Review Yaya Poke - Oakland

Almost 5 stars! Much better than expected given it's a modest size shop and reasonable pricing. Place was clean with friendly staff. Used Joy Run app twice to order ahead and my order was just ready when I walked in the door at about the time the app said it'll be ready. Great timing/coordination :) I ordered to go but was hungry so ate there both times - there's about five seats inside Yaya so don't expect a seat during busy meal time. Both times, I ate at about 130PM and can still see the place still does brisk business, with most customers order to take out (lots of repeat customers since they all headed straight to the sheets of paper on the wall to fill out the order forms). This is a GOOD sign - eating at places that serve raw fish, you want to see a lot of customers (food turn over)! Got the medium poke bowl & certainly was full after (hard to see bowl size in my pic but it's a not small amount of food) - two scoops of protein of your choice of any or all of the 17 free toppings if you like (see pic of toppings and toppings list). The other two poke places nearby offer about 1/2 of the free toppings choices seen here. My bowl had just enough rice, glad they don't try to fill your bowl with rice and less fish and toppings. Decently good sized chucks of fish and both the fish and vegy toppings tasted fresh (I chose 13!). The House Sauce was very tasty, good balance between soy sauce and a hint of sweet/ sour. Also tasted a side of ponzu sauce and it's ok, but a little too sour and wouldn't recommend it as the main sauce for your bowl. Not 5 stars because the choices for spicy tuna & spicy salmon are chopped /minced fish - little bits so small that it looked like mush (reddish paste). PLEASE consider simply tossing chunks of fish in your spicy sauce to make spicy tuna or salmon (charge 50 cents extra for it if you need to, but it'll look and sell better than reddish mush). Great job overall & keep it up - fresh ingredients, good portions at reasonable prices!

The poke here wasnt too bad. The service was great here. The woman making our food gave us an extra scoop. Not only that but the bowl was actually full. No skimping at all. Its a small little place. Street parking only. I would come back again if I was craving poke.

First time trying poke, and I was not disappointed! The salmon was very fresh and so were the toppings!

My first time and I loved it! Fish is very fresh, huge chunks, nice size bowl, great price, fast service and very polite! Will be back.. maybe tomorrow! lol oh yeah and they also gave me a complimentary drink!

Food was delicious and quick to serve, plus they gave us huge portions of fish which was epic.

Four stars based on value and for what it is compared to other common poke bowl places. In fact I'd almost give them five. Understand that this rating is not comparing them to my standard of poke bowls in Hawai'i or the high grade fresh sashimi from other places run by folks from HI, that's a different category as far as I'm concerned. This place gives you a good portion and a decent product compared to your common CA/mainland style poke bowl place you find at the mall or strip malls, this place is better than most. Don't expect sashimi grade fresh Ahi at these prices. You'd have to pay at least double to get that. Enjoy it for what it is, inexpensive and great value when you're hungry.

Not authentic poke by any means but food is always fresh and consistent. Order system with the order sheet makes things easy and convenient. Staff is always quick and friendly. Solid quick bite spot.

Confession: I have a sick poke obsession. I was in the area for lunch and a few coworkers and I decided to swing by for lunch. There was a special where they had poke bowls for $4, so we couldn't miss this great opportunity! We placed an app order and made our way over to pick it up. I ordered a Large Bowl (normally ~$11) which comes with 3 scoops of protein. For the base, I chose brown rice. For the proteins, I chose salmon, tuna, and shrimp. For the sauces, I went with a mix of Spicy Mayo and Wasabi Sauce. For toppings, I got crab salad, seaweed salad, green onions, red onions, and masago.