Poke Papa — Restaurant in Washington

My husband purchased a poke bowl (Da Grinds with 4 additional proteins) 02/14 for me as a Valentine's Day surprise. This is my favorite spot for poke. I became sick shortly after eating it with bad stomach pains and watery/bloody diarrhea. I believe it was the "fake" crab salad which made me VERY sick. It tasted different this time. When my husband called on Saturday afternoon, I spoke to an employee who was about as empathetic as a robot. When he asked to bring back the poke for a refund, the employee said that there were no refunds.

I have been a regular for sometime and this is my first bad experience. Not only am I disappointed, but my VDay surprise was totally ruined.

RESPONSE FROM KERRY CHAO:

Hi Chris,

We are sorry to hear about your wife's illness especially on Valentine's day! We are doing some digging into who you would have spoken to because that is definitely not our policy for someone who would like a refund and wishes to bring back their food. We don't seem to have any record of your phone call in our call log on Saturday and the manager who answers the calls doesn't have any recollection of any incident like this. I wonder if you called a different number than our Chinatown location? Can you look at your phone record to see which number you dialed?We absolutely will offer you a refund without hesitation! We always want our customers to be completely satisfied with their Poké Papa meals. I would like to get some more information from you about the details. Thankfully, we have not had any reports of others feeling sick from our food since your visit. In order for something to be considered a foodborne illness, multiple people have to show the same affliction to the common food. It maybe good to also mention that foodborne illnesses can often have incubation periods of more than 72 hours. I mention that because you are regular customers and don't seem to have had problems in the past with our food. Food safety is our number one priority and we have the highest safety standards and go to great lengths to provide the safest food possible. We have kept our same standards since we opened and are proud of our high standards. However, no matter what the reason, if our customer is not satisfied with their meal and would like to return it for a refund, we will absolutely and happily provide it! If you paid by credit card can you provide the last four digits? Was it an online order or did you pay at the cashier?

Thank you for your patronage and we hope to get this resolved asap.

Warmest regards,

Kerry

MY REPLY:

Hello Kerry,

This is Chris Torre's wife Lovelen Torre. We sincerely apologize that we didn't take a snapshot of the redial number when he called you. I sincerely apologize that the person he spoke with never took a log of his call. I sincerely apologize that I became ill sooner then the 72 hour timeframe you mentioned. What I do know is that everyone is different and things can affect people in different ways. As my husband stated, I am a frequent customer of Poke Papa and he chose your establishment as a surprised Valentine dinner which I was very excited. But It was completely ruined after me getting sick several hours later from the meal. Just because I've never been sick in the past doesn't mean it would never happen.

What saddens me the most is that it seems as if you are blaming and scolding us for me becoming ill other then simply saying we are so sorry your wife became ill and we will love to make it right. As my husband said, he will stop by tomorrow with the bowl for a refund. Again, we sincerely apologize for all of the stress we caused your...

Just a great, great go-to when in Penn Quarter/Gallery Place/Chinatown for whatever reason: seeing plays, visiting museums, seeing a movie at the Landmark Theater, shopping, what have you.

My go-to meal is the "Spicy Salmon Keto Bowl". Swap out rice for mixed greens and you have a great, quick keto lunch or dinner!

What's in it: Mixed greens (or rice) + spicy salmon (it's sushi, if you're new to poke [POH-kay] bowls) + fresh avocado slices + sides and toppings you wish. I like adding Seaweed Salad, Edamame, Cilantro, and a sprinkling of Fried Garlic. Great meal! 🤌 Keeps you fed, satiated for several hours with clean energy, and is delicious! It's light but filling and is refreshing with its mixed greens.

As of posting, I haven't tried anything else on the menu except the Musubi sandwich (Spam + rice, wrapped in seaweed, which is ok--I was curious!). The rice makes it more filler than substance, but don't expect anything more out of it. It's a side order at most, eaten for emergencies only (in my humble opinion).

The above-described Spicy Salmon Keto Bowl is good enough for me to get it every visit. What can I say, I'm a creature of habit 🤷‍♀️ And it's quick and health conscious! In, out, then go about your day!

Note, they do have a single GENDER NEUTRAL bathroom with a coded lock entry 🏳️‍⚧️♀️♂️👍 They also advertise clearly out on the front door Pride colors, so I can confirm this is definitely an LGB and T+ friendly establishment!

Customer service note: minimalistic. Every visit is met with staff who don't typically smile at you, and barely look at you. Haven't encountered rudeness at all, but it's not that kind of restaurant. This is more of a "Chipotle" style ordering system, if you're new. Not a major issue, but warm friendliness isn't exactly the priority, and they need to keep the line moving. Just something I observed.

Overall, the food is yummy and that's the point! It can be healthy if you order the right stuff, and is a great quick meal option. Bonus points for being alt-person friendly....

I got delivery and they forgot my avocado, which I paid extra for. Not okay!!! I would've made this my go-to poke place, except now it's not because they didn't pay attention to my order. Really sad because if not for that, I probably would've given at least 4 stars, maybe even 5. I got 1/2 Mixed Greens, 1/2 Sushi Rice, Lomi Salmon, Scallop (Cooked), Salmon (Unmarinated), Ahi Tuna (Unmarinated), Fried Garlic, Crispy Onion (If Not Avaliable, Sub Fried Shallot), Sweet Shoyu (Recommended), Molten Lava (Super Hot! on the Side), Crab Salad, Seaweed Salad, Cucumber, White Onion, Fresh Pineapple, Jalapeno, Mango, Carrot, Scallion, Tomato, and NO AVOCADO even though I ordered it. I'm thinking back now and I don't think I got the seaweed salad either. Details, people, details! How can a delivery order get messed up to this extent?! The sushi rice was of really good quality, I really like Japanese rice because of its chewiness and this was great. The mixed greens were a bit lacking though; there seemed to be an imbalance of greens and rice. Also, the sweet shoyu sauce got soaked down to the bottom which made my rice really salty, which I wasn't a fan of. Actually in general, there was too much of the sauce. They put the molten lava sauce on the side, and this was a good thing because it was hot! But delicious, I really liked the sauce. All their other ingredients were average but I found it interesting for them to have diced some of the vegetables, including tomatoes and cucumbers. The fish quality was pretty good, but there were a few pieces that were a bit fishy and didn't taste too fresh. The scallops were fully cooked which surprised me. I also don't think they tossed those in the sauce because they were super bland. In any case, I really enjoyed my meal except for the missing avocado and seaweed salad! The portions were great (although they had better be because I paid $18.69 excluding delivery tip and Doordash fees), quality was mostly fresh...