Fish Face Poke Bar

It’s good but not superb. It’s also pricey, but perhaps that’s because of the quality.

It was 8:30pm when my friends and myself decided to try Fish Face for the first time. On our way I called them and asked them if they were still going to serve us even if he arrive 15 mins before their closing time. and the lady I was speaking to asked «Why would we turn you away? You can come in at 8:59 and we would still serve you! So you’re fine!» So right off the bat, I already like this place.
Anyhow, I’ve only been here 1 time but I’m a big fan! Their location is great. The look and feel of their restaurant is great and very hipster-​ish. I definitely liked the vibe.
It’s a great place to go get poke salad and chill with your friends. They have outside seating so it’s a great place to hang out during summer nights.
They have plenty of protein selections, and sauces as well.
Lastly, they have a small selection of brews! I don’t really mind their small selection as long as they have belgian wheat, it’s A-​OK!

This place is awesome. First time here and I got the tuna, octopus w/​kimchi ponzu. Extremely tasty over a bowl of sushi rice. We missed the happy hour but they have half price sake from 3−6p.
Two things that lose a star, friend ordered the spam musubi and it was not so great… Word of advice to fish face «Stick to traditional spam musubi bc that’s what we love». Second thing was my buddy saw me pour the poke bowl over rice and went up to buy rice but they had sold out all their rice! Unbelievable.
Overall I really like this place and will be back soon.

I ordered the salmon and ahi tuna with spicy kimchi. Fresh chunks of fish and delicious sauce!
Really small portion, however, for what you’re paying. 4 stars for the quality of food but I won’t be returning. Hokee Poke in Elk Grove is a better deal in my opinion.

Once you, a non-​hipster like myself, muster up the courage to enter the WAL public market, you’ll be surprised at how friendly the staff is at Fish Face!
It’s a simple process.
Pick up an order form and fill it out, turn it in and wait for your food!
I came in with a friend and we shared the side cause neither of us wanted our own which is what landed us on a small poke and a small fish.
The guy who helped us was genuine and friendly.
He was patient at explaining different sauces and what were the most popular options and etc.
Also, he was nice enough to put on the hockey game when we asked! :)
The fish was fresh and all of the ingredients as well.
I can eat quite a bit, much more than anyone I know expects, but I decided to go with a small fish combo.
A small fish (with the side) would suffice for a well-​portioned meal, but, personally, I would have been able to eat more as usual.
The only reason I don’t give them 5 stars is because they charge $ 2 for sliced avocado.
I know avocados are expensive and most of the poke places in NorCal charge you for toppings aside from the fish and sauce, but that doesn’t make it okay!
Therefore, I go to Make Fish Poke & Sushi Burrito most of the time, unless I’m tryna impress some friends, because they don’t charge me ¹⁄₅ of an hour at minimum wage for half an avocado.
My rant con’t:
Since toppings vary greatly and people want different toppings, then the ‘base price’ for a poke bowl with fish and sauce should be far cheaper when people will certainly want additional toppings at the additional price!
It’s just the principle of it all.

Being a poke novice, I know little about the difference between a good and bad poke place. All I know is that I like fish, and especially raw tuna. So it was about time I visited Fish Face and checked them off my bookmark list.
Just like other places I’ve been to, you can choose a combination to your liking. It seems they have more fish selections than their competitors. The tuna poke was absolutely delicious, mixed with a soy sesame sauce and bits of seaweed. If this isn’t your thing then I’m sure my descriptions aren’t convincing you otherwise. For me, it was tasty ocean fare.
I will agree with some previous reviewers that the price was steep. $ 19 for a fish and rice combo AND I have to pay for any additional toppings? I wasn’t thrilled with the drink selection either, wish included a couple non-​familiar soda brands. The only iced tea was a canned gree tea that wasn’t anything special.
Still, if it’s fish you want the portion is tasty and plentiful. You can eat here and feel much better afterward because it is somewhat healthy.

I came here, because my friend, Shariar Nejad, suggested this place as he’s a friend of the owners. Very hipster, pricey at $ 12 for medium poke, but you definitely get a great value for the food. All fish of your choice in the medium size and you can choose to add additional toppings for extra cost. Rose lemonade is a nice rustic vintage touch to add to the «hipster» vibe of this place. I was entirely filled up and the staff was very friendly and helpful since it’s my second time at a poke place and my first time here. Would definitely come back!

