Owen + Alchemy

I’m a sucker for a cool concept (and smart packaging) so I decided to try out the Owen and Alchemy universal 3-​day cleanse after hearing about it during a Soho House event. I’ve done an all juice cleanse previously from a different company and that was sort of difficult because it left me hungry. I liked the idea of THIS cleanse because it was a blend of food and elixirs.
The Good
–Beautiful packaging. The juice and nut milk drinks come in sleek bottles in a black box and black bag, etc. Bowls are biodegradable. Conscientious nod towards environmentalism in their packaging
–Ingredients are locally sourced
–I never felt hungry during this cleanse. In fact, I would be pretty full on half a bottle
–The morning Ca bowl is A++ and I don’t even generally like coconut but I looked forward to breakfast every morning
The Bad
–Repetition. The bowls were exactly the same for each day and there was only one variation of the green juice
-#51 skews on the sweet side
The Wicked
–This has been mentioned in previous reviews as well but the #02 is insipidly salty. #01 was also salty but not as bad as #02
–Inconsistency? My first Kn salad was really tasty but the two after were really salty. I know it seems like I have an issue with salt but honestly, I love salt… but not like this. Salt overload.

So I will openly admit I have an Owen and Alchemy addiction. The ambiance, the quality of the bowls and juices are really high quality (they set the standard for me). Honestly even when I lived outside of Chicago… when I came to visit I /​needed/​to come here.
They use high quality produce, their staff is super friendly and knowledgeable, and they even offer a recycling aid if you want to help promote what they stand for and recycle their glass bottles! Can’t wait to come back with an update on particular flavors (they seem to have something for everything)!

Love the juices! I haven’t found one I haven’t liked thus far. Some of the nut varieties are a tad too sweet, more like a dessert.
I was in a rush the other day and bought 4 juices to go. When I got home I noticed one of them was made 3 days prior! I called Owen & Alchemy and the lady who answered said it could be consumed 3 days AFTER being pressed. She informed me that the juice must be consumed no later than the following day. She said they were slammed that day and ran out of a lot of inventory.
Not cool! I should not have to pay $ 12 for a juice that is not fresh and will be useless to me-​I plan out what days I’m going to drink what juice and purchase for the week. I explained all of this but she didn’t seem to care. I will be finding a new place to purchase juice. Nothing is more important than customer service. Especially when the mistake is on their end.

I was really impressed with the interior design at Owen & Alchemy. You could tell there was genuine effort and passion in creating such a unique juice bar. I give the layout and ambiance of this juice bar 5 stars.
I actually came here because I was interested in doing a cleanse. I was impressed to learn that Owen & Alchemy partnered with the Raby Institute at Northwestern in creating these unique organic cold pressed juices! Nutrition that is backed up by research? I can appreciate that. 5 stars for the research component.
Let me tell you about their three day organic cold pressed juice cleanse. So basically you get 6 organic cold pressed juices for each day x3 days. This is what you have for 3 days. They have a set of 6 of their organic cold pressed juices, but i guess since they make them in house and they only keep each juice for 3 days, it was annoying that all 3 days i kept getting substitutions for atleast 2 out of my 6 juices. Since i did pay $ 75 for each day ($ 225 for the 3 days) i do expect to try each of the 6 recommended juices, each day. I understand if i tell them in advance that i am going to do this 3 day cleanse then perhaps they can ensure they have all 6 juices readily available-​but i walked in wanting to do their 3 day cold pressed juice cleanse, so i expected them to have their stock readily available. I totally can understand one or two substitutions, but multiple in just 3 days? So since they were not in stock on some of the juices for the 3 day cleanse, i give that aspect 3 stars.
Now onto the taste of the 6 organic cold pressed juices that was part of the 3 day cleanse:
#6: Kale, coconut water, parsley, romaine & ginger: It was very refreshing and I enjoyed having it first thing in the morning.
#21: Blueberry, basil & lime: YUMM. I love fruit and i was excited when it was time to have this juice because it tasted sweet.
#42: Heirloom tomato, organic Himalayan sea salt: This tasted okay but the sea salt was unbearable-​this drink was overwhelmingly salty. It was very hard for me to finish this drink for that reason. It may have to do with preserving the tomatos? Not sure.
#02: Kale, romaine, napa cabbage, parsley, celery, cucumber, sea salt: Sooo this drink tasted very GREEN. One of those things that you drink just because you know its good for ya! Moving on:)
#36: Beet, carrot, ginger, himalayan sea salt: I’m normally not a fan of beets, but this tasted pretty good though it was pretty salty.
#51: Raw marcona almond, date and vanilla bean: This was my favorite drink because it tasted like dessert! I loved that this was usually the last drink i had each day so i felt like it was my treat for getting thru each day of the clease:) So for overall taste, i gave it 5 stars:)
All in all, I had a great experience trying their 3 day organic cold-​pressed juice cleanse. I definetly noticed more energy and less bloat. Oh and I lost 2 lbs in the 3 days:) I would recommend this 3 day juice cleanse, but it is a bit pricey!

