5300 Rainier Ave S

I've heard a lot about this place and wanted to check it out for a couple of years now. Only now, I was able to make my way down to Columbia City to try it out! The location that we went to is located across of Hill City Tap House & Bottle Shop and Emma's BBQ on Rainier Ave S in Columbia City. There's a small parking lot for customers to park at. The interior of the restaurant seemed more like a café rather than a restaurant with its aesthetics of succulents around the area. It was more of a self-serve shop where it is contactless ordering and self-pickup on your order. There's an automatic $0.08 charge for a bag even if you're dining in. My friend and I shared family style on two plates: one poke bowl with Spicy Ahi and one plate lunch of Chef Choy's Bento Box. For the spicy ahi, we both could tell the fish was frozen (not necessarily a bad thing but for those who only like fresh, not here) and had really good flavor. Great to try! It came with two scoops of rice and 1/3 of the plate was salad that also had pickled veggies and seaweed salad. The salad definitely balanced out all the carbs we had. For the Chef Choy's bento box, the plate overall was delicious (except for the mac salad). The katsu chicken was very crispy with a nice crunch but a tad over fried. The kalua pork was was good; just missing that nice smokiness and cabbages that I love in kalua pork. The shrimp tempura also good with a nice crispiness. All the proteins were amazing. I only had a bad impression on the mac salad as it very undercooked. The macaroni was almost inedible, so we didn't even touch it. I noticed there were egg bits (and maybe potato?) so I scavenged around for those since they were good LOL. I'm glad I finally gave this place a try after seeing it around for good poke bowls. It wasn't as impressive as I hope, but I would come back for more of their plates and possibly there desserts in the future!

I'm sorry guys, I know I reviewed a year ago and I was so hoping things would get better. Your stuff used to be awesome but ordered take out today, and while everything is usually decent quality - the chips were clearly made the day before, gummy not crispy and the onions in the poke were already soggy - like perhaps that was made the day before as well, sauce was seriously on the light side. I've experienced this with the rice where it's clearly dried out and with their mac salad where the pasta seems soggy; but always loved their side menu items enough to roll the dice. I know it's super hard to run a business - and expensive as can be but cutting staff down so much that nothing seems 'fresh' anymore really knocked this location down a lot. Atmosphere is very clean, staff very friendly, but paying nearly $40 for one (admittedly XL poke bowl add egg) where anything is less than perfect. I'm just out at this point. Oh also not sure if you guys know but on take out orders your plastic lids melt a lot on all your hot food by the time it arrives. Hope I'm not just consuming plastic particles in mass.

Reviewing for the food truck, but the portions were surprisingly huge, so the value was good in my opinion! I was able to eat my garlic chicken bowl across 3 lunches. (For others maybe 2 meals) All the food was delicious. Chicken was well flavored and crispy! Definitely will return.

I've been here a few times and I think there are better places to get poke. It has solid fish here but I'd say it's a bit pricy for what you get. I'd probably spend the extra trek and head to CD. You order at a kiosk (or ahead) and it's very casual. Decent seating inside but no high chair. Service is great, the woman that was helping us was super nice. The other usual we get is the garlic chicken and that's solid but I don't think I'd come back for much else.

I've had Sam Choy's poke in the past and very much enjoyed it. However, when I went recently on a Friday afternoon I had some of the worst poke I've ever tried. I ordered a shoyu ahi poke bowl which was a whopping $16. I received extremely dry tuna, dry rice, and mediocre salad sides (seaweed salad and some cucumber mix). In the past I have really enjoyed Sam Choy's shoyu ahi and I remember the shoyu sauce coating the tuna giving the fish a jeweled tint--succulent and delicious. This time I was extremely disappointed. There was barely anyone there, which makes sense to me if this is the quality of food they're serving these days.

I finally visited Sam Choy's Seattle location to check out their Island Kine Brunch! We got the Meat Jun, Loco-3 Ways, Coconut Mac Nut Pancakes, and Guava Chicken & Waffle Bubbles. Loved all the dishes! The staff here are so attentive and welcoming. The food and service are timely as well. The restaurant has good seating and open space - great spot when it's sunny outside.

