While walking through the door of Strawberry Village’s newest juice shop, Nekter, visitors are greeted with a burst of cool air and the faint aroma of freshly pressed fruits and vegetables.
The latest addition to the growing number of Nekter’s juice bars, now totaling almost 35 locations across the country, opened recently in the Strawberry Village Shopping Center in Mill Valley.
The juice bar envelops its customers with the feeling of cleanliness through the hanging baskets of fruits and vegetables, the sprawling windows, and spotless countertops, tables, and floors.
Nekter offers made-to-order juices, smoothies, acai bowls, and juice shots. Unlike other popular juice shops around Marin that pre-press and bottle their juices in store, Nekter presses each juice to order.
This system leaves the customer with very fresh juice, but it does contribute to slow in-store service.
Juice blends include “The Toxin Flush,” a combination of parsley, spinach, apples, lemon, and ginger, and “The Buzz,” a mixture of carrot, orange, lemon, and ginger. Each juice advertises a specific effect such as an energy boost or relief for stomach pain.
Nekter’s signature drink, “The Greenie,” combines parsley, kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, lemon, and apple. To a first time juice drinker, this beverage may come off as a bit too sour and savory, but its ingredients are nutrient rich and tied together with a sweet hint of apple.
A popular smoothie choice, the “Berry Banana Burst,” includes strawberries, blueberries, bananas, agave syrup, ice, and housemade vanilla cashew milk, giving the fruit and ice blend a creamy twist.
The rich flavor from the variety of berries in the smoothie combined with the vanilla cashew almond milk helps this drink strike the appetizing balance between a healthy smoothie and a sweet treat.
The acai bowl comes with a variety of topping options available in the menu selections, such as blueberries, strawberries, bananas, and granola.
The blended acai part of the bowl has more of an icy texture than a creamy one, but the berries are very ripe and sweet. This bowl doubles as both a satisfying after-school snack and a delicious frozen dessert.
Nekter also sells a six-drink-a-day cleanse, which costs $48 per day and comes with different juice options for either a classic or advanced cleanse.
The advanced cleanse also includes an additional bottle of lemonade to aid metabolism, as well as beet juice to assist in purifying the blood.
The juices range from $4.95 to $8.75, the smoothies from $4.95 to $6.95, and the juice shots from $1.75 to $3.75. The acai bowls cost $6.95.
While the menu items seem fairly overpriced at first glance, the 16-ounce smoothies are only about $0.50 more expensive than a Jamba Juice smoothie of equal size.
Individual Nekter juices and their juice cleanse cost less than those sold at the Juice Shop at Town Center in Corte Madera.
The acai bowls are significantly cheaper than those at the popular Mana Bowl in Fairfax.
