Salt & Straw Ice Cream

Update Review, 2023-2026

Over the past few years, I've had a chance to try a few more unique flavors from Salt & Straw when I ordered pints for delivery, and a few more standard crowd pleasing flavors while flying on Alaska Airlines flights.  I remain relatively impressed.  It isn't ice cream I'll go out of my way for, but I certainly enjoyed it.

Thanksgiving Series.

Oh be still my heart!  I finally took the plunge and ordered a couple pints from Salt & Straw's always interesting Thanksgiving lineup.  I'm so glad I did.

Parker House Rolls w/ Salted Buttercream.

"What's a holiday feast without warm, fluffy rolls? We carb-load by gently folding buttered rolls topped with flaky sea salt into a salted butter ice cream to double down on the savory, making this simple side the most coveted. It’s rich, it’s decadent, and it’s as classic as it gets."

"Everyone loves a bread basket, and ours is brimming with warm, fluffy buttered rolls. Slightly sweet, lightly toasted, and finished with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, these melt-in-your-mouth dinner rolls are gently folded into a rich, sweet-and-salty butter ice cream. Simple yet irresistible, this classic starter gets everyone excited for what’s to come."

Ok, this flavor I was seriously excited for.  I do love a good Parker House roll (which, I have actually had at *the* Parker House, in Boston, at a wedding), and I love buttercream, and, um, who doesn't love butter, so this sounded fascinating and awesome all at once.  I couldn't wait to dive in.

I was disappointed when I read the ingredients though and saw that they use  King's Hawaiian Rolls.  Now, don't get me wrong, I like King's Hawaiian Rolls, but, they are not the same thing as Parker House rolls, and, Salt & Straw usually prides themselves in making all the individual components of their ice cream (e.g. even the Halloween candy ones have homemade versions of Kit Kats, etc).  I decided to trust them that these worked better than anything they could do in-house, as they clearly aren't ones for being lazy with custom ingredients.  But it is worth noting that these aren't really Parker House Rolls.

I was a bit disappointed when I lifted the lid as well.  This wasn't a pint with good "curb appeal", if you know what I mean.  No inclusions visible, no swirl of magic sauce to draw you in, no hunks of cookie dough or rubble beckoning you to dig for them.  It looked ... like plain ice cream.

But one taste, and I was hooked.  I will admit that one bite in, I decided that 1) I needed to pop it in the microwave for a few seconds as I couldn't possibly wait for it to soften to perfect eating consistency, and 2) I absolutely was not bothering with getting a bowl to scoop it into.  No, this was a dangerous kind of pint, the kind you just absolutely cannot put down, and are glad to have all to yourself in the secrecy of your own home.  One taste, and I needed to devour the entire thing, stat.

Because it was everything I wanted it to be and then some.  The base ice cream was sweet and salty.  Yes, it was ... butter ice cream base.  Rich, salty, decadent, and unique.  Perhaps just a touch too sweet, but, that is a minor downside.  It melted really nicely.  High quality, premium, *butter*, ice cream.  A+.

Move on to the inclusions, which were there, once I got under the top surface.  So yes, minor ding for the fact that I did have to get a full and complete spoonful in order to get mix-ins, but, very minor point, given that they were well distributed throughout otherwise, and, well, were fantastic.

Hunks of toasted King's Hawaiian rolls.  Yes, it is strange.  Yes, I worried they'd be soggy.  But they weren't.  The toasting must really help.  They were sweet, they were doughy, I wanted to keep digging for these pieces.  Speaking of strange, yes, then there are the hunks of buttercream.  They were about the same size as the hunks of bread.  They were sweet, buttery, salty.  They didn't melt in the same as the ice cream, so you could tell what was bits of buttercream, and what was ice cream.  

Put it all together and you have a premium base, unique flavors (for ice cream that is, the brain has no problem with understanding the taste of Hawaiian rolls or buttercream after all), fun textures, and hunks integrated throughout that you want to just keep digging and digging for.  And thus, yes, you have me, pint and spoon in hand, standing in the middle of the kitchen, riveted, and not capable of putting it down until an embarrassingly large portion of the pint was suddenly "missing".  I call that success, although, ooph, I had a bit of stomach ache right after.  