Haven’t been back to Fish Face in a while since we have two really tasty and affordable poke places closer to home now. My impression of Fish Face until today has been quality but not quantity. But now? Neither :(
We were in the area checking out some stores so we grabbed some food in the WAL Public Market. I decided on poke because you can never go wrong with it. I never realized their topping choices weren’t as substantial as other poke places — small things like cilantro, jalapeños…AND you have to pay 50 cents to a dollar for each?! I went with a small salmon and tuna poke with cucumber and rice crisps. My total was $ 10 and change. Cheaper than my usual poke places BUT I’d barely call it a meal. I’ll pay an extra $ 2 – 3 for way more quantity, and better options for ingredients. Plus, you still have to pay another charge here if you want rice or seaweed salad which is included at other places. On top of that, the taste wasn’t even all there. They put way too much sauce so I’m practically having poke soup. And the onions were not chopped thinly at all. I love onions but I expect them to be thinly sliced for poke.
Sad to say I don’t have any reason to come back here. They may have been the first in Sac but definitely not the best.

I have to say, the fish here is super fresh! BUT, as a broke college student, I can’t seem to justify paying $ 15+ (for the small option) or $ 19+ (for the large option) just to eat some poke.
Pros:
— Fish here is very fresh! I ordered the big fish with the Ora King Salmon protein, and it literally just melted in my mouth.
— The location is very cutesy and hipster-​like. It’s located within the Wal Public Market, and the general area reminds me almost of the Anaheim Parking District or San Jose’s SoFA’s Market.
Cons:
— Prices! Although the large fish option gives you a decent amount of fish, it is still not enough for two people. My boyfriend and I decided to split the large option with no add ons and a side of brown rice, and I still didn’t even feel full. (I promise you as a tiny 5’1″ girl, I usually have to share all of my meals because I don’t finish my food, ever, but the fact that I shared this large $ 19 portion and still didn’t feel full… something isn’t right.)
— Speaking of add ons, you need to pay extra for every add on you get.
— Customer service seems a little meh. Maybe I just came on an off day, but the cashier was just not enthused or happy to see us.
Overall, if my friends and family wanted to stop by and try out the place, I would take them, but I personally would only go during special occasions.

The quality of fish here is amazing! Very fresh and has either a very light fish smell or no fish smell at all depending on what you order.
Lots of raves about the octopus but I’m not brave enough to try it yet.
I had the tuna and salmon in the ponzu sauce with masago. Price was about $ 10 since the masago was an extra $ 1.
I’m normally very cautious when ordering tuna because the quality at most places isn’t all that great. Sometimes it’s cut the wrong way or it’s a cut with the stringy white part, not my favorite.
Fish Face’s tuna is great though!
For the amount of money you’re paying, you get a good amount of fish. Majority of the chunks are huge quarter+ size and there are a few that seem to be more scrap like. The ponzu sauce paired very nicely with my choice of fish but the masago was incredibly salty. Enough to make me not enjoy my meal all that much. I found myself trying to save pieces of fish by scrapping the masago off but those little eggs are just hard to get rid of sometimes.
Pricing is more on the expensive side but I say that’s okay since the quality of fish is great. It does bother me that you don’t get a base like rice though. Rice is a side that you have to pay extra for and I can’t really justify paying a couple bucks extra for some rice.
Seems a little like they purposely made rice a side so they can market that they are a gluten free place (unless you choose to purchase a side)
Location is very hipster and cute. Good amount of tables to sit at inside and outside of the little building with shops and restaurants.
Will come again if friends and family want to eat here but can’t find myself coming on my own.

Who knew there was poke in Sacramento? Not me… so when I found out there was a poke place I was very excited. Unfortunately, it did not meet my expectations.
My friend and I split the tuna and salmon poke bowl with spicy kimchi sauce. At this restaurant customers have to buy the base (ex. Sushi rice and brown rice), which is super different than the places in the bay. The tuna and salmon did not have much flavor other than the sauce, meaning it was not flavored that well. The small was $ 8, medium $ 12, and the large was $ 16. Additionally, the rice was $ 3…which was definitely not worth the price.
The atmosphere of the restaurant was casual and relaxed, but the food was not worth the money.

