An acai bowl is a smoothie bowl, typically including tropical fruits like pitaya, mango, coconut and acai. The cold fruity mixture can be topped with any kind of fresh fruit, seeds and even Nutella or peanut butter.
Because of their popularity, there are many acai bowl shops in the area. I decided to try them out for myself, and see where I could get the best one.
When I stepped into Playa Bowls in Potomac, I immediately felt transported to the beach. With a blue wood interior and surfboards adorning the walls, it was easy to tell that the vibe of the cafe lived up to its name.
Although the location was well decorated, both bowls I got disappointed me. The classic Nutella acai bowl tasted faintly of grass and protein powder, as cramming as many antioxidants and vitamins as possible into one bowl does not make a delicious acai. The bowl, one of the most expensive options available, cost me $13. The prices in the store range from about there to $11.
The granola, banana, Nutella, strawberries and coconut shavings on top of the bowl did little to mask the superfood taste. If it was possible to mix the toppings into the concoction, it may have helped. However, the plastic bowl was filled to the brim, making it difficult to shove the fruit and granola down into the acai mixture without spilling it.
The pitaya bowl from Playa Bowls was not much better. The sick sugary taste and unnatural neon pink color of the pitaya smoothie mixture made it look and taste like an incredibly unappetizing artificial candy. A stark contrast to the mission of Playa Bowls, this dish did not provide a “bowl full of deliciousness.”
On the contrary, the pitaya bowl from another shop I tried, Berries & Bowls in downtown Bethesda, was delightfully refreshing and flavorful. Berries & Bowls, which opened in 2019, chooses to blend pitaya with banana, which really brought out the sweet flavor of the fruit.
The color of this bowl was much more natural, and looked like the inside of a tropical fruit, as opposed to the unappetizing color of the pitaya at Playa Bowls. However, like Playa Bowls, the toppings at Berries & Bowls overpower the fruit smoothie and fill the bowl to the point of spilling.
The acai bowl from Berries & Bowls was not much better than the one from Playa Bowls and the price was slightly worse, being $13.49 for a mediocre snack. The portions from Berries & Bowls and Playa Bowls were both about the size of a typical cereal bowl.
This bowl was bland. There was no grass-like aftertaste— because there was no taste at all. In the case of this acai bowl, the bounty of toppings was a blessing in disguise, because it added personality to the otherwise flavorless bowl.
The last acai place I tried was Gnomus Bowls in Silver Spring, however instead of a bowl, I tried their acai mixture in a tall smoothie cup, something that I found much easier than a bowl in many ways. Their pitaya cup had a great flavor, but the texture was a little off. It was very icy, making it seem more like a slushie than a smoothie.
Gnomus Bowls also offers different sizes, which was the first time I have ever seen that in an acai bowl. It was super helpful to be able to pick the size of my bowl (or cup) depending on how hungry I was. This was also the cheapest of the three acai bowl places that I tried, coming in at $9.40.
When it comes to acai bowl vendors in the area, I believe one has to make the decision between quality and taste or price, as it is seemingly difficult to find the best of both worlds.
If money is no object in your quest for the best acai bowl, Berries & Bowls is definitely the way to go. Their refreshing smoothie mixtures are perfect for a hot summer day, or even a nostalgic reminder of the warmer months in the winter. However, if you want to save your money and spend it elsewhere, Gnomus Bowls is a great reasonably priced option.
Acai bowl is typically an umbrella term for all kinds of tropical smoothie bowls, and in my quest to find the best one, I discovered pitaya. The pitaya bowls from all three places were better than the acai, so I would recommend that over an acai bowl any day.
