The latest restaurant to be added to the lineup of offerings at the Freedom Parkway Shopping Center is now open to the public. 

Poke Bowl, a restaurant specializing in the Hawaiian dish of the same name, celebrated its grand opening on Saturday June 24 in Fayetteville. Known for their customized “seafood in a bowl” experience, the restaurant is part of a franchise started in 2015 in Northern California. 

Now, the owners of the new Fayetteville location say they are glad to welcome people into their new restaurant located at 2727 Freedom Parkway Drive. 

“I think the best way to take in Poke Bowl is that it's a different kind of sushi, but at the same time it's more than just the concept alone, picking your own thing is very different,” said Franchisee Owner and Partner Viola Angel. “It is original, and the whole “build your own” is an experience on its own. So, I feel like the community is ready for it, especially because we do have the military and the military is a big part of Fayetteville. They travel and a lot of them have been stationed in Hawaii, they have been stationed in Korea. So their palate is used to trying new things.” 

Angel shared that the restaurant was the perfect choice for her business partner and husband as he was leaving the Army, and they plan to use what they learn while with the franchise to hopefully grow other businesses in the future. 

“That was one of the things they [the Army] talk to you about, is job options, franchising, and we always wanted to open a restaurant but we weren't sure exactly how to go about it. It's difficult. I always wanted to open a Mexican restaurant, like that's my dream, and hopefully we'll have one day. But with the options of franchising, it just seemed like it was best at the moment to begin with because it will give us an almost like a plan, like A-B-C-D and you just follow and you know it will be an experience.” shared Angel. “Poke Bowl was one of the options and we looked into the other concepts. My husband and I are both very into making sure that our kids eat healthy, that we eat healthy. And that was one of the reasons why, it's almost like clean eating. And it just makes sense, it makes sense with our lifestyle and it made sense with what we were trying to embark on at the moment.” 

Angel also shared that by adding this new restaurant option, she and her family are excited to be apart of the growth of Fayetteville after being assigned to Fort Liberty in 2005.  “We love the community, we have grown with Fayetteville when we arrived in Fayetteville 2005. The highway wasn't there and so much has changed and it continues to grow and we want to be part of that growth,” said Angel.

Poke Bowl is now open from Monday to Saturday: 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. and Sunday: 11:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. 

A ribbon cutting ceremony will also be taking place with the Greater Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce this Saturday June 29 at 10:30 a.m. Find out more here.