Restaurant Review—Everyone deserves a ‘Mammoth Poke’ on September 28

Little did we know that poke—a Hawaiian welcome snack/comfort food bowl made with seafood, fresh vegetables, and other proteins, has its own National Poke Day. Poke (pronounced POH-keh), according to the Scalevt.com, means “to slice or cut” in Hawaiian, referring to cubes of marinated sushi grade fish which is then tossed over rice and topped with Asian- inspired sauces.

Let me be the first to welcome you to National Poke Day…Wednesday, September 28! While there are many poke restaurants in Chicago in which to celebrate, only one has a perfect Google rating of 5.0 over more than 140 reviews. 

Enter Bucktown’s Mammoth Poke, a small, casual, family-owned storefront restaurant with a big reputation for flavorful combinations of poke, as well as their Sushi Burritos. 

Most popular on their small menu are their Build Your Own Protein Bowls. Start with your choice of brown rice, mixed greens, sushi rice, tortilla chips or noodles, followed by your choice of one, three or five scoops of your choice of ahi tuna, fresh salmon, cooked shrimp, tofu, or spicy versions of tuna, salmon or shrimp. Then, mix in your choice of sweet onions, jalapeno, green onions, cilantro or crunchy garlic. Move next to a flurry of sweet and savory fresh vegetables like carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, sweet corn, seaweed salad, crab salad, mango, pineapple, and a host of other choices. Finally, finish off your flavorful, healthy bowl with a special sauce…your choice of Hawaiian Poke, garlic aioli, spicy mayo, or lemon miso dressing, among many others. 

If a poke bowl isn’t to your taste, Mammoth Poke’s Sushi Burrito might just capture your tastebuds. While the burritos are all wrapped with roasted seaweed, sushi rice, avocado, cucumber, scallions, red cabbage, carrot, spicy mayo, sweet soy sauce and crunchy onions, your choices here include two proteins (see above).

Reviews of Mammoth Poke are universally rapturous. 

“Sooo yummy & filling!!” wrote one reviewer on Restaurantji. “Plus the prices aren’t outrageous. You get a lot of food for your money too! The ingredients are so fresh and the store looks very clean. Also the workers are super helpful at suggesting ingredients and what they think would taste good in your bowl. I had the poke bowl with ahi tuna and my fiancé had the sushi burrito with ahi tuna and shrimp tempura. So good! We also had the miso soup which was delicious! Great spot for a quick easy dinner!”

“I was craving poke one day but poke spots are few and far in between on the west side. Lo and behold, came to mammoth poke and my craving was satisfied. Clean for dine in, good value, and lots of options (esp sauce – gotta have good sauce with my poke). It was a bigger poke bowl than most places IMO and I didn’t leave hungry. A very welcomed addition to the neighborhood!”

Mammoth Poke is located at 2035 N. Western Avenue. They are open daily from 11am– 9pm. No reservations are required. For more information, including delivery and ordering online, click here.  

Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago