Emerald City Smoothie

It’s great to have an Emerald City Smoothie in my neighborhood. I was sure these were only located in the suburbs but the Queen Anne location is perfect for me. I love the lean body chocolate and the smoothie barista made it perfectly. Delicious! And great customer service from the staff. Also a great outdoor seating area to chill for a few minutes.

Is this a smoothie shop or a juice bar?! This is the third time in a row that my «smoothie» was completely liquified. The service is ok at best, but I’m not ok with spending $ 15 in a few «smoothies» and having them be watery, lacking in flavor and mis-​prepared. I hate to be the guy complaining online, but this is not ok. Jamba, where art thou!!!

I’ve been going to Emerald City Smoothie for a couple years now and recently I’ve been going more as I’ve tried to be more healthy! And I’m lazy too lazy to switch on my vitamix.
However, after seeing the fruit flies around the garbage by where my drink was served today, I’m thinking I may have to start utilizing my vitamix more.
Let me back up though. It wasn’t just the fruit flies that encouraged my two star review. I try not to knock on the restaurants in my neighborhood, but after visiting time and time again, I’ve noticed a constant theme on inefficiency and cutting corners which lead me today to realize its time to review.
Things that need help:
— The cash register area is always dusty;
— There is always only 1 employee working. So if they are making a drink for someone else, you will wait at least 90 seconds before they can take your order;
— There are only 3 blenders so if there is a line of more then 2 patrons, get ready to wait an extra few minutes as they ring up the line, then go wash the blenders, then start the drinks;
— Food items have the price written onto them w. a marker;
— They use SYRUP instead of real fruit in some instances — like The Emerald has strawberry sugar syrup instead of real strawberries;
— Chemicals are stored under the sink by the food bar (i.e. not in a cabinet) for all to see;
— Instead of milk they use water; and finally…
— I see the manager and/​or owner come in and out and they never offer to help, even when the line is long.
If this was just a stand alone mom and pops, I wouldn’t say anything. But they have multiple locations so they should know what they are doing.

Emerald City Smoothie is one of those businesses that make a product that is very easy to copy by competitors. When this is the case, the business must do everything they can to get you to visit there location verses the competition. Once they get you in the door, they must do what they can to keep you a loyal guest. Emerald City Smoothie advertises in the Entertainment Book a free kids sized smoothie, no purchase required. Sounds like a great way to try out the product by providing the smallest size they offer, right… one would think. Nope, in order to use the coupon you must be 12 or under. What 12 year old has an entertainment book? This coupon just went from a free smoothie to essentially bring a kid to the store so they can get a free smoothie because we know you will buy something to as the adult.
One thing that frustrates me is when businesses play marketing games or if as a client you feel like a business is taking advantage of you. The coupon was ultimately honored after I cancelled the order (before it was made) and said I would go somewhere else to make a purchase as I felt the coupon was a trick. The employee stated that he was just following what the owner told him he had to do. To me this indicates I am not the only one who experienced this issue at Emerald City Smoothie.
In the end to, the smoothie was nothing different then Jamba Juice and would have been in no way worth the price tag they wished to charge. My verdict… no more Queen Anne Emerald City Smoothie, which is a shame as there is no Jamba Juice in Queen Anne…

Excellent customer service! Very helpful staff and delicious smoothies!

Smoothie was fine, but nothing special.
The guy who rang me up asked me, «And for your boost???» after I ordered. Now, this implied to me that I was receiving a free boost a la Jamba Juice (a marketing tactic I’m sure he was aware of). So, after a glance at the available boosts, I asked for flax. Then, I saw the total of ~ $ 7.50 … for the middle size … uh, I guess the boost isn’t free. A little disingenuous, if you ask me. I quickly canceled the flax boost and was on my way, with my $ 6-​something smoothie.
I won’t be back.

I went in for the first time and was greeted right away. Moriel was adorable, she chatted me up about the nice weather and gave me super speedy service. I had a coupon for a free size upgrade, so I got a medium instead of a small. I was surprised to see it was still $ 5.75 for a «16oz» and asked if it was correct. It was and she apologized for not mentioning that it was only $.25 to go from 16 to 24 ounces, oh well, nbd. She was serving me up when she said «oh, no, it looks like I made too much» and dumped it all in a large cup. That was really nice of her :) I will defiantly come back again.