By: Stephanie Hodgin <[email protected]>

What’s worse than drinking a smoothie with no flavor and a chalky texture? Sitting in an absolutely adorable modern café with comfy couches, bright lighting and a plasma screen TV and drinking a smoothie with no flavor and a chalky texture. I will admit that I had gotten my hopes up when I saw the inside of Café Fresh (which opened in early April of this year) and wholly expected the food to be remarkable and fashionable as well.

I walked inside and immediately fell in love with the atmosphere. With the bright green walls that screamed “healthy” to the small quaint tables and chairs meant for meaningful conversation, it seemed perfect. I looked to my left: orange and carrot juicers, both of which are used with fresh fruit immediately after you order. To my right, a plasma screen TV and bar seating against the windows facing outside. It was like the atmosphere of a Starbucks with the food offerings of a Smoothie King (which recently went out of business, by the way).

The service was also acceptable, courteous and friendly and polite overall. The drinks came out surprisingly quickly considering they were made on the spot. Because Smoothie King recently went out of business, I decided to order all the drinks in order to (hopefully) find a replacement café to get that smoothie fix we have all been craving. The prices were unexpectedly low, a good deal lower than that of Smoothie King. I was so impressed by everything else in this visit that I was truly shocked to find that the food was, well, unsatisfactory. Unfortunately, the atmosphere and service could not compensate for the lousy and chalky too-smooth smoothies.

At Café Fresh, I ordered two smoothies that were very similar but tasted completely different and one ‘Freshly Squeezed’ drink off their menu. The Mango Madness smoothie consisted of passion-orange-guava juice, mango sorbet, mangos, non-fat yogurt and bananas. Sounds wild and crazy, doesn’t it? Not quite. In fact, not even close. The smoothie is tasteless except for the first second it is in your mouth. After that, a long and painful stretch of pasty and definitely un-fruity mush remains in your mouth until you are brave enough to swallow. And it’s true about the whole too-smooth description. Maybe they blended it so much that the flavors just disappeared. Who knows?
The Caribbean Breeze smoothie had basically the same ingredients as the Mango Madness, except strawberries replaced the bananas and low-fat yogurt. One might have thought that the strawberries in the Caribbean Breeze drink would have made it more flavorful. Nope. In fact, it was blander than the Mango Madness. To recap, bland, chalky and pasty still cover it.

I ordered the orange-carrot juice as well because it seemed popular and tasty, and was something I had never tried. Or will try again. They put the “orange” before the “carrot” in the name, thus implying that there will be more orange taste than carrot in the drink, which is misleading. Opposite, in fact. Yes, it was cool to see the orange go through this little machine and get squeezed right in front of the customer. Yes, it was cool to watch the person working there squeeze carrots into juice. The ultimate taste of the carrot juice that had no orange flavor present? Not cool.

To give Café Fresh a little credit, they do not serve just drinks here (although drinks are about two-thirds of their entire menu). They also serve wraps, paninis and salads. It seemed, however, as though they were just trying to make their “solid food” menu as long as possible by repeating things. There is a Mediterranean panini including roasted chicken breast, green peppers, black olives, feta cheese and tzatziki sauce. The Mediterranean wrap had roasted chicken breast, lettuce, green peppers, olives, feta cheese and tzatziki sauce. There is also an Asian Chicken wrap with chicken breast, lettuce, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, crispy noodles and sesame vinaigrette. The Asian Chicken salad had chicken breast, lettuce, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds, crispy noodles and sesame vinaigrette. Most of the items on the food menu seemed to overlap, causing the menu to look less impressive.

I guess it just goes to show you that restaurants with great atmospheres, great service and great prices do not always serve great food. Or even reasonable food for that matter. I would be willing to pay the extra price for a Smoothie King smoothie rather than the smoothies and drinks here.