Pokemoto Assembly Row Somerville — Restaurant in Somerville

This is genuinely the first bad review I’ve ever left and I’m shocked by the high reviews. I personally feared for my life when I got this bowl 😭 the first red flag was noticing that the greens had a couple rotten leaves “I can pick those out” I told myself. The next was how stringy and white the salmon was when they put it into my bowl. They were quickly covered in sauce which put my mind at ease not having to look at them too much longer. Then we got to the toppings and I realized most ingredients looked mostly inedible, I opted for the mango and cucumber as they were the most used and ??hopefully the freshest. The “pokebowl artist” I will call them, then spent around 30 seconds trying to hit the piece of cucumber that sat on the counter back into the deep metal container in order to scoop it up and add it to my bowls containments. “That’s an interesting choice” again, I thought to myself. The person working showed as much enthusiasm for the job as was displayed in these ingredients. “I have a gluten allergy” I told them when they eventually asked what I wanted. She stared back at me not talking.. not even blinking with her gaze fixed in mine. I continued with my order hoping that this was a sign of acknowledgement…I still don’t know. Now by the time we were at the last level of topping choices and about to hit the register, I had a deep regret for my choice of continuing to order through all of this. But I now felt committed to this bowl… we’ve been through a lot together in these last couple minutes. We’ve shared laughs, tears, and deep memories I will never forget. I could do this. I check out and take my food to the space by the water to eat it. I open the container and began to pull out the rotten pieces of lettuce, one by one I end up removing every single piece. At this point, I’m still slightly terrified to eat it but I do. The salmon somehow has absolutely no flavour but thankfully the remnants of the lettuce give a nice gritty texture to put my mind at ease. I still am unsure if any of these ingredients are safe for my celiac disease mess of a GI tract but since it’s been 5 minutes since I ate the more edible parts, it’s TBD. Now if I impart any wisdom onto the person reading this; don’t make the same mistake I did. Just go to the sushi place down the...

This is a response to the owners response below. That person is full of "you know what"! They did not try to make it better, they promised me a full refund and after tracking down the manager, she refused to give me the refund because the owner said not to. I asked for the owners contact info and she refused. Let me reiterate, THEY GAVE US THE WRONG FOOD AND REFUSED TO REFUND US!!!! They are LIARS and CHEATS. Its a poorly run store with no professional qualities. Stay away!

Do NOT order food here! It was an awful experience for me and my family. We ordered online for pick up on 8/7 and we arrived exactly when they wanted us there to be there (30 minutes). We ordered six meals and they all had only one ready. It took them an hour and 10 minutes to prepare all six meals. Obviously, we were exasperated, but we took the meals home. When we got home, they had totally messed up our order, including missing meals. When I called to talk to the manager Helen Luc, they said she was not in and would get back to me. It took her three hours to get back to me. When she got back to me, she promised that she would reimburse us via corporate. That never happened! I contacted corporate and they said they do not refund; that the actual store should refund us. Again, total mayhem. I have tried getting back in touch with the store and the manager. Helen has not refunded us back. It has been over a week and we spent close to $100 at the store. They are totally unprofessional here and incompetent. If you were to check my reviews online, they are 100% positive. Unfortunately, this one breaks my streak. I continue to be disgusted with...

Stumbled upon this new poke place while strolling around Assembly Row. With no other poke spots in the East Somerville area, it seemed like a nice addition to the neighborhood. Since Pokemoto is a national chain, I had high hopes for their poke bowls.

Unfortunately, the three bowls we ordered were a bit disappointing. They were using a scale to scoop the white rice, so I thought they’d balance the portions well. However, the rice portion was way too much compared to the toppings. Instead of drizzling the sauce on top, they mixed it separately with the fish, leaving the bowl overall lacking in flavor. Without extra sauce, it was like trying to navigate a flavor desert—impossible to mix the rice with the toppings.

The Hawaiian spam rice balls I got on the side were also disappointingly dried up. It seemed like they had been sitting at room temp for at least half the day which made them impossible to eat without microwaving. Granted, I visited two hours before closing time, but if they knew the rice balls had been out for hours, they should’ve taken them off the display.

Had I known better, I probably would’ve ordered one of the build-your-own bowls with extra sauce and toppings, which would’ve made a world of difference. Might give them another try, but if you’re looking for the best option, I recommend avoiding their signature menus. Customizing your own bowl seems like...