The first night I was in Irvine, I ordered poke delivery from Cubed Poke. It was crazy satisfying.
So, two nights later, when I again needed dinner and I was too worn out to drag myself out somewhere, poke delivery it was.
This time from Pokéworks, delivered via Door Dash. Ordering online was easy, and I tried out the group order feature, as another co-worker wanted to order as well. It arrived around the quoted time, mostly correct.
Pokéworks main concept is "Poke Your Way", although they do have several pre-designed bowls. Besides poke though, they have little else, just miso soup and packaged roasted seaweed round out the menu.
But the poke menu is ... extensive to say the least. I picked Pokéworks not only for the good reviews, but, for the mix-in and topping selection in particular. I've never seen so many options.
I went for a poke bowl, regular size. It came packaged nicely, everything was still separate in the bowl, which surprised me, I expected a jumbled mess from delivery.
Of course I customized my own bowl.
First up, selecting the base. Even just for the base, you have 6 options. Standard sushi rice, or organic brown rice if you want healthier, or quinoa if you want healthier still. Or mixed greens for a salad option. Or ... a sushi burrito, with rice and seaweed wrap. Or ... "kale noodles".
Next, protein, 7 choices. Again, standard options (salmon, ahi, albacore), but also some more creative ones (sous vide shrimp, sous vide scallops), something for the vegetarians (tofu), and something for your non-seafood eating friends (chicken). No octopus, but, really, quite the selection.
Next, mix-ins, to be mixed with the sauce and protein. Here too, the options were extensive, 11 options in all, and again, including many options outside the standard cucumbers, edamame, and onions: diced mango and orange slices for a tropical feel. Not one, but two different types of seaweed (hijiki, ogo). All sorts of herbs.
Then of course, your sauce. 8 options, some light, some heavier creamy aiolis.
And then, finally, the parts that I really cared about: toppings and crunch. Starting with toppings. 10 options, mostly the standard lineup: avocado, crab salad, seaweed salad, green onions, pickled ginger, wasabi, masago, tobiko, sesame seeds, furikake.
And lastly ... crunch! 7 more things to pick from.
A regular size is $10.95, large $13.50. Regular bowls come with 2 proteins, large with 3. And unlike many places, the mix-ins, toppings, and crunch are not limited. No "4 included, additional $0.50" sort of setup, and only a few (quinoa, avocado, and macadamia nuts) have any surcharge.
Given all the options, you'd think that I would have decision making problems. But actually, it was simple to assemble my bowl.
Base: Kale Noodle
1st Protein: Scallop (Sous Vide)
2nd Protein: Shrimp (Sous Vide)
Mix-Ins: Diced Mango, Hijiki Seaweed, Ogo Seaweed, Shiso Leaves
Sauce: Umami Shoyu, Sauce Level: Medium Sauce
Toppings: Crab Salad, Green Onion, Pickled Ginger, Seaweed Salad, Spicy Furikake, Wasabi
Crunch: Garlic Crisps, Lotus Chips, Onion Crisps, Roasted Macadamia Nuts, Sesame Seeds, Shredded Nori, Wonton Crisps
Yes, I really did order all the crunch toppings except the puffed rice. It took a while to find the rest of my contents under the toppings.
But, as I expected, the toppings were the best part.
The shredded nori, sesame seeds, green onion, and furikake were pretty standard, sprinkled on top of everything, and all added good flavors.
I adored my crunch elements, particularly the lotus chips, followed closely by the wonton crisps. I'm not entirely sure I found the garlic crisps and onion crisps in there, and gladly would have taken even more of the lotus chips. I kinda wish they had them available as a side, or, a base option (like the taro chips at Cubed Poke, or the tortilla chips many places offer). Anyway, as silly as my crunch lineup was, these were some of my favorite bits.
The seaweed salad was actually not my favorite, a bit bitter almost. I added soy sauce to it, and it was better, but, somehow I didn't love the standard marinade it had (even though it looked like every generic seaweed salad out there). The crab salad (surimi really), was fine, better than the version from Cubed actually, but a fairly small portion. The pickled ginger was a ridiculously large portion. I'm not sure what on earth happened there, as everything else was in proportion, but, the entire center of my bowl was a huge mass of pickled ginger. It was fine, but, way too much. The wasabi was a decent sized little pile that I was able to mix in with soy sauce and use as I desired without overwhelming other elements.
So overall, decent toppings, great crunch elements. Underneath that all was the actual proteins, mixed with my mix-ins and sauce, and my base.
Included in the takeout bag was a bunch of sauces, 3 each of a brown one, 3 each of a red one. I'm not really sure why, or what they were, but the red one was crazy spicy, and the brown one I think might have just been soy sauce?
I ordered with one other co-worker, so we had two bowls, which came with two sets of chopsticks and utensils, but we had 3 each of these sauces, so, it wasn't like we were each supposed to get one.
I did also order a wasabi aioli on the side, but, alas, it did not come. I did appreciate the soy-like sauce, as I used it on my seaweed salad and my crab salad.
So, two nights later, when I again needed dinner and I was too worn out to drag myself out somewhere, poke delivery it was.
This time from Pokéworks, delivered via Door Dash. Ordering online was easy, and I tried out the group order feature, as another co-worker wanted to order as well. It arrived around the quoted time, mostly correct.
Pokéworks main concept is "Poke Your Way", although they do have several pre-designed bowls. Besides poke though, they have little else, just miso soup and packaged roasted seaweed round out the menu.
But the poke menu is ... extensive to say the least. I picked Pokéworks not only for the good reviews, but, for the mix-in and topping selection in particular. I've never seen so many options.
 |
| Poke Your Way, Regular. $10.95 + $1. |
Of course I customized my own bowl.
