As the sun slowly crept up the sky, several Norse Star members’ stomachs began to grumble. In search of a delicious lunch, Grace Greenwald, Mylah Hall, Bode Jensen, Naomi Matthiesen, and Simon Mehring were lured to Miko Poke. The restaurant rests at 2701 Monroe St. in Madison, amongst other stores and restaurants.
Feel free to lay parallel parking worries to rest, as a sizeable parking lot resides in front of Miko Poke. The restaurant has two blue benches placed in front of it and is a very welcoming sight after sitting in a car after the 30-minute drive. Inside the building, you’re greeted with dim lighting and concrete floors but brightly painted walls and decorations. The decorations seem to be reminiscent of a Hawaiian vacation, with pink shark heads above booths and a carefree lounging man opposite the entryway.
“When I first walked in, I was a little hesitant because it’s a little dim in here, and there’s a man on the wall, and he’s looking at me strangely. But I think the decor is really cute, I like the patterns of everything. It’s really tropical. There just needs to be more lights,” Hall said.
The menu is centered entirely around poke bowls, a Hawaiian dish. Instead of sitting down and having a waiter take your order, customers instead order at the counter and pay there. After the workers complete the order, they’ll call the name of whoever ordered the food. Customers are free to build their own bowl or choose from one of their many options. Additionally, you can choose between silverware and chopsticks when digging into the meal, the silverware a benefit for the uncoordinated.
After a couple of minutes of crowding the entryway and pondering their choices, Hall approached the cashier first and ordered the Cali Style with salmon, which came with crab salad, cucumbers, smashed avocado, fried onions, yuzu, avo-coco-lime aioli, scallions, and white and black sesame seeds.
“I took a bite, and I think there [was] aioli in it, and it was really overwhelming for me. But then I kind of spread it around. And after I mixed everything in, it was still a little overwhelming. But it was much better. I really enjoyed the cucumber and the size and quality of the salmon,” Hall said.
Mehring got the Spicy Style bowl with shrimp, which consists of edamame, shaved red onion, serrano peppers, cashews, fried onions, creamy wasabi, spicy aioli, scallions, white and black sesame seeds. He also got the pineapple dole whip, similar to ice cream.
“I really liked the size of the shrimp. They’re very petite and easy to eat,” Mehring said. “The spice is a little bit overwhelming, but it pairs well with the pineapple dole whip.”
Jensen got the Hawaiian bowl with tuna. The Hawaiian bowl came with smashed avocado, cucumbers, edamame, poke sauce, spicy aioli, scallions, and white and black sesame seeds. Greenwald also got the Hawaiian-style bowl, instead with chicken. Matthiesen built her own bowl of chicken, white rice, greens, avocado, cucumber, and Poke Sauce.
“The tuna portions were correct. I think there was enough tuna, and I don’t know what the crunchy sheets were but those were good,” Jensen said.
“The edamame was really yummy. I think it added a nice bit of crunch to this otherwise pretty similar textured bowl, you know, so I appreciated that. Very good. Plenty of textures,” Greenwald said.
While the other Norse Starians were ordering food, Jensen checked out the bathrooms. “The bathroom was exquisite. The floor was musty. But that was about it,” Jensen said.
Even though there were no waiters to tend to the table, the staff at the counter were very kind. While Matthiesen struggled to come up with her own version of a poke bowl, the cashier remained attentive.
Overall, the experience at Miko Poke was highly satisfying. If you find yourself in the area, it’s a pleasant place to stop by if you need something filling. Upon leaving, the staff decided to give Miko Poke 3.5 out of 5 poke bowls.
