Simply Bowl

Mango salmon bowl is great! Definitely not «pure» Japanese cuisine per say, but it’s a nice fusion twist. Very refreshing.

On our way back from Tahoe, we decided to stop here for lunch before driving back to SF. So glad we did! The fresh rice bowl was just what we needed after a weekend of snow. I couldn’t decide if I wanted tuna or salmon so I went with the best of both worlds and got the ying yang poke bowl. YUM. Fish tasted very fresh and the addition of mango was a nice touch! The meal is also a good value for the amount of food they give you!

I LOVE the mango salmon poke bowl! It tastes very fresh, and I also like how the bowl isn’t overloaded with sauce. The only thing I wish they could improve on is less rice and a little more fish. There’s usually too much rice.
Definitely not the cheapest option on campus, but for raw fish, it’s worth.
If you check in on Unilocal,you can get a free soup.

Fresh sashimi any way you like it. Not the cheapest but big portions make it pretty good value.

Don’t even hesitate, just come here. F’real. Do it. Right now. Well finish reading my review first, then go ahead and go.
First of all, parking will be a pain in your ass but this is Berkeley and you should already know that. Second of all, student discounts. As a student I have no shame in abusing a discount even though I don’t actually remember how much I saved. Anyway, this place a little expensive compared to the other poke places I’ve been. But hey, good fish is good fish.
You get your typical choice, tuna or salmon. Most of the bowls come with avocado, cucumber, crab, the usual. I ordered the ahi poke which I think was around $ 10.00. You have to pay an extra .75 for brown rice but get this, check in with Unilocal and you get a free soup of the day. When I went it was some type of egg flour soup that wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but it wasn’t gross. My poke was perfect. The texture was spot on, seaweed salad was crunchy, everything you want when you’re eating a bowl of raw fish. The only thing I could complain about is that they give you a lot of rice and I ended up wasting a lot of it. None the less, it was great. Do yourself a favor and come by.

This place is incredibowl! (haha see what I did there?)
I love love love Poke, and so I was excited to hear that this place had opened up. I’ve been here a couple of times since its inception, and tend to get either the Mango Salmon Poke or the Ying Yang Poke. I’ve always found that they’re quite generous with the amount of fish they give you. I’ve been to a lot of Poke places, and definitely think that Simply Bowl is a little more heavy-​handed with their portion sizes.
The rice is always warm and fresh as well, and the servers are always friendly and helpful! Simply Bowl is somewhere I’ve always had a good time eating at, and I’ll definitely be back in the future.

We tried three types of pokes and all three were fresh and well made. Although the fish options are pretty limited to salmon, tuna and eel, the combinations offered are well balanced with fruits, veggies and seaweed. Better than the sushi alternatives I have tried around UCB so far.

Wow, this mango salmon poke bowl is SUPER FRESH with lots of great sweet sushi flavors!
I love that they have an array of condiments (aka gimme that srirachaaaaa).
I asked for the poke sauce on the side since I like to be in control of how creamy my food is (some restaurants just overdo it) and that was a smart move because it was perfect without the sauce!
This was the cheapest poke bowl on the menu, but after tax, it came up to be $ 10+. For me, this would be a nice treat once in awhile.
YAAAS pokeeee bowls.

Our first time trying this place after working out! It’s really good, and their poke bowls are pretty big! Great portions.
I ordered the Spicy ahi poke with a poached egg and avocado. My boyfriend got shoyu poke with a poached egg. For both our poke bowls we got it with brown rice for both which costs a little extra but we were fine with that! It cost about around 24 for the bowls we ordered. And for appetizers we got lumpia bowl and gyoza! They’re pretty small but still good! And for the price of both appetizers were about 7 dollars!
Very recommend this place if you’re in the area of Berkley! Definitely coming back.

My first time at a poke bowl establishment!
This little joint is very spacious. The menu is straight forward. I went for the Shrimp Surfer Poke: salmon, shrimp tempura, pineapple — $ 12.50. Instead of teri sauce (teriyaki and mayo) I asked for sriracha.
They don’t note in the menu that they add sweet chilli sauce over the tempura. I wish I knew so that I could say no to that.
I added avocado and brown rice substitution (And YES, I know it’s extra $!)
The ratio of fish and toppings were perfect! I had a lot of rice left over. I would come back again :)

Fresh ingredient, nice presentation and clean dinning experience.
I went there for lunch after the final week. So there was not much people around at that time. I ordered Spicy Ahi Bowl with white rice (~$ 10). It is definitely worth the money. I tried my best to finish the bowl I ordered. It is definitely a nice place to grab a lunch in Berkeley!

I was ecstatic when Simply Bowl was brought to my attention!
I go sightly crazy when it comes to poke so the arrival of this restaurant catering to poke fanatics like myself was a blessing.
While I generally cringe at the task of dining in downtown Berkeley due to the near impossible empty parking spaces and overly aggressive drivers and cyclists, I made it a mission to sample this new establishment.
I was accompanied by my best friend who had already previously dined here and given her nod of approval. We opted for a late evening dinner as well as placing our order to go.
To play it safe, I followed along with her exact order of the Ying Yang Bowl (half spicy Ahi tuna poke and half salmon poke) with white rice. While I typically prefer brown rice, she pointed out that the white rice is not only more popular but also prepared better, never question your best friend!
The restaurant was quite empty upon our arrival, with only a few parties quietly dining in their booths. The premises was clean and well maintained, well lit, and quite casual but still comfortable. There is a youthful vibe catering to any and all neighboring university students but also makes for a suitable place for a family.
The cashier was polite and assembled our to-​go bag with care, as she was more than happy to double bag our items for safety as well as offer us extra condiments.
I was more than happy with my poke bowl. The fish tasted fresh, it was well flavored, had nice textures with the various vegetables mixed in and most importantly, was not too salty!
Overall, the meal was clean and perfectly satisfying, just right!
A great place for a yummy casual late night dinner, Simply Bowl is a wonderful addition to the cuisine of downtown Berkeley!

