With a new poke restaurant seemingly opening every week, it took Century City a while to jump on the poke bandwagon. If you had a poke craving, Gelson’s was your only choice. That all ended when Big Fish Little Fish opened at the Westfield Century City food court, bringing build-your-own bowls to the poke-starved masses.

Bowls come in two sizes – Little Fish and Big Fish. The Little Fish bowl is tiny – I don’t know who orders these small bowls, except maybe a young child. You then choose your base from white rice, brown rice, marinated kale (or a half & half combo). That gets topped with your choice of proteins, sauces, toppings and crunches. One of the proteins is sukiyaki, a cooked beef dish, not exactly something you’d expect from a poke place.

The sauce (you can choose 2) gets placed on top of the base, which I thought was an odd choice since the fish  and toppings are otherwise naked. The woman who made my bowl was a bit heavy handed with the ponzu sauce, drowning my rice and kale.

You get five toppings, selecting from a range of fruits and vegetables, surimi crab and fish eggs.  Mango or avocado costs a $1 extra. Two crunches finish off your bowl – from crunchy lotus root chips (one of the more unusual offerings) to furikake.

The Big Fish is one of the more generously portioned poke bowls out there. Of the fish that we tried (salmon, tuna and albacore), the albacore was the most flavorful. With the sauces being added before the proteins, you had to mix your bowl up or plunge the fish into the sauce below to enhance the flavor. If you like your fish with sauce, ask for the sauce to get placed on top, rather than below.

If the choices seem too overwhelming, there are six signature bowls with preselected ingredients (including one with beef sukiyaki). While Big Fish Little Fish isn’t the best poke bowl in LA, it’s your best choice for poke in Century City and a great healthy alternative in the food court.

Location –  10250 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles 90067. Additional locations in Aliso Viejo, Arcadia, San Francisco and Santa Clara.
Website – http://bigfishlittlefishpoke.com
Kid-Friendly – Yes
Kid’s Menu – No
Vegetarian/Vegan Friendly – No
Gluten-Free Options – Yes