POKAWA Poké bowls - Terminal 2 — Restaurant in Istres

Arrived at 2020 for our 2205 flight to the UK. Marseille T2 heaving, Pokawa gleaming in the corner. We approached the 'Order Here' light full of anticipation, however the screens deny us their service. We approached the till area, scanning the area for menus whilst admiring the ingredients on show. The salmon, the dumplings, the rice. Delightful.

The young man at the counter speaks some English. "I am sorry but we are closed. You can only have what is in the fridge." Such disappointment - and such confusion as both food and hungry customers are available! Nevertheless we empty the fridge of its remaining, richly priced offerings. One of my companions requests tap water; "it is upstairs". I look at the signs for the toilet pointing skyward and assume there is a subtlety I've missed.

We take our wares to the heaving seating area. A corner is free. We sit, and commence eating our chilled poke bowls and gyoza. A few forkfuls in, our interlocutor approaches us. "I am sorry, but we are closing the seating area, you must move now. Do you understand?” Yes, yes we understand. With heavy hearts we evacuate the area, clutching our half-eaten dinners, to a table at La Cantine Des Voyageurs and reflect on our experience. The questions we found are:

Why does a food stall in a busy airport close at 8pm on a Saturday night, when its own website says it's open until 11pm? Why must tap water be sourced from the toilet? Does Pokawa not possess taps? Do we lap from the bowls like dogs? Why would Pokawa let customers sit in a seating area that it is aiming to close (three hours early)? Is Pokawa so confident of its dishes that the servers are not told to offer soy sauce at checkout? Will we ever take an evening flight out of Marseille again, if this is the standard of dinner options available?

40 minutes later, the TV screens at Pokawa continue to flash their enticing images of salmon and raspberries at us. But the rest of the premises are...

if I could put zero I would have put it... we ordered the gyoza... but if I had seen how they prepared it I would never have taken it... besides while I was waiting for my order they were right in front of the showcase of the ingredients laughing with relish almost spitting at them...and one was almost lying on the prep counter... After 10 minutes of waiting (I don't know why since it was heated in the microwave) it remained in the pass to cool down ... in fact when they gave it to me I KINDLY asked to heat it again since it was already cold ... except to apologize, the girl started muttering and the boy started making fun of me since I was speaking to him in English... okay, it's not really...

An OK experience. Food was fine, although nothing extraordinary. Was not dissatisfied, but neither overwhelmed. Staff was also adequate but nothing more. The interior was very nice and design of everything was great, made the airport experience much nicer. Not sure if I would have bought it again for that price. Works fine if you are hungry at the airport - better than other options there. Good for...