Steve’s Poké Bar — Restaurant in Electoral Area A

I have being coming to Steves Poke Bar everyday since Sept. 8 2023 when looking for place to get lunch and I have been hooked ever since!

This is honestly my first time writing a review for a restaurant but I had to make an exception for this place right on the ubc campus (more details of my unfiltered experience below):

My first time there was also my first time having poke and I did not know what to get or if there was a certain process I had to order, I went with a friend and the first employee I met was Ren. The atmosphere was extremely beginner friendly and they gave out free samples to me and my friend to figure out which fish I liked more (shoyu [Japanese soy sauce] salmon, shoyu tuna, spicy salmon, spicy tuna, + more), I initially went with shoyu tuna with rice. We had a great conversation with Ren and the food was great so I starting coming more and more until it became apart of my daily routine to come to Steve's poke bar after my afternoon lectures and on weekends aswell.

I am surprised how healthy and nutritious the bowls are and has been a great replacement from my previous lunches which consisted of fried foods, pizza, or whatever else I can get on campus.

I'm happy to say I have not had a bad experience with the employees you'll see at the front (including Dom, Ren, Adrianna, and more) or with their manager (who is a very wonderful person!)! I have noticed that even their busy hours, pretty much every day during peak hours around 12pm on weekdays, they are always kind to everyone in the line which made me liked the place even more! Sometimes they can get overwhelmed when their is only 2 people working at the front with a line of 15 and online orders being delivered at the same time, but honestly all their employees are in great spirits and even if they might be stressed, they are still kind to everyone in line and do their best! I've also seen they are really good with people who have allergies or dietary restrictions for what they can and can't have too and what they do have is really good options even for those who have strict dietary restrictions

Now when I come in, they already know my usual order by heart (even the new employees do too!) and always get excited when I walk in which is really good feeling during the day!

So in honour of passing over 2 months of coming to this location of Steve's poke bar, I'm about to put everyone on my personal favourite order. This order is great on the go before your uni. classes, if you are about to workout, or even if you want to have a really healthy meal will walking around campus on your own or with friends! After hours of testing and tweaking to my taste buds, I have narrowed it down to this order. I broke it down in chronological order from each step in ordering and what they will ask at each step:

(1) I choose a regular bowl with rice (also called a regular BYOB)

(2) I'll say yes to add their signature seasoning on top (which includes seaweed, salt, pepper, etc)

(3) The sauces I get are shoyu, spicy mayo, and ono sauce.

(4) Poke: (I choose either 1 scoop of spicy salmon, shoyu tuna, or shoyu salmon depending on what I feel like that day or if I have a soccer game on that day)

(5) Greens/add-ons: Cucumbers, imitation crab, wakame, edamame, corn, pineapples, pickled radish. I get extra of these to balance the ratio with the rice.

(6) Final Touch: Sesame seeds and Seaweed flakes (sometimes I may add extra sauces depending on how I feel too)

Final Price: all of this for just 15.75$ and it honestly fills me up with extra left I can have for lunch for the next day or even as a quick snack.

Until december 15th, they have a chili that's 3$ when you get it with a bowl. It's really good and I like the chili on it's own without adding anything else to it (but that's just me with my own taste buds)

If you read this far it probably means you are looking for a new spot to get some great food. You might as well try this place out as it's right on ubc campus. (I also wouldn't be writing this much if it wasn't a great addition to my...

The online ordering was easy to navigate for our office meeting lunch order. However on the morning of the meeting, the store called and said our order was lost due to a system disruption. After the initial shock as the meeting was only 3 hours away, the manager, Satareah, at the UBC location handled the situation very professionally. She was apologetic of the inconvenience although the system malfunction was not under her control. When I arrived the store to pay for the order, she was extremely helpful and accommodating. Setareah made the whole situation turned around from a distressing scenario into a very pleasant and reassuring experience. I am from a hotel management background so I hold a high standard in serving customers, and I especially appreciated Setareah's wonderful customer service attitude. I also noticed she talked to her staff respectfully and they were very helpful and cooperative. It is a rare find to have a manager who takes ownership of her job, including in less than perfect situations, and put customer service at the fore front of her priority. She is the reason I wrote 5 stars in this review. Otherwise, the situation would have made me never return as a customer again. Instead I have already returned in the same week to get dinner for my family. Thank...

Bowls always taste good but preparation and service isn’t the best. First ordered (on the Steve’s Poke app) a large build your own bowl with tofu and instead of 7, it had maybe 5 pieces, which is unfortunate since as a vegetarian that’s the main protein in the bowl. I got there 10 minutes after the estimated time and they started making it after I asked for my order. Also just sloppily put things together so the bowl also didn’t look great. Next order I got 2 mini build your own bowls, and again, less tofu (4-5 pieces) than advertised (7). This time was worse because my order was ready when I got there, but instead of two, it had ONE bowl. If I hadn’t noticed the bag, which is stapled close, to be lighter than expected, I would’ve walked away with half my order. They apologized and did make the second bowl after but it took an additional 15 minutes which defeats the purpose of ordering ahead. Anyway, a shame because the taste is there, but service, preparation, and false advertisement lead to the 3-star review.

Edit to add: they emailed me saying I’d get a coupon but I received nothing. Showed staff at the store and they didn’t...