HAWAIIAN POKE BOWL & PHO CAFE — Restaurant in State College

my wife and i went here for dinner one night on a whim. we knew very little about it. we are 100%glad that we did. the restaurant itself was very clean and orderly. not too many people inside even though it was st. pattys weekend in town. wife had the build your own bowl and an egg custard appetizer. i had the hawaiian chicken bowl and a crab spring roll. her bowl came with her choice of 4 different kinds of rice, she went with white rice. it was warm in the bowl which is fantastic since all the other ingredients are refrigerated and very fresh. mango sauce on top which was delicious. she had a bubble tea to drink dont remember what flavor but she enjoyed it. i dont think she even offered me a drink of it. my bowl had, chicken, mango, jalapenos, pineapple, lima beans, white rice. no sauce on mine which was perfectly fine. i ordered the crab spring roll which came with a ginger sesame dipping sauce that is also available on the counter for you to use, which i ended up doing because it was delicious. my one and only issue with anything was that the spring roll came with lettuce in it. its in there because it adds a crunch to the roll and is good in it but i could have just left it out and put more crab in it. hahahahaha if i have to give this place a ding on something which isnt a terrible thing anyway is all the white LED string lights in the restaurant. i personally just dont like them. but it does add a presence in the restaurant. so i give this place a 9.95 out of 10. portions are big. atmosphere is comforting. service is top notch and the food is absolutely authentic and fantastic. ...

Food had an unpleasant aftertaste and took almost 30 mins to receive. I asked for a refund after a few bites because some ingredients were clearly stale and the fish tasted off. I was told they didn't have the ability to refund, to call a number instead, and had to jump through hoops with the company that supplies their kiosks only to learn that the store is supposed to deal with refunds directly.

Even if the food was good, about 30% of the bowl was taken up by a soy sauce container, which was directly touching my food... not compliant with food safety, and a rip-off for the price.

So, bad service and bad food. Don't waste your time eating here. You can get more food at a higher quality for less money from Poke Fresh...

Drove 2-1/2 hours from Pittsburgh, passing exactly zero rest stops on the PA Turnpike and interstates. Asked to use a bathroom when I arrived before ordering, and was told, “we don’t have any bathrooms.”

Wait…what?!? Aren’t restrooms normally required by code for a restaurant?

Anyway, there were zero patrons inside, so figured I’d skip (or be forced to skip) a bio break…and chose to skip the bowl.

Walked down the street to Roots Natural Kitchen and had a lovely and huge Balboa Bowl, laden with copious amounts of white meat chicken. All while surrounded by a buzzy crowd and, what a concept,...