Hula Poke - San Pedro — Restaurant in San Antonio

I was disgusted by an experience I had here.

They normally heat up the BBQ eel in a microwave, but I prefer mine cold. So I asked the employee not to heat mine up. Shockingly, she reached into the microwave, pulled out some BBQ eel that had apparently been sitting there for a while, and felt it with her hand to check its temperature. She obviously intended to put this dubious meat in my bowl if it had cooled off enough.

To her credit, she was wearing gloves when she felt the food. But I was still disgusted. There's no telling how long that eel had been sitting in the microwave. But even if it hadn't been sitting there long, it seems unsafe to serve food that has been cooked, chilled, then reheated and left to sit in a microwave until it has returned to room temperature.

But that's not where it ended. I protested, telling the employee I didn't want the eel that had been sitting in the microwave for an unknown amount of time. Shockingly, she then put the warmed over food back in the cold storage bin with the rest of the eel. Ostensibly, she was intending to heat it up a third time and serve it to some unsuspecting customer later on.

Doesn't this violate some kind of food safety regulations? I'm bummed because I had been kind of excited about this restaurant. On top of that, this experience kind of sketches me out about all poke bowl restaurants. Poke bowl restaurant employees are generally not exactly highly trained sushi chefs. If they can't even handle cooked foods, what does that say about their ability to handle uncooked fish?

What's more, I'm not sure that poke bowls and San Antonio are a good fit. I mean, we can't even seem to get sushi right in San Antonio. Even the best sushi joints in town are mediocre when compared to other cities. So how can we be expected to offer a decent poke bowl?

Maybe I'm done with this genre of cuisine entirely. Or maybe I'll wait to make up my mind until I try poke in Hawaii, its place of origin. But one thing I can be fairly certain of is that I'm done with this particular...

Disappointed with today’s visit. I usually go out of my way to visit Hula Poke because they’re known for solid portions and fresh ingredients, but today was a real letdown. I’m not sure if the person working was the owner or just new staff, but she definitely didn’t reflect the consistent service I’ve come to expect.

Hula Poke typically gives fair portions, not over the top, but you feel like you get what you pay for. Today, though, the portions were noticeably off. The sushi proteins were tiny, and the spicy tuna recipe seems to have changed, now it’s mostly sauce with barely any actual fish. I ordered the usual three scoops, so it’s not like I was asking for more than what I paid for, but what I got barely amounted to a few bites of protein. Instead, the bowl was loaded with veggies.

What made it worse was being pushed to add more toppings rather than being offered a reasonable portion of what I actually wanted. At the end of the day, I came for poke, not a...

At my old job my manager would bring us a poke bowl from hula poke and I loved it! I always crave this place and love all the different kinds of meats, sauces, fruits and toppings you can chose! For the amount you pay, which is typically $10-15 for a loaded 3 scoop sushi rice poke bowl, this is a steal! I work at at a sushi restaurant and we have a poke bowl that is also $15 but doesn’t have nearly as much food as you can get at hula poke for the same price! I’ve been to this location twice and had pretty positive experiences. My only concern is the second time I can in a loaded my bowl as I do usually but the scoops sizes were a little off so I had to by sushi rice by itself so I can mix the ingredients more so it wasn’t as overwhelming but overall I love this place and how you can customize and add anything you want!!! I look forward to returning and trying the other made to...