BOWL’D

I’m hovering between a four and a five but decided to go with the five because the service was amazing. The owner was there and walked me through the menu a bit — very friendly and nice guy — which was a great first impression. The woman who took my order was also very friendly and brought the bowl out to me personally.
Food wise I’d give it a four. I got the tomatillo bowl. I loved that it was a slightly more unique tomatillo sauce rather than salsa fresca or something more expected. My biggest issue though was the lack of contrasting temperature/​texture in the bowl. The veggies were fresh but a tad over cooked, so there was less of a crunch to contrast with the rice. The bowl would also benefit from something cold mixed in. For example, if the red peppers were cold or some fresh tomatoes were thrown in, etc. I might customize mine like that next time, but more contrast between the ingredients would make the bowl incredible rather than just delicious.

Service is a little slow and unorganized but acceptable for the price point. The bowls, however are delicious. Have had the green curry and the teriyaki. Recommend them both.

This place was ok. It’s great that they offer some pretty healthy options but for me and my boyfriend we found the taste a little lacking. We had just come from a workout at Gold’s around the corner, and were looking for something healthy to refuel. I ordered the smokey tomatillo bowl with extra aioli (they recommended) and my boyfriend ordered the green curry bowl and substituted tofu for the chicken. It was ok, we finished our food, but we left feeling «meh» and don’t have a real desire to return. I love the concept of healthy quick bowls, just wish they had a little more flavor. It’s probably hard to have both healthy and delicious in one dish, but one can dream…

When I’m trying to eat healthy without doing away with flavor in my neighborhood, I go to Bowl’d. It’s never crowded in here but don’t let that scare you away. I’ve tried 3 of their main entrees: the sweet chili pineapple, smokey tomatillo, and the green curry chicken. I’m a big fan of the last 2 dishes and almost regularly order the smokey tomatillo. I modify it with jasmine rice instead of brown (even though brown is technically healthier for me). It’s got a tangy, southwestern flavor that I like with plenty of steak and veggies. Price to quality ratio is great here and you definitely get dish portions that hit the Goldilocks standard of just right.
I also appreciate that they do not carry soda on tap and rather have juices and water. They do have a couple of Coke glass bottles and some carbonated fruit beverages in the fridge next to the ordering line, but other than that they seem to have incorporated the healthy living into every aspect of their business and not just their food offerings.
To boot, the place has a clean and modern aesthetic with plenty of seating. Service is also very quick and they usually bring your food directly to your table. As long as I’m living in Arlington, I’ll continue to support non-​chain businesses like Bowl’d. Thanks for opening up in the Clarendon neighborhood!

This place is great for organic food lovers! Not sure why it was empty on a friday night, but I was in the mood for a healthy meal. I ordered the build your own bowl: tofu, broccoli, baby corn n mushroom with teriyaki sauce n chopped corn nuts. Hubby got the green curry. The price is comparable to Chipotle, around 8bux per bowl. However, you get more food from the chain. While the green curry might be the tastiest sauce, it is not spicy at all n hubby liked his. Unfortunately mine taste really bland, even after adding more teriyaki sauce. The concept is good but the execution (at least with mine) was just alright. They need to ante up their flavouring.

My friend and I ended up coming here because SouthBlock was closed. Lucky for us because this place is awesome! The bowls are filling, fresh, and delicious– definitely good-​for-​you food that doesn’t feel you’re eating fake, cardboard-​like stuff. The owner was there and was SUPER nice and told us about all of the items on the menu we were interested in. Definitely a great addition to Arlington.

I was standing outside looking at the menu when a nice young man came to ask if I had ever been to Bowl’d before… he was so enthusiastic about the food I decided to check it out. I picked the OMG salad w/​chicken and it was SO good! Nutrition meets taste! The salad dressing was tossed in but it was light and fresh. I’ll definitely be back to try their Sunshine Salad next!

I have been to Bowl’d twice now for two different bowls (green curry and teriyaki), and they have both been fantastic!
The ingredients are fresh and super tasty. The first time I went in, I had the opportunity to chat with the owner, Allen for a bit, and as others have mentioned, he is very passionate about what he does. He made my girlfriend and I feel so welcome.
If you are looking for the healthy, convenient, delicious option in Clarendon, this is the place for you!

My husband and I really enjoyed our spontaneous yet healthy dinner at Bowl’d last week! We were promptly greeted by the owner Allen who walked us through the signature bowl menu and also shared with us recent menu additions like salads and seasonal soups.
My husband went for the smokey tomatillo bowl with chipotle aioli and I opted for the sweet chili pineapple bowl with chicken instead of tofu. As we waited for our food Allen chatted with us in sharing his personal experience of having food allergies, not unlike myself, which inspired him to want to offer delicious but nutritious options for local patrons.
Both of our meals were timely and tasty, and we both look forward to coming back to Bowl’d throughout the year to experience the new seasonal items as they appear!

