Poke Bowl by FIU in Miami: Hawaiian Poke Build-Your-Own

Hawaiian Poke is the poke counter that FIU students reach before the light changes. The small shop sits at 1671 SW 107th Ave, Miami, FL 33165, directly across the avenue from Florida International University's Modesto A. Maidique Campus, and it pairs build-your-own bowls with bubble milk tea. If you searched poke bowl near me from the FIU campus, University Park or Westchester, this is the neighborhood spot that holds a 4.7-star average across more than 340 Yelp reviews.

The shop's earliest Yelp reviews date from October 2018, and the first visitors described a menu that mixed poke with crepes and light bulb drinks, the glowing bulb-shaped cups that were a bubble tea fad at the time. One reviewer that month wrote that this area was in desperate need of a great poke place, which gives a sense of how thin the options were on this side of the county. A longtime reviewer wrote in August 2026 that the business first opened under the name J-Petal and served sweet and savory crepes, and a Tripadvisor listing under the name J-Petal and Poke backs up that story. The crepes are gone, and today the menu is built around poke and bubble tea.

The owners have not published a founding story, and no press profile of the shop turned up, so the record is mostly written by customers. That record is unusually steady. Recent reviews describe the room as clean and quiet, and the business page on Yelp is claimed and tagged for kids and groups. It is not a destination restaurant with a chef bio; it is a neighborhood counter that has outlasted several food trends and kept the same campus-crossing lunch crowd.

There are four build-your-own sizes on the shop's own ordering page. A small bowl with one protein is $13.99, a medium with two proteins is $17.39, and a large with three proteins is $20.39. A salad bowl without protein is $14.29. The base can be sushi rice, brown rice or spring mix, with half-and-half combinations allowed. Romaine costs $1.50 more, and half rice with half romaine adds $1.00. Each extra scoop of protein after that is $3.00.

The protein list is long for a counter this size. Tuna and salmon come raw or cooked, and there are ground spicy tuna and spicy salmon, tamago, spicy krab, eel, octopus, shrimp, tofu and miso chicken. That spread means a group with one person who avoids raw fish can still order here without ordering a side salad. The cooked tuna and salmon options are uncommon at poke shops and are worth knowing about if you are bringing someone new to the dish.

After the protein comes a free round of ingredients: cucumber, cabbage, bell pepper, edamame, red onion, beets, carrots, seaweed, black olive, pineapple, cilantro, jalapeño and mango, plus Hawaiian salt and chili powder. Then the Top It Off list adds sweet corn, masago, pickled ginger, seaweed salad, tempura flakes, onion crisps, crispy garlic, shredded nori, sesame, furikake, wasabi, avocado and even cheddar cheese. Paid add-ons are $1.50 each for cream cheese, extra masago, extra seaweed salad or extra avocado.

The sauce rule is printed on the menu: choose up to three, and they are mixed into the bowl. The list runs from teriyaki, Korean kimchi mayo, spicy mayo, cilantro, eel, sesame ginger and the house Hawaiian Classic to honey wasabi, ponzu, sweet chili, miso, soy, sriracha and a few salad-bar dressings such as ranch and yum yum. An August 2026 reviewer wrote that the bowls are huge and very saucy and that she always asks for light sauce, which is good advice if you are mixing three.

If you would rather not decide, four signature bowls cost $16.99 each. The Hawaiian Classic is two scoops of raw tuna with sweet onion, cucumber, avocado, furikake, masago, green onion and Hawaiian salt, finished with sweet chili and cilantro sauce. The Salmon Lover pairs two scoops of raw salmon with edamame, sweet corn, cabbage, onion crisps and tempura flakes. Shrimp and Krab leans sweet with mango and eel sauce, and the Vege Tofu bowl uses two scoops of tofu with eel sauce and honey wasabi.

Reviews from 2026 are mostly about portion and freshness. An October 2026 reviewer called the bowls always fresh and reasonably priced, and an August 2026 regular praised the endless toppings and how clean the shop stays. Not every visit lands. A September 2026 reviewer liked the portion size and friendly service but felt the tuna was less fresh than usual and the bowl was short on sauce. That mix is typical for a busy counter, and ordering salmon or a cooked protein is an easy way to hedge.

The tea side of the menu is not an afterthought. Bubble milk tea is $6.49, brown sugar adds $0.50, and an extra serving of boba or jelly is $0.75, or $1.50 for a double. A non-dairy iced green tea is also $6.49, and Ramune soda is $3.39. For sides, miso soup is $3.50, an 8-ounce edamame is $5.50, an 8-ounce seaweed salad is $5.99 and a 22-ounce side of sushi or brown rice is $3.29. A signature bowl and a milk tea together come to about $23.50 before tax.

Hawaiian Poke opens Monday through Friday from 11:30 am to 9:50 pm and on Saturday and Sunday from noon to 9:50 pm, according to its website. Online pickup orders close at 9:40 pm. Orders placed through the shop's own EzOrderNow page quote about 15 minutes for pickup, which is the easiest way to skip the line between classes. Yelp lists takeout, delivery and outdoor seating.

Timing matters near a university. One August 2026 reviewer noted that the shop does get full during meal times, and another described it as the quiet little spot near the Dollar Tree, which is a useful landmark when you are scanning the plaza. Arriving just before noon on a weekday or after the evening rush should mean a shorter wait at the counter. If you are grabbing a bowl to eat on campus, order ahead and walk it over rather than waiting for a table.

The FIU campus corner at SW 107th Avenue and SW 8th Street, the Tamiami Trail, is only about a quarter mile from the counter. From there it is a short walk to the Patricia and Phillip Frost Art Museum, the university's art museum, which is roughly 0.4 miles away and makes a cool, quiet stop on a hot afternoon. On game days, Pitbull Stadium, home of FIU football, is about 0.7 miles from the shop, and the Ocean Bank Convocation Center is not much farther.

A good plan is to order a Salmon Lover with light sauce and a brown sugar milk tea, cross the avenue, and eat on campus before an afternoon in the Frost. If you live nearby, the cooked-protein options and the Vege Tofu bowl make this one of the easier poke stops for mixed groups and families. Either way, this counter rewards regulars who learn the menu and build their own bowl rather than ordering the same signature every time.