Nekter Juice Bar

LOVE this place! Staff is super friendly and the juices/​bowls are AMAZING. I wish I could have this for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

The acai bowls are to die for! Substitute PB for Almond butter in the PB acai bowl and it tastes ten times better!

My first visit there today at about noon. 2 other patrons in there waiting for their orders. The place looked clean, employees (at least 3). I ordered the Date Nut Smoothie and took a seat on a stool. And waited, and waited. Pretty soon the place was starting to fill up with eager teenagers here for lunch. And I continued to wait. But, as I am waiting I’m wondering what is the horrible, loud construction noise? Is the roof being repaired, is the parking lot concrete being jack-​hammered? It was a continuous horrible noise. And then it stopped and I realized it was the dueling blenders in the kitchen making all the racket. And the employees were not wearing ear protection! The noise completely drowned out the ambient background music. So what was supposed to be a pleasant short wait for a smoothie became a long (20 min) wait accompanied by horrendous noise.
The smoothie was ok. I usually make them at home for myself, so I was surprised at how «thin» it was compared to homemade, about the consistency of a glass of milk. None of the chunks of date and nut I had expected.
Don’t think I will be back.

I’ve done a cleanse (couldn’t last but that was my own lack of willpower), tried the various acai bowls (just ok but for Marin since there’s not much else in the area for acai bowls, the color seems a bit off IMO like some bright food coloring), juices are good. The staff is quite nice, unfortunately I had to knock off a couple of stars because their turnaround time is unacceptably slow.

Acai bowls are delicious at Nektar!
I have ordered the pitaya bowl in the past and the banana berry, they sliced the fruits so neatly i love it! Also their granola bar brands are great! It is such a treat to have breakfeast there

There’s not many places to get an acai bowl in the north bay, so I was really excited to find this place.
I got the pitaya bowl and it was really good, I just wish that it had more fruit on the top than just banana.
Only reason I’m docking a star is because it took 15 minutes to make two smoothie bowls and there was no one else in there other than my friend and I.

How can you be out of strawberries and bananas (key components to an acai bowl) with a Safeway next door? No substitutes offered and no discount given. Sorry guys… poor customer service in my book.
Update: Mgmt contacted me and apologized for the inconvenience and provided a free menu item. Willing to try again for now I’ve updated my review from 2 to 4 since the acai bowl was very good otherwise.

Gahhhh… Well after hiking Alamere Falls, my cousins and I needed to indulge ourselves with something cold and refreshing. Because Nektar was on the way home and nearby, this was our stop! Because we’ve all had acai bowls we’ve enjoyed at other places, there was a standard we were expecting. Walking in, Nektar is very nice and clean with that refreshing feeling. The 3 of us all ordered their Acai Banana Berry Bowl. When they were ready, the presentation looked great and we were so excited to eat it but once we finally dug in we noticed the acai itself lacked so much flavor. It tasted like we were eating the fruit toppings and granola with ice rather than the acai sorbet. So pretty disappointed.

One Star because of a appreciation for a couple of employees with good intentions.
I started coming to this store about 2 months ago for the distance convince from my office. At the begining I thought of of this store as a cool and innovative place to chill out and enjoy of a smoothie. Even though I thought the wait was extremely unnecessary since I was the only person in line they had 3 employees.
I decided to keep a positive energy and enjoy the moment. The juice was spectacular! I ordered the toxic flush. They also apologized for the wait. Which was nice to hear the acknowledgement of their flaws and a hope for a better future service.
Next time I came in with only 10 mins to order and get out. I was first in line ask the cashier «how long would it take for me to receive my order» she replied 5 – 10 mins (which I still think is a long wait for such a simple and common order) but I warned the lady that I need to be out of here in 10 mins. She seemed comprehensive and proactive about it. Took the order personally to the kitchen and handed it to whom it seemed to be the manager working on the juicers. Leaving the register for over 5 mins while a line of about 4 accumulated. 10 mins went by and my order was not out. I did see that 3 of the people that were were right behind on line received their drinks. 15 mins went by and the order was not out until the lady who took my order recognized me and run to the person that seemed to be the manager and asked for my order. Then they got to it and finished in about 2mins. They placed the juice in counter and left it there without calling me. Mins later I approached and ask if that was my juice and they replied saying «did you order a toxin flush? I said yes! Then go ahead a take it she replied. (About 4 people on staff) I was late to my meeting and extremely disappointed.
I went back after a week. To place an order for 20 people from the company I work for. We were hosting an event for top officials of the company. After a serious consideration this order was approved after my input In regards the exquisite recepy juice nekter offers. So, I went AGAIN at about 10:30am to place this order with hopes of establishing a more personable relationship with this store. When I arrived there I couldn’t believe what I saw. The place was closed !!! About 4 customers waiting outside. I had to turn around went to JAMBAJUICE. I went back at around 3pm and talk to the manager. I explained my situation and he replied «yeah… The guy who was supposed to open never showed up» like he didn’t even heard me saying «you missed on a 20 people order and made Neker look like a shoe box» I placed an order and the juice was all watery very different from the recepie I tasted before and about an inch less left to be filled !! Big surprise I wait over 15 mins again!!!
Today ater 3 weeks of not going there. I made the horrible mistake of coming in again, order the same drink, explained my previous experience about my juice requested and to please make sure to put special attention this time. The lady asked me «could you tell me who made your juice?» Like if cared who made it!!.or even worse like if I was back to get someone fired!!! I replied politely «I don’t remember and is irrelevant if it is corrected» she talked to the manager which didn’t approached or emphasize or even pr the situation. Just kind of shrug his shoulders and turned around.
They brought my juice in about ten mins. Which I still think is a long wait for a juice but I was happy and content that this time I told them my previous experience and expectations of the juice that I liked so much the first couple of times I ordered. Oh well, I was terrible wrong to hope for a better out come. My juice was almost two inches to be full. 75% was this weird sugary liquid, 1 cm of what’s supoused to be the greens they supposedly advertise as is their whole blend and another cm a bubblely foam. Price = $ 7.50
Not worth the time, my effort to request for a better service was in vain. I wonder if other people had the experience as I did… I wonder if they ever receive tips… I wonder if they’ll do something about it when they see this post…
At this point they could with pretty much anybody around for advice in customer service or organization or management or leadership or delivering what’s marketed.
I tried but you couldn’t make it work.
Bad Nekter, start over

