Quest Bars - Literally THE King of Protein Bars (CR & CB reviewed)

[neddo]

Quest Nutrition Protein Bars

The undisputed king of protein bar flavoring, as well as profile

First off, a big thanks to UncleWade and Quest for sending me out two bars of their own accord with $0.00 cost on my end -- something a company wouldn't do if they thought they were wasting their time/money/product... as I am now an undoubtedly SOLD customer of Quest

Allrrrighty then, oll' Quest sent me one product from their Natural Line: Cinnamon Roll and one from their OG Line: Chocolate Brownie. I literally saved these until deeper into my cut as I knew I'd appreciate their satiety more then as opposed to when I was just started in on this cut.

Quick note:
Many reading this may be unaware on what their Natural Line may encompass, and how it may differ from their original line and from what I can glean: It is solely using natural ingredients as opposed to artificial sweeteners (known to cause some GI distress in some individuals) *I also thought the natural bar tasted moderately better, albeit the flavoring was more favored for the natty bar versus the og bar however*. Also, aside from the amazing taste that Quest offers with each of their delicious bars -- these bars also contain 17g to 19g of fiber per bar alongside 20g protein... unheard of. Definitely aiding in reaching fiber goals, as it's an area many of us typically lack in (myself included, for sure).




First up, CHOCOLATE BROWNIE



I have a dirty little secret to share first... I always save the best (Cinnamon Roll) for last, wait that applies but definitely not what I was getting at... VVV

I hate chocolate. If something chocolatey isn't paired with peanut butter...... I don't want it, my taste buds don't want it, and my olfactory senses couldn't give any less damns.

With that in mind, I don't MIND chocolate brownie as it encompasses a bit of cake flavor to tag along as opposed to straight Hershey milk chocolate nastiness. And with THAT in mind, chocolate brownie in all of it's microwaved gooeyness wasn't too shabby.


TASTE
Even as an individual thoroughly despising chocolate (despite the many glares and bertstares I get for said preference), this bar was surprisingly amazing when microwaved and dipped into some 2% milk.


Pre-microwave
--Without entering the microwave, the smell out of the wrapper was straight chocolate brownie. Took a small bite, as I knew ahead of time that microwaving was going to bring the beast out; at first, very good brownie taste but within a few teeth grinds, the taste turned almost somewhat sour to me. 6/10
---But hold the card, enter 11 second microwave spree..


Post-nuking

Holy chocolate brownieness, srs. Very smoky and gooey brownie taste. Was entirely unaware this was a healthy treat. Again, not a fan of chocobrownie... but I could easily go through a box of these at one a day. 8/10

TEXTURE

Quick note, both bars retained the exact same texture so this will apply for both. As you can see in the above pictures (and some other reviews I've glanced through, notably rdslide's, actually show the bars pulled apart a bit to illustrate texture somewhat better), but they're somewhat gritty (CR pics to follow as well, shortly). The chocobrownie I felt was much grittier than the CR bar I had, but it actually makes the bar unique and doesn't impede taste or alter thoughts regarding the bar or anything silly -- so realistically, there's no numerical scale needed for this IMO. NA/10


Annnddd the hummmdinger, CINNAMON ROLL

Cue salivary glands.




Pre-microwave

TASTE

Alright alright alrriiiggghhttt /kevinhartvoice :: The smell was ungodly amazing. I figured the Cinnamon Roll would be danksville, and good gracious she came through in all her glory. I ate it some... 2 hours ago roughly and I'm still entirely stuffed (my dinner consisted of a 2.0 LCP shake and a Cinnamon Roll Quest bar, I could do this every single night and never get sick of them). Anyways, side tracked a bit ~ easily the most amazing bar I've ever tasted. Pre-microwave was even delicious in and of itself, but I had to throw it in the microwave. 8 seconds later, slightly mushy warm tastebudsinheaven. I literally scraped off the pieces that somewhat dried to the plate, shameless as hell in this scenario -- it was that damn good. 10/10
*Jokingly, seriously gave it a 15/10 when speaking to a friend about it.

Will certainly be purchasing boxes of
1. Cinnamon Roll
2. LCP
3. CPB
4. PB&J
**Waiting for said Reese's PB Cup Release, ohhmy.


Quest, I thank you for giving us all the deliciousness that are your protein bars along with their studly profile.

[ajvitan]

awesome review and pics man! CR and Choco Brownie are tops to me. Its too easy to plow through a box especially on the "cut".

[neddo]

I'm gonna have to purchase a couple boxes when I head home. Grandma cooks some amazing, diet-destroying dishes lol might be able to get them to buy a few, instead of it coming out of my pocket!