4.5/5, highly recommend.

Roasted Peach & Sage Cornbread Stuffing.

"In this classic twist on stuffing, we ditch bread cubes for molasses-y, crumbly cornbread cookies and bring that classic herbiness by steeping sweet cream with fresh sage. Dollops of tart peach jam simmered with warm spices and honey balsamic vinegar brighten it all up for a balanced, woodsy ice cream."

For my second pint, I considered several of the other Thanksgiving option, but the one that I finally decided on was the Roasted Peach & Sage Cornbread Stuffing.  I adore stuffing, so although the roasted peach didn't seem that interesting (nor really that Thanksgiving inspired?), I hoped the stuffing would be compelling (of course, it is cornbread cookies, not actual bread hunks, in this one).  And yes, they do make their own jam, and cornbread cookies, for this.  The balsamic sounded fascinating too.

It was indeed a fascinating flavor.  Not necessarily delicious, but, fascinating.

The swirls of peach jam were generous, and intensely flavorful.  The peach jam was very, very sweet, but also incredibly spiced, and acidic.  Sweet and tart and spiced, all at once.  Huge punches of flavor.   I didn't quite care for the flavor, but I give them credit for the intensity, and the huge gobs of it.  

Then there were the gritty bits of cornbread cookie, that was supposed to remind me of stuffing.  I didn't really find hunks of cookie as I hoped, just this touch of grittiness throughout.  I liked the texture actually, but I wanted to actually taste the cornbread element more, and wanted bigger hunks to contrast against the so very sweet jam.  

I did love the sage that really came through on the finish.  Just as they say, very woodsy, but in an extremely pleasant way.

I found the journey of eating this unexpected, and it was certainly a unique flavor, but I never found myself wanting to go back an extra scoop of this.  The jam was just too much.  I'll give it a generous 3/5 for creativity and the sage, but otherwise, a letdown flavor for me.

Sea Salt w/ Caramel Ribbons.

"Our reimagination of the classic. We spike our cream with just enough Guatemalan fleur de sel to bring out its nuances, then drizzle in ribbons of our hand-burned caramel."

The first time I flew with Alaska Airlines, the flavor was Salt & Straw's most famous, sea salt with caramel ribbons, which I've had before, and loved.

It was served quite solid, so it took a while to become possible to eat it.  But once it softened, I dug right in.  It matched my memory of the flavor - nice quality base ice cream, and TONS of very gooey, very sweet, caramel.  I added my own fresh strawberries and sprinkles, and quite enjoyed.  And then I enjoyed an extra, which I volunteered to take off the flight attendants hands (so generous of me, right?).  She happily obliged, given how many extra there were.  4/5.

Strawberry Rhubarb w/ Cinnamon Crumble.
(Alaska Airlines).

On my next flight, I was quite happy to see that we had the strawberry rhubarb with cinnamon crumble flavor.  I don't think this is sold directly by Salt & Straw to consumers, I think it is a special collaboration with Alaska.  The ice cream featured swirls of strawberry rhubarb jam and cinnamon snickerdoodle cookie pieces.

It was served quite hard, but it did melt nicely eventually.  It was fabulous ice cream, smooth, rich, creamy, and the fruity swirls of jam were quite flavorful.  I liked the texture from the softened snickerdoodle bits.  It was a flavor I could enjoy on its own without adding too much to it (although, of course, I did add some fresh strawberries too).

4/5.

Pumpkin Spiced Latte Cake.
(Alaska Airlines).

My next Alaska flight was on Sept 1, and it just changed out to ... pumpkin spice latte cake.  Doh.  I'm sure this excited some folks, but August had pistachio with ricotta ripple that people raved about and sounded great to me, and I'm not really one for pumpkin spice.  But, still, I do like Salt & Straw, so of course I tried it.  This is a flavor made only for the airline I believe.

And ... yeah.  It was aggressively pumpkin spiced, which I think is probably great if you like those spices, no doubt, but for me it was waaaay too much nutmeg and things I don't generally like.  I didn't taste anything latte about it either, no coffee flavor at all (which was fine, but an odd name for a flavor if it's really just pumpkin spice cake ...).  The cake element was ... interesting.  It seemed like pulverized tiny bits of cake that basically just made it slightly soggy and sorta like sawdust?  But the flavor really was true to name in the cake part, you couldn't miss this texture.

