As most of you know I love love love acai bowls. I’ve never heard of them until my arrival to Hawaii and then my life has never been the same. Even though I have been exposed to these precious bowls for only a year I can say with absolute certainty that I am an expert at the art of making acai bowls. I’ve attempted to make them a few times and every-time they come out crap, but nonetheless I stand by my claim as an expert in the art of acai bowls. Here let me explain. Being the cheap ass that I am I bought a cheap ass blender and now all my smoothies, shakes, etc come out looking like clumps of mushy shit. However, I’ve watched the process of making the bowl enough times to know exactly how it should be made. The key is frozen fruit. If you add fresh, soft fruit the stuff will come out runny and mushy. Frozen fruit acts as ice, giving it a thick blended consistency and also adds the obvious vitamins and nutrition. Blend two packet of acai, frozen fruit, and I prefer soy milk but juice works just as nicely. Granola should be added to the bottom of the bowl, as well as on top. Top it off with slices of fruit and them drizzle it with honey. There you have it, the recipe to a spectacular bowl. Now if you don’t want to go through all the trouble buy one. In my opinion there’s a few places that put out top notch bowls on the island.

As you can see, a not a lot of commotion going on here. It doesn’t give off the same island vibe as the Health Bar, but it’s still really cute.

What is it about smoothie places that also sell jewelery. At first I thought it was called Jewel or Juice because I thought that they have the tapioca drinks and a lot of times the tapioca is called pearl so I just assumed that jewel was referring to the tapioca pearls. No, I was wrong, they sell jewelery, there’s no tapioca pearls to be found here.

This is the Warrior Bowl, $7.50. It’s 24oz of acai, acerola, banana and soymilk and topped with bananas, berries, kiwi, bee pollen, honey and organic granola. As you can see, presentation is there. Just looking at this photo makes me want to stop what I’m doing, hop in my car and go get one now. The fruit was cut super thin, however, I think this is smart on their part because it gives off the illusion of more fruit and besides all you need is a nice balance of a little fruit with each bite. The only way they could of made this better is to add granola at the bottom of the bowl, like the Health Bar does. After I was done indulging in the first half I was left with just acai smoothie, not that acai smoothie is so bad alone, it just looks so lonely by itself.

I think one bowl is perfect for two. Which is what Ray an I do. This is the Deluxe Acai Bowl, 24oz. for $7.25. It’s acai, strawberry, banana and apple juice and then topped with banana, fresh berries, goji berries, honey and organic granola. Since I have found this place I can’t stop myself. Every morning I’m like, “ooh baby, you want to go get a bowl?”

Anyhow, I’ve been here enough to learn some new trips to make the bowl even better. First buy an extra bag of granola, $1.00. I took a picture to show you that a small bag for a dollar is not so small. Also I like getting the extra bag because I can add the granola when I’m ready for more. At the Health Bar extra granola also cost one dollar but it’s only a scoop which comes out to about 1/4 of what you see here. Also, I ask for more honey and this is only when I’m out of the free honey packets that I stole from Star Bucks. They charge .30 cents and put it on the side. Health Bar charges .50 and add it in. I keep comparing this place to the Health Bar, not to bash it. I like the Health Bar. I keep comparing the two because I think they put out top notch bowls as well, but going there can be a bit of a pain in my ass. Jewel or Juice has cheaper bowls, cheaper granola, cheaper honey and faster service. Health Bar has more expensive everything but cuter girls working as slow as their brain cells will allow, which doesn’t sound so bad depending on what mood your in.

I almost forgot to mention, another great thing about this place is that they have acai bowl cards. So if you buy 10 bowls the 11th one is free. I love places that reward loyal customs.

View Larger Map

Jewel or Juice
3619 Waialae Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96816

Get Directions(808) 734-1700

I have to wake up at the butt crack of dawn in the mornings to move the car before I get a ticket or before it gets towed. So instead of reparking it and going back to sleep, Ray and I decide to start our day off with a smoothie from Jamba Juice.

I know a lot of you don’t really care about Jamba Juice, or any other major chain places, but this isn’t really about Jamba, it’s about the new Acai Cups they have. If you’ve been following my blog, then you already know that I’m a sucker for acai bowls, or in this case, cups. So when Jamba Juice joined the band wagon and decided to come out with one of their own I had no choice but to
give them a fair try.

While this is the winner when it comes to prices, only $4.50, it didn’t do it for me when it came it satisfaction. There’s just something special about acai smoothies in a bowl. In a cup, with fruit and granola it just seems more like a wanna be parfait. While the fruit was good, the granola was more like bits of cardboard. It was so bland that I would have preferred the cup without the granolas than with. There was no honey. When will places learns that acai bowls, cups, will never reach their full potential unless they are generously coated with nector from mother nature, yes, owey goey honey. I went up to the counter and asked for some and they didn’t have any. Fortunately, Star Bucks does and where there’s a Jamba Juice there’s tends to be a Star Bucks, since Jamba is owned by Star Bucks. Actually it was not my idea, but the employee of Jamba, “people go get honey packets next door all the time.” Sweet, don’t mind if I do. I walked next door up to the counter and asked for some honey. They gave it free of charge, with a smile. Yet another way to jack Star Bucks and not hate on them.

Get Directions

View Larger Map

Jamba Juice
625 Kapahulu Ave Honolulu, HI 96815
(808) 734-4177

I am a whore of many kinds, amongst a few are shaved ice, condiments, and acai bowls. Anytime I see acai bowls I will instantly become a whore for her sweet sweet love.
Robeks, to me, is like Jamba Juice’s retarded brother; it’s like they’re trying to be as hip and cool as Jamba but somehow it just not happening.

As for the acai bowl, I ordered the Super Acai Bowl, a “blend of 7 oz of Acai, apple juice, bananas, topped with fresh banana slices and organic granola.” It was good, but not what I had expected. Just like with shaved ice, texture and consistency is crucial. If it’s too runny, as it was at Lanikai, then you mine as well toss the utensils out the window and pick up a straw. The acai bowls at Robeks were complete opposite, instead of being too running, they were too thick, so thick that to me it was more like frozen sorbet with granola on it. I seriously had to use a little force just to shovel some up. Now, like I said, it wasn’t bad, actually it was rather tasty, just not what I was expecting.

The bowl didn’t come with honey to top but when I asked for it, the lady behind the counter gladly gave it to me, a generous amount at no additional charge.

Another thing I like about this place is that they have the nutritional information on the back of their to go menus. The only other places that I know of that does this is Jamba Juice and Sub Way.
In conclusion, The Health Bar still wins the “Best Acai Bowl Award,” Although, however orgasmic their acai bowls are, I still refuse to go there; waiting 45 minutes for a smoothie is fucking ridiculous. I wouldn’t doubt if their cute little servers are more talented at the art of fellatio than at the art of blending.
Rebeks is the perfect treat on a hot humid day. Since their acai bowls are super hard and frozen, it’s very likely that it will remain delightfully cold to the very last bite.

View Larger Map

Robeks Fruit Smoothies & Healthy Eats
2919 Kapiolani Blvd #204
Honolulu, HI 96826