Ah, the great poké wars of 2024. Not to be confused with the great handled frozen yogurt conflict of 2019, which, oddly, has also resurrected itself in the year of our dairy lord, 2024. No, Proven Poke Co. — the original raw fish joint in the ‘hood — has been joined by multiple copycats in the past 365 days. One of which has already fallen. But this, the o.g., is still going strong on Montclair’s trendiest and most visible street, Church St. My last visit, however, may put a dent in that whole “going strong” description, however.
And, no, I did not plan for that woman in the Hawaiian-looking-ass dress sitting out front with her cute, little boot thing. But it is a nice flourish for a joint that serves raw fish from the island. Or islands. Volcanos? I don’t know. Point is it’s fish that comes in a plastic bowl with a bunch of other stuff. More stuff. Less stuff. I tend to enjoy more things. Crunchy things. Salty things. But not too many salty things. Because when you add too many things from the sea and then layer in some fermented sauce, it is a salt bomb. Tread carefully. Also, do not get the tempura shrimp here. With a large bowl, you get three proteins. Which is nice. Unless, again, you get the heavy, kinda greasy, definitely not fresh-fried shrimp tempura. It’s super NERF-y. But what are you going to get with your raw salmon and tuna? Cold chicken breast? No thanks.
And, look, this poké is definitely not bad. I imagine there is bad poké out there. It’s just that the space, and perhaps their formula, is a little long in the tooth. It’s feeling a little more like a theme restaurant than a dining establishment. Albeit a fast-casual one. It gives those we-were-once-the-hot-thing-and-now-we’re-a-little-tired, Smashburger vibes. And when the joy goes out of the food, and when the joy goes out of the business, it sometimes shows. I’m not ascribing feels to whatever is going on here, but with all the competition pouring in it might be time for a refresh. What’s old-ish can be new again. Which is a pretty good idea when you’re dealing with raw fish.
19 Church St. – Montclair
973/860-7229
provenpokeco.com
