Imagine a Chipotle-style restaurant, but instead of serving tacos, burritos, or Mexican fare, it serves raw fish. That’s essentially what you’ll find at Poke House, a new restaurant in Walnut Creek, California, just outside Pleasant Hills in the East Bay.
When you enter Poke House you are greeted with a bright, clean and minimalist white space. There’s a big menu board listing various bowls and other options.
Customers can walk up, just like at Chipotle or Qdoba, and select items to add to their order from the staff member. The items, though, are a little different.
As the name suggests, Poke House serves Japanese or Hawaiian-style poke bowls. They are basically bowls of rice, greens, or other fillers, topped with minced pieces of raw fish and sauce, and finished with other Asian-style toppings.
My Visit to Poke House
I recently visited Poke House and tried one of the bowls. I opted for white rice as my base and then got diced pieces of raw salmon and tuna on top of my bowl. Poke House bowls also come with a free scoop of crab salad.
Once they placed the raw fish on top of the bowl, the staff member walked me down the line and I got to add all kinds of extras and toppings. I added soy sauce and a sweet unagi sauce to my fish, as well as diced pieces of mango, scallions, sesame seeds, and more.
The clean white room inspires confidence in the cleanliness of the fish, much like a well-organized sushi bar suggests freshness and purity. Clearly, when you’re eating essentially a big bowl of diced raw seafood, cleanliness is super important!
Fish in a Hurry
At the end of the line, you check out and are handed your bowl. It’s nice that the food is ready immediately since there’s no cooking time involved.
When compared to nearby sushi restaurants, Poke House is very reasonably priced. Mine came in at around $19 given the amount of fish I got, which was very reasonable.
It seems to do a brisk business and delivers orders via services like DoorDash and Uber Eats. They have limited seating; the tables were nice but very sunny–curtains, please! There’s a variety of drinks, too.
Poke House’s fish turns out to be delicious. I really enjoyed the Ahi tuna, although I wasn’t as wild about the salmon on my bowl. The sauce and toppings went a long way in making it a delicious bowl. It was a little bit bland without them.
Ordering at Poke House can be intimidating. Much like the analysis paralysis that sets in when choosing items at Subway, the variety of different fish options can be a bit much.
Luckily, Poke House offers several options for pre-made bowls that don’t require any choices. Although I liked my homemade bowl, I’ll probably choose one of these next time.
Conclusion
Overall, Poke House makes a great place to have a quick and healthy lunch. It’s a little less formal than sushi and a welcome change from sandwiches or burrito bowls that are normally served in a format like this.
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