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Kevin Castillo is a longtime poke lover—so much so that while growing up in Hawaii, he developed an allergic reaction to something he ate and cried because he thought he might be allergic to poke. Thankfully for both Castillo and the Portland food scene, poke wasn’t the culprit.
Castillo says when he moved to Oregon in 2018, he was disappointed in the lack of selection for one of his favorite dishes. As a longtime chef, he wanted to bring the quality and preparation he’s come to expect of poke from Hawaii to Portland. On Jan. 4, he secured a location for OG Poke (1876 SW 5th Ave., instagram.com/ogpokepdx), and by Feb. 18 his doors were open.
Customers who come to OG Poke can expect to feel like they’re at home in Hawaii. Castillo’s curated everything from drinks and candies to spam musubi and butter mochi (both $4). But the star of the show is the fish—with six standard marinades and a special every day. (Bowls are $18 to $24.) OG Poke offers poke samples to any curious customer, so those struggling to decide between spicy aioli and shoyu limu don’t have to fret.
The secret to why OG Poke is so good? Castillo swears by his marinades. At 10 am (an hour before opening), he and his team marinate all the different cuts of fish and seafood so that everything has time to soak in.
“You want to build the flavor,” he says, explaining that with a properly marinated poke dish, there’s no need for the fish to hide behind a mass of vegetables or sides.
“People overcomplicate poke, that’s what I say,” he says. “It should be simple.”
Castillo has taken immense pride in bringing an authentic piece of Hawaii to Portland. He says that between local families and workers on their lunch break, he gets through between 60 and 90 pounds of fish almost daily.
But his favorite customer group might be the Portland State University community, which has long struggled with appealing food options nearby. Castillo says that since opening his doors just five months ago, his restaurant has become a second home to many of the university’s Polynesian students, who have become regulars and whom he’s built connections with.
“A lot of them since we opened, they’re like, ‘Thank you for opening, because it feels like we’re back home without having to go home,’” he says. “They say, ‘We can come in here and feel like we’re back home.’”
See the rest of Willamette Week’s Best of Portland 2025 here!