Can't add any more pictures to the OP, so here are the respective profiles:




-

[BigBoLuke93]

Solid review, those are the only 2 flavors I've had and they were both awesome! Think I'm gonna order the sampler from both lines so I can try out every flavor, so many good sounding choices..

Also, nice equal post count to rep power ratio

Edit: annnd you messed it up lol

[neddo]

Solid review, those are the only 2 flavors I've had and they were both awesome! Think I'm gonna order the sampler from both lines so I can try out every flavor, so many good sounding choices..

Also, nice equal post count to rep power ratio

Edit: annnd you messed it up lol

FUUUU

I was gonna screenshot it once it happened, but forgot to check lately. sonofab...

Annyways, I'm just gonna buy said 4 boxes above haha. Definitely delicious. I'll use this during my cuts, and resort to the cheaper Sam's Club derivatives in Clif Builders

[BigBoLuke93]

FUUUU

I was gonna screenshot it once it happened, but forgot to check lately. sonofab...

Annyways, I'm just gonna buy said 4 boxes above haha. Definitely delicious. I'll use this during my cuts, and resort to the cheaper Sam's Club derivatives in Clif Builders

Sounds like a good plan, the macros are incredible, especially for how awesome they taste. Quest crew are wizards for sure, I'm also really looking forward to those PB Cups.. oh man.

I wanna try breaking up a bar to mix into some proats when I get a box. I have seen others do that and it looks damn good!

[Sawa3]

Glad you liked. They are great and the profile of the bars is even better! I have been hooked on the bars. Try every flavor at least once. Some might surprise you!!!

[Corey_Ellis]

Quest bars >>>

Awesome review. Drool-worthy pics.

[rakan92]

nice review , I am ordering 20 boxes in a couple of days! There is a problem though now that summer has arrived ,am recieving all my bars melted and out of shape due to the heat unlike when i ordered during the winter time

[BenW22]

Nice review and pics man! I'm a big fan of the choc brownie, but then again I like chocolate. CR is another great one...I don't even have to microwave it...it's just that dang good.

I don't know if you're a coconut fan, but if you are you must try the coconut cashew. It's unreal.

[Marshall28]

Nice review and pics man! I'm a big fan of the choc brownie, but then again I like chocolate. CR is another great one...I don't even have to microwave it...it's just that dang good.

I don't know if you're a coconut fan, but if you are you must try the coconut cashew. It's unreal.

This man speaks truth...The coconut cashew is heavenly.

[rwsimbulan]

nice review!

[DressedInSmoke]

i had a feeling when these first came out that they were too good to be true...such is the case with 95% of the bars to come out the last 20 years...

A customer of mine said where are the rest of the carbs coming from, because the original packages calorie count did not add up from the protein/carb/fat count, after doing some research
i realized i could not tell him...

Then of course the claim of no sugar or sugar alchohols used, wonderful, only that the next batch of bars comes out with a 'natural' tag and no sugar or artificial sweetners used, but alsas now full
of sugar alcohol...

Yet they still make the claim of "no sugar, no sugar alchohols, no artificial sweetners used" which is true but most will not realize it's one or the other.

Now of course comes the prodcution issues, now that the popularity has increased they are having major problems replicating the formulas on a massive scale, already a ton of hard, stale, dry
bars out there and this is before the hot summer months have even arrived...

I've already given up completely.

Having said that i must have done at least 100 of the apple pie bars when they first came out

[Marshall28]

i had a feeling when these first came out that they were too good to be true...such is the case with 95% of the bars to come out the last 20 years...

A customer of mine said where are the rest of the carbs coming from, because the original packages calorie count did not add up from the protein/carb/fat count, after doing some research
i realized i could not tell him...

Then of course the claim of no sugar or sugar alchohols used, wonderful, only that the next batch of bars comes out with a 'natural' tag and no sugar or artificial sweetners used, but alsas now full
of sugar alcohol...

Yet they still make the claim of "no sugar, no sugar alchohols, no artificial sweetners used" which is true but most will not realize it's one or the other.

Now of course comes the prodcution issues, now that the popularity has increased they are having major problems replicating the formulas on a massive scale, already a ton of hard, stale, dry
bars out there and this is before the hot summer months have even arrived...

I've already given up completely.

Having said that i must have done at least 100 of the apple pie bars when they first came out

Links to production issues?

[DressedInSmoke]

Links to production issues?

cant give you a link but i manage a supplement store and DnA, Perfect, and Europa distribution outlets pretty much have only had the lemon and
choc brownie the last 6 weeks because of major production issues.