I’ll keep this short and sweet, much like my juice (#21). I was really excited to finally check out Owen + Alchemy. But with no assistance from the staff other than the menu being pushed towards me and a $ 12.58 juice that was 3 days old, I left pretty sad instead. Definitely didn’t realize it was that old until I got to work or I would have asked for a new one… I can’t justify that price for a juice that was made days ago. I know juice can be stretched up to 72 hours but that being said, it was borderline expired– all with a hefty price tag. Juice was tasty and I love supporting my neighborhood but… I feel a bit duped. =(

great products. tried to get more info and check out product info and possibly set up a delivery on their site (because it’s snowing out) but it’s NOT user friendly. Could be a happier site. it’s kinda bla.
BUT…if you go in person to any or their locations they are really friendly!

I really hate to give it three stars bc I want to support but after my splurge on a $ 13 – 14 single bottle of juice that tasted like it had turned now seems like my gut feeling not to drink it all, was right. If they sell up to 3 days after made and I waited an extra day before opening. Makes sense:(when I have kept any of my fresh juices past twos days, they are always spoiled.

This place is absolutely beautiful and well thought out. I commend the owner so much for all the effort and planning she did to execute such a beautiful place. When I walked into Owen + Alchemy, I was in awe of their branding and exterior/​interior design the most. I kind of forgot at the moment that they were selling cold-​pressed beverages.
Now on to the actual products, the cold-​pressed beverages. When the worker told my friend and I how much each bottle was, we were quite skeptical. Why did a drink cost $ 12?! The girl who was working assured us that one bottle of beverage was actually a serving for 2. My friend ended up choosing S5 which has cranberry, pomegranate, red grape, and lime. Between the two of us, we drank it all in less than 20 minutes because it was actually very nice and refreshing.
We actually ended up staying in the store for another hour or so. We wanted to buy another bottle but didn’t know which one so the worker allowed us to sample a variety of other juices/​drinks from the menu. In the end, I stuck with 25, the activated charcoal lemonade and my friend chose 58 (cold-​brewed organic coffee, raw almond + cashew, maca maple syrup).
I might break my bank coming here but it is sooo worth it!

Met up with a friend for a midweek lunch. On a Wednesday at about 1:30 we were the only ones there, but when we left, over an hour later, the single communal table had no more open spots. The staff was friendly enough, although not really going out of their way to be helpful.
We each ordered a salad (the 3K kale salad and my friend had one with tomatoes and cucumber, but I can’t remember what it was called). I was a bit disappointed to find out they were premade. They tasted great, though, so I won’t complain about it too much. The dressings they came with really added the extra flavor. My friend stuck to water, but I went with a smoothie. I got the #86. It was better than I expected and quite filling. I managed to drink half and took the rest to go.
I really liked the look they have going… the black with the minimalism and whatnot. Selection is very large and I think you’d be hard pressed to not find at least 1 or 2 things you like. The prices could probably stand to be $ 1 – 2 lower, but we used an a la card so got a much better deal. I probably won’t become a regular, but I can definitely see myself stopping by on the weekend or on warmer days to pick up a juice or smoothie.

You literally have to be rich to come here. I’m not rich. Perhaps that’s why I felt out of place. $ 9 – 12 for a bottle of juice, Oy VEY!
And you have to be cool. This place has a cool hipster vibe to it. I’m not a hipster (although I desperately yearn to be one), and I’m far from cool.
Don’t let the price tags scare you. Remember that there is a cost associated with good quality products. I shared a #58 (cold-​brewed organic coffee, raw almond + cashew, maca, vanilla bean, maple syrup) and a Ka Bowl.
Must try the #58!