I was excited to try Sam Choy's, especially since they were running a $10 on any dish the day I came! Unfortunately, my experience wasn't the best. The time it took to get my food was insane, around 30 minutes from when I ordered on the kiosk. They also didn't have butter mochi so I was already pretty disappointed. When my food came out, I was... alright with it. There was a decent amount of tuna, the nachos seemed okay, but it just wasn't my favorite mode of eating fish. I think I should've gotten a bowl, the texture of the nachos and the poke didn't go well together. I also am pretty sure I got slight food poisoning the day after and I'm not sure if it was from the fish. It tasted fine when I had it, but... Anyways, I had an okay experience. I'm not sure if I'd come back here, with all the other poke places in Seattle.

This is a solid poke spot in Seattle to check out, they're located in Columbia City, which is an area that has a good amount of foodie spots to visit. They have their own private parking lot and there is plenty of seating available. Ordering and customizing your poke bowl is easy on their kiosks, they prepare your bowl quickly and will call you to pick it up at the front. There is a good variety of poke flavors to choose from, all with different sauces. I usually go for the Sam's Spicy because I love spicy aioli with my poke. If you're looking for something not raw fish, they have plenty of cooked Hawaiian options to choose from. I tried the Reconstructed Musubi and it was a delicious take on spam musubi.

Gave Sam Choy's another shot, and glad I did! The last time was definitely a fluke because everything we got was flavorful and delicious this time around. We popped in during happy hour; I got the chicken sandwich with garlic sauce and my brother got the smash burger with an egg. The chicken sandwich was FIRE! It was definitely messy with the mac salad on it, but SO GOOD. I will absolutely return for the fried chicken alone, and I'm not a huge mac salad fan, but it was really good and very different to have on a sandwich. My brother said his burger was delicious as well... the egg was perfect with a nice runny yolk. Since it was HH, we snagged a couple of the discounted hard seltzers, and some strawberry haupia. Everything was perfect, and we will both return in the very near future. Thank you, Sam for the refund on my last order so we could give you another shot. Your customer service and kindness are unmatched. Mahalo!

I have ordered lunch from this place twice, and both times my order came out short of what I ordered. My last order was missing items which I paid for and didn't receive. The lunch bag was received in good condition. I have no problem with the food. I refuse to spend money on food and drinks and not receive everything I ordered.

Yeah, I'm sorry. I feel like this place has gone a little bit downhill. I enjoy their Poke, but I have not been happy with what responses I've been gerting from them everytime I ask. I don't want to sound picky, but it's interesting how I've been asking for mac salad as a side to Poke for an extremely long time and only recently have they taken out that option. I usually do Pick-Up, so I'm never sure what's in it. I specifically say in the notes PLEASE CHARGE FOR EXTRAS. It has never happened ever since a few months ago. I was VERY willing to pay extra. I went to go pick it up and they told me if I wanted to Mac Salad -- I need to buy the WHOLE side which is extremely large for one person. I really believe they have stopped being accommodating to their customers. I miss the old look of the place and the service they gave long time ago. I believe being accommodating is a very important part of service and they have continued to show me that's not the case for them.

Years ago I used to go to the old Sam Choy's food truck in SLU regularly and really enjoyed it. This poke bowl was incredibly disappointing - fish was bland (and kinda hard), there was just a pile of lettuce underneath the seaweed salad (???), and the pickles were a strange addition. I ended up not finishing it and I usually LOVE poke. Not worth the trip or the price.

Came to visit tacoma for a conference, and while there wasn't many locations nearby that were of Hawaiian, i checked this place out and it was a good bite! Parking is street side, restaurant has lots of tables, workers are usually 1-2, but food still comes out quick!

Super fresh poke, and I love mixing it up and getting the poke nachos. Spam musubi is excellent and the loco moco is next on my list to try. The ube butter mochi when available is also pretty excellent. Quick friendly service, easy to drop by for a to go order with their parking lot or hang out in the space for awhile.

