10079 109 street NW, Edmonton

Earlier today I had the chance to go to Splash Poke’s grand opening! Edmonton’s first poke restaurant (with Ono Poke on 104th street coming right behind). There was a line up by 4:30PM, and by 5:00PM, it had started wrapping around the building. I decided to check it out myself, since I live so close, and ran into my friend, Victor.

The venue itself is relatively small, fitting only about 10-15 people at a time. You can pre-order and pick up your order. We were maybe 50th or so in line, so we had to wait a little bit, but it wasn’t too bad. The interior is pretty simple, and for ordering your food, think Subway. You can build your own, or get one of their “favourites” (which are 2-scoops of protein). Basically, you choose your base (white rice, brown rice, vermicelli, or salad), then your protein (salmon, tuna, ahi, scallop, shrimp, chicken. or tofu), sauces,  mix-ins, and toppings/garnish.

I opted to go with the works, which has tuna, salmon, shoyu sauce, all the mix-ins, all the toppings, all garnishes, with splash aioli and sriracha aioli, and of course I opted to get mine with a white rice base.

Overall first impressions were just pretty good. Pretty decent for Edmonton and being lanlocked. There was a bit of disorganization with the layout of ingredients. There’s a tall glass panel that acts as a sneeze guard, but makes it impossible to communicate effectively. It was pretty loud and hard to order. Edit: They’ve removed this glass and changed it with a new one that’s shorter so you can communicate.

Other comments are that Victor thought the rice was way too sour (for the most part, mine was okay, but I did get some areas were it was very sour, so a bit inconsistent).

Anyways, great alternative to downtown, since there are so many options nearby. I’d definitely recommend giving this place a try. Maybe when the hype dies down a bit, and maybe when Ono Poke opens up so you have a place to compare it to if you’ve never had poke! Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area though!