[Marshall28]

cant give you a link but i manage a supplement store and DnA, Perfect, and Europa distribution outlets pretty much have only had the lemon and
choc brownie the last 6 weeks because of major production issues.

If true that would suck. There are great tasting bars for sure and the profile is amazing.

[Corey_Ellis]

Then of course the claim of no sugar or sugar alchohols used, wonderful, only that the next batch of bars comes out with a 'natural' tag and no sugar or artificial sweetners used, but alsas now full
of sugar alcohol...

Yet they still make the claim of "no sugar, no sugar alchohols, no artificial sweetners used" which is true but most will not realize it's one or the other.

Reading comprehension fail on your part?



The original line contains no sugar alcohol. It's sweetened with sucralose, and artificial sweetener. No where do they claim that the original line is artificial sweetener-free. They claim that the original line has no sugar alcohols.

Dont see whats confusing about that.

They claim that the all natural line contains no artificial sweeteners. The all natural line is sweetened with stevia and erythritol, which have very little impact on your blood sugar...Both of these sweeteners are natural.

If you're going to quote a company, and claim that they're misconstruing information...You might want to actually quote them correctly.

[SwolenONE]

While i wasnt absolutely blown away with the taste, i must say i cant think of a better bar and certainly none that digest as well as Quest so I wholeheartedly agree it is the king of protein bars.

[DressedInSmoke]

Reading comprehension fail on your part?



The original line contains no sugar alcohol. It's sweetened with sucralose, and artificial sweetener. No where do they claim that the original line is artificial sweetener-free. They claim that the original line has no sugar alcohols.

Dont see whats confusing about that.

They claim that the all natural line contains no artificial sweeteners. The all natural line is sweetened with stevia and erythritol, which have very little impact on your blood sugar...Both of these sweeteners are natural.

If you're going to quote a company, and claim that they're misconstruing information...You might want to actually quote them correctly.

So you don't think that ad is in anyway misleading...

Unless you read the fine print and do some research 9 out of 10 people will come away from that add thinking they have niether artificial sweetners or sugar alchohols....

I mean this is the original package from quest bars..."Quest is so revolutionary, in fact, that we've filed a patent. That's why you wont see anything else like it on the market. Quest is the first truly low carb bar that doesn't contain glycerin, simple carbs, used no sugar, and no sugar alhohols."

And as someone who is allergic to erythritol and had to find out the hard way, it should have never been in there in the first place...

But anyone knows the harder consistency is a major problem without sugar alchohol, hence the new line.

Major games that company has been playing no other way to put it.

[neddo]

@Sarah -- I'm just gonna purchase boxes of each flavor. It'll be $100 well spent this summer haha

Nice review and pics man! I'm a big fan of the choc brownie, but then again I like chocolate. CR is another great one...I don't even have to microwave it...it's just that dang good.

I don't know if you're a coconut fan, but if you are you must try the coconut cashew. It's unreal.

Thanks for all the kind words, peeps. I will definitely grab both Coconut Cashew (even though I hate coconut) and also another flavor that is escaping me at the moment...

While i wasnt absolutely blown away with the taste, i must say i cant think of a better bar and certainly none that digest as well as Quest so I wholeheartedly agree it is the king of protein bars.

I wasn't a fan of either the Apple Pie nor the PB Supreme (didn't review those as I had those months ago with my Fall bb.com purchase), microwaved or not fwiw. But CR straight outta the wrapper alone is enough to make me buy 2 boxes, lolsrs.

[Corey_Ellis]

So you don't think that ad is in anyway misleading...

Nope. Anyone with basic reading comprehension would be able to tell you exactly what I just told you. Everything is clearly stated in their ad.

Unless you read the fine print and do some research 9 out of 10 people will come away from that add thinking they have niether artificial sweetners or sugar alchohols....

If people with credit cards (considering that's what they're likely to use when ordering) dont know how to read fine print (...Which isn't actually very fine, still quite large)...They have bigger issues.

I mean this is the original package from quest bars..."Quest is so revolutionary, in fact, that we've filed a patent. That's why you wont see anything else like it on the market. Quest is the first truly low carb bar that doesn't contain glycerin, simple carbs, used no sugar, and no sugar alhohols."

All of which is quite accurate.

I dont know why you're failing to understand that the all natural line is different, and the advertisement on the original line has nothing to do with the all natural line. It's common sense. You're trying to apply a quote from an original product to a reformulated product. C'mon.

And as someone who is allergic to erythritol and had to find out the hard way, it should have never been in there in the first place...