You definitely will not be disappointed by the quality of fish here. Having eaten a lot of nigiri and had my fair share of poke bowls, I was quite delighted by my poke bowl.
The prices here a little higher than your average poke place you might find, but I equate that to their quality of fish. I recommend getting a combo as you will get more for your money. For instance, I got the Tipsy Fish, which is a small poke with a small hot sake. The small poke alone is $ 8 (base price with no toppings) making the small hot sake just $ 2 (happy hour price).
I ordered tuna and sturgeon with the sesame soy sauce. On top of that, it came with scallions, white onions, seaweed, and I ordered mine with cucumbers ($ 0.50). The fish was literally the best quality in poke I’ve ever had. I do wish it came with a base like rice or salad, but I guess the quality of fish makes for it. My friend got salmon and tuna with the ponzu sauce and masago as her extra topping. Hers was good as well however we both found the masago to be very salty and slightly off-​putting. But other than that everything was delicious.
They also have hand rolls! We didn’t get any, but we saw them in the case. They are pre rolled, but they do have a lot of fish in them for $ 4, a nice snack on the go.
Definitely would go back to try their other sauces like wasabi or cilantro pesto!

This was the first poke bowl place to open up in the Sacramento area. I was so excited and looking forward to trying it out. However, it seems I was quite disappointed.
To start off, the cashier person taking our order was unenthusiastic. Didn’t really talk to us. Even though it seemed like we didn’t know what we were doing, he never offered suggestions or tried to explain anything to us. We ended up ordering our poke but no rice. He didn’t even ask us, «Are you sure you don’t want rice?» Hubs ended up having to get back in line to order some rice. You could say they’re doing it traditional Hawaiian style wherein many time you just order poke and no rice. BUT it would’ve been nice for them to let us know that their rice comes separately.
It’s rather expensive for what you get. Hubs and I did share the large, but we weren’t full. The fish was fresh, but the sauces were generic and boring. The rice was overcooked and mushy.
Sorry Fish Face, but you won’t be seeing my face again.

This is a poke spot that is on the higher end, in terms of pricing. I suggest going for their combo meals (small/​large poke bowl+side and drink).
Combos: Little Fish ($ 14) or Big Fish ($ 19)
I got the Little Fish, which is a small poke bowl with a side (brown/​white rice/​wakame salad etc) and a drink. I LOVE that Fish Face’s rice is sushi rice, it’s the perfect type of sticky sushi rice. I always get ahi tuna and their tuna seems like it’s relatively fresh every time. I got white rice as my combo meal side AND wakame as my side (extra $ 3). Every time I come here, I get the Abita Root Beer as a treat since it’s covered in the meal price. Super yummy root beer! Total my meal came close to $ 18. Gotta admit, it’s pretty pricey, but so delicious~
My only complaints on the food is that the slicing of the fish chunks are very inconsistent. You’ll get chunks that are as small as a pinky nail and then a random huge chunk at the size of an old school 50 cent coin, or bigger. All of the toppings that’s considered complimentary at other poke spots are items that Fish Face charges for. For example, cucumber slices, garlic, cilantro, masago etc. are charged for $ 0.50-$ 3+. Also, they don’t have crab meat T_​_​_​T!
Something to note, it’s awesome is that they offer sturgeon and octopus, which I have not seen other Sacramento/​Elk Grove poke spots have on menu.
SERVICE/​INTERIOR:
No complaints on service! Between the cashier and the person who gives your order to you, I’ve never had any problems and they seem friendly. The interior is cool – urban and hipster. They’re located within a strip of other eateries and clothing shops. There’s table seating and barstool seating. This place gets pretty busy around lunch time on weekdays.
This spot gives all the poke bar’s a run for it’s quality in the Sacramento area. If I want good quality but less pricey, I’d head over to Hokee Pokee in Elk Grove. I’d definitely return to Fish Face when I’m feeling extra spendy for poke!!!

