Poke'N' Boba Mia in Nanaimo

642 Fifth St, Nanaimo, BC V9R 1P9, Canada

★★★★☆
(43 reviews)
Categories: Restaurant
Website
pokenbobamia.ca
Address
642 Fifth St, Nanaimo, BC V9R 1P9, Canada
Plus Code
524R+48 Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Time Zone
America/Vancouver

Business Hours

Monday
11:30 AM–7:30 PM
Tuesday
Closed
Wednesday
11:30 AM–7:30 PM
Thursday
11:30 AM–7:30 PM
Friday
11:30 AM–7:30 PM
Saturday
11:30 AM–7:30 PM
Sunday
11:30 AM–7:30 PM

Services

Service options
Delivery Takeaway Dine-in
Accessibility
Wheelchair-accessible car park Wheelchair-accessible entrance
Offerings
Coffee Healthy options
Dining options
Lunch Dinner
Atmosphere
Casual
Planning
Accepts reservations
Payments
Credit cards Debit cards NFC mobile payments Credit cards
Parking
Free of charge street parking Free parking lot

Photos

Reviews

3.7
★★★★☆
43 reviews

Most Mentioned

rice (6) protein (5) smoothie (3) student (3) brown sugar milk tea (2) salmon bowl (2) thai (2) mayo (2) here again (2) size (2)
5 stars
20
4 stars
8
3 stars
4
2 stars
2
1 stars
9
September 28, 2024

Unfortunately I had a very disappointing experience. After ordering and paying for my poke bowl I was told that there was no salmon and they don't ever have tuna. The other toppings were minimal and the sauce was basically mayo. The excuse was that they were going to be closing soon, but it was 6:15 and they were open until 7pm. I couldn't even eat it because it was essentially just white rice with mayo on it.

★★★★★
September 17, 2024

I went there twice when I was visiting a friend because it's down the street from his house. I had the mango milkshake and my daughter has the boba tea. we both thought it was pretty good. Although it was convenient for us, the location is a little rough. I'll probably go back there next time I'm in town.

July 14, 2024

Asked for one sauce. Was given soup. Rice overcooked, microwaved edamame, and sketchy looking fish. Would not recommend.

★★★★★
May 3, 2024

Haven't tried the food yet, but I've been here several times already for bubble tea. Good quality and good price! They're liberal with the tapioca. Glad to have a shop in Harewood.

★★★★
April 7, 2024

Ordered via Skip so I have no idea what the actual restaurant is like. Pretty standard for a takeout Poke place but im a bit disappointed with the protein portions as I paid extra for another protien and it doesn't really seem like anything was added. Also wish I could order multiple sauces via Skip. Not bad though.

★★★★
February 7, 2024

Just a boba tea review !! Would probably be editing this if I happen to try the food but as of now I do enjoy their Thai milk tea Nice sweet and uplifting !!

★★★★
December 17, 2023

A local poke bowl and boba shop for the South side and it tastes great! I have been eagerly trying to visit eversince they put up signage. Glad I finally went! They have multiple options for bowls allowing for preselect combos or make your own. I recommend you make your own bowl. They are very flexible to what you can have with some limits on proteins. The ingredients were almost all fresh tasting outside of the non seasonal options which is to be expected but the flavors were exactly what I wanted. Didn't have a single bad bite! Boba tea is a bit lacking. Had the milk tea and while the flavor is okay it's nothing unique. I've gotten similar at the grocery store at Rutherford. Would love to see more love out into these. My standard good is chai time just to give a reference point. Now it's a newer place so I'm going to be a bit nitpicky as I'm hopeful these will be iron out in the new business growing pains. The volume of available food is limited. One of the bowls I got had limited rice but I was offered more vegetables in return. While this is mostly a positive I can see issues if you come here with a larger group. It was earlier so perhaps they are more bountiful during lunch time or dinner time rush. Place looks newly renovated and overall pretty clean however when I went there was only one active employee so similar issue if there is a group they may fall behind for cleaning. Current business volumes are low so you likely won't have a wait. My biggest gripe is prices. So comparatively, subway salads which are build your own similar to a boba build your own from here are about 7 bucks cheaper. While you don't have certain specialty toppings and it's a non franchised business it's an acceptable difference but enough for me to think again about going. Two bowls and drinks goes for about 50 bucks which is equal to a sit down casual restaurant experience. Would love to see more bang for buck or overhaul of ingredients. Although note they have a great student discount if you are but the current 15% is slim compared to some student budgets. Overall, excited for the future of this place and glad to have a local fresh and flavor bowl nearby.

