Sunfish Poke Bar — Restaurant in Fremont

Well, first and foremost, the fish is fresh. It tasted good, and about 3.5 hours after initial consumed, I'm feeling fairly satisfied. As long as i don't experience any food poisoning by tomorrow morning, I'll call this a win. ;)

(Update: no unpleasantness in the following days--nor week, for that matter. Yep, the fish is fresh! :D I'm a'goin' there for lunch again soon~)

And to elaborate a bit more: While running some errands, I'd happened upon the "Sunfish Poke Bar" in a plaza off Auto Mall that I'd often passed by, but previously never actually drove into. I like the motif of sunfish, I like poke, sashimi, and sushi, and I was feeling a bit peckish, so I decided to check it out.

The interior decor was bright and inviting, and also immediately apparent as a fast casual food joint (think Chipotle, but with poke/marinated raw fish rather than Americanized burritos). It seemed a comfortable enough place to sit and eat, and the staff was friendly.

Back to the food: I got a regular Poke bowl---which is somewhat like a Japanese chirashi-don, but with Hawaiian poke rather than sashimi---for around $10.40. Sunfish offers a decent selection of seafood "protein" options (so stated on the menu), running the gamut of salmon, hamachi (yellowtail: one of my personal favs!), octopus, spicy tuna, etc., and tofu for vegetarian options; a good variety of carbs like sushi rice, brown rice, yams, and/or salad greens for the more health/weight-conscious.

I customized my reg. Poke bowl w/ salmon + hamachi + spicy tuna (apparently the trio that composes the "Sunfish medley") marinated in Spicy Ponzu (a variant of a Japanese citrus-based sauce), and with a bit a miso sauce drizzled on the side. There were about 3 other marinades to choose from, but mixing&matching two was enough for me. Admittedly, I would've liked more poke, but at just under $11 and with virtually as much free garnishes as one can fit in the bowl (edamame, mentaiko pollock row, seaweed salad, pickled ginger, fried shallots, etc.), I guess I can't complain.

Maybe I'll get the large bowl next time (a total of 4 proteins instead of 3 for a couple bucks more) and ask for extra sushi rice, as I do...

MILK ICE CREAM?

I'm a fan of milk flavored food, ice cream being one of them. Milkcow is similar to a popular chain of milk ice cream with honey in Korea and now there's one in Fremont!

It's located in the same plaza as Chipotle in the Pacific Commons Area. The store is actually spacious but there isn't a lot of seating. It's very roomy so when you're waiting, there's a lot of space to stand. Each cup of ice cream ranges from $3.50 $6. You can choose from a small which is 7oz or large which is 12oz.

They're very well known for their honeycomb ice cream which their milk ice cream with honeycomb. I got that and the oreo one to share with my boyfriend. Not going to lie... the oreo one tasted like a Mcdonald's Oreo McFlurry. Milkcow's ice cream is definitely creamier but it was very very similar. And for half the price, I would just get a McFlurry next time. The honeycomb one was a little bit different. The ice cream base is still the same but it's not everyday you get a honeycomb. The honeycomb was just way too sweet and combined with the ice cream... everything was way too sweet. I didn't enjoy this one as much.

All in all I didn't think this place was that special. It's a little too expensive for me and doesn't stand out. The service was great though and the staff is...

Nothing crave-worthy. Disappointed. Came before 1pm Sunday. Kinda dead inside. Got the Milky Cube & added mango slices. For soft serve, I thought it was a bit pricey but since it had the honeycomb then I felt the price was fine. The girl called out our order really fast. But when we got it, the dessert was already melted. No pristine peaks. Look at my pic to see the messy cup I got. And we had to wrap the cup in napkins cuz apparently it comes with melted ice cream and honey on the sides of the cup. So messy! The thing was dripping before we even got it. It came out super fast so I think their machine wasn’t at a low enough temperature so that’s why the ice cream came out like that. Halfway thru and the ice cream already became a melted puddle in a cup. What gets me the most is how yo gurl made the order so fast and I got such a mediocre product... yet she has plenty of time to talk to the other girl after while doing nothing since there was no one else walking in. Like why rush my ice cream and make a mess of it when you could have taken your time and not given me such a messy cup that I couldn’t even grab without napkins. =
To me, I think the ice cream is too sweet and nothing to rave about considering how this place specializes in it. Won’t be back....