It was served at a decent temperature, it still required a bit of time to soften nicely, but wasn't a total rock.  No freezer burn.  Good quality ice cream base.  But just not a flavor for me. 2/5 for the flavor, 3.5/5 for the quality.

Peppermint Cookies & Cream.
(Alaska Airlines).

Winter brought peppermint.  It was ... ok.  Mine wasn't properly sealed, and it was a bit freezer burnt.  I wanted more peppermint flavor.  I feel like a broken record here, but, I don't really like cookies & cream in general (really, I don't care for Oreos), so I wished it was something more like mint chip, but I think this is likely a crowd pleaser.  

Original Review, 2022

In 2017, something exciting happened in San Francisco.  A new ice cream shop came to town.  Not that San Francisco has a shortage of great ice cream, ranging from the always busy Bi-Rite, to daring flavors at Humphrey Slocombe, to liquid nitrogen darling Smitten Ice Cream, to my personal favs Mitchell's, Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous, and the now shuttered Shakedown ... Yes, San Francisco has plenty of great ice cream.  But a new place was coming, and, wow, it was surrounded by hype.

Salt & Straw was coming to town.  Those who had discovered it in other cities along the West Coast (mostly, Portland) raved about it.  I remember when I was in the LA area once a year or so before someone telling me I *had* to go there.  I remembered it due to the sorta odd name (which, isn't really odd, it turns out, it refers to the basics of old school ice cream making, where you use rock salt to lower the freezing point of water, and store ice cream in insulating straw).  Salt & Straw was known for their very interesting flavors. 

"We’re inspired by interesting ingredients. A local creamery’s habanero-laced goat cheese. Herbaceous and citrusy liqueur from a craft distillery. Wild nettles foraged  in Washington. Our Grandma Malek’s famous almond brittle. Every ingredient has a story; we’re trying to find the most intriguing angle."

Salt & Straw really means it when they say they are inspired by interesting ingredients.  The flavor line up at Salt & Straw is constantly changing, with new flavors monthly.  Yes, they have some classics that remain in all scoop shops, but otherwise, they are constantly trying out crazy combinations, some exclusive to particular locations.  The flavors always sound bold, unique, and, well, not things you'd normally think of putting into ice cream, like Duck Cracking with Cherry Preserves.  Ras el Hanout & Pickled Rose Petal Jam.  Roasted Beets & Humboldt Fog.  Some, I'm sure, are more successful than others.  Their tame, everyday flavors include Arbequina Olive Oil and Pear & Blue Cheese.

All the ice cream made by Salt & Straw is super premium, meaning, made with as high percent butterfat as they can get into it (using cream from Scott Brothers Dairy).  Of course they make all their own candies, caramels, etc that go into the pints, unless of course they are part of one of their many collaboration projects with local artisan bakeshops and the like.  The price is higher than many other brands, but, the quality and exclusiveness commands it.

Fillmore Storefront.

The first location in SF was on Fillmore Street, right in a prime shopping and strolling area.  And, yup, they were quite successful, now with multiple SF locations, including another in Hayes Valley.

If you don't want to visit a shop though, they deliver all over the city on every major food delivery platform, and ship nationwide.

Side note: Want some ice cream delivered? For free?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]
  

My first visit was to the Fillmore St location, but I've since ordered pints for delivery.

Pints.

Because the flavors change every few weeks, Salt & Straw doesn't develop specific labels for any pints, rather, all pints come hand labelled, regardless if you get them at a shop, at a grocery store, or shipped nationwide.  The labels add a small batch, limited, exclusive feel to the ice cream.

Logo.

Each pint has the Salt & Straw logo on top, proudly proclaiming their Portland heritage.

Regular Flavors

Each Salt & Straw location has about a dozen standard flavors, always including 1-2 vegan options, and their signature flavors.  These are generally consistent across locations, but there are a few variations.

I've tried several from this lineup, and, wow, I see why they are fixtures on the menu.

Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons.

