Try It Tuesday: Quaker True Delights

I enjoy a good granola bar and I really like raspberries and dark chocolate, so I was very excited when I came across a free sample for Quaker's new True Delights Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond granola bars. I received my bar in the mail yesterday, right about snack time so I tried it right away. Upon opening it, I immediately noticed that it looked nothing like the pictures I had seen. The large pieces of raspberries were more like flecks of raspberries and although the photo on the website shows no less than 9 chunks of dark chocolate on the bar, I only found 1 on mine. I also only had 1 whole almond in the bar. Okay, so it failed in appearance, but what about taste? Remember the days when all granola bars tasted like cardboard? Apparently, so does Quaker. I was sooooo disappointed in the overwhelming grainy taste of this bar. I had been hoping to enjoy a granola bar with a "sophisticated" flavor and ended up feeling like I had just eaten a slightly sweetened piece of cardboard. Maybe the bar was stale, maybe it was a fluke that it contained so little of the yummy ingredients, whatever it was, I am glad it was a free sample and not something I had spent money on. If it was stale or a fluke bar, Quaker may want to consider better quality control, especially when sending out free samples that are supposed to convince me to buy the product. I have always liked Quaker products and rarely have had any problems so I was very surprised that I not only did not love this product, but that I really disliked it completely. The True Delights also come in two other flavors: Toasted Coconut Banana Macadamia Nut and Honey Roasted Cashew Mixed Berry. I can speak for those flavors, but if they are anything like the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Almond, they look and sound much better than they will taste. If any of you have had a better experience with this line from Quaker, please share in a comment. I was really hoping for a better experience and hope this was just a bad sample, but I will not spend my money on a whole box until I know if that was the case.