by Celine Hoang, Social Media Manager & Laura Le, Staff Writer
DISCLAIMER: This review is solely an expression of our opinions on the smoothies sold by Tropical Smoothie Cafe. We were not reimbursed for our purchases and paid for all the drinks discussed in the review from our own pockets.
A new smoothie place? Across the street from Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) that’s supposedly healthy and delicious? Well, count us in!
Tropical Smoothie Cafe is the replacement to the Taco Bell that got shut down a few months ago. It markets itself as a fresh and healthy cafe with smoothies, flatbreads, wraps, salads and more. There are numerous locations across the nation, with nine in California.
Tropical Smoothie is within walking distance from school, approximately a quarter of a mile and conveniently has a drive-through option. We went around 7 a.m. on a Friday morning. At this location, happy hour is from 7 a.m. (opening) to 10 a.m. During this time, all drinks are $3 instead of their $5 to $6 range. However, you cannot show your FVHS student ID card for a 10% discount during those hours. At this location, they only have one size of drinks at 12 ounces.
We purchased our drinks by going through the drive through, which had surprisingly fast service. Before placing our orders, we asked the employee what their three most popular drinks were, which happened to be the Acai Berry Boost, Island Green and Chia Banana Boost with Strawberry. We chose to order the Island Green and Chia Banana Boost with Strawberry.
Kale, spinach, mango, pineapple and banana make up Island Green. The smoothie is a bright green color, reminiscing green pea baby food. As revolting as this comparison may sound, we were pleasantly surprised after taking a sip of the drink.
The Chia Banana Boost with Strawberry is made with coconut, almonds, dates, cinnamon, whole grain oats, chia seeds and roasted banana with strawberry.
At first glance, the drink looked like a cement mixture. We’re not sure where the banana or strawberry was even added into the drink because there wasn’t an ounce of color. Still keeping our hopes up, we decided to take a sip. However, our hopes were diminished that there was fruit in it because it tasted like cinnamon and milk. Hopefully the employees forgot to add fruit in, because we couldn’t taste the fruit at all. It felt extremely thick going down our throats and tasted sugary with a strong blend of cinnamon and milk and honey. This smoothie was a huge let down, because we love bananas and strawberries. We would not recommend getting this smoothie again, and enjoyed the Island Green much more.
Although we might have our own opinions, Tropical Smoothie Cafe is a quick and easy place to stop by to quench your thirst and satisfy your hunger. We would recommend any FVHS student to try out this new and healthy cafe.