Aw I really like Bowl’d!
You can tell it’s a smaller, locally owned business and I am in full support of that. Yes, it is across the street from South Block’s delicious bowls, smoothies, and wraps, but trust me, Bowl’d is so good!
What I really appreciate that its neighbor across the street (ahem) does not have is the fact that Bowl’d discloses nutritional information. Especially since this place is not a franchise, I greatly appreciate them being transparent about calorie counts, grams of fat, protein, etc. so I know what I am eating.
I have only tried two bowls here so far but they are both stellar. Their most popular one is the Coconut Green Curry which I absolute loved. Definitely add Sriracha for the fire! The Smokey Tomatillo bowl is also really tasty with a kick. Add the chipotle aioli for $ 0.25 extra — for sure worth it. Here’s the link to the nutritional information from the Bowl’d website:
The space is adequate, clean, and has WiFi if you wanted to come during lunch and get some things done on your personal or work computer.
I intend on coming back to try the rest of the bowls and am confident they will not disappoint!

Healthy, fast, and reasonably priced (for Clarendon). I seriously struggle to find this combination elsewhere in this area – most places are two of the three. The chicken teriyaki bowl is delicious, especially with sriracha on top. Sweet chili pineapple is also great (and vegetarian).
My only gripe is that I’d love more options. Customizing can be a drag because it ends up being more expensive than a pre-​made bowl. They’ve started offering salads recently though, so that’s a big plus.

This place makes you feel healthier when you walk through the door. Rice bowls with meat, veggies, and yummy sauce options. Teas and juices. I have tried the green curry and the sweet chili sauce and both were awesome! Portions are smaller than other similar chains, but not so small that it’s a ripoff. The portions of meat are probably the right size instead of super size.

I had walked past BOWL’D and even sat across the street at South Block Juice Company and wondered as a steady flow of patrons entered and exited. I was finally prompted to give it a try due to a deal I saw on Specialicious. I did a «create your own» bowl and was impressed with the freshness, quality and quantity of ingredients. Now, do the freshness, quality and quantity account for the price and equal unequivocal taste? Again, I was using a pre-​purchase deal, so the price was good. Now, if I had to pay double the amount, I’d likely choose another eatery in Clarendon. As far as the dressing and garnish selection, I was underwhelmed. I am unsure if I mixed a combination of vegetables and grain that didn’t go well with Smokey Tomatillo, but I didn’t truly feel a bang that would get me addicted. I want to like BOWL’D as I feel the service was great, the location is great, but there is just something missing when you compare it to a healthy option like South Block Juice Company (which doesn’t a warmed grain bowl dish or meat). Note: I was told the chicken was only available in dark meat. My better half was satisfied with his Teriyaki bowl but also felt there was a lack of connection with the BOWL’D brand. (His assertion was that he could go to the hot and cold bar at Whole Foods and create the same offering and pay per the ounce and get a better deal and idea of where the food originated.)
When compared to Whole Foods hot/​cold bars, Sweet Leaf and Sweetgreen; BOWL’D can’t compare at this time. When it comes to smoothies, BOWL’D cannot compare or compete with South Block Juice Company. I’d urge BOWL’D again to create meaningful partnerships based on their brand messaging as I’d be more inclined to return if there was a connection to the community.

If this was a food truck there would be a legitimate excuse for throwing a lackluster mix of ingredients into a paper bowl and charging me $ 9 for it. But this is a full kitchen in the heart of the most expensive real estate in Arlington! No wonder I could count the customers on the fingers of one hand at noon on a summer Friday! Something is wrong with this place, and it starts with the kitchen.
The food is uninspired and made me sorry I came to try out this place. The chicken looked positively under-​cooked and made me nervous to eat it. The flavors of the ‘green coconut curry’ were laughably underwhelming. The bowls are trying to be ‘ethnically influenced’ but don’t cut the mustard for taste. It’s like the executive chef or whoever made the recipes seemed to neuter everything.
I had a Unilocal discussion with the owner who directed me to information stating that their meats are anti-​biotic free and locally-​sourced, so I give them props for that. That is definitely a plus which would assuage health-​conscious customers.
Yet being healthy and good for you doesn’t seem to tickle my taste buds. I can get a full bowl with veggies and clean meats with tasty sauces at Chipotle and Roti prepped carefully in front of my eyes, but not here. Even the mango shake I had tasted lightly like cardboard. I’m not sure what it is.
Needless to say the bare, sterile décor, even in happy green, didn’t make up for the lackluster kitchen performance and poor taste. I finished neither my bowl, nor the shake. Save your money for one of the dozens of other dining spots in Clarendon.

Bowl’d is one of those places with such great potential but lacks that extra bump to being phenomenal…
Their product is like a subway sandwich shop, meaning made to order, but with bibmibap methodology. Service was great. Facilities were clean. We had three different types of bowls and all were good and satisfying.
I recommend this place if you want a healthy option at a reasonable price and at a clean location that is not packed with people. Minus one star due to lack of the oomph factor but otherwise a solid place to check out.