If you get a chance, PLEASE look in to the monthly brunch. They do it at every location, and I went for my birthday. IT IS SO GOOD. Not only is the menu unique, varied, and interesting, but the staff is super helpful and the ordering at the kiosk makes everything so seamless. I love the space at the Rainier location. It's very light and bright, and the tables are plentiful without feeling smashed together. I'm not a poke fan, but I'm so happy I took the chance on this brunch!

Excellent poke and poke tacos from the Godfather of Poke, Sam Choy. This location in Columbia City is unique and you may see their food truck, parked here. The service is great and ambience is quiet. Definitely a bargain and convenient to South Seattle!

Service is bad. Food is not consistent. Doesn't seem to care about customer feedback or comments. Then there's live music scheduled, that goes on the whole day and it's so loud for hours. What about the community and your neighbors? I ordered from you a lot before too. You can't place orders while the VM is full and nobody hardly ever answers. What happened to you guys?

Hate to give a bad review to a local business but my most recent visit was unbelievable bad. I had the Chef Choy's Bento Box which was a nice variety dish that allowed me to try a bit of everything. Unfortunately, I enjoyed very little of it. The dish comes with teriyaki beef, shrimp tempura, spam, katsu nuggets, mac salad and two scoops of rice. Probably the only thing I enjoyed was the beef. Spam was bland and mac salad had very little flavor/creaminess. The worst part had to be the katsu nuggets. They were overcooked to be way too dry and had too much batter. Eating the nuggets was painful... as if I were eating rocks. If I wasn't so hungry these would've went straight to the trash on first bite. I've been here before for their Poke and that was actually solid, so I'm a little surprised by this meal. I would still recommend them for their Poke if you're in the area, but whatever you do, please do not order those katsu nuggets.

Gross. Over-cooked flour nuggets. More flour nuggets than chicken. The chicken was then saturated in a plain ol' teriyaki sauce that made the chicken not that edible. The tuna tasted unfresh in our poke bowl, This is the second time I've eaten here and I'm thoroughly unimpressed. My partner sent me a text stating this as a place for dinner. I should have gone with my gut. Last time I ate here, the first order had onions which weren't listed anywhere on the menu. They remade my order. The remade order didn't have onions but it had hair instead. They refunded me my money. I wanted to like this place but I just can't recomend it.

Dude, this place is soo great. I wish I knew about this sooner. I have been driving all the way to Kona kitchen but this place is just as awesome. The items they have are really top notch and the spam roll you see all over their marketing is really worth getting. Kinda want to try making it at home. Also, just found out they have a spot at the SeaTac airport so I'm definitely going there next time I can. Love the food and the prices were okay. Felt worth it.

I haven't eaten here in awhile and stop by for my usual loco moco. It taste so different in a bad way. The hamburger taste like frozen Patties from Costco. Rice was hard and gravy was different and they barely put any gravy on the patty and rice. Not sure if new management or what but I don't think I'll be back after this experience.

Disappointing based on such great reviews from others. Korean fried chicken was better off without the "siraracha" style sauce. Mac salad was hard pasta. Spicy ahi was bland. Not very ono. I'll take my chances at L&L Hawaiian.

Food was meh nothing to good or bad. A bit over processed in my opinion. The people were pretty nice until we mention something then gave me a side eye look. Dead inside not that much but it was ok and chill. Found mold in the cake kinda unsafe and disgusting be careful

Dropped in since it was lunch time and I was in the area. At first I wasn't sure if it was open since I didn't see anyone inside, no employees or customers. As I was getting out of my car some customers entered and there were kiosks to order from. One of the cooks told me I could use the kiosk on the side since the other two were taken. Since it was my first time, I wasn't sure what to get and it took a while to order and there wasn't anyone I could ask questions to so I went with what sounded easy and tasty. I ended up getting half a pound of the shoyu salmon with rice and seaweed salad and avocado and a spam misubi. Now the spam misubi while decent was so messy to eat since it's cut in half, it also has soo much rice that it overpowered the spam and any other flavor it had. The poke was pretty underwhelming, I was a bit disappointed that the salmon didn't have much flavor especially since I paid so much for it. I don't know that I'll be back since it's out of the way for me, but if I were to, I'd order something else and probably a smaller portion.

