Poki Poki - Oceanside # 1 — Restaurant in Oceanside

It’s nice to have a dedicated Poke shop in Oceanside. Over the last 2 years they’ve popped up all up and down the west coast. We have a pretty solid Island population in Oceanside who was already getting poke from mostly Sushi/Japanese restaurants. The real explosion happened in LA and Orange County where hundred’s popped up over the last few years. Having commuted there up until recently I had 12 poke places within 1 mile from my office, with no shortage of demand.

I like to call these sort of assembly line poke shops “Chipoke”. Base, fish, toppings, seasoning. It’s great because it focuses your decisions rather than letting your imagination run wild, but having spent more time in Hawaii than most (family, work, pleasure) it’s not how poke is eaten. Now we use more prime cuts and a more westernize palate, but what I really miss is authenticity in style and ingredients. Poke is a side dish, not an entrée and being such pairs poorly when matched with only white, brown, salad or half/half. I actually prefer to order from a Japanese restaurant in that most will use sushi rice, again that acidity and the fish pair is a proven team. I really miss ogo, limu, kukui nuts, shoyu, ginger (not just the pickled kind) which to me are staples to poke. For those that make our own at home we’ve all certainly made meals out of it but heck even Whole foods uses more than just goma wakame as their seaweed salad. I get that their portion size is nice and filling, but more doesn’t make it better.

Some things I like are they are more generous than most on the fish scoops, more often than not most places will round down on the scoops, but not here. I love that they carry Octopus, but sad they don’t carry scallops which to me pair so well with sauces. They are generous on all toppings and will even do extra crab for free. Not much in the way of binding or mayo which is great and it’s not nearly as shredded and reconstituted. I love how even their mild sauce blend has flavor, but with they had more spice as even their hot is not hot. Their fish is firm and fresh, but they wouldn’t tell me who their purveyor was.

The service line moves fast and they have solid rushes throughout the day and most of the weekend. The prices are good, but being the first true poke spot allows them to set the bar locally. Their customers certainly make use of the outdoor seating which is nice since indoor is limited. The décor is clean, simple. The store is clean and simple. I’d wish they carried a soda fountain as that tends to keep people more comfortable in eating in versus canned drinks. Not having a larger variety of Hawaiian drinks is odd because Teri’s has a dozen of them and Oceanside has sort of become accustom to island food and island drinks. They could use a 2nd trash receptacle by the door, they don’t recycle and could use a staging area of sauces like sriracha, so it would seem that they really are pushing to go eating with packaged sauces only. A nice variety of Macaroon ice cream is a nice offering and to me shows they care a little more about the overall experience.

I’ve made it a point to try everything from when I come here, what I get, how I pay. Don’t get me wrong I like the food(sans rice), love the convenience, but I have to mention the hospitality is suspect overall. Half the line staff are excellent using phrases like (what can I get for you today sir?, what toppings would you like?). While some staff don’t even make eye contact with you when speaking (not hot, mild or hot?) not taking into account the level of comfort each customer has with poke and ordering from here. It all cumulates at the register where you see the inexperience is top down. A lot of the weakness’ can be chalked up to them being new-ish, but they have failed to take some opportunities to make right certain experiences of mine and others. I’ll still eat here, but only because sometimes you just don’t want to sit at a sushi bar to order their version and you want more topping options and it’s...

I eat here all the time and generally am pretty happy with it, but the service that I received tonight was absolutely terrible. Ordered 2 bowls from Uber eats and they both barely had any meat, and had no sauce at all. I have ordered both in person and via Uber eats literally dozens of times and I am acutely aware of how this meal is "normally" made. I mean I literally order the exact same thing every time. They totally skimped on everything and then didn't even put the sauces I ordered on it at all, which made it taste like crap. I don't mean like a small amount of sauce, it was literally zero. Basically just a half full bowl of dry rice with some veggies on top and a hint of meat. Okay, so they screwed up the food, it happens. What was unacceptable and why I'm bothering to leave a bad review is that as soon as we got the food, we immediately realized it wasn't made correctly, so we called and explained the situation (before even eating it) and asked if we could bring the food back to have it remade or refunded. They told us it wasn't their problem and we have to take it up with Uber. As if Uber is the one who screwed up. The guy said all of the sauce must have absorbed into the rice, riiiiiiight. What garbage customer service. All he had to do was be like sure no problem come on in and we can remake it or whatever. Instead he was a jerk and told us to take it up with Uber. Grabbed a pizza instead because the bowls were not what we ordered. I guess I should consider myself lucky that the pizza place didn't forget the sauce and only put cheese on half the pizza.. cuz that's basically what happened with...

The fresh seafood and veggies we're incredibly delicious. This was my first time to poki Poki.

For those new to this, you start with your base or bottom, which is a bowl or salad with options of white rice, brown rice, lettuce or half lettuce half rice. From there you pick either three or four items of raw seafood toppings. There are many options of fresh seafood. They do have seared ahi tuna if you want something a little cooked.

There's only four tables for inside dining but the food by far makes up for that! Delicious!

I had a poki bowl over brown rice with salmon, ahi tuna, octopus, and scallops. Topped with eel sauce jalapenos sesame seeds cucumber imitation crab, which is a free topping. I can't remember how many other toppings I put on. Crunchy onions at the end with more eel sauce. Pure Bliss!

Portions are huge! Chances are good that you will have leftovers for tomorrow.

Four seafood items including a bottle of water was $22.50.

You betcha I'll be back and it's only a couple of blocks away...