Pokeworks — Restaurant in Irvine

It has NO INTEGRITY!!! Never go back again!!!

Today(9/6/2021), I was lucky enough and had a worst ever dining experience with this Pokeworks Irvine, delivery type restaurant.

I live around 70 miles away from Irvine, on the way back home around 5pm this afternoon, I stopped by this plaza and wanted to order some food, but the ones next to it I had been to before were closed because of Labor Day , like Wagyu Meat & Grill, Panda Express, they are great ones. However only this so-called Pokeworks opened. From its menu, it looks okay. I entered it and explained to a woman, who took my order, and with mask, I guess she is at anywhere between thirties to fifties, that it is my first time to come to your place. I wished that I could have a very brief introduction about its menu, there was no waiting line at the time, all I got was a feeling of no bothering, therefore I picked up a easy one something like called “Poke at works”, it showed customer can choose their own dishes, sides and toppings. Again without any introduction and help, I selected “sushi rice”, “large chicken”, and added “organic tofu”. Now the wired thing happened, the woman initially put 2 scoops of chicken, she took off 1 scoop of chicken, added 1 scoop of tofu, and claimed to me it is with the “large” order, it costs $3 dollars more. I said it’s totally fine, and confirmed two times with her, is it for sure large order? She answered YES without any hesitation. I ended up paying close to $15 for this order. Because I was in rush going back home, I didn’t realize something wrong until I got back on freeway. I called the restaurant to confirm what is the definition of large order for their “Poke at works”, a young lady answered my call, I told her what I ordered about 10 minutes ago, she explained to me it was wrong, as for large order I did it should have 2 scoops of chicken with 1 scoop of organic tofu. Then I requested to talk to store manager to confirm, the funny thing was she responded that they couldn’t do anything and if I left a bad review, I might be contacted by the store manager.

This is awesome but ridiculous experience I have ever had. Now I understand the woman who took order behaved so naturally when she made cheats to a customer, likely she gets used to do so, and the reaction of the store is totally irresponsible. It’s not about money at all, all I feel is this restaurant has NO INTEGRITY, if a restaurant doesn’t show any integrity, its employees are not well trained, I don’t know how to trust its food quality. I trashed the order at end.

Never go to...

Among poke shops to visit in OC, 3/5 average. Nothing special nor amazing here. Uroko in Costa Mesa would far exceed the meager selection of what you can put into a bowl. But both places serve cold fish on rice, so it's a cold meal, unlike Rollritto in Huntington Beach, which is warmer. Sadly, large is only 3 meat selections vs 5 at Rollritto. Now, taste-wise, doesn't even come close to Rollritto. Can't fully distinguish the different tastes here, but even the basics of fish with sauce isn't a Yum at Rollritto. Here's merely ok, got rice and fish in a bowl with sauce, but no wow. Service-wise, girl making the bowl was too fast in trying to move things along.... with nobody else in line!? Before I could even point out the sauces list to suggest to my friend, not looking at the girl so wasn't telling her, she arbitrarily put that sauce on top. Huh?! Water from soda dispenser tasted like tap water. Filter expired? Or no filter?... The poke here is convenient, but you really ought to go to the other types of restaurants nearby with tastier, even...

Here are some Poké Your Way combinations to try:

Poké Bowl with white rice topped with ahi and salmon mixed with ogo and hiijiki seaweed, umami shoyu, wasabi tobiko, seaweed salad (wakame), green onion, and sesame seeds. I tried to stay with more authentic ingredients and it was good. There wasn’t quite enough shoyu to flavor the fish and I had to ask for extra on the side. The fish is very fresh, but it really needs to be cut into smaller chunks. It would be easier to eat plus help get the sauce of your choice to flavor the fish. I love seaweed so I went all out. I would eat it with every meal if I could. It’s a good thing that they are a sustainable plant food source. Rating: 4/5

Poké Salad topped with salmon, scallops, cucumber, ogo, cilantro, sriracha aioli, seaweed salad, (imitation) crab salad, masago, green onion, onion crisps, wonton crisps, and garlic crisps. The hubby liked this salad. All of the flavors and textures worked well together – spicy, refreshing, creamy, salty, zingy, crispy, and...