Food was terrible. Ordered the salmon musubi and Mac salad. Musubi was very dry. Salmon had zero seasoning or any type of sauce. Looked like it was cut up and just wrapped. No sauce or any type of drizzle over the musubi. The Mac salad was very bland. For the amount you pay, you would think it would be worth it. Definitely won't be coming back.

This is probably one of my favorite food trucks in SLU. I always get Korean Fried Chicken + gravy (suggest getting the gravy since the rice is a bit dry). The Mac salad side provides a great pairing with the KFC. They also have other wraps and salad bowls. They have just one brick and mortar location in Seattle apart from their regular food truck service around the Seattle downtown area. I've visited the food truck enough times for the lady taking the order to eventually recognize me over time.

OH MY GOD.... I love this place. It truly stole my heart. It's a small place in Columbia City, but super cute, clean, and trendy inside. They aren't doing dine-in quite yet, so we ordered our food and ate it in the car because we could not wait. When you get in, there's a big menu, all the juices, and even slices of pie to take home. You order everything off an iPad and then they'll pack it up for you. We ordered lumpia, garlic chicken, aloha chicken, and spam fries. The food did not disappoint!! It was amazing. Everything from the lumpia to the plates - delicious. I mean, we weren't sure about the spam fries at first, but they are so crispy and yummy. I would definitely recommend, especially because they come in the spam container, which is a cute touch. The garlic chicken is a must try. It's not overwhelmingly garlicky, it's literally perfect. The rice and Mac salad were perfect. All of it was so good. I wish we had more room for more lumpia, but we were stuffed. Portion sizes are huge, one plate is definitely shareable.

I visited the Rainer location with a few friends. There are two parking lots which is nice. Poke was good, the avocado had brown spots which was disappointing given it was an extra $1.50 for half a small avocado and my totally was kinda pricey given it was kind like a fast food place. Service was just order via a machine, pick up at the counter and clean up after yourself.

I wouldn't come back here. There are much better poke options in Seattle so it's definitely not worth the drive south. I didn't think that the fish tasted fresh and the salad was even more stale. It's difficult to justify the price; I ordered a poke salad with 2 scoops of fish (shoyu salmon + shoyu ahi) with a soda, and the total came out to $30! The outdoor seating is gorgeous, especially if it's nice and sunny, but that's about it.

I'm glad they finally opened one closer to me. I love their poke and reconstructed musubi. Service was the same as other Sam Choys' order/pay at the kiosk then pickup at the counter. Nice location overlooking Anderson Park. A nice addition to the neighborhood.

Based on the reviews that I read, I thought poke to the max would be a lot better, my meal didn't quite hit the spot. I ordered a half pound of the rainbow poke (albacore and salmon with sweet shoyu) with rice, and also ordered a side of the mac salad. My first impression was that the mac salad was super underwhelming. Mac salad is usually one of my favorite Hawaiian sides, but the mac salad I got was bland tasting, and the texture all just soft and a bit grainy. No crunchy bits of vegetables or chewy noodles in contrast to the sauce, everything just felt the same. The rice was also underwhelming, being dry and not very tasty. The poke itself was reasonably good, but I was unpleasantly surprised by the presence of a fish bone in my poke. Overall, considering the high price tag that it takes to fetch a meal here, I would much rather drive a bit further to go somewhere else for poke.

The poke nachos were great! So hard to find good poke nachos, especially with fish so fresh. We got the shoyu ahi and it was really flavorful. The poke salad was okay at best though mostly because the sweet and spicy sriracha ahi tuna didn't have any flavor and the lettuce on my salad was brown..I would order the salad again pending the lettuce is fresh and with a different flavor of poke.

Pros: good food, generous portions Cons: no water to drink for free, limited parking, no indoor dining, wait time can be longer than what you'd expect due to many take out orders you don't see.