First up, selecting the base. Even just for the base, you have 6 options. Standard sushi rice, or organic brown rice if you want healthier, or quinoa if you want healthier still. Or mixed greens for a salad option. Or ... a sushi burrito, with rice and seaweed wrap. Or ... "kale noodles".
Next, protein, 7 choices. Again, standard options (salmon, ahi, albacore), but also some more creative ones (sous vide shrimp, sous vide scallops), something for the vegetarians (tofu), and something for your non-seafood eating friends (chicken). No octopus, but, really, quite the selection.
Next, mix-ins, to be mixed with the sauce and protein. Here too, the options were extensive, 11 options in all, and again, including many options outside the standard cucumbers, edamame, and onions: diced mango and orange slices for a tropical feel. Not one, but two different types of seaweed (hijiki, ogo). All sorts of herbs.
Then of course, your sauce. 8 options, some light, some heavier creamy aiolis.
And then, finally, the parts that I really cared about: toppings and crunch. Starting with toppings. 10 options, mostly the standard lineup: avocado, crab salad, seaweed salad, green onions, pickled ginger, wasabi, masago, tobiko, sesame seeds, furikake.
And lastly ... crunch! 7 more things to pick from.
A regular size is $10.95, large $13.50. Regular bowls come with 2 proteins, large with 3. And unlike many places, the mix-ins, toppings, and crunch are not limited. No "4 included, additional $0.50" sort of setup, and only a few (quinoa, avocado, and macadamia nuts) have any surcharge.
 |
| My Custom Bowl. |
Base: Kale Noodle
1st Protein: Scallop (Sous Vide)
2nd Protein: Shrimp (Sous Vide)
Mix-Ins: Diced Mango, Hijiki Seaweed, Ogo Seaweed, Shiso Leaves
Sauce: Umami Shoyu, Sauce Level: Medium Sauce
Toppings: Crab Salad, Green Onion, Pickled Ginger, Seaweed Salad, Spicy Furikake, Wasabi
Crunch: Garlic Crisps, Lotus Chips, Onion Crisps, Roasted Macadamia Nuts, Sesame Seeds, Shredded Nori, Wonton Crisps
Yes, I really did order all the crunch toppings except the puffed rice. It took a while to find the rest of my contents under the toppings.
But, as I expected, the toppings were the best part.
The shredded nori, sesame seeds, green onion, and furikake were pretty standard, sprinkled on top of everything, and all added good flavors.
I adored my crunch elements, particularly the lotus chips, followed closely by the wonton crisps. I'm not entirely sure I found the garlic crisps and onion crisps in there, and gladly would have taken even more of the lotus chips. I kinda wish they had them available as a side, or, a base option (like the taro chips at Cubed Poke, or the tortilla chips many places offer). Anyway, as silly as my crunch lineup was, these were some of my favorite bits.
The seaweed salad was actually not my favorite, a bit bitter almost. I added soy sauce to it, and it was better, but, somehow I didn't love the standard marinade it had (even though it looked like every generic seaweed salad out there). The crab salad (surimi really), was fine, better than the version from Cubed actually, but a fairly small portion. The pickled ginger was a ridiculously large portion. I'm not sure what on earth happened there, as everything else was in proportion, but, the entire center of my bowl was a huge mass of pickled ginger. It was fine, but, way too much. The wasabi was a decent sized little pile that I was able to mix in with soy sauce and use as I desired without overwhelming other elements.
So overall, decent toppings, great crunch elements. Underneath that all was the actual proteins, mixed with my mix-ins and sauce, and my base.
 |
| Kale Noodles, Sous Vide Shrimp, Sous Vide Scallops. |
Since I haven't really been into raw seafood lately, and I don't like chicken or tofu, my protein choices were easy: sous vide shrimp and scallops. (Side note: really, I want poke bowls with just crab salad, but alas, no where lets me pick that!)
The portion of both proteins was generous, but, I didn't quite care for either. The scallops, mid-sized bay scallops, were a good texture, but fairly fishy. The shrimp, again, decent enough texture, good sized, but they weren't deveined. I didn't really taste much of the umami shoyu sauce I picked. I did really like both seaweeds in the mix, far more than the seaweed salad, but, since it was mixed in here, it was hard to really get much of.
The mango bits were odd, they looked like egg yolk, brilliant orange color, but were indeed mango. They went great with my macadamia nuts, and reminded me of my old favorite "Hawaiian #2" sushi roll from Sushi Zone in San Francisco. Mango and macadamia, always a good combo.
And finally, my base. Kale noodles.
Which turned out to be ... uh, green-ish soba noodles? I'll admit, this is not what I expected at all. I foolishly thought "kale noodles" was just a fancy term for shredded kale, kinda like "zucchini noodles" that are just spiralized zucchini. That is, I thought I was getting a raw kale salad, more like the bowl from Cubed I had two nights prior. Instead I had ... real noodles. Doh.
I didn't really like the noodles, but, I don't really like soba noodles. Kinda soft, but not mushy, not clumped together, but, uh, meh, soba noodles. I guess they had some kind of kale element, as they were a bit green? I wished I had selected the mixed greens.
 |
| Sauces? |
I ordered with one other co-worker, so we had two bowls, which came with two sets of chopsticks and utensils, but we had 3 each of these sauces, so, it wasn't like we were each supposed to get one.
I did also order a wasabi aioli on the side, but, alas, it did not come. I did appreciate the soy-like sauce, as I used it on my seaweed salad and my crab salad.
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