Robeks

I want to like this place. I really do. It’s close to my office, and the idea of a smoothie sounds wonderful during heat waves like this one. I really, really want to like this place. But I can’t.
Fun fact: I’m lactose intolerant. At some point this past spring, they revamped their menu to apparently eliminate all of the juice-​and-​ice based smoothies that I used to get all the time. Now it seems like everything has yogurt. Finally, they started advertising that every drink can be made dairy-​free for 50 cents. I’ve been there multiple times since they started advertising this. Each time I’ve asked for my thing to be dairy free, and each time I’ve spent the rest of the afternoon/​evening in… an uncomfortable state. One time I can understand. It’s painful, but I get that people make mistakes. But when every supposedly dairy-​free drink results in me spending a couple of hours in the fetal position? Nope.
Great idea. Horrible stomach pain. Never again.

Want ACAI?
Have 7 bucks?
Go to Robeks and get your fix.

Great drinks and, I think, healthy and good for you.
I’m a fan of the Passionfruit Cove drink. Just tried the Super Green (pineapple, yogurt, spinach) and was surprised at how refreshing the drink is. Love this place as a great alternative to people like myself who do not like coffee! Its right nextdoor to starbucks, so it makes «coffee breaks» with my coworkers fun for me too!
Only con is that the drinks tend to be on the pricey side. The smallest size of the Super Green set me back $ 6.50. Yikes! Wonder if they could lower prices by about $ 1 and not sacrifice quality???

I went here early in the day during the week and was thrilled to see that in addition to the smoothies that everyone raves about, they also have juices which are my new favorite thing. I generally make all of mine at home with my juicer, but I had been in a hurry that morning so the location seemed serendipitous. .
I ordered the G-​Snap and should have taken note that Ginger is the first ingredient not the last. First, I was a bit disappointed also that the orange juice was not fresh fresh juiced. Second, the small size only includes one carrot. Lastly, the amount of ginger put in to the juicer was unimaginable. I generally use an inch or two for a large 30-​ouncer. The gentleman making my smoothie shoved an entire root of about 5 inches into the juicer and that was for the smallest size (6 or 9 ounces maybe?).
The result was inedible. If I hadn’t have been in such a hurry, I would likely of turned around and asked for my money back, but after two godawful sips, I just threw the thing away. What a disappointment!
Tl;dr– Don’t order the G-​Snap juice.

I prefer Robeks over Smoothie King or Froots. Robeks use real (albeit frozen) fruits rather than juice that Smoothie King or Froots use. One thing that bugs me a little is that 50% of the time they don’t blend my smoothie well enough.

Now reopened…

Jamba Juice it is not, but during my stint here in the Northeast, I will take what I can get =)
I tried the Acai Energizer smoothie, which contains a blend of berries, acai and soy protein with ice and amazingness. Yes! Amazingness! Seriously though, the day I tried this smoothie, it was raining outside and the second we stepped out, I felt a break in the clouds. Coincidence? ;)
Another thing I really liked about this smoothie place, in all seriousness, is the ease of locating nutritionals, not only in the store, but online as well. I think a lot of people are fooled into thinking that «if it’s a smoothie, then it MUST be healthy!» I applaud their efforts in making the process of making healthy decisions that much smoother (hah, see what I did there?)

Smoothies might be my most favorite food group. Yes, food group. Tons of fruit, ice and juice blended together to make a delicious drink? How can you not love that? I usually stroll over about once a week and get my smoothie fix of Passion Fruit Cove. Num num num.
But now, this place has taken me to new heights. It has kept me nourished as a victim of painful and slow wisdom teeth removal! Yes, I am unfortunately one of the few long sufferers from an otherwise routine surgery. Now, I get Robek’s once a day just to curb my hunger because I’m too paranoid to eat solid food! And it has made me appreciate it all the more.
This particular location is great. It’s in the weird no man’s land part of Old Town by the PTO, so it’s rarely crowded aside from lunch time during the week. The workers are friendly and have come to know me over the past week, which is lovely because now they know my order so I just walk in and pay! It’s very clean and spacious, and like every Robek’s, delicious (when you don’t have Jamba Juice around).

Love their drinks. Hate that they use styrafoam cups. Usually pretty good service. Check out the bulletin board by TV for local events!

Strawberry banana apple juice, vegan.
Standard order for me at a Robeks.
This one has some sloth like service though. Even visiting the boy at his place of work after hours, and not having anywhere to be except watching a pick up game of soccer, I was still irked that it took 15 minutes to get 2 orders. At least the bathrooms were clean.

