Rise Juicery — Restaurant in Town of Ramapo

This was an odd one. I've been visiting a lot of the kosher establishments in this general area for months now (disclaimer - I am not kosher), and one of the big takeaways is that it's very clear that these places are catering to a clientele that doesn't have a lot of experience in more mainstream variations of these businesses, if that makes sense. Nowhere is that clearer than at Rise.

One of the prevailing themes of the kosher restaurants/stores is that they try to jam in as many different concepts as possible as a courtesy to their customers, which actually makes sense - if you're kosher, you want a one-stop shop so you don't have to spend tons of time searching around for five items in five different stores. Another example is the recently departed Pomona Pizza on 202, which combined sushi and pizza - this was logical to every kosher person I spoke with, and blew the minds of every non-kosher person. Rise's variation on this is to combine what amounts to a GNC-esque vitamin/nutrition store with an acai bowl place. Anyone who's been to, say, a Playa Bowl knows the business model - you go in and order a bowl or a smoothie, and they make it right there, usually with some beachy/tropical vibes throughout the space.

My only background on Rise was a quick perusal of their website before I drove the five minutes over. I was definitely expecting an actual acai or smoothie place, but this was...hard to explain. Unless you happened to notice a very subtle, small refrigerated section by the door and an equally unobtrusive menu board, you would absolutely think this was just a vitamin store or pharmacy. I wasn't sure I had the right place even having looked at the menu, and was only confident once I'd given my order and same was processed. Everyone was perfectly nice to me but I'd say not quite as friendly as I'm accustomed to elsewhere.

I ordered the berry acai bowl ($14). The prep area is way in the back away from the customers so I really don't know how the ingredients are laid out, etc. I'm not sure how much that truly matters, but it was a little odd for my perspective to get the bowl without seeing the work that went into it. The bowl came out very quickly (helped that literally nobody else was in there for a smoothie or bowl) but the taste was definitely bland. As you can see from the attached, there are no berries in it, which I think is because they accidentally made me the Dragon Bowl instead. I honestly didn't study the menu enough to immediately correct this, but still - not ideal.

This actually came up for me at the BBQ place down the street too - a lot of these items are noticeably dry and desperately need something to moisten the food. I've never been to an acai place where the bowls didn't automatically include some type of drizzle (usually peanut butter or nutella for the ones I usually like), and the overall product suffers as a result. I'm also not sure why the granola is served separately in a little condiment container, but having that included as an interior layer of the bowl would have helped a lot here with texture; since it's not, you have to awkwardly pour it over all of the toppings and then figure out a way to mix it in without spilling some of the contents over the sides.

The price point is a little high, but a lot of the kosher places are inflated in that regard (as another Pomona Pizza example, they charged an absurd $9 for a salmon/avocado roll, which would have been $5 or $6 in NYC) so it's not necessarily crazy for the immediate area. I'd also note that it's very difficult to find acai bowl options up here - there's an interesting one in Haverstraw that I'm aware of, and I'm guessing New City has some offerings as well - so if you really have a hankering and can't venture more than a few miles, you could do worse. But this was honestly not worth it for me, and I doubt...

I visit Rise Juicery to get my daily boost because their products are always fresh and the Green Glow gives me a feeling of drinking liquid power. The atmosphere at Rise Juicery creates a relaxed environment which makes it suitable for casual...

Just delicious. Looking for a healthy drink or snack? Just walk in and order. Freshly made...