Fairhaven Poke — Restaurant in Bellingham

I don’t typically leave reviews for places, but my experience with this place had such a lack of regard for the health of their customers, I felt it was necessary to share my experience.

This has been one of my favorite places for a while now, as their food is delicious and seemingly good quality, and I have actually become quite a regular, which makes this review extremely disappointing to write.

Both my friend and I got extremely severe food poisoning after eating here -- to the point where I was sent to the ER and hospitalized and she was sick for days.

I notified the restaurant as soon as I was aware of our reactions to the food, and they apologized but did not take any further action. There was no concern for testing on the food or any assurance that they were verifying that their food was safe to eat. There was an extreme lack of customer service and lack of concern for health.

I am extremely disappointed, because I feel like I can no longer eat here. Their blatant lack of concern for the health of their customers and the safety of their food is unfortunate. And I can no longer recommend this place to anyone as a safe place to get quality food.

It is delicious, sure-- but eat here at your own risk, as you may end up in the...

I want to give this 5 stars, so let me tell you why I'm giving it three:

THE MENU: There isn't a menu, which means the pricing is a bit confusing. You're basically pay by the pound. Three pokeballs cost me 50 bucks. In Seattle what Pokeball goes for about $13-$15 each. So this a lot more expensive than anticipated.

THE FOOD: Food was pretty tasty. I pretty much enjoyed it. however if you're used to other poke places around the greater Pacific Northwest area you expect vegetables and other things to come with your rice and fish. Not here. Expect seasoned rice and fish. There is an option of kimchi, wakame (seaweed) salad (really bombalicious by the way), and tofu, and that's it. No edamame. No pickled ginger. Not much in terms of veggies. But the bowl was really good nevertheless.

SUMMARY: If you're looking for poke this is the only place in the area and it's pretty good. However expect to pay a bit more than you're used to. They also have spam Musubi available for $2.50 but their signage inside is sparse and hard to see. So if you have kids buy them spam Musubi; they'll eat it up, and you'll save $15. if the sun is shining I recommend getting your food to go and going down to the marina Park and watch the sunset. We did that and wow,...

I quite like Fairhaven Poke but……the poke is fresh and the selection varies, now we come to where the 3 stars are lost. Fairhaven Poke has a “point program”, BUT as I found out yesterday, you can only obtain points if you spend more than $15. Yesterday I decided to have the smaller bowl which cost $11 and change, NO points awarded. So the way I see it, and because I live within walking distance, I can’t earn any points if I decided to grab some poke 3-4 times a week, spending a minimum of $30-$40. This business practice, or shall I say “anti”business/customer approach completely works against a steady customer for potentially years to come. I can buy poke elsewhere in town, and other point programs, regardless of what I spend allow me to achieve points and subsequent future offerings. I believe this is extremely short sightedness on behalf of the owners and a marketing 101 mistake. Don’t force me to spend more than I need too, just be happy I am in your establishment spending money, we have plenty of other choices in both Bellingham and Fairhaven, time to reassess...