HOORAY FOR UPDATES!!! My boyfriend went back this morning to redeem the free smoothie cards we got from the last tragic incident where we waited over an hour.
He had three people in line with him when he ordered and they lost his order.

I’ve been to a few Nektars (love their juices and bowls) and by far this one always has the best service! All of the employees are extremely welcoming and accommodating! Their fruit is always fresh and all of their food/​drinks have a consistently great/​fresh taste! Wouldn’t necessarily recommend this place for kids because most of the ones I take here only find one drink suitable. It would be cool if they added a few more kid friendly options but you can always make your own blend!

Good smoothies & acai bowls, but not feeling the ~20min wait after ordering… Sigh.
My favorites: berry banana burst smoothie, acai banana berry bowl, and the pink flamingo smoothie
I’ve tried the vanilla protein drink and that was pretty good, too. At least that’s in the fridge and an easy grab & go.

Nekter is a clean, modern juice bar in the Strawberry Shopping Center (essentially a nicer than average strip mall) off the freeway in Mill Valley.
Seems like a lot of Unilocalers have had service issues here, but that was not the case with us. We walked in to a customer who had more questions than sense (Its true, she lacked basic self awareness of the other people there, the line forming, items she was dropping on the floor that others were picking up, etc.) Meanwhile, the employee helping her was patient, kind and kept smiling. He still managed to take our order while she continued to ask questions and look around, in order to keep things moving. Appreciated that.
I liked their clean, modern aesthetic, crisp graphic design and was fascinated that they had a monthly order of juice –who are these people who get a subscription to juice? This has got to be a concept that only works in Marin and SF (and maybe LA.) Hey, I want to meet these juice subscribers! (Or do I?)
As for us, we ordered two smoothies, which I must say are hard not to get right (its just juice after all) but I noticed these are really fresh juice smoothies, using whole fruit. I saw them put a fresh banana (not frozen) and blueberries into the berry banana smoothie we ordered, and they weren’t using ice cream or sherbet, like Jamba Juice. They were rolling in healthier options like cashew milk, for creaminess. I had an Orange Crush. Since orange juice can be notoriously sour, it turns out I ordered up a pretty sour smoothie.
Overall, must give props for the use of actual juice and fruit, and not a bunch of sugar filler and for what appeared to me to be a calm, nonplussed attitude with customers.

I am so glad that there’s a Nekter in Marin County now! I am sure that this is a prime location for such a store, given Marin’s dedication to healthy diets.
After seeing many reviews, I was a little hesitant about the sort of service we might receive at the place. However, I was pleasantly surprised that all the staff was extremely warm and friendly. The manager, however, was not.
From the start, he did not want to take the coupon from Unilocal,and it took a little extra push for him to input the coupon code and realize that it was accepted for their store. (I think the $ 3 smoothie coupon code recently ended :() I realized at the front that they no longer use stamp cards, but rather an app. I downloaded it on the spot, but he refused to give me a stamp afterwards as he said it was too late now.
As for the bowls /​drinks itself:
Acai bowl: pretty good! I love their granola, but unfortunately the acai flavor is rather faint and watered down. I was rather put off though because I FOUND A HAIR in my bowl. Gross!
Smoothies: I think they add too much water and ice, as the smoothie was also really watered down. I tried their pink flamingo which included pitaya, and while I could taste out several of the individual fruits, it was without a doubt very faint.
Juices: I ordered The Cure, and was actually rather impressed by the amount of fruits /​veggies they include in this! I think it’s a better deal than the smoothies, as you truly get your servings of veggies with this!
Overall, there is plenty of room for improvement. While the rest of the staff seemed friendly, I was definitely put off by the manager. Additionally, some of their products seem to be rather watered down, which I would not expect at the prices they charge. I think there is a need for management improvement, in improving the overall flow of things and working on their customer service. I’ll be giving Nekter another try soon, but hoping to see improvements!