Ugh… So disappointed. Used to come here all the time and had great service but the last two times I’ve been there I’ve had the same bad experience with a young AfrAmr female who is just rude and unhelpful. She acts like being there is such a chore. On top of that I saw them juice the apple into my drink with the label still on the skin, which tells me they don’t even wash the fruit. eww… Just left a bad taste in my mouth, literally.

A few times a week, around 3 o’clock in the afternoon, after that heavy lunch from Wholefoods has released those evil chemicals into my bloodstream making me feel like my eyelids are 50 lbs. each, I get up from my desk to look for something that’ll give me the energy to get through the rest of my day. I know what I need. Oh yes, yes I do. It’s at Robeks. I power walk the two blocks to get there and bust out the debit card. «Tropical twist, soy, with the coconut shavings on the top, please.» I get the same thing almost every time. And it’s purdy dang good, too. Chunky, real, delicious. Love it.
But I’ve also had their wraps and salads. Mediocre, at best. Yeah, sure, they’re healthy. Their «Asian» salad isn’t even as good as was the now defunct McDonald’s Asian salad. And their wraps are about as good as the nearby Subway’s, but more expensive. These things pretty much have cost Robeks their five spot. *shrug*
p. s. — I don’t really power walk. Forreal.

I’ve gotten over the excitement of having healthy food near my workplace and can see Robeks for what it is. Yes, the food is healthy, but the salads don’t have the freshest ingredients. The following foods have little to no flavor: avocado, chicken and blue cheese (which is strange). I frequently get lettuce with red edges — not good. Overall, the food is kind of bland. Wish they had fresher ingredients.

AHSAHEEE!!! HI2U! UM IDK MY BFF KORI? I was crazy jealous when I tried Robek’s for the first time and my classmate Kori got the Açai smoothie – it was freakin’ delicious. I was pretty bitter until my peach one came and I totally forgot about hers!
I also ordered the tomato pretzel – OMG WTF BBQ I scarfed that down in like about 30 seconds. If i had had 10 of them I would have been eating for like three minutes straight.
Gripes: lots of good-​for-​you food touting, but no word on whether the pretzels are made from whole wheat. I would say no, since I feel asleep in class 30 minutes later, but that could have been the massive fructose dosing. Service was slow.
I’ve been craving to go back and all this took place just Monday. ORLY? If I didn’t work on the east siyeeeed I’d be up in this bookie every day. YARLY.

This Robeks is a great addition to West Old Town. When I come here, it’s usually for lunch, so I tend to ignore their signature smoothies and head for the salads. Their salads are pretty stellar and come in at around $ 6. I’ve tried one that has turkey, cranberries, walnuts, avocado and red onions as well as one that contains chicken, pecans, grapes, blue cheese, carrots and red onions. The salads are huge and will definitely fill you up.
Take Keri’s advice and ask for it pre-​tossed. It makes a huge difference, and allows you to eat in style instead of dropping stuff on your lap from the overstuffed container as you try and mix it yourself! (Believe me, I know from experience.)
John is right in that they are not the speediest of joints, but usually it’s not that busy and you can grab lunch in less than 10 minutes to bring back to the office. Robek’s definitely has a pretty permanent spot in my salad-​lunch rotation.

I frequent this Robeks due to its proximity to my work and because I love my veggies. I agree with Keri about the salads being pretty affordable. The Farm Stand Veggie Salad is this large bed of romaine (enough to feed a starving rabbit) with loads of tasty toppings for only $ 4.29! I’d say it is the best salad value in Alexandria. It is lacking meat… which may disappoint you Unilocaly carnivores (they do have other salad options with chicken and turkey which are a little more money), but I’m perfectly happy with avocado & sunflower seeds providing the substance.
I’m also a fan of the fresh juices. You’ll like them too if you like things like Naked juices or are are looking for a veggie juice with no sugar added. My fav is the Green-​V juice which comes with carrots, spinach and celery. I like to add ginger. It is refreshing and packed with veggie goodness. A little pricey, but so are Naked juices. And since they juice after you order, you do wait a few minutes, but that means it is super fresh!

I gave it a bump up because the food was good and healthy. I was disappointed though. I thought it was on the expensive side, especially for a wrap. The best thing I can say about the service is that it’s slow. Maybe it’s because they’re expanding so quickly, but I’ve been disappointed at two different locations lately and I won’t be returning in the near future…
I guess if your only choice is Subway’s, then go for it. But there’s a whole foods just around the corner and I’d go there for a quick meal any day.