Reviews Calipoke

When in Cali one must do poke. This place is one you need to try!

CaliPoke is pretty good I've only been to two places but I like them both. The portions are bigger here though. And the people are really nice. Maybe some air fresheners but other than that it's a nice place!

This is a pretty decent poki spot. They are pretty generous with the topping. For example, Avacado is included with no extra charge. Fish quality is decent. Portion is good. Probably would come again. The parking is free valet parking.

Great spot to grab a fresh poke bowl. Servings are generous and you're able to pick from a great variety of toppings!

Portions are generous, they give a decent amount of fish compared to other places. The ingredients are really fresh too!

Inside the lab (hipster central/unicorn barn) calipoke got sapporo on tap, it's a winner!

The food quality is great. They do charge for adding extra of anything. Parking is extremely challenging during peak hours. If you get the poke salad with the original sauce, that could fit almost any diet (except original sauce has soy sauce which has wheat)

I love this place! The fish always is good quality and the sauces are supreme. I have a tendency to mix my sauces together, I typically like the original house sauce, with spicy miso, and roasted jalapeno teriyaki. So yummy!

This is a great pokeplace. It's one of my favorite spots in OC. Their portions are great and their food is always fresh. It's unfortunate that their parking situation is so bad. If you're looking for other great places with better parking then check out Poke Sushi in Orange, and Pokenometry in Anaheim. 👍

All these cookie cutter poke places are starting to feel very Chipotle if you know what I mean. If you don’t I’m saying they are vanilla, bland, unauthentic. Does that mean they aren’t good? NO. In fact they make tasty items. For rea mah broddah. Most people who have been to Hawaii have never had poke the way Hawaiians eat poke. We grow up with this notion of Waba Grill and Flame Broiler where everything needs rice and veggies and protein. Poke when made for events a side dish, when eaten personally it’s a meal, but they don’t garnish it like all these places do. Poke is really more of a seafood salad. Poke came from workers on the dock cutting fresh fish scraps and mixing with local ingredients. They didn’t get the choice cuts, but when it’s fresh you have very little taste difference with all the sauces and seasoning they use. What’s great about each new poke place is they doing slight variations. Like this place offers free seaweed salad (wakame) the very traditional Japanese salad we all recognize. They use biodegradable bowls, so they are trying to be environmentally forward and conscious. The rice stick, so my notion of salad is sounding a little more understandable, right? They currently offer a combo upgrade with miso and a drink with check in/review (though I think this is a limited offering). They offering your standard fish like tuna, salmon, but what I really like is the scallop. I wish they had inamona (kukui nuts), offered oyster sauce, had limu, ogo or any other seaweed offering (not just wakame, nori, furikake). I like the avocado and garlic chip offerings, but the crab was bland and without sauce a detractor. Wish they had sambal chili offerings and were more authentic, but that’s slightly different. The salmon and yellowtail are consistent and fresh. I like that they offer ginger and that it’s so customizable. The sauces are a little tame, so err on the over side when asking for sauces. Their hot sauces also do not have much in the way of heat, if that’s your thing. I wish they had more citrus based or sauces with citrus notes. I like getting my sauces and seasonings on the salad and rice and not on the fish so much. It’s not that busy, decent amount of seating, clean décor, unmuddled with decorations. Staff is friendly and you can get as much of the sides as you want, but the fish is a little lacking in amount. I like to get my poke salads with a quail egg or oysters, but no one around here really offers both at a “poke” spot, just Japanese places with a poke item. Value is on par with other poke in the county, that is to say slightly overpriced. I’ll come back because it’s the nearest place to my work if I need a fix, wish they kept the old menu and did poke as a split because a fish only offering would be a great snack to go along with their old menu. I really like the octopus. The wave is upon is and “authenticity” is not something the masses care about, just me. Come get your Lab Poke here. I gave up on ranking poke places, they are all good, the value is always going to be a point of contention. Socal Poke is almost not even Hawaiian anymore. It’s interesting that most places at the lab are good, but not great, really lacking a few things and this is no different.