In New York City, there will be a few new food trend or craze that comes up to steal the spotlight from the ones from previous year. Poké is one of them that is getting lots of attention, and new Poké eateries opening up every day. I didn’t know much about Poké, but from the first time I saw a photo and description of it, I was eager to try it. It reminded me of sashimi bowl, but with more toppings, and can be customized to your liking much more than regular sashimi bowl. I finally got the chance to visit one of the Poké restaurant.

I went there during the weekday around 1pm. It was very busy with long line. The interior was long and a bit narrow. The line goes all the way to the back, it is tricky to get to a table even if you can find an empty table.

There are few small tables at the wall towards the end of the line, and bigger tables alongside the line by the window. Not many seating, so it is not easy to find an empty table. Not man people linger for too long though, especially during the weekday lunch, as most of them needs to go back to work or school.

I got in the long line, and waited my turn. even though there were lots of people in line, it moved at a good speed. Once I got to the front of the line, I saw the staffs working at a speed of light. They have a nice assembly line, each staff responsible for their station. The order can be as customized as you want, or as simple as you want by ordering their “Signature Bowls” with ingredients pre-selected. I orderd PokéSpot Special ($12.90) which sounded like the right choice for the first visit. Once I told the first staff in line what I wanted, it just moved down the line from there, really fast.

 

At the end of the line is a cash register. They also had some drink items right underneath the counter if you wanted to purchase something to drink. What I thought was great is that they offer free water if you don’t want to purchase any drink, but just want some water instead. They have plastic cups there as well, I appreciate the kind consideration!

 

I originally asked for my Poké to go, since I didn’t think I could get a table, but just when I finished paying for my Poké, one table opened up. So I was able to sit down to eat right there and then. They gave me a brown paper bag to carry the bowl with me, which had their logo with cute otter.

The PokéSpot Special ($12.90) comes with snow crab, salmon, cucumber, seaweed salad, sweet furikake, onion crisps, and spicy eel. With these ingredients, it is the most expensive item off the “signature” dishes. I chose white rice for my base. You can choose between white/brown rice, cauliflower rice (+$0.50), zucchini noodles, or salad as your base. I must say, the bowl looked very different from their photo, which had so much more ingredients. I felt like the quantity suffered for their speed. I appreciate the speed, but I would prefer to wait a little longer to get a better, more filled bowl.

As for quality, it was really nice. It had nice blocks of seasoned salmon (raw), big chunks of snow crab meat, and it was very refreshing. Thinly sliced cucumber had a nice crunchy texture, while seaweed  salad was soft and slick-y texture. The additions of sweet furikake was nice, the subtle sweetness added so much more flavor. I liked the onion crisps too, light and crunchy. I didn’t see any eel, but then I realized “Spicy Eel” is the sauce used for this bowl. It is an interesting combination to add the spicy eel sauce, but it went very nicely together. Eel sauce is naturally sweet, so it still had the sweetness to it, mixed with spicy flavor that made the salmon flavor to pop. I enjoyed it very much.

After that pleasant lunch, I went back to The PokéSpot when I was nearby during the week once again. This time, it still had a long line, but it was a bit shorter. However, the empty table was nowhere to be found… So I carried my ordered and ate it at work.

This time, I ordered Spicy Ponzu Tuna ($11.95). I was actually wanting to order one of their salmon bowl, but I misspoke, and didn’t realize it until they started making the bowl. Since I like tuna as well, I just went with the order. This one comes with tuna, sweet onion, hijiki seaweed, masago, bonito flakes, macademia nuts, togarashi, and blood orange ponzu. I wanted seaweed salad too, and the staff added in for me with no charge!

The assembly line moved a bit slower on this day, allowing the staff to take a little more time to make the bowl. I feel like it had more ingredients than the previous time. The seasoned tuna (raw) was a good chunks, fresh and tasty. The seaweed salad added extra texture and flavor, I am really happy they were able to added it in there! It had lots of different textures and flavor, but all coming together in a nice harmony. The sauce was very nice, a hint of citrus from it was really nice.

 

They have one gender-neutral bathroom near the free water, all the way to the left. It is a small space, so one bathroom should suffice, other than super busy times.

I like how they have an option of pre-selected menu and build-your-own menu. You can customized your order as much as you want if you don’t want to go with the Signature menu. In this case, it will either be $10.95 for 2 proteins, or $13.50 for three proteins, with your choice of base, mix ins, sauce and toppings. I can see the reason why Poké is so popular. It is delicious, affordable, filling, and I would say they are much healthier than some other food options out there. I would definitely go back for more of their refreshing, tasty creations in a future!

 

The PokéSpot – 120 4th Ave, New York, NY 10003