That's your own fault. When the all natural line was released, the Quest Team made it blatantly obvious that the new line would be sweetened with Stevia and Erythritol.

But anyone knows the harder consistency is a major problem without sugar alchohol, hence the new line.

Microwave for 10 seconds. Problem solved.

Major games that company has been playing no other way to put it.

Playing games? They explicitly state EXACTLY what you're getting on every box, and every advertisement. If you dont take the time to read it, that's your fault as the consumer.

[rakan92]

Nope. Anyone with basic reading comprehension would be able to tell you exactly what I just told you. Everything is clearly stated in their ad.


If people with credit cards (considering that's what they're likely to use when ordering) dont know how to read fine print (...Which isn't actually very fine, still quite large)...They have bigger issues.

All of which is quite accurate.

I dont know why you're failing to understand that the all natural line is different, and the advertisement on the original line has nothing to do with the all natural line. It's common sense. You're trying to apply a quote from an original product to a reformulated product. C'mon.


That's your own fault. When the all natural line was released, the Quest Team made it blatantly obvious that the new line would be sweetened with Stevia and Erythritol.

Microwave for 10 seconds. Problem solved.

Playing games? They explicitly state EXACTLY what you're getting on every box, and every advertisement. If you dont take the time to read it, that's your fault as the consumer.

Exactly that , I mean if we are gonna start critisizing quest bars then i truly believe no protein bar ever will fully satisfy consumer satisfaction. On the other hand, am sure quest is coming up with new stuff soon! Being able to bring such a clean profile and nail the taste with a variety of flavours to choose from is just extraordinary

[onelochevy]

Foking love quest bars. The applie pie ones have me hooked. Want to try the cinnamon roll ones too.

[Corey_Ellis]

On the other hand, am sure quest is coming up with new stuff soon!

Peanut Butter cups.

Fact.

[rakan92]

Peanut Butter cups.

Fact.

Wow! sounds really awesome. Any idea about release date or possibly the profile ? I ve noticed u re always the first to know abt anything lol !

[Corey_Ellis]

Nah no idea, I've only heard the quest reps mention them.

[Anthonyxavcx]

Best tasting? No. Though I will try nuking them for 8-10 seconds next time. They aren't bad, don't get me wrong, but far from the best. But in terms of nutrient profile they're awesome. I mean who has that much fiber? Twice as much as a fiber one bar with less carbs, gtfo of here. Good product.

[Backus24]

Chocolate Brownie microwaved for 10 seconds and topped with PB&Co Cinnamon Raisin will make you question your existence.

[neddo]

Best tasting? No. Though I will try nuking them for 8-10 seconds next time. They aren't bad, don't get me wrong, but far from the best. But in terms of nutrient profile they're awesome. I mean who has that much fiber? Twice as much as a fiber one bar with less carbs, gtfo of here. Good product.

@170 kcals, 20g pro, 17g fiber (hardly any carbs), and a nice addition in the potassium -- I'm sold on sheer cut-friendliness.

What would you argue is the best tasting, with similar macros?

Don't make a case for a sugar-laden bar (ie Clif) I love Clif Builder bars, especially when I find them for just over a buck a bar and will continue to use them for bulks; but during cuts, I can see no better alternative than Quest IMO.



Sorry, that got a little side-tracked and I expect a "taste only" based response back -- the Cinnamon Roll bar is by far the best bar I've ever eaten. Period. No, I'm not shilling. The PB Supreme and Apple Pie sucked, personally, but as seen above others certainly love these.

Colossal Bars get rave reviews as well, so they'll get a chance next, as will VPX ZI and Bang bars.

[Anthonyxavcx]

@170 kcals, 20g pro, 17g fiber (hardly any carbs), and a nice addition in the potassium -- I'm sold on sheer cut-friendliness.

What would you argue is the best tasting, with similar macros?

Don't make a case for a sugar-laden bar (ie Clif) I love Clif Builder bars, especially when I find them for just over a buck a bar and will continue to use them for bulks; but during cuts, I can see no better alternative than Quest IMO.



Sorry, that got a little side-tracked and I expect a "taste only" based response back -- the Cinnamon Roll bar is by far the best bar I've ever eaten. Period. No, I'm not shilling. The PB Supreme and Apple Pie sucked, personally, but as seen above others certainly love these.

Colossal Bars get rave reviews as well, so they'll get a chance next, as will VPX ZI and Bang bars.

Nutritionally nothing comes close to quest that I've seen, though the Pure Protein PB Choc bars are pretty solid in terms of macros and taste. As for best tasting period, Colossal Super Cookie Crunch for sure.