Poke To Your Taste

Went here right before closing and the owner was very friendly and welcoming. Me and my fiancé both had the poke bowl (with rice) with plain fish and made our own — you can add spicy mayo shoyu sauce etc and then sesame seeds and scallions and other toppings. The fish was SO fresh and delicious. The whole bowl was so delicious and only $ 9.50 for a very large and hearty meal. Overall really amazing little spot! HIGHLY recommend!!!

Little hole in the wall authentic poke place! Very traditional and affordable! Yumm.

So yesterday while looking for Hilo bay books found this gem hole in the wall with a big sign that caught our eye from across the traffic light… looks like an old fashioned plantation house… but once u open the door… plenty of ALOHA … uncle behind the counter «ok what u having» us shoyu ahi ½lb «ok everything you need right behind you» «u mess um up your fault lol»… yes u order your fish and u add what u want… aside from biding us aloha as we head for the door… uncle added «I love my job… u pay me to do all the work yourself»… now that is what I call an awsome man with a job he loves … BTW did I mention the fish is fresh… not fresh frozen but FRESH

Went off of the reviews on Unilocal and were severely disappointed. The poke tasted way too fishy and not fresh. We almost gave up on finding a good poke bowl but came across the Suisan Fish Market — they sell some fresh and delicious poke. Go there instead.

Great little hole in the wall. Awesome value, excellent quality. Love this place so much went 3 days in the row. The owner is really friendly and enjoys chatting it up.
Love the idea to be able to make the poke to our liking. The portions are huge!

They have plain ahi that you add whatever you want to make it «your way.» I was not a huge fan, probably the worst poke I had on the trip. Maybe it was my fault? Or perhaps it was because it was around 4pm, so the fish wasn’t super fresh? I would try somewhere else in Hilo.

So fresh and delicious! I got the make your own poke bento. $ 14 for I think a pound of tuna. Right by the airport in a tiny fish store.

for my first poke experience… it was quite tasty.
but literally people it is a little shack-​esque place but worth the find
i love the «toppings bar»

Don’t let the outside appearance fool you. The old man runs an easy but effective poke shop. His motto, can’t blame him if you don’t like the taste, becuase u mix in your own ingredients to your taste. My 10 year old loved it! It was easy. Two choices of ahi, shoyu or plain then u put you own mix ins. Cheaper than suisan, fresher than KTA. And $ 1 musubi. If you never mixed your own poke, the owner is so nice to make suggestions.

What is there to say, this is the perfect place to get poke, to your taste. The owner, (who has been married 58 years!!!) was super cool to my wife and I, showing us the right way to assemble our own poke. All in all, super fun experience.

This place is exactly why I love Unilocal when I’m on the road. The owner runs the op out of a very small store, with just enough room for a case of refrigerated meats, a case for cold drinks, and a shelf of hand-​selected snacks and groceries. If you blink while driving past on the highway, you will miss this hidden gem.
HOW WE ORDERED: we each got a $ 9 poke bowl (served in a small to-​go tray with plastic topper). Our choices for meats were plain vs shoyu poke and kimchi vs garlic shrimp. To echo previous reviewers, the owner scoops an over-​generous «half pound» of poke and a heap of juicy jumbo shrimp per order. We each got about 1 – 1.5 cups of hot white rice and were then loosed upon the condiments table, which featured: chopped white onion, chopped green onion, macadamia nut shavings, white sesame seeds, hot red chili pepper flakes, furikake, sesame seed oil, shoyu, kimchi sauce, and spicy mayo. See pics from Unilocalers, who sold us on first glance.
QUALITY OF FOOD: ⁵⁄₅. Poke was fresh and non-​fishy. The shrimp was superb — fresh and deveined. Garlic shrimp was super garlicky, just the way this Korean likes it. If you’re into subtlety, however, beware.
QUALITY OF SERVICE: ⁵⁄₅. The owner is supremely friendly and obviously loves what he does. Chat him up; he will not disappoint.
OTHER GOODIES: Spam musubi and packs of poi for sale by the register. Imported dry Asian snacks on the walls beside the drink case.
CONS: Just one word of warning for newcomers, the parking lot has few spaces and requires a tight turn, if you’re coming in off Mamalahoa Hwy.

This place has the exact kind of setup that makes great poke. Namely, you can dress the poke and rice yourself with the various fixings: furikake, sesame seed, sesame oil, spicy mayo, shoyu, and some of the other classics.
With the quality fish and shrimp, you end up with the best poke dish in town.

