Steve’s Poké Bar

This place is overrated. It’s mediocre at best if you’re lucky to get the fresh food. Even then it tastes very bland, no flavour at all and they give little protein.

I have being coming to Steves Poke Bar everyday since Sept. 8 2023 when looking for place to get lunch and I have been hooked ever since!

This is honestly my first time writing a review for a restaurant but I had to make an exception for this place right on the ubc campus (more details of my unfiltered experience below) :

My first time there was also my first time having poke and I did not know what to get or if there was a certain process I had to order, I went with a friend and the first employee I met was Ren. The atmosphere was extremely beginner friendly and they gave out free samples to me and my friend to figure out which fish I liked more (shoyu [Japanese soy sauce] salmon, shoyu tuna, spicy salmon, spicy tuna, + more), I initially went with shoyu tuna with rice. We had a great conversation with Ren and the food was great so I starting coming more and more until it became apart of my daily routine to come to Steve's poke bar after my afternoon lectures and on weekends aswell.

I am surprised how healthy and nutritious the bowls are and has been a great replacement from my previous lunches which consisted of fried foods, pizza, or whatever else I can get on campus.

I'm happy to say I have not had a bad experience with the employees you'll see at the front (including Dom, Ren, Adrianna, and more) or with their manager (who is a very wonderful person!)! I have noticed that even their busy hours, pretty much every day during peak hours around 12pm on weekdays, they are always kind to everyone in the line which made me liked the place even more! Sometimes they can get overwhelmed when their is only 2 people working at the front with a line of 15 and online orders being delivered at the same time, but honestly all their employees are in great spirits and even if they might be stressed, they are still kind to everyone in line and do their best!
I've also seen they are really good with people who have allergies or dietary restrictions for what they can and can't have too and what they do have is really good options even for those who have strict dietary restrictions

Now when I come in, they already know my usual order by heart (even the new employees do too!) and always get excited when I walk in which is really good feeling during the day!

So in honour of passing over 2 months of coming to this location of Steve's poke bar, I'm about to put everyone on my personal favourite order. This order is great on the go before your uni.classes, if you are about to workout, or even if you want to have a really healthy meal will walking around campus on your own or with friends!
After hours of testing and tweaking to my taste buds, I have narrowed it down to this order. I broke it down in chronological order from each step in ordering and what they will ask at each step:

(1) I choose a regular bowl with rice (also called a regular BYOB)

(2) I'll say yes to add their signature seasoning on top (which includes seaweed, salt, pepper, etc)

(3) The sauces I get are shoyu, spicy mayo, and ono sauce.

(4) Poke: (I choose either 1 scoop of spicy salmon, shoyu tuna, or shoyu salmon depending on what I feel like that day or if I have a soccer game on that day)

(5) Greens/add-ons: Cucumbers, imitation crab, wakame, edamame, corn, pineapples, pickled radish. I get extra of these to balance the ratio with the rice.

(6) Final Touch: Sesame seeds and Seaweed flakes (sometimes I may add extra sauces depending on how I feel too)

Final Price: all of this for just 15.75$ and it honestly fills me up with extra left I can have for lunch for the next day or even as a quick snack.

Until december 15th, they have a chili that's 3$ when you get it with a bowl. It's really good and I like the chili on it's own without adding anything else to it (but that's just me with my own taste buds)

If you read this far it probably means you are looking for a new spot to get some great food. You might as well try this place out as it's right on ubc campus. (I also wouldn't be writing this much if it wasn't a great addition to my routine so far).

Love this place! Great portion sizes, friendly staff, always fresh! Loyal customer forever and always:)

Only takeout (no dine-in) but with the standard quality of ingredients & positive attitude of the employees.

Excellent service. Food was great but a bit salty (maybe because I had 2 sauces?). The special of the month (Steve's Ono) was excellent!

Service was excellent and the food is good. The salmon served is not the best quality as the texture of each piece varied quite a lot. For the price I would expect higher quality fish with a consistent texture.

Extremely friendly staff and delicious spicy scallop poké bowl. Wouldn't call it spicy but it had a great flavour.

Rude and unprofessional staff, there's a girl there that makes rude hand gestures and tries to rush me while I order, doesn't smile or say a polite greeting, I won't go there again!

A lovely little joint with very friendly staff and a variety of options to choose from. Perfect for a quick lunch time fix.

I normally like Steve’s poke bar and buy from their other locations for poke since the service is good and the ingredients are normally fresh. But the last two times I’ve been to the UBC location the salmon isn’t the greatest quality or freshness — it’s very dull in colour, and the texture is mealy and pretty chewy. I likely won’t be coming back to this location since this problem doesn’t seem to be a one off. The service is good though (which is consistent across all steves poke locations I’ve been to) and the workers are really nice!

I went in for first time and staff was really helpful and friendly.
Meal was delicious! I am gonna go next time soon! Loved it
Thank you

Your staff was extremely friendly, competent, friendly, and professional!
Very patient and kind! Treated us very respectfully! Food was really fantastic tasting.and my wife who is a chef had absolutely no complaints! Awesome job.keep it up!