One of the hottest crazes in California right now are poke bars. The Seattle area has been a bit slow to catch onto this trend. It was only until this month that a poke bar opened up. Prior to that, this offering was only available in the area as a standalone concept at celebrity Hawaiian chef, Sam Choy’s food truck, Poke to the Max though there are numerous restaurants offering poke as an item.
In the Sacramento area, there are a few poke bars though as not as many as in Southern California. On my visit to Sacramento a couple months back, I decided to visit one of the poke bars in the area, Fish Face since it is located downtown.
Fish Face is located on the ground floor of the Warehouse Artists Lofts building. This eatery is a food stall located near the entrance to the building, rather than in a separate confined space. Surrounding the Fish Face food stall are numerous tables if you decide to dine-​in.
The menu here is pretty simple. They have 7 poke varieties with 5 different sauces available in 3 different sizes. They also offer several combo options, sides, sushi handrolls and chirashi. For drinks, they offer soda, beer (on tap/​bottle/​can), sake and coffee.
If you decide to order poke, know that it doesn’t come with any rice. You need to pay $ 3 extra for it. Otherwise, I would suggest getting a handroll instead. As far as the poke pricing goes, I thought it was a bit pricey. The small poke ($ 8) is only 4 ounces, so it comes out to $ 32/​lb. The pricing does go down if you buy the bigger sizes. The medium ($ 12) has 8 ounces and the large ($ 16) has 12 ounces.
I decided to get a medium ahi poke with spicy kimchi sauce ($ 12) and a FF Rainbow handroll ($ 4). I didn’t read the part on the menu that you could choose 1 or 2 proteins for the poke. If I had read that, I would have chose another seafood item. I was intrigued with the sturgeon option as I have never seen that before as a choice. Even back home in Hawaii.
The ahi poke was decent. Though I couldn’t get over the pricing as it didn’t taste significantly different from cheaper poke that I have had. However one positive of getting poke here is that it is made to order as opposed to other places in which it is pre-​made.
As for the FF Rainbow handroll, I was much more impressed with this offering. This handroll has tuna, salmon, sturgeon and daikon sprouts in it. I ordered it because it had the sturgeon and I was impressed by the flavor of this fish. It left me regretting not choosing sturgeon for the poke.
While this is a place is a little pricey, I think the poke here is worth trying because it is made to order with the sturgeon option standing out. Particularly since Sacramento doesn’t have many places like this yet.

Let me preface this with the fact that I am not a huge fan of regular, traditional poke. It is mostly just soy sauce and sesame oil — Which are great flavors, but I definitely am more into a citrus kick (I guess more of a ponzu sauce) than just straight soy.
This place offers so much more than that. With a variety of seasonings and add-​ins… The world is your oyster! (I don’t think they offer oysters, but ya get my drift) The first time I came in, I got the special poke which is one that they have pre-​done with add-​ins already put in for you. It was a tuna with mango mix… Delicious!
This time I had the chirashi and a roll it yourself handroll — in spam! The chirashi was so good… I got a little bit of all the proteins (except the tofu) and a really big helping of tobiko. Everything was so fresh and yummy! Love the way they flavored the rice… Not your traditional sushi rice. Slightly different, but very tasty. I tried a bit of my two companions poke, and those were delicious as well.
The handroll was very interesting because it had a wrap it yourself kind of «wrapping» — It seemed a little complicated — but once I figured it out, it wasn’t too bad. I wish I had a second one to perfect my rolling, but I totally jacked it up, haha. It was tasty, but I was actually expecting a hot spam roll. Oh well, it was still good.

What’s not to like? Fresh fish, veggies, and an assortment of sake. Been here a few times now and I can say that their food is very consistent… You get the freshest fish with your choice of «add ons», avocado, etc. Today, I tried the salmon and octopus with their creamy cilantro, with masago, seaweed, rice crisps, and wakame salad on the side with brown rice. Everything was so simple, yet very flavorful. Paired with Nigori sake, everything totally hit the spot!
Best poke place in Sac, hands down.

Tuna, mussels (cooked), yuzu ponzu (not sure what that is) sauce blended with the togarashi/​chili flake mix topped with a scoop of masago.
No more pieces of paper to indicate your preferences, so I just verbally informed them of my selections. Had a «little fish» combo again.
Delicious. The bowl glared at me, wanting me to lick it clean.

