With the warmer weather of spring and summer approaching, acai bowls are becoming more popular. These bowls offer a healthy and refreshing meal and can be found in many smoothie stores near Hillsdale and River Vale. There are three particularly close to these towns: Playa Bowls, Beets Juice Bar, and Rockin’ Roots. I tried them all to see which is the best.
Playa Bowls
Playa Bowls is the most popular of the three stores, with over 400 locations. They offer seven different base options, their three most
popular being acai, pitaya (dragonfruit), and coconut. Playa Bowls also gives out free monthly stickers with each purchase, which are very popular among its customers.
The most popular bowl, the Nutella Bowl with acai, comes with granola, Nutella, banana, and coconut flakes. The acai base in this bowl was fresh, well blended, and was the most similar to standard acai. It was also the most refreshing out of the three since they didn’t add any protein powder and kept the base recipe simple with the fruit.
The granola at Playa Bowls is the best, since it always tastes so fresh, and the honey mixed in makes it sweet, which is nice and adds flavor to the bowl. Playa Bowls is the only store out of the three that offers Nutella, which is a huge bonus. It also has the widest selection of fruit toppings, having eight fruit options as well as multiple syrups and spreads.
The Nutella Bowl costs $14.50, but the portions are very big and difficult to finish. Additionally, they offer weekly promotions and deals as well as a point system with the app, where, with enough purchases, you can receive a free bowl, making the price more understandable.
Beets Juice Bar
Beets Juice Bar has three locations in Bergen County. It seems much healthier than the others, since they market using more natural ingredients and incorporate many protein powders into their bowls. The store offers up to four flavors, its most popular two being acai and pitaya.
Their most popular bowl, the Performance Bowl, has an acai base and comes with granola, peanut butter, banana, and blueberries. The base of this bowl is the best out of the three, since Beets Juice Bar adds multiple protein powders, making it more flavorful and creamier rather than icy. Although, the base can be an acquired taste since it’s so different from the generic acai base that most other stores sell.
The peanut butter blends very well with the bowl, but it’s unfortunate that Beets Juice Bar does not offer Nutella or another type of hazelnut spread since it pairs so well with acai. However, a plus is that the fruit is always very fresh and tastes great. This bowl costs between $12.31 and $14.36, depending on the size: small or large. Although, the portions here are smaller than in the other places, and they don’t give much fruit in comparison to the amount of smoothie base. Therefore, although Playa Bowls is more expensive, it seems to be the better deal.
Rockin’ Roots
Rockin’ Roots, unlike the other two, is not a chain restaurant. It’s a small business in Westwood, New Jersey. It offers three base flavors: acai, pitaya, and coconut.
Its most popular bowl, the Banana Berry Bowl with its acai base, comes with strawberries, blueberries, almond granola, and agave nectar. The base, like Playa Bowls, tasted very standard, which is not a bad thing. The bowl is very refreshing, especially on a hot day. The granola was good, but not as enjoyable as the others since they used almonds primarily, but this is just a personal preference.
The agave nectar was worrying at first, but ended up tasting very subtle. The fruit tasted fresh, which is nice because sometimes stores sell old or unfresh fruit. Rockin’ Roots also offers Nutella to add to the bowl, which is very exciting for chocolate lovers. This bowl costs $11.25, being the cheapest out of the three. Although the portions are slightly smaller than Playa Bowls and more similar to Beets Juice Bar, it seems to be the best deal since it’s so much cheaper.
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The best taste-wise is Beets Juice Bar, since its protein powder and freshest ingredients make it taste more flavorful and healthier than the others. Although it’s the most expensive, it seems to be the highest quality of the three.
The best price-wise is Rockin’ Roots. It’s very worth the price since it’s so delicious and affordable. It’s also nice to support a small business, and it makes spending the money seem more worthwhile.
Lastly, the biggest portions came from Playa Bowls. The bowls have the most fruit and toppings, as well as the most base. Just by looking at the bowl, you can see it’s significantly larger than the other two. Additionally, the free stickers that are very fun to collect make it fun to purchase from here.
It was very difficult picking the best acai bowl, since they are all so delicious, but the best option is Playa Bowls with its largest portions, fresh fruit and toppings, as well as generous gifts and weekly promotions. But overall, each of these stores sells great acai bowls, and you can’t go wrong with any of them.
