Poké Bros brings fast, fresh fish concept to South Elgin

Poké Bros is adding another location to it’s ever-growing presence in the suburbs.

The Hawaiian-style fresh fish restaurant will open Thursday at 11 a.m. at 346 S. Randall Road in South Elgin next to Chipotle.

It will be the 10th store to open in the suburbs and the 44th nationwide.

Franchise owner Song Chen of Waukegan owns most of those suburban locations.

“Poké Bros has been a wonderfully successful fast casual restaurant concept in the last few years,” Chen said. “It’s healthy and simple but easy to customize to your tastes. People who like sushi love the flavors in our poké bowls, and it’s a more convenient way to get fresh seafood for lunch or dinner.”

Poké is a traditional Hawaiian cuisine and the word refers to the cubed, uncooked fish central to the dish. They use a “build your own bowl” style similar to Chipotle, with choices of rice and salad, proteins such as raw and cooked fish, chicken or shrimp and other ingredients like edamame, avocado, corn, cucumber or tofu. The restaurant also serves Japanese-style mochi ice cream.

“We weathered the pandemic difficulties remarkably well given the grab-and-go nature of the concept, which lends itself well to contactless pickup and delivery,” Chen said.

South Elgin Community Development Directory Nancy Hill said the village welcomed the new offering.

“The village of South Elgin is always excited about a new business opening, and Poké Bros is bringing its unique menu to this location on Randall Road,” Hill said. “We think there are other opportunities for more restaurants to come to South Elgin too.”

Poké Bros is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio and has locations in eight states. The chain opened in 2016 and the first suburban location opened two years ago in Naperville. South Elgin joins the list of area stores in St. Charles, Aurora, Lake in the Hills, Schaumburg, Palatine, Oakbrook Terrace, Gurnee and Frankfort.