Review: NuGo Organic Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Bar

As I've come to find out writing reviews for this blog over time, dark chocolate can be kind of hit or miss.  Sometimes it's really good and other times it's awful.  It's been the same hit or miss proposition for me in previous NuGo reviews and being that I was armed with one last free product coupon that NuGo had so graciously sent me, I picked up this NuGo Organic Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Bar on a trip to Kroger to try out.  It's 1.76 ounces, 190 calories and has ten grams of protein.  The wrapper on this bar made a big production of how this was enrobed in "REAL" dark chocolate instead of a chocolate flavored vegetable oil, so I guess that's encouraging...or something.

As with all of these NuGo bars, I'm always surprised at how large and dense these things seem to be despite being only 1.76 ounces.  They seem like a lot more on that just based on their actual dimensions and they way that they feel as they are being held in your hand.  Regardless, this bar was enrobed quite thickly in that REAL dark chocolate and then when I broke the bar in half for the above photo, I discovered that the center was mostly the typical rice crisp mix.  One thing that did differ was that there was a small pocket of a fruit spread type mixture nestled deep in the rice crisp mix and after reviewing the ingredient list, I discovered a mystery ingredient that was not in the product name...cherries!  Well, I didn't expect that.

Since this bar was so dense, my mouth got quite a workout after taking my first bite and chewing through it.  The dark chocolate itself extremely thick and definitely coated my mouth and throat on the way down.  As for any discernible flavor, well, I can't really say it had any.  It was pretty bland, in fact.  The rice crisp mix was as you would expect, but what absolutely saved this bar from being a difficult to chew, boring bar was those small pockets of cherries. They added a nice sweetness and tang to the bar that was sorely needed to break up the boredom and somewhat foul taste of the dark chocolate.  It was a game changer.  As for pomegranate...I'm still not sure what pomegranate taste like and that relates not only to this bar, but also to everything that I've ever tasted.

Buy It or Fly By It?  While the dark chocolate in this bar wasn't great, the cherry taste saved this bar and made it worthy of a BUY IT rating.  It wouldn't be my first option of something to eat, but if this was what was presented to me, I would not be dissatisfied.  Sometimes that's a compliment and in the case of this bar, I think it should be seen that way.

BUY IT!!