Bliss Acai is a great addition to the outdoor mall area of Knollwood in Saint Louis Park. The acai style shop is becoming a trend and Bliss does a great job on making its way into being a competitive candidate for which shop you should get your acai bowl at.
Store:
Bliss Acai is a small tucked away shop that is connected to an outdoor mall. There is one in and one out and is a little hard to spot. The sign for the store is small and so finely written that I couldn't read the sign from the end of the parking lot. Once you get to the store you need to find parking in the shared lot and that was a hassle. I grew up in the Hopkins/Saint Louis Park area and I'm very familiar with Knollwood mall. This parking lot is a free for all due to so many shops in such a small area. We lucked out in finding a spot but the only other spots were a far walk away. But enough about the outside of the store and into the inside. Once in you are immediately at the front cash register and able to read the menu and start thinking about what you want. There's a table at each side of you and a few chairs. The have standing room around the back with wall counters for you to put your bowl while you stand. As we were ordering another customer came in to order and the store got pretty cramped pretty fast. Besides not having a great parking lot, having a small entrance and ordering area, the store was well kept and well decorated. It seems like a fun place to come with friends or family and enjoy your acai bowl!
Food:
If you have been to an Acai bowl place before there are some things you come to expect. Bliss has all of the offers you would expect but also expands on them in a way I wasn't expecting.
Let's start with the bowl part. My wife and I have been going to Natural Bowls for a long time so that's what we had to compare this to. I did a create your own bowl with acai, pitaya, strawberries, granola, and gogi berries. The bases to the bowl were delicious and had a great texture. The acai had a hard icecream texture where the pitaya had more of a snow like texture. Both of the flavors were on point to what you expect. The main difference between Bliss and Nautical Bowls is that Bliss had their bases melt a lot quicker. Not sure on what made it happen but our Nautical Bowls last a lot longer. Besides that the toppings were pretty much the exact same as each other so there's not much to say about that. If you have had strawberries and granola before you know what this tastes like.
Now for the part that set them aside from a place like Nautical is that they offer more than just acai bowls. You can get smoothies, parfaits, there's a kids menu, and even beverages. These are a great addition to the menu and really help make it a place that's worth coming to multiple times. There's a lot more to try here and a lot more variety from just the one and done set up Nautical Bowls has. Also on the plus side the smoothie we got was absolutely delicious!
Overall:
This is a great place to get a healthy snack that you can also use for a dessert. There is something here for everyone and everything we tried was delicious. I will say you will be happier with taking your bowl on the go cause the downsides are a small store that can easily become cramped, a horrible parking lot, and a hard to find store. In the end Bliss is worth the journey it takes to get there, so stop on by the next time you're at the Knollwood mall! read more