By now, I've frequented a number of poke restaurants, so I'd like to think I have a baseline for what distinguishes the superior from the mediocre. Unfortunately, I believe King Fish falls into the latter category. Here's why:
1. The rice to toppings ratio is way way off. They use the plastic bowls here that are very deep so the servers end up filling a lot of the large bowl with rice, since you can't fill the obvious extra space with expensive toppings. So more rice is just jam packed in the bottom until the bowl doesn't look so empty. This makes for a very lopsided meal--totally not balanced. Even if you tried your best to portion out your fish and toppings so that you don't eat it all at the beginning, you will undoubtedly be left with a lot of extra rice that you can a) eat by itself... or b) throw away, which is just wasteful. I suggest King Fish get shallower bowls or something to combat this issue.
2. Although the base prices for King Fish are quite competitive and cheaper than I've seen at other places, I was less impressed after I found out they charge for staples that are usually free--including Kani Salad and seaweed salad! Upcharging for little things like that which are usually free add-ins left a bad taste in my mouth.
3. Finally, my husband got the Niner signature bowl and they told us they had no more mango..so the employee suggested mandarin oranges..which he later found out they also didn't have! This was on a Saturday afternoon for lunch..I could understand if it was late night weekday..but you don't have these key ingredients (mango..since it was listed in the signature niner) during your prime business hours? Hmm..
Anyways, I know they're new so hopefully these kinks will be addressed.