TBowl: New Eatery on the Block

When I saw that Taglio's would be shutting down, I was pretty sad--I actually liked their rectangularly-sliced, oven-baked pizza. It was pretty inexpensive, too; the prices had been continuously going down throughout its existence. However, I was also quite excited about the emergence of a new restaurant. TBowl was supposed to serve rice bowls and offer bubble tea as well.

It took a surprisingly short time (perhaps 2-3 weeks) for TBowl to open after Taglio's closed down. I went on its opening day around 4:45 p.m. to try the bubble tea. The only flavor offered was the regular milk tea, which was not outstanding, but not bad, either. I went back with a friend two days after to try the rice bowl. First, you can choose between long-grained white rice and brown rice. Second, you choose from the wide variety of veggies. Then, you pick the "protein"--chicken or tofu (I got both). Finally, the you choose the sauce. I chose the ginger sauce, but the server there told us that the most popular once is lemon goddess, which my friend got. The bowl is taken into the kitchen to be stir-fried. The bowl itself is $3.95, the vegetable add-in $0.95/scoop, and the protein $1.95; my bowl ended up being a little over $8. I saw that the restaurant was offering coffee with bubbles now, so my friend and I ordered that as well. Our tab was around $13 each.

My friend and I sat at the table waiting for out bowls to come out, drinking out coffee with bubbles. After finishing half of it, my stomach started to turn--it was way too sweet. Way, way too sweet. My friend felt the same, and when our bowls came out, we were already feeling a little sick. Still, we thought the bowls themselves were pretty good. The ingredients were fresh and the sauce was a great addition (even though initially I thought adding what looked like salad dressing to rice was a little odd). I liked my friend's lemon goddess sauce; it added zest to the dish. I felt that I would have enjoyed the meal better if my tastes had not been partially numbed by the deluge of sugar I had consumed. One of the servers came over to ask how we thought about the coffee, and we told him that it had too much sugar for our liking. He thanked us, said that he is taking various opinions, and that the restaurant will eventually have more flavors for bubble tea.

The portion was very generous--neither I nor my guy friend could finish it, but it could be because our stomachs were not functioning normally at the time after such a strong drink. Then maybe the restaurant took our opinion and made it less sweet. I will be sure to go back again.

TBowl
3716 Spruce St
Philadelphia PA 19104

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