Came here the other night with my friend because we were hungry and wanted to try out a new place.
Fish Face is located within WAL and is what I can describe as, in the best possible way, the love child of Portland and some place you probably never hear of.
It has a very hipster feel to it, but I actually like it here and it’s not too overdone.
Parking is just a little bit hard to find, but if you are willing to walk then it’s not too bad.
Fish Face is a kind of DIY poke joint. You pick the size or the meal combo, your protein, your sauce, and whatever other adds on you want.
I got a small ahi with yuzu ponzu, jalepenos, cucumbers, and avocados. My friend got the small fish? little fish? I don’t know, it was the small combo with a side and a drink. We ended up sharing the wakame salad.
For the both of us it ended up being $ 26. A little on the pricy side, but I was pretty fulfilled afterwards so that’s a plus.
The small was actually the perfect portion and they give you a whole half of an avocado. Like, ten thumbs up for that. There was a good portion of fish and although they were cut a little big, it wasn’t too bad.
This place gets extra stars for 1) adding avocado to my friend’s bowl because she had asked for it but the guy never wrote it down. They didn’t get all fussy about it or anything and 2) for turning on the hockey game when I’m pretty sure they would’ve rather just watched their Netflix. Thanks to the guy who did that! You’re the real MVP.
The staff was pretty nice, and the guy who ultimately rang us up asked us if we needed any help as we lingered around the counter for a while.
The servers were friendly and it wasn’t too crowded by the time we got there.
All in all, I would definitely come back.

First of all, I had no idea this was located inside of a little marketplace. Almost walked right by it! It’s situated pretty nicely though and seems like it can accommodate a good amount of people. We went last night so outdoor seating was not really an option considering the chill factor.
Our wait in line was rather long. The guy ahead of us was ordering for both him and his wife (who had already taken a seat) and apparently had NO idea what he wanted despite having plenty of time to check out the menus. I swear to dog he asked about every little item on the menu and then kept shouting at his wife across the bar. And I’m the sort of person that gets hangry QUICK. We also noticed that there was only one girl making everything and one guy packaging and calling out names. But it was a pretty small space so maybe any more people than that would’ve been a crowd.
After about 3 years, we finally got to order. The girl we placed our order with was very nice and apologized for the wait. I got a small poke with tuna, added daikon sprouts, masago and yuzu ponzu sauce, and got sushi rice on the side. My husband got shrimp with sprouts, the cilantro pesto, and sunomono on the side.
We also both got miso soup that we decided on at the last minute. It came out in little pitchers that you poured into a tea cup with chopped seaweed and green onions. See the picture! It was one of the best miso soups I’ve ever had!
Mine was duh-​lish. BUT. The tuna was pretty chewy. There were some bites I couldn’t even chew through even after gnawing for awhile. I probably wouldn’t get the tuna again. The sauce was tangy and spicy and citrusy and delicious. And the amount of masago they put on top was basically an ice cream scoop and I was in heaven. The monster seaweed in the bowl was a little odd, to be honest. Looked like sea creatures living in my bowl. Still yummy, but smaller pieces would have been nice.
The sushi rice was perfectly prepared and a nice way to finish off my meal by dumping all of the juice and extra masago on top. YUM.
The sunomono was top notch. Definitely freshly prepared and just enough salt and tang.
Let me preface my husband’s review with his thoughts: he had NO idea what to expect here and he basically thought Fish Face was just a couple handrolls and that’s it. So he said he was «pleasantly surprised» but wanted me to make sure I included why. He tends to make things up in his mind about stuff before actually knowing anything though so this doesn’t surprise me at all ;)
He LOVED his poke though. The shrimp was perfectly cooked and the sauce was super bright. It definitely is not your traditional pesto, but it was really tasty.
We didn’t get drinks but we got some of the cucumber water they offered in the tiniest ever cups. Had to refill that bad boy quite a few times, which was rather annoying. It was seriously only about a 6 oz. cup. Please to get bigger cups.
Next time I think I’ll stay away from the tuna but overall I already love this place!