Chico always has room for quality restaurants of other cultures, and Momo’s Poke, which opened mid summer of this year, had me wondering if it met the needs of a poke enthusiast.

Opening its doors on June 24, the restaurant contains an open, large and welcoming atmosphere. While you sit down and eat anywhere, this is a space you’d truly want to have a meal in.

Located at 128 Broadway St. in Downtown Chico, it is near campus and not a particularly hard place to get to. However, it is worth noting that during times of the day when Downtown Chico is generally busy, parking can be very difficult.

Momo’s Poke boasts a simple yet diverse menu. It has different food options besides poke and multiple options for drinks such as Thai tea and Thai coffee.

The menu has something for everyone, with dessert options as well. It is worth noting the prices before tax are fairly low. Most of the meals are under $15 dollars, and $15.95 for a three-protein poke bowl is affordable.

Poke is one of my favorite dishes; I strongly prefer raw fish over cooked, and the faster pace of both creating a bowl and eating it is perfect for someone who is slightly impatient during longer waits like me.

My order was three scoops of protein over white rice. My fish selections were salmon, spicy tuna and yellow tail. These were mixed in with spicy mayo and a small amount of ponzu sauce. On top of this, I had green onion, edamame, carrot and furikake. This was $17.27 before tip.

Your poke order is something you really need to get right – the amount of each individual ingredient matters significantly. Do not be afraid to specify how much of a certain ingredient you want. I often specify “a little bit of onion” or something similar.

When I order poke, I like to just order things I like and see what works. I used to order jalapeños, and even though I like them, they do not really fit into what I am looking for in a poke bowl.

I believe the fish and sauces are the most crucial components, and you can enjoy multiple sauces, each in different amounts if you prefer.

Something I found a little disappointing during the ordering process was the serving size of fish. I mentioned earlier how this is fairly cheap food, however I found that no matter which fish I asked for, not much was given. This sentiment is echoed on the restaurant’s Yelp reviews, leading me to believe this is not as server-specific as one may think.

While I was ordering, I noticed immediately how little fish they were giving me. It was one scoop for each fish from a spoon that was not large. I acted on this and simply asked for a bit more salmon.

Some places will ask if you want another full scoop of fish but you will have to pay for it. This server did not, and she just gave me another half scoop and did not mention charging me for this. She was very nice throughout the whole experience.

I do not encourage doing this consistently, as one may view it as gaming the system. However, I personally believe in at least trying to get what you pay for. Just don’t be annoying about it, especially to the workers.

I was also slightly disappointed with the selection of poke ingredients in general. Many poke restaurants feature more ingredient variety. I usually add corn, fried onion, and spicy poke sauce if I can.

This was most noticeable when picking my three fish options. I do not like shrimp or octopus, and I do not really come to poke restaurants to eat tofu, so I was essentially just left with salmon, yellow tail and two variations of tuna. Fortunately, these are probably my favorite options, so while I wished there were more kinds of fish, it did not really matter to me.

Though I was skeptical, the poke bowl I ordered was delicious. It felt fresh.
While the yellow tail and spicy salmon were good, the salmon in particular completely stole the show. It had an absolutely phenomenal consistency and felt the freshest and most lively of each fish. It tasted like good sashimi.

My poke bowl felt like the perfect amount of food. Many restaurants these days try to use awkward serving sizes to get you to pay for more food. However, Momo’s Poke definitely did not feel like one of them.

It is worth noting that I was very hungry. If you are not, maybe two scoops of protein is the way to go.

I do have a few nitpicks, unfortunately. Though they were thin, the carrots were a bit long, I would prefer them a bit shorter to fit into my mouth easier.

Also, the fish-to-rice ratio was slightly unsatisfactory. Even though I mixed up my poke bowl and tried to eat rice at the start, I was still left with a decent amount of it.

White rice with nothing else can feel plain to eat which can be somewhat remedied by getting a free soy sauce packet from one of the workers, though I recommend using only a little bit. Poke places often mix the sauce in with the fish, usually not the rice, and Momo’s was no exception.

All in all, I really enjoyed coming to Momo’s Poke, and I would give it a 3.5 out of 5. The thing that slightly worries me is the variability in fish, both the different kinds of fish and how much they give you. If this place gave you a little more fish consistently, I think it would be almost perfect.

I just want a little more of the food I love when I’m paying close to $20 for it.

Momo’s Poke greatly impressed me and there is nothing that can take away from that. I hope to come back and have another similarly-positive experience.

Dominic Curcuro can be reached at [email protected].