Smooth Monkey is trying to fill a much-needed void in Plaza Midwood: a health food spot, specifically with smoothies. I was excited to see their range and what they had to offer. A few key points:
-They have a decent variety of creative smoothies and you always have the option to build your own
-They have a wide variety of milks (plenty of vegan options)
-They are (unsurprisingly) overpriced, especially the acai bowls, which are pretty tiny
-Their smoothies are actually a decent size and the employee who made mine definitely made it thick enough without any direct specifications on my part
-They don't appear to have any vegan protein powder and only have two types of very generic whey protein, vanilla and chocolate
-It looks like they keep the signature smoothie ingredients in individual plastic bags, which is good for organizational purposes but horribly wasteful
-I've heard concerns about employees not wearing plastic gloves while preparing smoothies (I didn't notice this during my visit)
-It takes a long time to prepare a smoothie, but that has been my experience in any juice/smoothie shop
-The shop looks pretty disheveled - they have all of their ingredients out on a shelf, which is fine, but it could be more organized (probably a result of them being newly opened)
Overall - decent start. It will be interesting to see their presence take hold in Plaza. I hope their menu expands/evolves with time and they bring in more protein options!