Fresh Catch Kaimuki

Fresh Catch Kaimuki

After stuffing our faces full at Genki Sushi, we drove just a few short minutes over to Fresh Catch in Kaimuki. You can easily spot Fresh Catch driving down Waialae Avenue because of their colorful blue roof and giant tako. Fresh Catch resides in what used to be a Pizza Hut establishment. As you can guess, Fresh Catch sells seafood and more importantly poke.

When you step into Fresh Catch you are transported. It is spacious with a few picnic type tables, and a long refrigerated counter. Besides poke, Fresh Catch also sells plate lunches (Beef stew, lau lau, salmon, etc.) as well as marinated meats ready for the grill. But the main attraction at Fresh Catch is the poke. So many to choose from, so little time. Fresh Catch has a number of traditional and non-traditional styles of poke.

I had been fortunate enough to have been given a $25 gift certificate from a family member so we planned on making the most of it. We ordered the traditional Shoyu poke and limu aku poke but also ordered an outrageous poke dubbed "Fireball Ahi Poke". Now Fresh Catch has a spicy ahi poke so I thought I knew what I was getting us into (i was wrong). Along with the more traditional fish pokes we also picked up a smoked tako poke and a Korean-style top shell poke. At a quarter pound each (a half pound for the shoyu poke) and an energy drink (I have a soft spot for energy drinks) our total came out to $25.24. A deal for a pound and a half of gourmet poke (and let me tell you this is gourmet!).

We bid farewell to Fresh Catch and headed back home where we would eat our delectable poke for dinner (with rice of course).

Limu Aku PokeShoyu PokeFireball Ahi PokeSmoked Tako PokeKorean-style Top Shell Poke

The first thing that I tried was the limu aku poke. It was wonderful. I would have to rate this among the best poke that I had ever eaten. I tried the shoyu poke and that was also to die for. Some places don't add enough flavor to their shoyu-style poke. This shoyu poke had just the right amount of saltiness. I was hesitant to try the fireball ahi poke so I opted to try the Korean-style top shell poke. Top shell, more commonly known as whelks, are water snails. Similar in texture to a large opihi, top shell is chewy and has that nice snail flavor. I've grown up eating top shell so it doesn't bother me at all. Next I tried the smoked tako poke. This, by far, was the best of the bunch. It was slightly spicy in a mayonnaise sauce but the best part about it was the smokey tako taste. This was good smoked tako. I would eat it by itself. But with the sauce, it was just amazing. The smoked tako poke is a must buy if you are going to Fresh Catch. At long last it was time to taste the dreaded fireball ahi poke. It tasted great. One of the best if not the best spicy ahi poke that I've ever had. There was just one problem...I was on fire. I can usually take the heat but this was just excessive. I suggest buying the spicy ahi poke unless you feel adventurous.

In the quality vs quantity battle, I feel that quality has prevailed. This was some of the highest quality poke I have ever tasted. The flavors were outstanding and the ideas were just amazing. I am certainly buying my poke for my next Super Bowl Party at Fresh Catch. In truth, I sat here looking for something bad to say about the place, but I just couldn't find anything and that is hard to come by for someone such as myself.


Rating System: 1-2.5-5 (poor-average-excellent)

Service: 4 (very friendly counter staff)
Food Quality: 4.5
Monetary Value: 3
Quality vs Quantity: Quality
Overall: 3.75


Contact Info:

Address: 3109 Waialae Ave.
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808-735-7653
Hours: Closed (Monday), 10AM-7PM (Tuesday-Friday), 8AM-7:30pm (Saturday), 8AM-5PM (Sunday)