We had dinner at Sam Choy's Poke to the Max on Sunday, June 25, 2017. They're on Pacific Avenue near the University of Washington Tacoma. They had just opened in Tacoma a couple of months before. Their first location opened in Seattle several years before. They also have food trucks that serve at events all over the Puget Sound Area. I think we arrived there at around 5 pm because they are only open until 6 pm every day. They have metal furniture, Tiki decorations, and a water dispenser. Customers order at the counter and pick up orders to the left. Later we noticed that they had some outdoor tables stacked in the restrooms. On the tables inside they had plants in metal buckets.
I believe their menu was either posted above or behind the counter or they had laminated copies. A photo on Yelp from August 2017 shows their menu on large flatscreen TV's mounted from the ceiling above the counter. I don't remember seeing these in June 2017. The menu include many sections such as Poke Rice Plates, Chef's Specials that include Ahi tuna tacos and ahi or salmon nachos, Loco Mocos, Rice Plates, Island Favorites, Hand-Crafted Musubis, Sides, and Desserts. Prices are very reasonable such as $12-$13 for Poke Rice Plates, $11-$12 for many other items, and $8-$13 for Musubis. We placed our orders at the counter. The place wasn't very crowded that Sunday. I think there were only one or two other parties.
We didn't have to wait long for our orders. They brought them out on plastic plates and we brought them to one of the metal tables. There was a station to pick up utensils and hot sauce including Sriracha. My wife got the tuna steak wrap. It was made with a spinach tortilla wrapped into a few layers. The outer layer contained white rice. The next layer contained lettuce and mixed greens. Then there was slaw made with carrots, radicchio, and wasabi aioli. The innermost layer was the tuna steak. They wrapped everything up tight and cut it in half. My wife enjoyed it. I ordered something that cost less but it was also less healthy and probably more filling. I got the Reconstructed Musubi for which I chose spam over Portuguese sausage. It came as a fairly large slab made with an outer layer of dark nori (seaweed). The thick slab of spam was sandwiched between layers of rice. I think the egg frittata came in a thin layer just below the spam. On top it was smothered in aioli and eel sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds and Welsh onions. Yeah, this wasn't the healthiest menu item, or the cleanest, but it was delicious and filling. I think I cut it into sections to eat.
We left at 6 pm, their closing time. With their menu, we have plenty of reasons to return.
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