Pisces Poke & Ramen

Good poke places can be hard to find, especially if you’re trying to find something that’s not too expensive. Some things I look for when I’m searching for poke is if the fish tastes fresh and has good sides and toppings that I can order with it.

I first came across Pisces Poke (now Pisces Poke and Ramen) on Yelp around a year ago, when I was craving some poke. It had a surprising 5 stars, and the menu looked pretty cool – it’s not your typical build-your-own-bowl place. It is located in LA, inside a small plaza with not a lot of parking spaces. The location is not the most convenient, but worth trying out.

Upon entering, I was welcomed by friendly staff behind the counter. They even asked if it was my first time there and if I would like to sample their poke before ordering. They made their samples on the spot, and was pretty generous with the fish. There wasn’t that much space inside, but enough to fit a few tables for customers to eat. It looked simple but elegant, with white tables and a “I like it RAW” sign hung up against the white wall, over some orange cushions.

I really like salmon, so I ordered their Truffle Salmon, for $11.50, plus a free drink after checking in on Yelp. I got their sweetened green tea. After waiting for a bit, the staff brought out the food to the table. The food was carefully plated. The rice, surrounded with a banana leaf, was placed diagonal from the salmon on top of spinach. In the other two corners was seaweed salad and ginger, and edamame seeds and squid salad. Mixed in with the salmon was also sprouts and onions, and some almond bits were sprinkled on top.

I took a bite of the salmon, along with some spinach and rice, and immediately, my eyes lit up. It was so good. The flavor, the sauce, the texture – everything was perfect. This is the best poke I have ever had. I moved on to try the sides, and it was amazing. It didn’t take away the flavor of the salmon, and was an excellent addition that only enhanced the flavor.

The poke was the best, but the sweetened green tea is also worth mentioning. I typically don’t like to order sweet drinks, but the staff highly recommended the sweetened green tea instead of the unsweetened, so I decided to try it. Good thing I did, because just like the poke, it was great. The sweetness level was just right.

I had such a great first experience I promised myself to return for more, and I did. In the past year, I’ve gone back at least 6 more times, trying out some of the other items on the menu. Chef You even came out of the kitchen a few times to ask how the food was and talked about his journey in creating his masterpieces. I have yet to take some of my friends to try this place! Here are some of the other items I’ve ordered:

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Even though I ordered (and sampled) some of the other items every time I visited, I still made sure to get the Truffle Salmon every time. It is definitely my favorite. It has been pretty consistent with its quality, but there definitely has been some changes over the past year.

New Furniture & New Menu Items

The white tables have transformed into benches! These light wood colored benches give off a different vibe and are able to fit more people per table. It might get a bit awkward if you’re only there with one other person because you’re not sure if you should share the bench with some other customers.

There has been some new items on the menu like the Actually Spicy poke plate and hand roll, the OG Salad, the Yuzu Jalapeno, and the Butter Ramen. It’ll take some time before I go through and try everything on the menu!

Price

When I first went to Pisces Poke, the price was only $11.50 for a poke plate. Pretty quickly, it went up to $12.50, $14.50, and now $14.95 – that’s a 30% increase in less than a year! For the quality you’re getting, I’d say $11.50 and $12.50 is a great deal. $14.50 is kind of like, okay, yeah I’m craving poke so let’s go here, but at $14.95, I really have to start thinking about how much I want the poke plate here. It’s still reasonable, because some places charge you $16 and don’t have the same level of quality as this place or give you a free drink, but if the price increases again, chances are, I’ll probably come less often.

Although the price has gone up, I would say you do get a bit more protein, which is nice, but I was pretty satisfied with the portion I was getting before. The free drink is a plus if you usually order a drink with your meals, but since I don’t, it’s hard to consider it to be as good of a deal. As much as I love the poke here, there is a limit to how much I’m willing to pay for it, especially since it doesn’t quite taste the same as when I first had it.

Taste

Not only has the price for the poke changed, but the taste is also different. Comparing the first and last time I’ve had the Truffle Salmon, the first time tasted much better. The sides are a bit different, and it even tastes like the recipe might have been slightly changed.

To start off, the edamame now comes with the shell instead of just the seeds. This isn’t too big of a difference, and doesn’t affect the taste too much. Next, the squid salad has been replaced with cucumber salad. This, I not a big fan of. The pickled cucumbers have a very strong taste, and I think it really overpowers the taste of the fish. Don’t get me wrong, I actually love pickled cucumbers, but I also like to have a good balance between the foods I am eating in a meal. I don’t really want to walk out with only the taste of pickled cucumbers in my mouth when I was actually eating poke.

The two other differences I noticed in the taste was the flavor of the truffle salmon and the rice. With my last few orders, the truffle salmon just didn’t taste the same. I can’t quite pinpoint what has changed, but I think it has something to do with the sauce. It’s not that it didn’t taste as good or anything, it was just different.

The change I was most disappointed in, even more than the pickled cucumbers, was the rice. As I made my way towards finishing the rice, I noticed there was a lot of oil (most likely sesame oil) on the bottom of the rice – enough for me to see it clearly and feel a bit disgusted at the thought of consuming all that oil. Saying the bottom of that scoop of rice was drenched in the oil would be an exaggeration, but I think soaked is pretty accurate. Let’s just say I didn’t get the same satisfying and happy feeling at this last visit.

Overall, Pisces Poke and Ramen is still one of the best poke places I’ve been to, but I do hope that the quality stays consistent and that my rice will not be covered in so much oil next time. If you visit, make sure to try the Truffle Salmon poke plate!