Ordered three large platters for a group, with the results varying between good and very good. Meats (garlic chicken and kalua pork) were highlights. The sides...various salads...were a step behind. The order was very large, but was ready on time. The service responded positively to every request.

Ordered Poke salad and was disappointed Based on the reviews, I had high expectations. Fish did not taste fresh, I had to cover it in salad dressing to help with the taste. Salad was even more sad. It was just wilted and not so fresh items from a mixed bag of low quality veggies The ube mochi dessert somewhat made up for it. I did like the fact you just self order on a machine. But overall, wouldn't want to come back. Trendy but not tasty

Not great, I ordered the gluten free poke bowl and it was served with seaweed salad (which is not gluten free) But on top of the that the whole bowl lacked any sauce and was very dry, had to add tamari at home to keep from choking on it

Aloha sandwich - fried chicken with sweet/spicy sauce, pickled cukes and carrots. Quite good. No frills, easy to eat, just a little spicy. Veggies provided nice crunch and coolness. Good outdoor seating. Completely automated ordering system.

Picked up brunch from Sam Choy this weekend for dad and I this weekend.Ordering online was easy, adding extras and options were made easy. At first we weren't sure if thwy were open cause the sign wasn't-on and it looked dark inside but when I tried the door it opened. Our bag was ready to grab. Everything was neatly packed Dad had the short rib loco moco and really enjoyed it. I had a bite and it was definitely tasty and the meat was tender the gravy was good it. an be a challenge at some places to get correct. It had two scoops of rice and a perfectly cooked fried egg. Ingot the chicken and waffle. With this dish its often hard to get both perfect. The waffle was nicely crisp some places it can be soft. The chicken was mochiko chicken it had a nice crunch as expected. I only wish it was brined or marinated before frying or that the outside was seasoned. It had a flour taste to me, and seem to be relying on the syrup for the flavor. There was a choice between Ube or Haupia syrup. I went with the haupia. I think next time if it's available I would go with the lovo moco or try the kahlua pork Benedict. There wasn't too much interaction with the staff but they were friendly and welcoming.

The poke is good, but not anything mind-blowing and amazing. They charge extra for spicy mayo and other sauces. I've come back here a couple times with family, as it's close by. The prices are a bit steep for poke and the serving sized are moderate. The salmon tasted good, and the seasoning was good as well. Food: 3/5 Ambiance: 4/5 Outdoor Seating: Yes Looking for more Seattle-local food recs? Follow me on IG @foodies.uwu

Craving poke and a large portion of it? Poke to the max. You order from a kisok; so, all the items stare at you in the face with photos. I originally came this place just for the poke, but I saw the other items I had to try! The poke bowl was flavorful, and the fish tasted amazing. Spam fries were salty and CRUNCHY. The spam masubi roll was like 5 spam masubis in size if you think about it. The items here are big portions; and would definitely share/save some. People say that the prices are high; but it scales with the food you get.

Great food but they often get my order wrong. Today I was celebrating my last day at work and ordered online spicy salmon and shoyu tuna and paid for a side of spicy sauce. I got plain tuna with no sauce. No salmon. Why? If there was a substitution they should have told me. But are they all out of sauces? When you pay $20 for a meal you should get what you ordered. Or at least they should double check with you ordered. Feels like every other time I go here they do something wrong.

Despite being known for its poké, I tend to order a rice plate and/or musubi from Sam Choy's Poké To The Max. This particular brick-and-mortar location is located on Rainier Ave in the Columbia City/Hillman City area. It's a popular Hawaiian food chain with also three (3) food trucks in Seattle, Tacoma, and Sea-Tac airport respectively. Poké To The Max offers several unique musubis that you can't find elsewhere. Along with the Da Garlic Chicken Musubi, there is a Golden Katsu, Spicy Tuna, Da Poke, and a Reconstructed version. The latter has spam, egg frittata, aioli, unagi sauce with rice & nori - I'm looking forward to trying this next time! I definitely enjoyed the Da Garlic Chicken Musubi, which was crunchy and flavorful. The rice plates are fully packed and worth trying. I love how they're all served with rice and mac salad! If you're thirsty, I recommend ordering a handcrafted tropical lemonade, which you have the option of ordering in a branded "Aloha" tumbler. My favorite lemonade flavor is the Strawberry Guava, which is refreshing. However, there are plenty of non-alcoholic and alcoholic options to choose from. Though I have yet to try them, I'm interested in the Lumpia, Spam Fries, Fruit Haupia, Kalua Pork Nachos, and Taegu Shrimp Wrap. If it hasn't been said before, there is a huge selection of dishes on the menu and I can't wait to return to try them all!

