With a modern feel and nice bright lights, Mai Poke is the perfect spot for either lunch or dinner.  

Mai Poke is located in the Oakland Market off Highway 17, and it is in the newly developed building near Starbucks. This location is specifically the third restaurant opened in the Charleston/Columbia area. There is a fourth location that is planned to open soon. 

Even though they do have set menu items of Poke Bowls, Acai Bowls, and even smoothies, you can create your own! This can be really nice, especially for the more picky eaters out there. What is even better is that they offer a “desert” item, the famous Dole Whip. 

When my father and I decided to go for dinner, the inside was spotless. It was so clean, and it was not busy at all. It seemed we had been the only people to walk in for a while. The staff was friendly, and of course, pushed to ask if we would join their rewards program. 

For it to be a Hawaiian restaurant, it was decorated with totem pole graphics and more “tiki” style decor. 

Everything on the menu is fairly affordable between the $10-$15 range. Personally, our food came out to $38 plus tip. This honestly is not bad for how filling the food is. I did not even finish my bowl. 

Now, for the food. I decided to create my own bowl whereas my father got the Honolulu Hottie. Both were so good! The Honolulu Hottie was spicy and sweet. It came with spicy shrimp, crab, green onion, jalapenos, masago, corn, red peppers, and cucumber. They offer the option of two dressings or to be able to change the dressing that comes with the signature. My father decided to change the dressing to just their classic poke sauce. 

Me being me, of course, I snagged a bite of his bowl, and it was honestly very good. It was so spicy and the shrimp tasted so fresh. The sauce change was a good choice on my dad’s part, as it made all the flavors mix beautifully. 

Mai Poke has a “create your own” option, which allows for two bases, five veggies, two proteins, and two “crunchies”. Crunchies are something like wonton strips or sunflower seeds. For me, my bowl consisted of sushi rice, red peppers, edamame, corn, spicy tuna, regular tuna, cucumber, and crab salad, and I had opted against getting “crunchies”. Then, I also got the classic poke sauce and their spicy aioli.  

It was so filling. Mai Poke keeps its ingredients super fresh. This made the food super enjoyable and just delicious. The rice was warm and the fish was cold and had been marinated in some sort of soy sauce mixture. 

Overall, I would give Mai Poke 5 stars!