Suisan has been selling fish on this spot by the Wailoa River since 1907, when it was founded as a cooperative by Japanese immigrant fishermen. The daily fish auction that once ran here is gone, but the market remains the place in Hilo to buy poke: a long refrigerated counter of ahi, salmon, tako, and half a dozen rotating preparations — shoyu, limu, spicy mayo — scooped to order over rice.
There is no seating to speak of; the routine is to carry your poke bowl across the street and eat it at the water's edge by Liliuokalani Gardens, which may be the best cheap lunch in Hawaii. Go before mid-afternoon — when the good fish is gone, it's gone. The seafood is as fresh as the day's boats, and prices are a fraction of what a restaurant would charge.