Smoothie King — Restaurant in Champaign

The only thing keeping me from giving 1 star is that the employees were friendly and gave a puppy cup for my dog. I thought that was very nice of them. I regret that I tried their smoothie today because I don't like to leave bad reviews as much as I can avoid it.

The smoothie, however, was terrible. It had a very strong aftertaste and just tasted weird overall.

The smoothie I chose was the Peanut Power, chocolate flavor. According to the menu, it has banana, peanut butter, cocoa, frozen yogurt, dates, and protein powder. I did not ask the employee what type of protein powder they use. I probably should have.

I looked at the other reviews and noticed that many people mentioned them using "unripe bananas" in the smoothie, which leaves an aftertaste. I think this flavor they are experiencing is simply the protein powder. I experienced this aftertaste and I did not like it, and did not finish the smoothie. When looking at their menu, I noticed most of their smoothies contain protein powder, so I imagine they all have this strange aftertaste. I ended up throwing most of it away, and it was a waste of $10 for a 32 oz. medium smoothie.

After researching their website, I found that all of Smoothie King's smoothies have some supplement added, such as whey protein powder, or some unnamed blend of supplements, like the "energy blend" or "hulk blend."

I frequently make my own smoothies at home, and when I do, I use all natural ingredients. My recipe for a chocolate peanut butter smoothie is as follows:

1 frozen banana 2 tbsp natural peanut butter 1 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened) 1/4 tsp vanilla extract (optional) 1.5 cups whole milk

This is a very simply recipe and will give you the sweet, chocolatey, peanut buttery taste you crave with no weird aftertaste, and it's good for you as a pre- or post-workout.

If you prefer a more fruity, tangy flavor, try swapping 1/2 of the banana with a 1/2 cup of frozen cherries. If you want some sour flavor, swap 1/2 cup of milk with 1/2 cup of pomegrenate juice. There are many ways to customize this recipe to suit your taste and dietary restrictions.

I never use protein powders as I prefer to eat real food. Protein powder is considered a supplement, and I don’t use supplements.

When I realized that Smoothie King uses supplements in their smoothies, I decided that I do not think they should be able to proclaim themselves the Smoothie "King." Perhaps they should use my recipe above for their smoothies, and just have the supplements as add-ons if people want them. Protein powder should not be a base ingredient in a smoothie, unless the customer asks for it.

Perhaps Smoothie King's customers want supplements added to their smoothies. If that is the case, then as I said at the beginning, I regret that I went there. I went there expecting a smoothie such as the ones sold at Jamba Juice and the like. I expected it to have natural ingredients without a strange aftertaste, and without nutritional supplements that I did not ask for or want in...

I went to the Neil Street Smoothie King in Champaign, IL. I was there to get a workout smoothie (the gladiator) with its two included add ons with a friend of mine. I went through the drive through and they, poorly, repeated back to me that it was two gladiators that I was ordering. I asked for the total before I moved up to the window and they wouldn't tell me. Once I got up there the price was $6 higher than normal (normally around $23 something) I asked for the receipt after paying, and before they gave it to me I asked if they had raised their prices, they lied to my face and said yes. Once I got the receipt I saw that they had charged me for "The hulk", two of them with add ons (which are $. 99 extra per, so 4 add ons. They told me they rang it wrong but we're going to be making the gladiators anyway. I complained that I overpaid and they, finally, initiated and refund and told me I would be getting the drinks for free and asked me to come inside. Once I was in there they, after a long time, refunded me for the gladiator price, not the hulk, and tried to tell me I was wrong. Then they said "sorry we are new" which is a lie because they have made my same drink that I was trying to get before without a problem. They finally gave me my full refund and then said I could pay for the actual drinks now. I repeated what they said to me about the free drinks and they denied they ever said it. I left after that in irritation after a total of approximately 30 minutes. DO NOT go to this smoothie king, it is my thought they tried to take me for a fool, and they will lie to your face. I'm not saying all smoothie king's will be like this, but I...

I went to the drive thru around 5:30pm on Sunday 3/11/2023 and the employee made me repeat my order like 4 times because he could not find the “chocolate cinnamon” smoothie on the menu. I told him that it is under Recovery and then under Get Fit and I mentioned that I would like the 32 ounce size but he kept having me repeat it and kept forgetting the size within a few seconds. I ended up backing out of the drive thru and leaving because of his attitude. I had gone to this location a few days previously and the employee forgot the ice water I ordered and also she was also confused about the “chocolate cinnamon” smoothie. I had to list out each of the ingredients listed to her and teach her the menu because she thought I wanted like a chocolate peanut butter drink and then add cinnamon. I was like no, it’s literally called chocolate cinnamon and has its own ingredients listed. So 2 visits in a row I had to try to teach the menu to the employees at this location and both employees had attitude. I would hate to be anybody with an allergy or other food concern at this location because sounds like it’s kind of a free-for-all about which smoothie you actually end up getting and what...