"Our signature flavor combines Guatemalan Fleur de Sel ice cream with ribbons of housemade, hand-burned caramel for a positively obsession-worthy blend of salty and sweet. We created this ice cream with Mark Bitterman, the ‘selmelier’ behind The Meadow, a family of world renowned salt shops in Portland and New York. He literally wrote the book on the subject—James Beard Award-winning cookbook Salted—and has aided many of our saltier ice cream experiments since 2011."

Oh, wow.

I saw "sea salt" and "caramel" in the name, and thought, "yup, another trendy salted caramel product".  I'm glad I didn't pay much attention to the full description, because the result is that I went in expecting simple vanilla ice cream with a caramel swirl that I'd inevitably review as "I didn't really detect the promised salt", like, well, most salted caramel products.

But not this.  Um, no.  This was, indeed, as named, "Sea Salt with Caramel Ribbons".  The base ice cream is not vanilla.  It is salt.  Yes, salt ice cream.  It is a beautiful flavor, really quite unlike anything I've had before (including the salt ice cream from Alden & Harlow that wasn't remarkable).  Smooth, creamy, premium ice cream, amazing salt flavor.

And then there are the caramel ribbons.  Now, these ... these are just too sweet for me.  But the consistency is perfect, gooey in just the right way.  A little of the caramel was wonderful with the salt flavored base, but, the distribution was just a bit too high for me, resulting in a very salty product.

Still, wow, what a flavor.

****.

Chocolate Gooey Brownie.

"This one hits the spot when those extra-urgent chocolate desires kick in. An indulgent, almost hot-chocolatey chocolate ice cream lays the foundation for hearty chunks of chewy chocolate brownies made with homemade marshmallow fluff to keep them extra soft—even when frozen in ice cream. It’s the ultimate comfort food."

Next I went chocolately, opting for the very tempting sounding chocolate gooey brownie.

This was the least interesting of the ice creams I tried (even once I dug away from the freezer burn on top, doh!).

The chocolate base wasn't really indulgent at all, it was just mild milk chocolate, not nearly as intense as I wanted.  The brownies were well distributed throughout, good size chunks, and I did appreciate that they were soft and not icy, but there wasn't anything particularly special about them.

I just found this flavor boring and disappointing, and tried it several times, thinking I just wasn't in "the mood" originally, but, it never really delivered on what I was looking for.

***.

Collaborations

Salt & Straw is constantly doing collaborations with other merchants.  Sometimes they'll choose a bakery, and do flavors inspired by the signature cakes, and of course have chunks of cake from the inspiration bakery in them.   Other times it is a particular chef, and they team up to create unique flavors.  In the summer, it might be a farmer they pair with to create vegetable forward flavors.  Every month, a new theme or partnership, and more exciting flavors to explore (I'm still sad I missed out on the Mushroom Muddy Buddies made with a mix of different wild mushrooms!).

The Cookie Monster.

“Cookie and cream with 9 dips of cholttate and 6 dips of lavendr all over with cholttate eyes with whiped cream hair.” -by Corion from Ms. Coombs Class, Dr. William L Cobb Elementary

This flavor was done as part of a collaboration with local schools to design flavors, and the winners had their flavors actually made into ice cream.  This one was dubbed "The Cookie Monster"

The translation into a flavor by Salt & Straw was a blue colored ice cream (vanilla), with chunks of fudge and Oreo cookies.  This photo really didn't come out well, as it was fairly brilliant blue.

I'm not sure if it was my mind playing tricks on me, but I really, really thought the ice cream was frosting flavored.  It was super creamy, and tasted exactly like the blue frosting on a Carvel cake.  Hence, my concern that it was just my brain playing tricks on me.  It tasted ... blue!  Sweet and blue, and really quite enjoyable.  That couldn't be just vanilla ... could it?

I'm never one for Oreo or cookies and cream inspired things, as I generally don't care for the texture, but this didn't bother me too much.  I liked the fudge chunks more, and thought the chocolate was a nice compliment to the sweeter ice cream.  The chocolate here was more successful than in the brownies in the Chocolate Gooey Brownie pint.  Clearly quality chocolate.

Overall, I really did like this, and would happily have more.  Thank you, to this random elementary school kid for the inspiration.

****.

The Spooktacular Series: October 2018.

