Poke Bowl Near Me in Cow Hollow: Happy Poke on Octavia Street

Happy Poke is a tiny counter at 2760 Octavia Street in Cow Hollow, a few steps off Union Street, and in July 2026 The Infatuation called its build-your-own bowl the best DIY poke in San Francisco. Where most counters cube their fish, this one slices it sashimi-style and lays it over warm, vinegared sushi rice. A build-your-own bowl with two proteins costs $22.50 on the shop's own ordering site, and every order comes with a cup of miso soup. If you searched poke bowl near me in the Marina or Pacific Heights, start here.

The detail that sets Happy Poke apart is the knife work. Julia Chen's July 1, 2026 review for The Infatuation, which rated the shop 8.4, singled out the silky sashimi-cut fish and noted that the vinegar-soaked rice is still warm when it reaches you. The contrast between cool, thin slices and warm seasoned rice is closer to a chirashi bowl at a sushi bar than to the marinated cubes most poke shops scoop from a tray.

The shop's About page describes the fish as sushi-grade and names its two headliners: classic bluefin tuna and Scottish salmon. Produce is locally sourced, the sauces are made in house, and the menu flags gluten-free and keto-friendly choices. The same publication put Happy Poke on its list of the best things its writers ate in June 2026, so the July review was not a one-off visit.

Ordering happens on small clipboard menus, which you fill in with a pencil and hand to the counter. The menu page lays out four steps. First choose one base: sushi rice, brown rice, mixed green salad, or a half-and-half combination. Then choose two proteins from raw Scottish salmon, bluefin tuna and hamachi, or cooked salmon flakes and shrimp. Step three is the sauce, and step four is toppings such as sweet corn, avocado, cucumber, edamame and seaweed salad.

The Infatuation's advice, when in doubt, is to go for the salmon and ahi, and it is sound: the two raw fish the shop is proudest of come together in one bowl. Avocado is an extra $2.50, an additional scoop of protein is $5.00, and a scoop of crab meat is $6.00. Keep the toppings moderate, because the warm rice and sliced fish are the point, and a heavy hand with corn and sauce hides both.

The menu also makes it easy to feed a mixed group. Salmon flakes and shrimp are cooked, so anyone avoiding raw fish can still build a full bowl, and the half-and-half bases let you split rice and mixed greens in one container for a lighter lunch. The gluten-free and keto-friendly flags on the menu mean diners with restrictions can order without quizzing the counter about every sauce.

If you would rather not fill in a clipboard, the Happy Poke Fav Combo is the house answer at $25.75. It puts salmon, tuna and crab over sushi rice with cucumber, sweet corn, edamame, seaweed salad, poke sauce and spicy mayo, which is close to what a regular would build anyway. The Unagi Bowl, at $22.75, swaps raw fish for glazed eel and suits anyone in the group who wants something cooked.

For a purer plate, the Sashimi Combo costs $23.00 and brings four pieces each of salmon, tuna and hamachi without the bowl treatment. On weekends the menu adds a Pork Katsu special for $22.00. Extra miso soup, beyond the cup that comes with every order, is $4.50 for a 12-ounce serving, a welcome addition on a cold, foggy Cow Hollow evening.

Happy Poke doubles as a small tea shop. The Classic Milk Tea is $6.50, the Brown Sugar Milk Tea is $6.75 and the Lychee Green Jasmine Tea is $6.75, and boba can be added to any of them for $0.50. The lychee green tea is the drink to order with a raw fish bowl: it is light and floral rather than sweet and creamy, so it does not fight the sesame and soy in the sauces.

Hours on the shop's ordering site are noon to 8:30pm Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 7:30pm on Sunday, and the shop is closed on Monday. Seating is a few outdoor tables, which The Infatuation recommended settling into with your bowl. Because the shop is small, arriving right at noon on a weekday gives you the best chance of a table.

Online orders are accepted, but the ordering site states that payment is made in store at pickup, and it estimates a wait of 10 to 15 minutes. That makes ordering ahead the smart move at dinner time: place the order from Union Street, browse for a few minutes, then walk over, pay at the counter and take your bowl and soup outside.

Union Street, a block away, is Cow Hollow's main strip of boutiques, cafes and wine bars running between Van Ness Avenue and Steiner Street. Turn east and you reach the Octagon House at 2645 Gough Street, at Union. Built in 1861, it is one of the few surviving eight-sided houses in the city and is run by the Colonial Dames of America in California. It opens free of charge, with donations appreciated, on the second and fourth Sundays from noon to 3pm, February through November.

A Sunday plan works neatly here: order a bowl for pickup when Happy Poke opens at noon, eat at one of the outdoor tables, then walk the block to the Octagon House while it is open. From there, Union Street runs west through Cow Hollow toward Steiner Street, lined with the boutiques and cafes that give the neighborhood its weekend crowd, so the walk back to the bus on Union is an easy browse.

Address: 2760 Octavia Street, San Francisco, CA 94123, just off Union Street. Closed Monday; open noon to 8:30pm Tuesday through Saturday and noon to 7:30pm Sunday. Muni's 45 Union/Stockton line stops at Union and Gough and at Union and Laguna, each about two minutes on foot. Online orders go through the shop's website, with payment at the counter on pickup.