REVIEW: Zuma Poke offers delicious Hawaiian cuisine

By Audrey Zenner,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

When I first heard that a poke restaurant would be opening in Davis, I was ecstatic. I had tasted poke in Hawaii the summer before and loved it. So when Zuma Poke & Lush Ice opened this spring at 730 3rd St. in Downtown Davis, I had to try it out.

For those of you who have never heard of poke, it’s a raw fish salad typically served as an appetizer in Hawaiian cuisine. Traditional forms of the dish are made with aku, an oily tuna, or he’e, octopus. Some common seasonings are soy sauce, sesame oil, sea salt and chili powder.

Zuma Poke & Lush Ice serves traditional style poke, poke tacos, boozy Hawaiian shaved ice and more. In addition to these menu items, they also offer a build-your-own bowl poke, which lets you pick your toppings as you go.

The staff was helpful and welcoming as I built my own poke bowl with salmon, spicy tuna and yellowtail. The poke and seaweed salad was delicious and the fish was fresh–it tasted similar to the poke I had tried in Hawaii.

By my second trip to Zuma Poke & Lush Ice, word had spread and I had to wait in a line out the door to order three Beat the Heat soft shell tacos with ahi tuna and coconut cabbage slaw. It was worth the wait though, because the tacos were just as tasty as the poke.

The traditional poke, which is sold by the pound, is also a hit. Additionally, they offer three different flavors of boozy Hawaiian shaved ice.

While the price is a bit high–$10.95 for a small poke bowl and $12.95 for a large–the great-tasting fresh fish is well worth it; you definitely get what you pay for.