On July 10, a Japanese and Korean style restaurant, Kiri, closed its doors for the last time, promising to return soon as a completely new concept named Poké City. Instead of a sit-down Japanese restaurant, Poké City will be a traditional Hawaiian quick-serve restaurant, located directly across the street from Grady “It’s like Chipotle, so you just create your own bowl as you walk down the line.” Amy Jun, the daughter of owner Tim Jun and social media manager for Poke City, said.

The bowl that a customer makes is a poké bowl, or a bowl with rice, vegetables, uncooked fish and soy sauce, a style of food that was made popular in the 1970s. Poké became popular for it’s quick-serve model, as well as its nutritional value, with high levels of protein and omega-3 fatty acids.

  Much like Willy’s, Moe’s and Chipotle’s style of serving food, customers will choose toppings for their bowl or burrito. Poké City boasts seven different types of fish to choose from, and 12 different toppings to put on the fish. Along with the poké bowl, Poké City offers burritos and Açaí bowls.  However, the burritos at Poké City are wrapped in seaweed rather than a tortilla. “Our Açaí bowls are kind of the desert.” Jun said. “The Poké bowls and burritos are the entrees.” A typical Hawaiian as well as Brazilian dessert consisting of fruits and granola.

 “It’s not that expensive, and you get a lot of it,” Jun said. ”After school, students can come and enjoy.”.

  Poké City is looking to become an after school food staple for students, serving large portions at cheap prices, much like Mediterranean Grill and Woody’s. Although the name of the restaurant will be changed, the staff and management will be transferred from Kiri.

  “We have four people so far that are transferring from Kiri,”Jun said. “The owner or manager are the same.” .

  The restaurant’s transformation was by the owner, who decided to keep the staff and move to a different type of restaurant. In the one month of downtime between the closing of Kiri and opening of Poké City, the whole interior of the restaurant was remodeled, to accommodate for the difference in food preparation, as well as adding a new urban flare to it. The walls are lined with fiberboard, a type of manufactured wood with their teal color spray painted into a logo. The Kiri located in Midtown was the only Kiri in existence, so it’s dissolution marks the one and only Kiri closing down. On the other hand, Poké City is a chain franchise, set to expand with a location in Buckhead coming soon. Kiri officially opened on August 17th, and will be open daily for lunch and dinner.