For months, we’ve been in love with Tropical Smoothie Café’s better-for-you smoothies, so when the opportunity came for us (and a handful of our readers) to join them for a VIP Party to try out not only their smoothies but their food as well, we were beyond excited! We showed up, and Tropical Smoothie Café “showed out” – in a spectacular way!
I (Karen) represented WoodlandsMommy.com, and I was so pleased to be joined by the Harriman, Lockwood, Bickel and Andrews families. These sweet families were so much fun and allowed me to take some great photos! (Make sure you CLICK HERE to check out the entire Tropical Smoothie Cafe VIP Party photo album.)
For the record, Tropical Smoothie Café is located at 19074 Interstate 45 in the Shenandoah Portofino. The first thing you’ll notice when you walk through the doors is the clean, vibrant, relaxing atmosphere. This place is a lot of fun, and the setting is perfect for unwinding. The staff greeted us by name with smiles, and they had our VIP tables reserved and ready.
It’s a good thing we weren’t expected to order off the menu for our event. The Tropical Smoothie Café menu is loaded with pure awesomeness – toasted flatbreads, toasted sandwiches, signature wraps and bowls, all-day breakfast items (yes, breakfast!), sides & desserts, and, of course, smoothies. Some of the flavor combinations are just too creative to pass up. How does one choose? Lucky us, we didn’t have to. Our host indulged us in a large variety of foods and smoothies, making for a fun, hospitable, over-the-top experience for us and our readers!
LOVE at First Sight
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..."
Actually, there's no need to channel my inner Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Tropical Smoothie Café is easy to love at first sight! The menu is organized and easy to read, and the restaurant features a large menu board, plus you can feel free to grab a personal menu if you prefer to see the items up close. I always appreciate menus I can hold on to. What’s better, the menu lists the ingredients of each item, so you know exactly what you’re ordering along with the calorie count. Another plus is that there’s a Kid’s Menu with some tasty options for the littles.
A few screenshots of the menu. (NOTE: This is not the entire menu - just a few sections!)
FRESH, DELICIOUS FOOD? IT'S A MATCH!
We sampled so many items – at least 1-2 items from each category, plus about a dozen different smoothies and some cookies. When I say “sample”, don’t think I’m talking little cube-sized snack bites either! Honestly, the food started arriving (buffet style) at the start of our event, and it didn’t stop coming out until it was time for us to pack up and go home. We were even told, "If there's something specific you'd like to try, let us know and we'll bring it out!" On top of that, the staff brought out to-go bowls for everyone to take home the leftovers. I could’ve eaten myself into a coma if I weren’t trying to be on my best behavior.
Tropical Chicken Salad Sandwich:
Ham & Cheddar Wraps and Turkey & Cheddar Wraps:
Baja Chicken Wrap:
Chipotle Chicken Club Flatbread:
Caribbean Jerk Chicken Bowl:
The most amazing cookies ever! Snickerdoodle & Chocolate Chunk! The Chocolate Chunk are sooo good! I hope nobody noticed how many times I visited the dessert table.
The amount of food we were able to sample might seem like a small deal (BTW - the above photos represent only a few of the very many items we tried!), but when a business is overly generous with these kinds of things, you can expect them to generally be extremely customer-focused with top-notch service, and indeed Tropical Smoothie Cafe is! The owners are kind, down-to-earth, and have such endearing personalities. Vanessa and Joy made time to converse with all the guests, and they shared with us their inspiration for opening this fabulous business in The Woodlands area. We were delighted and made to feel so welcome! They even treated us with door prizes for some lucky winners and goody bags for every family!
The staff was well-groomed, polite, and friendly, and seemed to be having a wonderful time (no disgruntled employees here!). I'm sure you know how great it feels to dine at a place where the serves are on their A-game!
LOVE AT FIRST BITE
Some of the items we sampled included the Tropical Chicken Salad Sandwich (a nutty chicken sandwich on the most delicious 9-grain bread!), ham & cheddar wraps and turkey & cheddar wraps (both with tender, flavorful meat), the Baja Chicken Wrap (contains rice and black beans – so delish!), and the Chipotle Chicken Club. We also tried one of the owner favorites – the Caribbean Jerk Chicken Bowl (another dish with rice and black beans plus a wonderful roasted pineapple salsa). You should know that all the wraps can be tried as a bowl instead (sans the flour tortilla). Perfect for those rare occasions when I choose to go “low carb” or gluten-free! EVERYTHING I sampled exceeded my expectations.
FAVORITE!!! The truth is, the holidays can’t get here fast enough for me, so my favorite item was a seasonal flatbread that’s only around through December – The Sweet & Smoky Chicken Flatbread. Sweet 'n Smoky Flatbread features grilled chicken, bacon, spinach, and a smoked cheese blend, topped with a sweet & savory chipotle cranberry jam. Mark my words – it’s the bombdotcom, especially if you’re craving a bit of winter holiday flavor.
ANOTHER FAVE!! My 9-year-old daughter accompanied me to the event, and she found many favorites, but she especially enjoyed the Tropical Chicken Salad Sandwich. I agree that this item is a show-stopper. This sandwich is perfection – pulled chicken, cashews, roasted pineapple salsa, jerk mayo, romaine spinach blend, and tomatoes on 9-grain bread. Excuse me while I dab the saliva from my chin.
WHAT ABOUT THOSE SMOOTHIES?
Ahh! I’m glad you asked! The smoothies, y’all – the options go on and on, and we tried so many at the VIP Party. They were all delectable!
Tropical Smoothie Café offers Classic Smoothies, Superfood Smoothies, and the option to add in supplements. The smoothies are bold and flavorful, and it’s impossible to pick a favorite, but I just couldn’t get enough of the Chia Banana Boost, Peaches ‘N Silk (the name alone is tantalizing!), and the Very Berry Cranberry (another seasonal item here just through December!). The Cranberry smoothie was a tad sweeter than most of the others, which means it is MY kind of smoothie! The Awesome Orange - with its creamy orange-y freshness - is found on the Kid's Menu and was another flavor I couldn't get enough of. I was pleased to know that Tropical Smoothie Café smoothies are sweetened with turbinado – a brown sugar that’s less processed and better for you than typical white sugar.
I polled some of the party guests and learned that the Bahama Mama was another favorite, as was the Mango Magic. Check out the names and ingredients of a few others: Kiwi Quencher (kiwis, strawberries, non-fat yogurt), Mocha Madness (coffee, chocolate, cappuccino and non-fat yogurt), Pomegranate Plunge (pomegranate, bananas, cranberries, strawberries).
DROP IN!
Be sure to drop in at Tropical Smoothie Cafe soon! We're so positive you'll love it, and we want to hear from you and learn about your favorite menu items.In a hurry? You can Order Ahead and Skip the Line when you download the Tropical Smoothie Cafe app, and you can even Order Online outside of the app. And click here now to follow Tropical Smoothie Cafe on Facebook to stay in their loop! TRY A FREE SMOOTHIE - ON THE HOUSE!
The folks at Tropical Smoothie Café are huge supporters of moms and families in our community, and they didn’t let us leave empty-handed! In addition to my take-out box (okay.. my THREE take-out boxes) and my goody bag, they hooked me up with some Free Smoothie cards to give away to some lucky readers! CLICK HERE for your chance to win! [UPDATE - CONTEST CLOSED] We’ll be choosing winners each weekend in November, so check your snail mail to see if you get a card in the mail!
