Pokéworks

Last month when I went into the city (New York City) to see Wicked , my friend and I made a day of it, which included a lot of food. It seemed like every food place we chose is quite popular so we stood in a lot of lines that day. When thinking of where we wanted to get dinner I remembered that a place, Pokéworks, had opened up that makes sushiritos or a sushi burrito! Obviously, this sounded amazing so we had to go.

When we walked up to the place we noticed the line outside on the sidewalk and there was an employee that allowed a few people in at a time. Why? Because the place is superrrrr small. You can get a glimpse of the roped off line that I was in on the YouTube video I made of my day in the city.

So Pokéworks is so small that it’s just large enough to line up inside, order your food, and then come back out. There’s a small table against the wall with maybe 3 stools and that’s it by way of seating. This is the definite downside to the place because figuring out exactly where to eat your food can be a dilemma. This is in the city and we weren’t terribly close to a park or any area that could be used for makeshift seating. We ended up taking our food back to the train station and eating there while we waited for our train back to NJ. So that’s definitely a negative.

Despite the small space and long line, I have to say that Pokéworks has their process down pat. The whole process was extremely efficient and smooth. Once you are ushered in, you wait in a single file line inside which moves very quickly. Once you get to the counter, you keep moving down the line assembly line style like at Moe’s or Chipotle where you tell them what you want and move down to the next person for the next step in your meal. It was very fast and despite waiting outside on line for probably 40 minutes, I was only inside waiting for my food for a few minutes.

Now, despite my going to Pokéworks for the sushi burrito, I sadly did not get one! I decided on an Ahi Tuna bowl. You might be asking why I decided against the burrito when that was my whole point for going. Well, I thought about how I wasn’t exactly sure where I was going to be eating my food, which then made me think about how difficult it might be to eat a sushi burrito if I was walking or on the train. I also thought about how my hands might not exactly be the cleanest to eat with wherever I ended up. So the bowl seemed the most practical choice!

For the bowls, you can basically build your own by choosing what kind of rice you want, protein, toppings, sauce, etc. I got a white rice bowl with ahi tuna, seaweed, edamame, and ponzu fresh. It was amazing!!! I was so hungry by the time I got to dig in and as soon as I took my first bite I knew it was so worth the wait. It was so delicious. Everything tasted so fresh and the flavors worked together so harmoniously.

I would definitely go back and I hope to one day finally try the sushi burrito! I’m not crazy about waiting in line for so long or figuring out where to eat, but I would definitely go back if the line didn’t look too bad. So in a nutshell – food and service was very good. Lack of seating, not so great.

If any of you know of a place in the NY/NJ area that makes sushi burritos and has seating (!) please let me know!