole fish + rice tasted just a tad better. The total price for this including a soda after tax was $24.61.
Final Verdict
I can understand why some laud Hawaii having the best poke bowls. There’s plenty of options to choose from, and the fish is typically very fresh since they use local supplies every morning. If you are around the Waikiki area, don’t hesitate to check out this place.
Yelp Jabs
Hard to find it in the alley but we found it!
No, it’s not hard to find. It’s literally on a street that Google Maps accurately points to.
I wanted to try Poke Fix but they were spontaneously closed every time I went with a sign on their door and different varying reasons for closing that day.
This Yelper decided to rate the store 1-star due to its sporadic closure. It’s really a small mom & pop type of place, and I would imagine they get locally sourced ingredients. If sourcing these ingredients is impacted in some shape or form, then it would make it difficult to open.
Revisions
- Apr 24, 2023 - Initial revision.