My second time getting poke bowl from here, and Steve’s spicy mayo sauce is just the way I remembered it. Great stuff

The food is delicious️ The staff drew a cute cartoon next to my name on the takeout bag. This is so cute! I really appreciate it ️️ Will definitely come back and order more ️

Best Steve’s location! The service is always great and the food delicious. I go here about once a week and have never been disappointed. The staff are wonderful too. Definitely a must try in the area.

It was really delicious and the portions is huge. The service is also very nice and friendly. It’s just a little bit more expensive than the other poke bowl places at UBC.

I once knew a man who ate a poke bowl every day of the week. That man was me and I regret nothing.

The food and options of customization are amazing! You can pick whatever your cravings are and are satisfied with the exceptional tasty.

Clean, convenient and efficient. Friendly and welcoming staff. Fresh ingredients and delicious signature bowls. Reasonably priced.

Inflation is out of control, prices have gone up 10-20% the last year. Now there's a new city bylaw bag fee. I live 3 blocks away and don't need or want a bag, so why am I paying a fee? This silly little 15 cents is the tipping point for me. You can't charge a fee and not leave me the option to bring my own bag or use my own two hands to carry out.

When this place first opened I had it a couple of times and I loved it. This summer I came back and had it twice. For some reason I had stomachache and diarrhea after having their poke. I ordered spicy tuna. But I have no problem with seafood from other restaurants. I’m not sure if it’s just me. I’m not even sure if it is because their poke. But since it happened twice, I thought maybe I should let people know.

The server is really nice! They ask me whether I have enough rice and the overall experience is amazing! I went there on National poke bowl day. The sashimi is fresh and clean.
I got the Mayo Spice me up: spicy Mayo salmon and California dreaming: shoyu salmon. As much as I like spicy, I prefer the shoyu one!

I would def visit there again!

Worthy of its top ratings. Really tasty and easily customised bowls. 3 super satisfied customers. And great customer service.

The server is so nice. He asked me whether the rice portion is enough. The food is fresh and delicious! I am usually scared of having raw fish but I didn’t have any stomach issues. I would definitely visit again!

Quality poke bowl and good portions, especially worth if you have an account there and get discounts.

The staff were super helpful and stayed positive despite the line being longer than the nile. Amazing!:)

Awesome place! Im not sure if it's because of the servers or the avtual restaurant but my bowl was loaded with tasty food! Best one ive had!

Great value for the location and sheer amount of food, but it's not an overload; the perfect balance. Clean place, great location, great price, great service, and even better food. Healthy offerings aplenty and you can build the poké bowl of your dreams, or get a predesigned combo. Grab a poké bowl and a nice San Pelligrino and you won't regret it.

I will be honest this place is over rated their poke bowls are below average! I was really disappointed. I ordered one of their standard menu sets

I am updating my review (4 stars earlier), the past few experiences have been sad and disappointing. The new staff could do better, mixed order couple of times, that’s okay can happen we are all human, can’t blame anyone.
But the quality of poke has deteriorated significantly, the proportions of sauce, even in the set menu items, is way off recently. Was left with a dry sore tongue today after a super salty traditional bowl, doesn’t really help with the heat wave either, please do a quality check at this location, will try again but with caution!

I had my first experience of poke here and I regret it. I'm soooo addicted to it now! Its so delicious and fresh! Would give 100 stars if I could!

This place is the best-priced poke bar I've seen in Vancouver. The prices themselves are comparable to other poke spots, but the portion is much bigger than standard and very filling. All of their ingredients are fresh and flavourful. They have plenty of menu choices including a totally customizable build-your-own. Staff is friendly.

The service here is always friendly, welcoming, and helpful! Definitely my favourite go-to poke bowl place:)

Very mediocre poke experience. I ordered through UberEats. They skimped out on the protein and sauce. I was given 6 tiny pieces of shoyu salmon and almost no sauce. The salmon did not taste fresh. I've eaten a lot of Pokebowls and this was by far the most disappointing. I tried both Steve's Pokebar locations in Coquitlam and they tasted fine. I don't recommend the UBC location.

Steve's Poke, authentic Hawaiian,
Delicious & healthy! Great value, Best in town!
Like meeting their helpful & cheerful staff;
My regular visit place for sure.

I go frequently to their Surrey location and was so happy to see this new location at UBC. Food always tastes fresh and portion sizes are generous! Their app also makes pickup really fast and easy. The only thing I wish was that there was more sauce on the shoyu salmon, sometimes I feel like there is barely any.

Tried it twice now and delicious both times! My new fav place at ubc, worth the price since they really load it up:)

Come hungry, the portions are generous, even for someone who normally eats a big lunch. I went for the first time today at 1: 30pm. They must have had a busy day, as they were in the middle of making a new batch of rice. I got a bowl with the ala moana ahi, which was really tasty. I had my bowl half quinoa and half salad base, since the rice was still being made. Would recommend eating with a spoon and a fork, rather than chopsticks, as the toppings are small sized, over the quinoa, so chopsticks might take a lot time to pick up all the pieces. Overall, it was lots of veggies and fresh. A couple dining nearby who were also eating poke bowls both could not finish their portions, but were also struggling with having chosen chopsticks as their utensils.

Maybe if they did not forget to add the sauce to the Poke bowl it would have been tastier. It tasted like they opened various cans and added it to a bowl of rice: canned pinneaple, cheap pickled ginger, Costco style wakame, frozen edamame. It's not disgusting but it is not delicious.