A few months ago Jamba Juice invited us to San Francisco, but we didn’t see the email in time to accept the offer. It’s a shame, I would have liked to have gone to San Francisco… but I digress. They were inviting food bloggers to visit them since they were adding food to their previously “drink-only” menu. They’ve been slowly incorporating breakfast foods into their menu (they have baked goods there and yogurt with granola) but no hot foods to speak of. That changed with the addition of hot oatmeal for breakfast and “California Flatbreads” for lunch. Since I never visited them in San Fran, I decided I should still try some of these additions to their menu.
The hot oatmeal that they serve in the mornings is steel cut oats. They make their oatmeal with soymilk and there are a few different toppings you can get with the oatmeal. You can get it with freshly sliced bananas, apple cinnamon, or a blueberry/blackberry topping. They also ask if you would like to have the brown sugar crumble added when you order, or you can get it with no fruit (and just brown sugar crumble goodness). On my visit, I opted for the blueberry/blackberry topping. It reminded me of a warm compote. That added with the brown sugar crumble (it tastes similar to the kind of topping you’d get on an Apple Crisp dessert) makes it sweet and slightly crunchy. I really loved the fruit topping as well. I mixed it all together to get bits of fruit and sugar all into my oatmeal. The oatmeal itself is also good and hearty. It’s definitely better than your instant Quaker Oats oatmeal. It tastes creamy and hearty. I really enjoyed it! The oatmeal + fruit topping is about $2.85 (less if you don’t get fruit).
On another visit I came back here on my lunch break to try out one of the California Flatbreads. I imagined this being a pizza, though I wasn’t sure why it was called a flatbread – it wasn’t flat. I tried the MediterraneYUM flatbread. It’s a veggie one with zucchini, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and feta / mozzarella cheeses. When I got the box, I thought, “Hmm, that’s a little small.” Then I opened the box and I thought, “That’s it?”
As you can see, the flatbread is indeed tiny. I know they’re trying to vie for healthiness by advertising this as “only 250 calories!” but that’s because it’s itty bitty. While I appreciate that it’s low in calories, I was still hungry afterwards and I went next door to Daphne’s and got some pita bread and hummus to supplement my tiny meal. It still tasted good though – the combination of grilled veggies is good and the crust has a nice texture to it and is slightly crisp. It’s just not enough for lunch, it’s really more of an appetizer or snack which I guess works if that’s all you want with your Jamba Juice.
All in all, the food offerings are good but not quite enough to merit going only to Jamba Juice for lunch. For breakfast it’s awesome, for lunch or dinner though, not so much. Unless you order 2 flatbreads.
Jamba Juice
Multiple Locations
Not all locations serve food (see website for locations that offer the full menu)
