Andrew B.
Yelp
Whether or not you like this place will depend on whether you want authenticity or a commercialized experience. Kinda like authentic Mexican food vs Taco Bell. Then you have to judge whether or not the food is good.
I can confirm that Pokeworks is more of the Taco Bell variety as far as authenticity goes. This place is for those who "experience" foreign countries by never leaving the resort.
I wanted an authentic poke bowls, no frills. The process is not even close. I decided to "make my own bowl" and the employee was confused as to why I didn't want tomatoes, cucumber,, avocados, corn, lettuce,, etc. There was no Hawaiian salt and no limu. There's that.
Then I tried a garlic spam musubi. Why did I try the spam musubi? Because in my opinion, you can only find okay spam musubi or really awesome spam musubi in Hawaii. It is so impossible to mess up that even a child in Hawaii can make decent spam musubi.
That impossibility does not extend to Pokeworks. Their spam musubi sucks. It has all the ingredients, but the end product is so bad. Spam musubi is supposed to have a juicy texture that collapses and blends together as your teeth pass through the layers from each bite, all without breaking apart. Pokeworks spam musubi is like drilling a hole into the earth and hitting every layer of sand and bedrock. It was all over the place. The spam was dry, the rice was dry, the seaweed was paper. And they made it for me "fresh" as I waited. They could even sell it for a dollar and it wouldn't qualify as a loss leader. It really is just that bad.
The only two other things I can say passed the test are the seaweed salad (ocean salad) and the Dole soft serve. However, these come already prepared so it's for real impossible to mess up. The Dole soft serve is to die for. I would recommend it to anyone.
If you're not looking for the real thing and just want a place to get your health on, this is a decent option although it would be MUCH MUCH MUCH (x 100) cheaper to buy ahi and make your own. You could create 1lb worth of poke in less time than it takes to take a trip to Pokeworks and stand in that Subway type serving line.
I'll rate this place for what it is. A food chain that is rumored to be inspired by authenticity, that caters to Hollywood perceptions, and that capitalizes on consumer ignorance. It is in the same category as Taco Bell, Chipotle, etc. At least those restaurants have good products. Pokeworks is just average and is a 2.5 star, but we can't give half stars so I'll be nice and give it a 3.