★★★
December 11, 2023

Sorry to say that to a new restaurant. First time try the number 5 salmon rice bowl. Regular size-$18 but very little amount of salmon and some cucumber and mango. The sauce and taste is very different compare to Poke Bowl.

★★★★★
September 22, 2024

It was very good the server I had was very nice Id reccomend on Goin there Ive gone there and few times before and had a very pleasant experience Kid-friendliness: Had lots of drink options so all people can find and enjoy and treat they like

★★★★★
August 22, 2024

Very good boba tea and smoothies for a surprisingly good price. Was served by a nice young woman named Zoe who was very helpful in suggestions/recommendations. Would recommend!

★★★★★
August 22, 2024

Delicious! Strawberry and thai milk

Local Guide
July 22, 2024

I really wanted to get boba on Sunday morning before a road trip. I showed up at 10:55 and sat in the parking lot and waited for a place to open. At 11:10 it still wasnt open. I called and got no answer. So I went to Chatime instead. Not sure what happened here. Not sure its worth trying again.

★★★★★
June 22, 2024

Super sweet staff and always quick with my order :) Love stopping by on my way home!

★★
May 22, 2024

Kept being called sir aggressively even when I corrected them to maam. I had to wait 15 minutes for her to make rice since she didnt have it ready (or due to the rice being unplugged she had to make new rice. Not sure). It wasnt the first time weve been here, great manager and shes usually there when we come for a bowl and boba tea but the new girl was pretty rude to us. Food is good as usual just bad customer service today.

★★★★★
Local Guide
May 22, 2024

A hidden gem of Nanaimo. There are a few tables to stay in and eat. We had amazing service. A delicious poke bowl and the smoothie and bubble tea were fresh and tasty. This will be our go to poke and boba!

★★★★★
May 22, 2024

Boba teas, protein shakes and poke bowls are absolutely awesome! Great prices and service and super fresh

May 22, 2024

The portions were miserables. They didn t let me wash my hands??? They were racist because I was Mexican After eating I was about to leave and the owner stopped us and said that we had to clean the table because it had a little bit of food on top and made us clean it Customer service is terrible please don t go

May 22, 2024

I ordered a passion tea boba with popping boba and a peach slush with popping boba. What I got was a brown sugar milk tea with passion tea in it and tapioca pearls and popping boba. The milk was separating and curdling, I didn t even want to try it because it looked disgusting. The peach slush also had the brown sugar drizzle in it. It was such a waste of $14. I couldn t tell if the worker was trained incorrectly or genuinely incompetent but the worker very clearly knew they did something wrong when they saw the look on my face when I saw the drinks. My friend s orders were the same. The area where they make the drinks is blocked off with a white plastic tarp and the store stinks of bad seafood as well. Which were red flags I shouldn t have ignored. Save yourself the bad experience, and just go to chai time.

★★★
April 22, 2024

I enjoyed their tapioca ball milk tea, and the customer service was great. Unfortunately if you order for a dine-in (not takeout), currently they only serve in disposable (instead of reusable) cups or containers. Food

★★★★
March 22, 2024

I m not very experienced with these bowls but the food was decent and more importantly healthy and fresh. We need more healthy options than what Harewood offers. A little pricey but you have to spend money to get healthy.

★★★★★
February 22, 2024

Had a awesome teriyaki blast just this past sunday and it was delicious! So much food i even had a lunch for work on monday! Great place to eat where the staffs always smiling

★★★★★
February 22, 2024

Great place to stop by and get shakes or smoothies. Highly recommend the strawberry or oreohakes. The owner is lovely to talk to.

★★★★★
February 22, 2024

Highly recommend for students. Support affordable and yummy food.

