Kawamata Seafood

I stumbled upon this place based on a friends recommendation. We decided to both try it on a Saturday afternoon. It’s a tiny hole in the wall place kinda like your mexican ghetto taco stand, but with Asians. There’s 3 barstools inside and about 8 tables outside with plenty of flies. I recommend going home, or go to a nice spot. The ordering is very easy. You choose your size, your taste, your rice and add some items at a buck each. I do not recommend any other fish with this. I got scallops which smelled funky and avocado. The sliced avocado was very nice. I enjoyed the poke too. That was fresh and tasty. Next time, I’ll just stick to large poke with sliced avocado over cabbage for low carb awesomeness.

Great Poke but they only take cash…

Best poke in south OC. Love mine with Avo, Daikon radish, and seaweed salad. Always fresh and such a fun lunch atmosphere.

This place is SO yummy!!! Must try, especially for locals :) I got the tuna bowl with the spicy mayo and added ginger. It was delicious! The fish is fresh and it’s a great spot to grab a nice healthy bite to eat

Just like in the 808! Got the tuna and octopus and thoroughly enjoyed.

Delicious, fresh sea food that’s in a hole-​in-​the wall location. It’s often busy and only takes cash, but it’s worth waiting for and will have you out with your food in just a couple of minutes.
I recommend taking it to go and eating at Pines Park of the lookout at the end of Camino De Estrella. Great poke!

Love this place– a little taste of Hawaii right here in Dana Point! The menu is small, offering a variety of poki (raw fish) bowls. Need your fried food fix? They have shrimp tempura, too. The prices aren’t cheap but the food is fresh and delicious.

Randomly Stopped Here & We Were So Absolutely Impressed! Incredibly Fresh Fish! The Tuna Was Delightfully Buttery! If I Could Eat Here Daily I Would!

This place doesn’t look like much, but wow when I started digging into that Poke bowl I was in love, fresh fish and great flavors… stop whatever your doing right now and go get some, you’ll thank me later. Next time I“m in southern California this is a must. Somebody really needs to open a place like this in Salt Lake City.

This place is so adorable & spunky.
Food was great!
Has a very hippie feeling to which is nice! Will be back again if I find my self in San Clemente.
Waiter just needs to talk more to there guest, but over all amazing!

Always busy, but very fast. The fish is fresh, as well as all ingredients. Nice outside seating. Very friendly staff. Reasonably priced. I highly recommend when you want something fresh, light, and enjoyable for a warm afternoon.

This place is amazing. I also love that it is cash only, it makes the transaction much fast.
I got the ahi and octopus poke orignal style the first time I went and was amazed and since then I have gone back to try everything else. I would recommend trying all of the different styles, orignal, wasbi, and spicy mayo.
I definately recommend adding garlic chips to everything.

Have bookmarked kawamata for a while. It’s now my second favorite poki place. First remains Pokinometry .
Portion is huge. The avocado and masago are worth the extra $ 1 each. They have a California bowl which include crab and avocado, perfect for parents who do not eat raw fish. They shared and loved their California bowl. Fish portion for my combo poki bowl is generous. The large can feeds two easily. The only downside– brown rice was a little hard.
There are a few parking spaces in front of the stores but they are tight. We saw plenty of street parking so parking is no problem. The beach is a few minutes away and we took our food to the beach for picnic. Perfect!

This place is soooo good. The sauce is so flavorful and hits all the bowl items.
Just wish it wasn’t so packed and small

The poke was very fresh. The teen cashier behind the register had horrible customer service. Not friendly at all! The shrimp tempura was good ($ 1.25 each) and in the picture it shows 3 pieces. I highly recommend adding avocado to your bowl. It’s well worth the $ 1. The imitation crab ($ 1 to add on) was good too.

I might have gone here three times when I was home… And I’ll be back.
Pick your size, fish, sauce, rice and extras. Then eat it out on the patio area, or take it down to the beach to enjoy. This place can get pretty crowded, and I foresee it becoming even busier as time goes on because they are doing such a great job.
What’s nice is I only have to go there one or two more times to try everything on the menu.

This place is SO GOOD.
For the price of what you pay, it’s an offer that I can’t refuse. The tastes are very traditional and I loved how fresh everything tasted with all the right textures. I ordered the salmon, tako, and tuna over white rice and added seaweed, imitation crab, and avocado. I appreciate that they don’t smother their imitation crab with mayo or make their poke too saucey. It wasn’t too salty nor flavorless. It was the perfect balance!

This poke is head and shoulders above most of the poke places that have been popping up everywhere since the poke craze took off, and everyone in Dana Point appears to know it, judging by the line. (Though not the couple who stopped at our table to mournfully ask if we knew where the fish taco place that used to be in this building went. I tried to talk them into trying poke instead, but they didn’t want to eat raw fish. So everyone except them.)
I ordered mine with salmon and octopus, plus masago and avocado for $ 1 each, and let me tell/​warn/​brag at you: they will SLATHER AND COVER your whole poke bowl with masago and avocado until it’s just a vague box-​shaped orange and green mess. I loved it! It is impossible to eat too many fish eggs.
My only beef with my bowl was the octopus, which had the texture of chewing gum and was especially offensive after my trip to Tijuana, The Land of Perfectly Tender Octopus. No problem: I tossed it into my dad’s bowl. He’ll eat anything. Even without octopus, the fish/​everything else ratio in my bowl remained pleasingly high. There was probably a good half pound of salmon in there, and this was the small bowl! Every piece was fresh, cleanly sliced with little to no connective tissue to get stuck in my teeth. The sauce was mild enough to not be overpowering, and flavorful enough to coat the rice.
If this place were closer to me, it’d be second on my list only to Jus’ Poke for fulfilling poke cravings.

This is a perfect lunch spot for poke by the beach.
I had an amazing lunch with my hubby out on the patio last Friday. It does get crowded during lunch hour but not impossible to get a seat. I felt like I was back in Hawaii! It was a dreamy lunch hour, indeed!
I had a large and although some reviewers said a large is enough to split, I had no problem finishing a large myself. Hey hey, don’t judge.
I got the salmon, tuna and octopus mix with half lettuce half brown rice to lighten up on the carbs. The lettuce was simple and fresh and so was the fish. It wasn’t overdressed or overly salty, everything was just perfect. I paired my lunch with a pina guava and was a happy human for the rest of the day.
I love the simplicity of this restaurant.
The best part was that after we loaded up on poke, we were able to walk just 5 minutes down the street to the Dana Point viewing point to indulge in the ocean air and lay our eyes on the blue waters.
Absolutely beautiful, definitely recommend!

This place is the bomb! It’s very low key with a few small tables and a bench outside and a small window side bar inside. Even though it’s just off I-​5 it’s less than a block from the cliff overlooking the ocean so not a lot of noise traffic passing by. You can walk to the small scenic overlook after lunch or even eat over there.
But let’s be clear, you don’t come to Kawamata for the chill ambiance, you come for the Poke Bowls. It’s cash only so bring some legal tender. If you add avocado bring $ 13.50 for a large. I prefer the #6 tuna and salmon mix. The flavors are amazing with original sauce and/​or spicy mayo. The freshness and quality of the product are unquestionable and consistent after many visits.
The line generally moves quick if you’re trying to get a healthy lunch on the go. It’s by my office and I’ve been absolutely addicted since I found it.