This local little shack houses some big tastes! They have ahi (regular and shoyu style), garlic shrimp, and tako (octopus). You pick 2kinds (or 2 generous servings of the same knds) and it comes w/​rice ($ 8). RThen make your way to the poke condiments bar (chili flakes, sesame seeds, furikake, hawaiian salt, shoyu, chili water, etc.)…and truly semi-​customize your poke. They also have boiled peanuts, kim hee cucumbers, pickled cabbage and more!!! Spam musubis are $ 1 (I got 3!). Parking is limited and so is the space inside the shack, so plan to take your picnic elsewhere (like the park or beach!) to enjoy it.

Fresh Ahi, there’s 2 choices of Ahi and then you add the species and stuff you like! Definitely a unique concept, fresh quality poke, but I still prefer it marinated. Also, there’s not seaweed/​ocean salad.

Picked this place after a great afternoon of snorkeling at Richardson.
Cool concept of letting you put on your own toppings on your poke (I piled on the green onion and garlic).
The owner was awesome and friendly and had some great one liners such as, «you make it yourself, so if they don’t like it, it’s your fault.»

I’ve had fresher poke in Oahu. I wasn’t really too impressed with this place. The man is very sweet, but I wouldn’t say that this is a must visit. They also sell spam musubi here.

Talk about the best poke in town, no EVER!!!
This place is a hidden gem! I love the fact that it’s make it your own style. The price is $ 8 and you get 2 choices between shoyu poke, regular poke, tako, imitation crab, and shrimps. I went ahead with the shoyu poke and tako. I love the fact that the shoyu poke wasn’t drenched in sauce, it was just right! There’s a station where you can flavor up your plate from furikaki to different sauces. Pure delight!
Bonus — the owner is amazing! Easy to talk to grandpa, we had a great conversation with him and made us feel like we were home!
Love this place!

Despite the questionable looking storefront and interior, I had some amazing poke at Poke to Your Taste. The portions were huuuuge — choice of two types of fish (I had the shoyu poke and tako salad) and rice for only $ 8, which is almost half the price of most other places. In addition, I was able to add my own toppings («to my taste,» I suppose).

Hole-​in-​the-​wall hardly even begins to describe this place. The concept was unique amongst poke shops where choose between plain or shoyu poke as the base and then customize it exactly to your liking. The ahi tuna is very fresh and the elderly gentleman who helped us was nice with a good sense of humor.
Spam musubi can be had here too for mad cheap, always a plus.

While driving around in Hilo, I found this little small «hole in the wall shack of a place» where they sell poke.
This place is very unique, as they have a concept where you pay for your plain or shoyu poke first, and then there is a condiments table where you add in whatever condiments you want on your poke.
Some of the condiments include minced garlic, chopped green onions, sesame seed, kukui nut, shoyu, chili pepper water, furikake, chili peppers, chopped onions, and spicy mayo.
The ahi they used was outstanding! Very FRESH! They had a limited selection of the types of poke they had, but what they did have, it was all so fresh & yummy!
I ordered a poke bowl ($ 8.00) & you get a choice of two pokes and white rice. I got the shoyu poke, & crab poke with rice.
They also sell Spam Musubi’s for only $ 1.00 here! What a deal folks!!!
The owner is a elderly gentlemen… a very friendly, & nice guy! I asked him — «how long has this shop been here»? As I don’t remember seeing it in all the years I use to go to the Big Island. He told me he has been here for 6 years. He had told me he use to be a commercial fisherman, then later he started selling poke from a truck, then it progressed to this little store years later…
There are a few parking spaces in front of the store. When you go inside the store, it’s basically just counter service. You pick up, then run… there are no tables inside the store to sit and eat.
As for me, I made a new friend today, so after buying my poke bowl, I was in the back room grinding, & talking story with the owner! Lol!
Before I left, I had to pick up one of the $ 1.00 Spam musubi’s!
For just one dollar, «how can go wrong»??? I mean think about it… the local Spam musubi is the perfect mobile food!
1. The Spam musubi is portable… you can carry it in a bag, or just throw it in your pocket (just don’t sit on it!).
2. It has the fatty mystery meat — SPAM! — That’s a good thing! :)
3. It has soft fluffy rice to protect the precious salty Spam meat. — Good!
4. It has Nori (Japanese Seaweed) to wrap up the soft fluffy rice & Spam, to make it the perfect portable meal! Think about it… I could be walking, and I could still be eating a Spam musubi because everything is nicely wrapped up. In fact, I could probably run, & eat this musubi too! Lol!
5. Last of all, if anyone comes at you aggressively… if you throw the Spam musubi at them hard enough, maybe you could stun them, then make your getaway! But of course, I would never do that! I mean, why would I waste a good Spam Musubi? It’s like throwing a brick of GOLD! Lol!
After eating my poke bowl, I was already full, so I just threw my musubi into my computer bag, and ate it a few hours later… See! Like I said, it’s portable! :)