Meh, this place is just okay.
Tried it out for the first time today. No complaints about the speed (c’mon, they’re fresh presssing the juice!) so it’s not like I removed a star for that, even though it took quite a while to get my order.
I tried «the glow» which was honestly difficult to get down. Normally I make my own green smoothies so I’m heavy on the fruit and stick more to spinach as my green. This was a quick alternative, and I simply didn’t like the way it tasted.
Prices aren’t terrible for the fresh pressed juices, but I prefer Pressed Juicery to here.

There’s a smoothie here called the ‘Date Nut’ that’s chunky, white, and tastes like a «porridge-​y horchata» according to my roomie, who apparently loves him some Date Nut and would go as far as recommending it to a friend.
That particular flavor/​texture combo isn’t really for me so I stuck with some normal-​ish sounding green juice (The Glow) that actually turned out to be sort of a foamy green/​brown with a tinge of orange. This one isn’t much to look at either, but it wasn’t half bad and and it filled me up and tided me over for several hours after that even though I hadn’t yet eaten anything else that day. Also worth mentioning are the sizes here vs the price. The medium juice is 24oz, which is kind of a monster size and still way less than any juice place you’d find in SF proper, so I was def sold.
We’d initially come here because the aforementioned roomie’s name is Nikk and he’s got a lot of ideas forming on the regular and one of them is this idea to open up a business called ‘Nikkter’ (you’ll have to ask him for more details on that) and he wanted to do some research on the similarly named competition. Also, I needed to get some beer from the Safeway and this place is right next door.
The process to get your juice/​smoothie is what you’d expect. Stand in line, order at counter, pay, wait for them to yell your name. As noted in a few other reviews, it takes a hot minute, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles when you’re in the juice game. It’s not easy working those juicers and food processors– believe me. I own both and if I were making my own I’d have to take a PTO day to make as much juice as they did for my roomie and I in under 10-​minutes.
There was a slight snafu with our order where the guy kept yelling out my roommates name for a big bright pink drink that didn’t seem like it was the Date Nut but the counter guy called out ‘Nikk’ twice with such conviction that finally my roomie just went and nabbed the drink. It only took a few sips and another woman waiting to ask where here Pink Flamingo smoothie was for us all to figure out the mix-​up, which the staff very quickly amended by making a second Pink Flamingo for the woman, a Date Nut for the roomie, and letting us keep the Pink Flamingo, which I thought was the best drink of all.

Customer service was mild but polite. Unique experience to walk in and smell the combination of grass and fresh dirt. Very earthy. I qas asked what I wanted and when I answered that it was my first time the young man behind the counter suggests a popular one. I say that the one with fresh made cashew milk, dates, bananas, nutmeg and blended with ice sounds good, he responds with a sort of, «okay» that says «I would not but whatever you can choose the yucky one if you want.» He smiled as he said it though so I guess that is ok. I got the child size which was plenty big enough and about $ 4. The drink was amazing! Not to sweet and so creamy with a few chunky bits. My fav were the bits of dates at the bottom that were like getting pieces of candy! So yummy and easy to digest and filling and delightful! I highly recommend!

This is a newcomer to Strawberry Village. I’d say that although the price is no less than corporate ‘competitors’ like Jamba, the quality is far, far, better. You can get whatever you want from a good cleanser to a luscious smoothie. I haven’t tried their snacks yet, but maybe next time. I really hope this place catches on because it’s all delicious, nutritious, and natural whatever you order. Tip– get their customer loyalty card — you’ll be back. And tip the beverage specialists — they take great care in blending your drink. :-)

Holy moly, I never thought I like a cashew nut berry bowl! And I like peanut butter. Got the PB bowl. Acai berry, peanut butter, strawberries and banana’s. Staff is super nice all fresh stuff here! Blended on the spot!

Great selections of juices and smoothies. Seems like it is a trend in Southern Cal and there are only 3 locations up here in the bay area. I think by end of next year we will see them everywhere like starbucks. Price is fair since it is fresh, service is great, all staff working there are very friendly and give you good recommendations on what to do order.
One plus is they offer the nékter Classic Cleanse, where you drink just juice from 3 to 5 days depends on how far are you willing to go. It claims it will reset your body and of course loose some weight. I have seen my friends doing it and seems like it works. I am willing to give a try but I know myself too well that I won’t even last a day.
Overall a great place for healthy drinks. Give a try