The service was really good but the food was not very good. The garlic chicken rice plate had very small chicken chunks and the ahi rice bowl was oddly dry. As far as ambience goes, just an order and go establishment. It felt and looked and little cold.

One of my favorite poke spots in Seattle. They don't share the grocery/kitchen vibes of SFG in the Central District, but the quality is similar, they blend in more plate lunch options, a slick aesthetic, and some great partnerships with a local shave ice truck that really hits the spot on a hot summer day. If you're south of the ID, then this is where you should be getting your poke. My one desire would be a few more gluten free options. Tamari makes an equally great marinade and opens the menu up for tons of people!

Poké Nachos is so good !! Love this place, island feel with welcoming and friendly service. Poké by the pound with many varieties to choose from. Always stop here when I'm up from Portland.

It has a good selection of poke bowls, with rotating seasonal items. Some of the bowls are unique, but the recent one, Thai Peanut was not so impressive. You order you food via the self check out kiosk, and to-go bags costs a few cents more. They do make good spam musubi. The venue offers a good outside seating as well.

Okay so I'm originally from Hawaii meaning born and raised in Hawaii and recently transferred to Seattle because of the beautiful girlfriend's job. I was very excited to learn that Sam Choy had established a restaurant only about a mile away from where we live so it was great to be able to walk there when the weather is Pleasant. I was very excited to try his bento box which included Terry beef, spam, shrimp tempura and chicken tonkatsu. As normal it came with two scoops of rice and potato macaroni salad. The rice had two choices, either just plain white rice or what they call Hapa rice which is a mix of brown and white rice. Since I've never had a loco Moco, I opted for the $1.99 option more to include two eggs, gravy, and fried onions over the rice. Due to covid-19 precautions, there only two seating areas inside and an outside huge tent set up in the parking lot with about for tables set pretty far apart. The weather was nice so we sat outside. The plate lunch with huge and could definitely have fed two people but I was hungry. I could slowly eat my way from the top to bottom. About drinks, there was a pretty big selection everything from sake to fruit juices to Seltzer's and sodas. I opted for a barefoot strawberry Seltzer which was pretty tasty. Are you able to charge everything and be prompted for a tip. It was take out so I left 15%. After placing your order they do not bring your food to you where you are waiting outside, you must report back in approximately 8 minutes to pick up your food. All in all, and okay to good dining experience okay because there is parking, the menu is available online, there are pictures of everything, and you get exactly what you are promised. On the not-so-great side, a whole bunch of food was crammed in to a relatively small plate and because of that your beef teriyaki will taste like gravy which will also taste like spam and your chicken katsu of course will also be covered in gravy and spam. The shrimp tempura, being close to the top was covered in gravy and had hints of Teri beef. I'm not sure if it's an option but if so, try to ask for your rice, gravy, onions and eggs in a separate container. That would have made it a much better dining experience for me. Definitely worth a try if you are missing true local Hawaiian food!

Really good poke and generous servings, especially since we went on $10 poke day. Sam's Spicy bowl with Salmon was really good, a little rich towards the end but happy with the choice. Really fast and kind service given we came with our whole team. Feels just like eating in a colder Hawaiian poke stop.

First time going for brunch and it was a hit. The fried chicken and waffle initially didn't look like a large portion but I was stuffed by the time I finished it. The ube bread pudding was also fantastic. The folks I was with got the crab bao Benedict and raved about it. Will be heading back next time they do brunch!