I didn’t know I was a juice guy until I discovered Owen + Alchemy.
Upon first sip of the #01, I knew I was in love. The mix of dark leafy greens with apple and salt… it’s heavenly. You’ll feel better about yourself after taking a few swigs.
In fact all of the green juices at O+A are amazing. The #02 with greens, cucumber and salt is refreshing and a bit lower on the carbs. The #06 with greens, ginger and fresh coconut water coats your mouth and is quite refreshing.
Everything they sell is perfectly balanced. The #21 for example with blueberry, basil and lime. Simply delicious. Or the #61 which combines Kombucha with raspberry, honey, green tea, mint, lemon and ginger. Glorious.
Their reverence for produce is summed up in the #42 which only contains heirloom tomatoes and organic himalayan seat salt. Listed as «savory» on their menu, it’s summer in a bottle. God, just thinking about it is making me thirsty.

I’ve been looking for a place where they have fresh squeezed veggie/​fruit drinks and once i heard about this place, I definitely wanted to try. The place is cute & the bottle is adorable but the price is expensive in my opinion. I don’t think I’ll be coming back.

I really wish I was giving this juice bar 5 stars but the customer service I’ve experienced here is atrocious.
PRO: Juices are delicious and they have a variety of options. Be mindful of the bottled date though — they are pre made and often times you are purchasing a juice that was made 1 – 3 days prior.
Get comfortable, folks. Let’s get this story started:
I signed up for the 20 bottle/​month membership and everything was great initially. The issues began shortly after I was auto charged for my 2^nd month. I arrived in store to purchase my juices and was told my card had a 0.00 balance. After explaining I should already have 20 juices loaded on my card, they asked me to pull up my credit card account on my phone to prove I was charged. This was odd because I thought my account info would be stored on their system since they were auto billing me, but they assured me the issue would be fixed moving forward.
Two weeks later I return and they tell me again I have no juices on my account. The front desk staff asked me to email management for help so I emailed them on ⁶⁄₃ asking the status of my account and how many juices were remaining for the month. no response. On ⁶⁄₈ I sent a follow up email.
I did not receive a response from Owen and Alchemy until ⁶⁄₁₇ — 2 WEEKS after I sent my initial inquiry! A woman named Rose copied their manager Samuel and said he would let me know how many juices I have on my card and make any corrections to my account as needed. Thank God! Yay!
This would have been great BUT Samuel never followed up! I sent another email to Samuel and Rose on ⁶⁄₁₉ asking yet again how many juices were left on my account and if they could just cancel my membership moving forward. I STILL received no response until I emailed a 3^rd time today (⁶⁄₂₄) and Samuel finally emailed me back. Of course, he still did not tell me how many juices were left on my account but he did say he could cancel the membership. TBD how long until I can get confirmation that it’s actually cancelled. :(
A juice membership really shouldn’t be this difficult. I shouldn’t have to wait over a month to get an answer on how many juices are on my account. I’m not sure how many juices I’ve lost over the course of the past 3 months but I would guess it’s about 10 – 15. I also shouldn’t have to follow up with a company this many times on such a simple request. Clearly this company does not care enough to keep me as a recurring member so I will be purchasing my juices at Juice RX and Real Good Juice Company moving forward. Best of luck.

We came here for a fresh squeeze juice. However they sell their juices premade. Which is honestly a business concept that can only work in the States. A juice i made 2 days ago and sell to you for $ 9.00 sounds like the stupidest thing ever. She said they sell them up to 3 days after made! I can’t get my head around it.
Anyway we tried their acai bowl and it tasted good. A little too sweet, not sure if they add agave or any other sweeter.
I didn’t like the place inside and the air was full power, extremely cool to spend there more than a couple of minutes.

Time for an update! I went back today and tried some new stuff. The woman behind the counter offered to let me sample some stuff they had open, so I tried an almond milk (maybe 51? Very tasty) and the coconut juice which was divine.
I ordered the kelp salad which is what I had hoped to try on my first visit– it is great. Way better than the kale salad imo. Lots of components and a tasty dressing. I loved it and would order again. I also came home with a bottle of coconut juice which, if you love coconut, is not to be missed, and a blueberry basil which I was told is very popular. It’s very good– maybe not something I’d buy again just because I’d want to try something else but it was tasty.
The prices aren’t cheap. I can appreciate, though, that they source organic produce, and cold-​press, etc, so that makes it less painful. I just think personally if stuff was under $ 10 I’d go more often. As it stands this will be a «sometimes» treat. Except for the coconut juice, which I think I am going to have to stop in for on the regular. So so so so good.

