Restaurant Review: Quarks American Bento in St Cloud, Minnesota

Thanks to Quarks American Bento for sponsoring this post. As usual, all thoughts and opinions are my own.

Hello everyone! I'm SO excited to introduce you to an amazing restaurant located right in my city, St Cloud!

If you've been with me for awhile, you know I'm all about fresh ingredients, especially vegetables! St Cloud is kind of known as a chain restaurant city and restaurants like Quarks American Bento are few and far between. In fact, there's really nothing like this in St Cloud at all. It's defintely a gem and I can't wait to tell you all about it!

Quarks American Bento is a fast, casual restaurant that focuses on healthy food that's prepared fresh, right in front of you! The ingredients are basic, fundamental building blocks of what your body needs. Healthy meal, healthy diet and a healthy way of life! Quarks is the 1st of it's kind and it's set up to eventually expand and franchise!


Quarks can be found in a gorgeous historical building right on 5th Avenue in downtown St Cloud. This area of downtown has changed a lot in the past few years, and it's exciting to see the amazing growth and locally owned businesses like Quarks filling some of the empty storefronts.

Shantel and I especially loved the decor! Bright colors, and exposed brick walls! We fell in love from the moment we walked in the door! I also love the ingredient info you can find decorating the walls!!

The wonderful owners, Adam and Lisa both lost their jobs on the same day in 2014. From that point forward, over the next year, they started brainstorming and planning all the details and vision for Quarks. On June 29th, 2015 Quarks finally opened their doors!

The menu at Quarks has six elements and countless combinations! Plus it's completely gluten free and can be vegan as well!

It all starts with the bottom:
Bowl, Rice Balls, Cabbage Wraps and Soup.

The rice balls are made in front of you in a nifty machine! Perfect, right?

Next is up:
White Rice, Brown Rice, Quinoa, Romaine Lettuce and Red Cabbage

Then you choose top:
Veggie, Chicken, Steak and Ahi Tuna

Next is strange: (choose any)
Red Cabbage, Carrot, Radish, Green Onion, Bean Sprouts, Cucumber, Snow Peas, Yellow Zucchini, Fresh Ginger or Quarks Super Seeds Blend (sesame, chia and hemp)

Now charm: (all of these sauces are made in house, from scratch)
Ginger Lemongrass, Toasted Sesame, Creamy Cucumber, Sweet Chili, Ginger Curry and Spicy Peanut

Last but not least, down:
Choose from a great assortment of bottled beverages

As you can see, the possibilities are endless when it comes to creating your bowl and choosing a beverage at Quarks!

Here's a glimpse of what my sister, Shantel and I tried when we visited Quarks:

Ahi Tuna Rice Balls with Ginger Lemongrass and Creamy Cucumber Sauces

Chicken and Quinoa Cabbage Wraps with Ginger Curry Sauce

Steak and Brown Rice Bowl with Sweet Chili and Spicy Peanut Sauces

We chose these beverages and they were both wonderful!

For dessert we tried Minnesota made K'ul Chocolate! The Maca and Fruit bar was divine and it was a perfect bite of goodness to finish off the meal!

We absolutely loved everything we tried that day! My favorite was Steak and Brown Rice bowl. Shantel absolutely loved the steak and will be ordering it again!

I'm super excited to try out the soup option next time with my daughter. She's a huge veggie lover and will love adding her own veggies to the broth for delicious lunch.

I'm not much of a spicy person, but the Spicy Peanut Sauce was to die for! I'm going to try mixing it with the Creamy Cucumber Sauce next time to see how that combo would taste together!

I love that with Quarks, I can enjoy a healthy faster food option! The flavors are SO fresh and bold and the quality is top notch! I love that the owners are involved in the daily operations, in fact Lisa made our bowls for us the day we visited!

I also love that each bowl is reusable! Bring them home, wash them and use them again! Less waste is always a plus in my book!

Quarks also has a kids eat free day every Saturday!

And a wonderful patio where you can enjoy your meal when the weather is nice!

You can also download the Quarks App at their website and order directly from your smartphone!

Quarks American Bento
125 5th Avenue South St. Cloud, MN 56301
Phone: 320-774-1289

Hours:
Monday–Thursday 10:30–8:00
Friday–Saturday 10:30–9:00
Sunday Closed

You can also follow Quarks on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter!

Please support a local business and stop by Quarks for lunch or dinner! I'd love to know what you think of your fresh and healthy meal!

If you enjoyed this post, follow the Hot Eats and Cool Reads board on Pinterest here!

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