We decided to check this place out a few months after they opened. We each ordered our own bowl and also tacked on some takoyaki. I had the yingyang with brown rice. I could never understand why brown rice is an extra charge. When I go to the store, they’re typically around the same price. Anyhoo, there was definitely a lot of rice in our bowls.
The fish and veg that came on top was seasoned nicely and appeared to be of ok quality… nothing fishy, that’s for sure. The yingyang came with salmon and tuna. I’d have to say that the bowls were decent but this place is somewhere I’d not think of initially when planning out spots for dinner.
The takoyaki were lacking tako. How was that possible? Some of the takoyaki were missing it completely. Basically, it was a fried ball with sauce on top. This was definitely a miss. With a few extra pieces of octopus, this would be a winner. 3 stars.

3.5
Brown rice instead of white for an extra .75 cents? Ouch. Does it really cost that much more to provide brown rice? I ordered the spicy ahi poke bowl for $ 9.50 (not spicy at all) and added brown rice for the extra 75 cents. I also ordered lumpia, 4 pieces for $ 2.99.
I’ve been to many poke places recently in Sac that are surprisingly pretty damn good and have even been lucky enough to eat bowls of poke in Hawaii. I can’t say that this place left me wanting more and I felt that it was mediocre at best. I like that they don’t go overboard with the sauce on the fish, but wished that there was less rice and a little more fish. Plus when you start to add on extras like avocado for example, it can get so pricey!
The restaurant itself is clean and the staff was friendly. If I’m in the area and craving poke, I’ll return, but not a place I would go out of my way for. UC Berkeley and Berkeley staff members get a happy hour discount if you show a valid ID.

One of my favorite Berkeley restaurants! The ingredients are fresh, and the menu is creative. They have quality Genmaicha green tea instead of the standard jasmine most places have, which I appreciate.
I usually order the ahi poke bowl. It comes with a wasabi sauce, but I opt for the spicy mayo. There’s a good rice to tuna ratio, and a good bit of cilantro, cucumbers, and seaweed salad. If you don’t like rice, you can opt for your protein on a salad instead.

I was dissapointed at myself for not knowing Simply Bowl opened a few months ago. Even more when I found out it was in Berkeley. Here I am going to San Jose for my poke/​poki fix. Simply Bowl has more options for their poke bowls, specialty bowls, and a little more variety on their menu.
I surprised my friend at work with a Spicy Ahi Poke with extra ahi and I got the Ying-​Yang Poke. The bowls have a hefty portion of poke. I added extra poke to the spicy ahi poke for $ 2.50. Since my ying-​yang bowl comes with half spicy ahi and salmon poke. I also asked for extra poke and I was told that it would be an extra $ 5 because it comes with two different poke. I didn’t want to by the $ 5 so I asked if I could get half and half of the original portions and they said yes. So I paid $ 2.50 for extra ahi and salmon poke.
All the ingredients were fresh and the salmon and ahi were very delicious. The staff are very nice and patient. I liked everything about simply bowl and I want to come back to try their specialty bowls. What I liked the most is that they’re using the FIVESTARS rewards program. For every one dollar spent you earn one point. One hundred points equals free bowl!

Cheap, healthy and fresh place for poke! The mango salmon and ahi tuna are bomb, and you can get them over rice or as a salad. I’ve also tried the chicken terriyaki and the curry bowl, and thought they were decent, nothing special.
Not from the area, so this is the place I think of when I crave a poke bowl! Take me back.

I think I was spoiled rotten when I lived in SoCal…
The fish was aiiite. Portions were good. The rice was tasty. Nothing to go crazy about though. Like I said, I’ve had way better /​: I wanted to love this place, but truth is I probably wouldn’t willingly come back here on my own.
Would I eat it again if there was a consensus for it? Sure, why not.

I was struggling between 3.5÷3. I’m a poke lover and best is Ono Seafood in Honolulu!
My first addiction to poke started out at Pacific Catch in SF back in 09. There quality and portion went down hill so I’ve been searching. Even had a bad craving and try to make Shoyu poke myself!
I was ecstatic when I discovered this place. The presentation here at Simply is great! From the seaweed salad to the bright masago and cucumber. What’s lacking was the flavor of the Shoyu in the tuna. It was a very light taste and with so many items in the bowl, I felt the tuna blended in with everything. Nothing exceptional. Might try the mango or lava next time and give this place another shot.
What I didn’t understand was why no half and half for the same cost? The Shoyu ahi and salmon was the same price but they wanted to charge $ 2.50 more if I went that route! That’s quite steep for allowing people to try two different poke if it doesn’t cost them anything more.

In need of a refreshing meal? On the light and healthy side? Something tasty? Something affordable and filling? Quick? Seafood? Well, I think you might have found just the place.
My go-​tos are the mango salmon poke and the ying yang. Servings are generous with plenty fish atop a sumptuous bed of rice, brown or white. You can also add a poached egg and get that extra protein and flavor.
Staff is always friendly, and they always have specials going on where you get free soup, free lemon iced tea, just a free something when you check in on Unilocal.Nice!
It’s about $ 10.40 for a bowl, which is a great deal. And it lasts me for two servings, which is like 5 bucks a meal. For fresh seafood! Crazy.
PLUS, they also use Five Star points, so I’m steadily working my way up to that free bowl. Love this place.