★★★★
Local Guide
February 22, 2024

With Poke being my favorite food, I was very excited to see a Poke place opening on this end of town as it is significantly closer to me than Poke Page 2, which is the next nearest offering. After ordering here a couple times with a mix of different customized bowls I have to say its pretty good. There are a decent amount of protein and veg choices. The sauces taste great, although I do question the inclusion of donair sauce as this seems like a very odd choice for Poke. This theme sort of continues as some of the choices seem out of place and when tried just dont work for a Poke bowl like honey garlic sauce, pulled pork and steak. I digress though as I am not here to yuck anyones yum and I can appreciate offerings for all tastes. The ramen egg however is a major let down as it isnt actually a ramen egg at all, instead it is simply a hardboiled egg. The rice is a good texture but could use a bit of flavor, maybe with some rice wine vinegar. My major issue though is with the amount of protein given. There was very little in both my bowls and I found I had to really hunt through rice and toppings to find any. There was so little that I could not actually taste the protein, I just occasionally found a different texture in my mouth once in a while. Overall, I did enjoy both my bowls. The taste was good. The toppings and (most) of the fillings and protein was good. The service was pleasant as well! The location is convenient for this side of town, but the building is questionable at best. Ive lived on this side of town for years and drive by the location daily and have always thought the business next to it was a front for some nefarious operation haha. The parking is also less than ideal and difficult to get in and out of. I do prefer Poke Page 2 and will likely make the extra drive uptown to get my Poke fill on most occasions, but for the convenience I like this place. I will absolutely eat here again and I look forward to seeing how they improve with time!

★★★
February 22, 2024

Ordered on Skip The Dishes, a create your own bowl large size. Asked for avocado on my meal and received an unripe avocado which was completely inedible. I really wanted to like this place as I love to support local but there was not a lot of tuna, salmon or crab meat in my meal and I had trouble finding it. I also asked for wasabi mayo on the side and received on the meal, covered in mayo. I Unfortunately won t be ordering from here again.

★★★★★
January 22, 2024

Awesome food wonderful staff. The location is prime - as we dont have a boba nor poke place in south nanaimo. Super exciting! 100/10! So many incredible options!

★★★★★
January 22, 2024

Ive had two Regular size Build Your Own Bowls ($15) and they were delicious! The ingredients are fresh and well prepared. Their sauces are excellent and I appreciate their wide variety of ingredients and fixings to choose from. The prices are essentially the same as Poke Page1 & 2 but what matters most is taste and location. I love Poke Page, but the last two bowls Ive enjoyed at Poke n Boba have tasted better than any of the Poke bowls Ive had from Poke Page. Im located in South Nanaimo, so Im loving the location...it saves me from a 15 minute commute to Brooks Landing. The Lychee Boba Tea was awesome as well. Its exactly what I wanted. Again, I highly recommend this lovely little poke place.They deserve your business.

★★★★★
Local Guide
January 22, 2024

Delicious poke bowls and brown sugar milk tea bobas!!! Eat here and support a small local business owned by a VIU student

January 22, 2024

Im sorry, but this was the worst poke Ive ever had. I know its a new restaurant. I never leave reviews, but the salmon bowl was very skimpy, and the gogugang, spinach and mango combo was terrible. I didnt finish it. I wouldnt recommend this place. You will have a much better experience at a chain restaurant-more fish, better ingredients, at a cheaper price. Service was friendly and excellent.

★★★★★
January 22, 2024

Very good drinks and food

January 22, 2024

Very disappointed in the amount of protein included in a large Poke Bowl. I enjoy Poke Bowls and this was my first visit. It is worth the extra drive for the competition.

★★★★★
December 22, 2023

I got a bubble tea and a rice bowl and it was absolutely delicious! It took a little bit of time, but I guess you can t rush genius! Parking: It was a little bit of an angle and a tiny bit difficult to get out of but in all honesty, It wasn t that bad. Kid-friendliness: I think that the food here could be enjoyed by everybody!

★★★★
December 22, 2023

i really like the drinks here and the customer service is amazing its take a little bit for the drinks but it s definitely worth the wait