If you’re yearning for a smoothie in Lawrence, chances are you go to either Smoothie King or Tropical Smoothie Cafe. The stores are on opposite sides of town, with Smoothie King being across the street from Free State, and Tropical Smoothie Cafe sitting close to Dairy Queen and Buffalo Wild Wings.
Each store has a large variety of smoothies to choose from, with Tropical Smoothie Cafe having 26 smoothies and 23 food items, and Smoothie King boasting 111 smoothies. When choosing which smoothies to review, I kept it simple at both shops, ordering a strawberry and banana smoothie.
At Smoothie King I tried a 20 ounce “Angel Food,” which includes strawberries, bananas, non-fat milk, and brown sugar. The smoothie costs $6.22 with tax and took around four minutes to make. Overall, the smoothie had a good smooth consistency with no ice pieces or chunks of unblended fruit. However, the flavor was more banana heavy than strawberry, and the flavors didn’t blend completely together.
Next, I drove over to Tropical Smoothie Cafe and tried their 24 ounce “Jetty Punch”. This smoothie simply includes strawberries and bananas, and costs $6.77 with tax. Personally, I didn’t like this smoothie as much as the Angel Food; it had more chunks in it and was very hard to get through the straw. Besides those imperfections, I thought the smoothie was okay; the flavor was more balanced between strawberry and banana than Smoothie King’s, and it took only two minutes for it to be ready.
If I had to choose a winner in the battle between the two stores I would pick Smoothie King. Even though their smoothie took longer to come out and was more expensive, I liked the smooth consistency of the “Angel Food” better than the chunky texture of the “Jetty Punch”.
Between the two flavors the tastes are pretty similar, and which one you like more depends on whether you like strawberries or bananas more. I would still go back to Tropical Smoothie Cafe to try their other smoothies and food items, but I would try to get a smoothie that had more liquid added, like milk or yogurt.