In October, the flavors all tend to take on a Halloween slant.  There is one with real bugs, one with blood pudding, and one loaded with candy. You know, all your typical Halloween features.   But I was drawn in by the "Essence of Ghost", even though the description didn't tell me anything about what it actually was.

 

Essence of Ghost (October Special):

"Do the wisps of ghouls spooking a foggy graveyard give you the chills? This frigid sherbet might just bring you back to that memorable moment of shivering pleasure. Jets of tasty gray pass through the deep foggy sherbet. Each bite of this sherbet delivers a shrill set of flavors that are bitter, sweet, and slightly smoky. This one is so creepy and delicious, it’ll give you chills.".

When I ordered it, I was warned, "it has scotch, that's ok, right?"  I was suddenly even *more* interested.  Of course that was ok!

The look of this ice cream was not exactly appealing, a shade of gray, not the color food normally is.  But the taste?  Wonderful.  All the smoky qualities of scotch, in an ice cream.  It was fairly savory, only a little sweet.  I loved the smokiness.

A unique flavor, and I really enjoyed it, but wished for some texture from chunks of ... something.  I'm still not sure what would pair well with it, but I wanted bits of something inside.

****.

Pots of Gold & Rainbows.

"For this legendary technicolor favorite, we hand-sort the luck from the charms, steeping the whole-grain cereal in cream for that bottom-of-the-bowl sweetened milk before stirring in mountains of rainbow ‘mallows."

I don't remember what the theme or collaboration was the month that brought about Pots of Gold & rainbows.  

This isn't a flavor I'd ever go out of my way to purchase a pint of.  It sounded like a "cereal milk" base, with, well, Lucky Charms.   I ... don't really like Lucky Charms.  This flavor is all about, well, Lucky Charms.  They even make it with real Lucky Charms cereal.  And yes, they do just use the now standard cereal milk technique to steep the milk in the cereal base (made famous by the original from Milk Bar in New York, which of course I've reviewed before).

That said, I do like cereal milk ice cream (sometimes, but not Ben & Jerry's Frozen Flakes™ version, and not the Frokzen Kuhsterd Cinnamon Toast Crunch), and so when a friend offered a pint in exchange for some protein mug muffins (she ordered a case of this online, I had a case of the muffins and they were far too healthy for me), it seemed like a winning trade.  So I gave it a try.

My first impression?  Like all of the other Salt & Straw ice cream I had before, it is clearly super premium high quality ice cream.  And, yes, wow, it tasted exactly like Lucky Charms! Which, I mean, it should, but wow!  The flavor was remarkable in that way.

And if you know Lucky Charms, then you know this means it is very sweet, marshmallowy, and slightly fruity.  Lucky Charms aren't my favorite thing, but this turned out to be a pretty fun, tasty,evolution of the "cereal milk" ice cream fad.  I enjoyed trying it, and certainly polished off the pint with no issue, but, I wouldn't get the flavor again.

***+.

[ No Photo ]

Mt Tam Cheese with Toasted Acme Bread

"Cowgirl Creamery makes some of the best artisan cheese in America, inspiring the perfect cheese plate in ice cream form to show it off. We blend their Mt Tam cheese—rind and all— into the base of this flavor to capture both the funky notes and creamier-than-creamy richness of this perfect cheese. We then swirl in homemade sour cherry and apricot jam and bits of famed Ferry Building bakery Acme Bread’s Fruit and Walnut Bread that we toast and candy so they stay crunchy in every scoop!"

When Salt & Straw partnered with two San Francisco Ferry Building staples, Acme Bread and Cowgirl Creamery, I was all in.  I knew both the base products very, very well, so this one sounded far to fascinating not to try.  

Cowgirl Creamery's Mt. Tam is one of my favorite cheeses (my first real introduction to the fact that triple creams were, in fact, not *all* just called brie, lol).  Acme Bread was a foundation of my life when I first moved to San Francisco.  And yup, I love sour cherry jam.  Basically, I love all the things in this flavor, but, uh, normally they come on a cheese plate, not an ice cream cone.

It was as strange and awesome as it sounded.  A savory flavor, salty, funky in all the right ways from the Mt. Tam.  I love that they included the rind in it.  It was what I expected the famed burrata ice cream from Dominque Ansel to taste like (but sadly, I didn't taste burrata in it at all!).  The sweet jam was a perfect pairing, and although you didn't find distinct chunks of bread, it added a texture much like a graham cracker swirl.