I took a early morning visit to Owen + Alchemy with my wife. Upon entering, the contemporary aesthetic was nice, but the atmosphere was uninviting. The service was very, get it and go. It appeared that the dark haired girl behind the counter was frantically trying to handle the phone and customers. They also didn’t have, a couple of the drinks we wanted, available.
What we did order was the #51 and #86. Both drinks tasted flat and not very robust. It’s as if the water content was higher than it needed to be. Also, my #86 didn’t come in a Boston round bottle. I was looking forward to the glass bottle, but my smoothie didn’t come in one when it very well could have.
For our first time visiting Owen + Alchemy, it was not a pleasing experience. I have no desire to patronize this establishment again. If you’re going to charge $ 10 for a smoothie, the service needs to be impeccable.

We got the blueberry basil and the lemon cayenne. Everything is high quality with no additives. The juices are decently sized, and taste delicious. There is one big table if you want to enjoy your juice in house.
The blonde girl working was very helpful and knowledgeable.

When O+A first opened this summer, their menu was long and they offered unlimited samples. Sadly they too have seen the ravages of winter. Their menu has since cut in half, and they now offer limited samples.
You’ll rattle off numbers like you’re ordering off a McD’s menu except it’s way, way, healthier. Some of my favorite numbers (that still exist) are below:
01– If the thought of green juices make you gag, this is a great introduction because of the addition of apple helps neutralize the taste of trees.
15 — The only fruit –forward juice that they consistently have. It’s apple with a kick.
21 — Drinking this blueberry concoction makes me feel like I may turn blue like Violet a la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but without the Oompa Loompas rolling me out.
42 — If you like V8, you’ll love this juice.
59 — The best coconut juice you’ll ever have!!!
Some juices that they had, but currently do not make, but I hope they bring back, are the Pineapple (w/​jalapeño), and the Pomegranate (w/​red grape). For a while they also had a «Seasonal» juice which was pear & mulling spices and it was SO GOOD. I hope they bring it back. Their fermented section is also tasty, they’re a bit bubbly and a great alternative to soda– my fave is the one w/​Raspberry (61).
They also offer some yogurt bowls and salads. I’ve only tried the kelp noodles — it’s a crunchier and healthier version of a seaweed salad, and delicious!
Return the bottles for $ 1 each, though I like to keep at least one for my own juicing purposes.
Parking can be challenging during peak hours. So come early if you can, else the California blue line stop is right down the street.

Owen + Alchemy is a juice apothecary. With a pendant-​like logo, a «living» wall and a quote from Hippocrates — «Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food» — inspiring the shop’s interior, you’ll almost feel as though you belong alongside Neve Campbell in The Craft. But then you’ll take a sip of O+A’s coconut water /​green juice hybrid or fizzy, fermented kombucha, and you’ll remember you’re in a wonderful new health-​forward juice café.
From greens to nuts to fruits to roots (and beyond), O+A has a wide variety of plant-​based beverages, each with its own health benefits. The 06 includes coconut water alongside standard green juice ingredients like kale, romaine and ginger for a drink that is both anti-​inflammatory and incredibly hydrating. The 21, a citrus-​based juice with grapefruit, blueberry, basil and lime, is antioxidant rich and antibacterial. And the kombucha, in flavors like Peach Black Tea (60), Local Raspberry Green Tea (61) and Tart Cherry Black Tea (62), is a detoxifier, immune system booster and digestion aid — and it’s my favorite of O+A’s offering.
With in-​store samples, online ordering for larger orders and Postmates ordering for smaller orders, O+A makes it easy to experience the medicinal powers of its juices, milks and more.

Yes, $ 10 for juice is excessive, but for a «treat yourself day» or because I am pregnant and can’t buy a glass of wine anymore I feel its totally fine. Its really good juice in a cool, sleek space.
My friend and I hung out there and split 3 juices. They have some sort of refund policy if you bring your bottles back, but nothing if you drink them there and return them… I would have kept them to use as vases.