As the name implies… BOWL’D offers a variety of healthy bowls. Who doesn’t love healthy options? This place has been on my radar for some time and although I was tempted to just go to South Block Co. (across the street-​hard to resist!), I decided to finally give it a try.
They offer a few bowl options on their menu that they created or you can create your own. You pick a base, 3 veggies, a protein, a sauce, and garnishes (for additional cost). I decided to create my own with quinoa, broccoli, kale, snow peas, chicken, sweet chili pineapple sauce, and cilantro. I also got greedy and ordered a strawberry-​banana smoothie.
You order at a counter, they provide you a number on your receipt, and then call out your number when your order is ready. There’s plenty of seating available in the place. They have sriracha and Cholula hot sauce available at the utensil counter.
The first thing I noticed when I received my bowl was the layer of water in it. The quinoa base was extremelyyy watery — I wish they drained it better. 1. It’s unappealing to have a bowl of food with excess water unless I’m getting soup 2. The water mixes with the sauce, which makes the dish have less flavor
Anyways, the vegetables were definitely fresh and I loved the crunch they provided to the bowl. Great texture. The chicken was well marinated and moist.
The portion size was good and filling and I thought the price was fair as well.
The bowl in general lacked complexity though. Everything was good, but pretty basic. Maybe it’s because the sauce was watered down? It wasn’t bad — can’t be bad with all the fresh ingredients, but to me it just wasn’t anything special.
I won’t be opposed to coming back and ordering something different though and with brown rice as a base instead!
Oh and the smoothie was really good — love that they use almond milk (or soy)!

Maybe they had old lettuce they were getting rid of in my dish? Maybe they had extra smoothie leftover only to give to other customers? Maybe they only wanted to walk the smoothie orders to some customers? Maybe my questions about the food ingredients were too pressing?
Whatever the reason… I have never been so disappointed in service and food at a small shop, ever.
The food is overpriced. The flavors are like bottled mixes from the grocery store. The ingredients are not fresh. The mango pineapple smoothie uses mango purée poured into one liquid container then into the blender, but still, the fruit flavors were weak and hard to discern on the palate.
If it were 1 person or 1 dish causing a bad experience, ok, but from the kitchen to the cashier to the people making the smoothies, I have never felt less appreciated in my tastebuds or as a person, in an eating establishment.
Also, I noticed that of the less than 40 pictures for this eatery, about half of them were posted by the business itself.

Definitely a fan of this new healthier fast food spot in Clarendon. They offer rice bowls and smoothies. I opted for the make your own bowl option and had the steak, carrots, broccoli, mushroom w/​sun dried tomato sauce over brown rice. The meat was so tender and the sauce was tasty. The serving size was pretty decent too, enough to fill you up but not suffer food coma. The really like the peanut cocoa banana smoothie too. It was thick just like how I like it.
It was a perfect spot to refuel after an intense workout at UFC gym. Thanks for the free smoothie! I’ll definitely be back.

Great addition to the community. I didn’t have high expectations for this place before it opened up. But now that I actually got the chance to try it… I have to say that I’ll be a regular customer here. Love the portion size and the flavors are on point!
I got the coconut green curry bowl and they were kind enough to not put in the baby corn as I don’t like corn. Their most popular flavor is the Teriyaki with the coconut green curry coming in second. However, there are endless ways to make your own bowl the way you like it. I can’t wait to go back and try all the different kinds.
Glad to finally have something fast and healthy
Definitely give it a try!

This is exactly what Clarendon needs more of, fast casual healthy options. I work nearby, and as much as I love Pollo Rico (I was the duke for a long time), there’s only so much carbs I can handle on a normal lunch basis. Other options in Clarendon are littered with Burger & Shake spots, Sandwiches, and pizza by the slice. For an area filled with healthy and young active professionals, I’m surprised there are more fast casual options. Lime and Baja Fresh are both terrible options, Clarendon folks have better taste that that.
In comes Bowl’d, a create it yourself bowl, or pick a pre-​made bowl from the chef’s suggestions. There are a lot of healthy ingredient options, such as brown rice, organic quinoa, straight up salad, meats, veges. They also have a variety of different sauces, from Asian to Mediterranean so you are not stuck on one type of taste. I got a simple Teriyaki bowl, I wasn’t in the mood to think about what the perfect bowl would be (that would take me forever to create). Being a new restaurant, I know it would take some time and have some hiccups, so yes it did take some time and they initially forgot my order, but it’s ok, they are new. The bowl came out, and it was pretty good. The chicken was fresh, juicy and tender. It was cooked just right, and the brown rice was also soft and good. They could use more veges, but overall I felt the whole bowl was a good value. It’s portioned just right, not too much and not too little. It was on the salty side, but then again it is a Teriyaki bowl, I’ll probably ask for less sauce next time. Their other pre-​made bowls look pretty appealing, and I’ll definitely come back. Overall, a good tasty bowl that’s relatively healthy and doesn’t break the bank, just what I need for a quick casual work lunch.