This was fairly awesome, and really something different.  For those times when you can't decide if you want a cheese platter or "real" dessert, turn to this!

****.

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UA Club, EWR, C74

This was my first visit to the smallest of the United lounges at Newark (Terminal C), located near C74.  The lounge is quite new, and may have actually been my favorite, a surprise to me.  I visited just before 11am, and stayed through the transition from breakfast to lunch before moving on to lounge hop (although again, I think I really did like this one the most and somewhat wished I had stayed put).

Setting

The lounge has no shower suites, has a slightly strange layout (it is like a big triangle), and is the smallest in the terminal, but it really is better than most.

Lounge Upstairs

Access to the lounge is up an escalator near gate C74.  It was well marked, hard to miss really.

Bright and open.

The space was pretty empty during my visit, but even if crowded I think it would feel relatively bright and open.  Lots of light from the windows. 

Long Dining Table.

The long dining table was an odd choice, maybe more space efficient than small tables, but seems awkward.

Booths.

The also had dining booths though, which I liked.

Bar.

The bar was sooooo long, and a long high top table ran along it.

Drinks / Snacks

When I visited the club had no working water.  So no ice machine, no soda fountain, etc.  This was quite unfortunate.  This was true in every United club I visited, including the Polaris lounge.

Ice/Water.

Sorry, not available.

They had bottles of water at the bar to grab instead.

Fleet of coffee machines.

I think the coffee machines were somehow working, although I didn't try this.

Soda Machine.

The soda machine, also not working.  No soft drinks available.

Snacks.

The one set of snack jars contained gummy bears, banana chips, papaya.  Nothing savory.

Breakfast

I was there before the breakfast switchover at 11am.  I was surprised that there was not any pastries, yogurt, or cut fruit.  The lineup was fairly standard.

Cereal.

3 kinds of cereal in annoying-to-use dispensers, only skim milk.

Egg Dishes.

Eggs came in several forms, including two premade sandwiches, one with egg whites on tortilla, the other fried egg on a bun.  There was also standard scrambled eggs or whites.

Meats / Carbs.

Breakfast sausage and potatoes came next.

Oatmeal.

Two kinds of oatmeal (regular or strawberry), plus some basic toppings.

Lunch

Right at 11am they started unwrapping the lunch items.

Cheese Board.

The cheese board had an large lineup of cheese, more options than usual.

Salads / Rice Pudding.

There were 3 pre-made salads, and ... rice pudding!

Rice Pudding.

The rice pudding was decent - very creamy, rice cooked well (not too mushy, not too al dente).  Super strong citrus flavor, and lots of raisins I could do without, but otherwise, a nice treat.  I wish I got more.  No other lounges I visited that morning had it.

Sandwiches.

Three kinds of pre-made sandwiches came next.

Oatmeal Cookies / Brownies.

Boring oatmeal cookies and brownies were the other dessert offerings, but compared to hte bigger lounge at C123 that had only chocolate chip cookies, this was a step up.

Chocolate Chip Cookies.

And of course, the signature chocolate chip cookies, properly thin and crispy here (not like the big puffy ones in San Francisco).  I was excited to finally try one of these well regarded cookies.  Interestingly, they were smaller radius than the ones in the Polaris lounge.

I see why people like these cookies.  They aren't really my style (I'm not a big cookie person anyway), but they were pleasantly crispy, had a nice buttery richness, and did seem a bit unique.  The chocolate chips were regular size, and it wasn't loaded with them, but they were fine.  I'm glad I tried this, and if I really wanted a sweet treat, I could imagine getting another.  3/5.

UA Club Cookie (Top) / Polaris Lounge Cookie (Bottom).

Interestingly, the ones here were about half the size as those from the Polaris lounge down the hall.  I didn't notice any real difference in taste.

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Smitten Ice Cream

Update Reviews 2025-2026

I've had such mixed success with Smitten Ice Cream in the past, both in pint form, or the made to order liquid nitrogen ones at their storefront. But I still keep trying, holding on the memory of the first time I had it and loved it.  This time my experience, over several different pints, was considerably more average-mediocre, and I think I'm finally done with the brand.

