With the proliferation of poké joints on the mainland, it has been increasingly difficult to get excited about them. It doesn't help the cause when some places pass off seafood salad as poké. Hey, I have no problem with that, but it makes it hard to get something authentic and more basic. I'm a big proponent of fusion and pushing the boundaries, but sometimes I just want the real thing. That brought us to Ono Poké, specifically the Edmonds location in Seattle.
If you look at the regular sized Poké Bowl with 2 protein options, we only have fish, edamame and some imitation crab salad on a mix of sushi rice and salad. The simplicity in this allowed for more fish and less filler. This was a mix of Traditional Limu Ahi and Tamari Garlic Salmon. Each scoop had a cube of fish in it, so not only was there the buttery texture of the ahi and salmon, there was also the taste of sesame oil, garlic and ginger. The ahi had a bit of spice to it.
Something a bit different, we tried the Nachos with Spicy Sambal Ahi, seaweed salad, bonito flakes, nori and a good amount of spicy mayo. Although I personally would've preferred wonton crisps, the chips that they used were fairly light and crispy, which matched well with the tuna. This was so addictive as I couldn't stop eating them! Something about the spice from the tuna, sesame oil, umami from the nori and creamy heat from the mayo with the chip made this work.
Looking more like the sides of a Plate Lunch, it was actually the Poké Moco. This was essentially layered poke within sushi rice and topped with furikake. It was further enhanced by some mac salad and edamame. So this had the same components of the poké bowl except with more rice and no mac salad (although you can add that to the poké as well). So with the extra rice, this ate more like a sushi bake (without the baking) where the rice was more prominent. Interesting, but I would stick with the regular bowl.
If you didn't want raw fish, then there was another option in the Kalua Pig Plate Lunch. We got this in regular size once again, because the large is enormous! The pork was legit being fall-apart tender while exhibiting background hints of smoke, saltiness and sweetness. They didn't skimp on the amount of it as they piled it high on top of the sushi rice. I swear there was more pork than rice! It also came with a side of mac salad. I found the mac to be fairly firm with a sweet creamy dressing.
We ended up also ordering the Surf n Turf so that it would offer up the best of both worlds. As you can see, this came in a large portion which could feed 2 people if they weren't too hungry. The combination of hot and cold made this a different experience for sure, but once again, I would go for the regular poké bowl as I liked it the most. In the end, we came away impressed at the quality and authentic nature of the food. It reminded me of my visits to Hawaii (especially the big island). Would totally come back here, my kids would love it!
*All food and beverages were complimentary for this blog post*
The Good:- Straight-up poké that is done right
- Enormous portions
- Nice people
The Bad:
- Not much you can do with the compostable containers, but they don't stand up to what is inside it. Just be careful when you take out.