Pumpkin Pecan Pie.
(Fall Seasonal).

"Two pies are better than one!  It’s never too early for pie! Celebrate fall now with our Pumpkin Pecan Pie ice cream that packs double the dessert. Enjoy savory notes of pumpkin and pecan balanced perfectly with our rich, creamy, sweet ice cream base."

I was so, so excited when I saw the seasonal Pumpkin Pecan Pie flavor.  I love both of those pies.  I eat them side by side all the time (my family is one that always has at a minimum 5 kinds of pie for holidays, so, multiple pies is the norm for me).  I hoped this would not be too "pumpkin spiced", if you know what I mean, with too much nutmeg or clove, and I hoped it would have some ooey gooey, way to sweet, pecan pie filling swirled in.

It did have the regular suspects (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves, and nutmeg) in the ingredients list, but the spices weren't too dominant.  The pumpkin flavor itself was fairly muted too.  The flavor was pumpkin pie familiar, but, mild.  

The pecan was really just a bit of a pecan streusel throughout, which was a bit of a letdown as I yearned for either a gooey sweet pecan pie filling style swirl, or at least big hunks of pecans.  That said, the streusel did go well with the pumpkin base, so I wasn't mad at it, just, a bit sad as I hoped for more of a pecan pie element.

Like other Smitten flavors, I did find that it didn't melt all that well, I wanted it to be creamier as it melted.

Overall, a fine flavor, great for fall.  3.5/5.

Cinnamon Toast (Fall Seasonal).

"Dessert for breakfast!   If you’ve ever dreamed of ice cream for breakfast, this one’s for you! Highlighting the flavors of our favorite morning treat, with the sweetness of cinnamon sugar paired with warm buttered bread, our Cinnamon Toast ice cream is sure to bring some nostalgic flair to the table."

"Dreamed of having ice cream for breakfast"?  Um, set aside the dream part, what about, uh, do it fairly regularly?  I mean, I'm a responsible adult, I never work ice cream into my pre-9am routine ... never ...

Anyway, I do like cinnamon toast (with plenty of butter and sugar of course).  I do like dessert for breakfast.  I don't however like Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal, which I totally don't understand because i really should, so I was a bit skeptical of this one.  Still, it sounded to fascinating not to try.

It was only after I bought it that I realized it was not just any toast, but, ugh, *sourdough* toast that they use in it.  I truly hoped I wouldn't be able to detect the horrid sourdough.  

Luckily for me, I didn't taste any sourdough.  Nor any "toast" really.  Nor cinnamon toast crunch.  Mostly, it was just a cinnamon-y sweet ice cream, with some grit to it, that I guess must have been the bits of bread.  The texture took a moment to get used to, but once I knew to expect it, it wasn't a problem.  This paired nicely with both pumpkin cake and pecan pie.  I suspect it would go great with apple pie too.

It isn't a flavor I'd seek out again, and it certainly didn't seem much like toast to me, but, I easily finished my pint, and if you are ever looking for a cinnamon ice cream, I recommend this as well spiced.

3.5/5.

Cookie Dough.

"Smitten combines a silky smooth malted brown sugar ice cream base with chunks of freshly-made cookie dough (egg-free!) filled with salty pretzels and tiny Guittard chocolate chips. This is the most irresistible combination of salty and sweet, so no wonder it is the best-selling flavor at Smitten shops in San Francisco! Props to you if you can put this pint back in the freezer after opening it up."

I was really surprised by this flavor.  I normally think cookie dough ice cream is "fine", but not a flavor I choose.  I was drawn to this because of its very non-traditional play on cookie dough.  Gone is the plain vanilla base (instead, malted brown sugar!), AND they add in a salty pretzel component?  Now I'm in.  Sweet and salty is my calling.

It was indeed good.  The base ice cream was sweet in a complex, sophisticated way.  I probably wouldn't have said, "oh, I know this, it is malted brown sugar!", but it was clearly a deep and interesting flavor.  I did find that it didn't melt great, it wasn't a creamy consistency, but, the flavor was a winner.  I think this is often true with Smitten ice cream.

I was surprised not to find much in terms of cookie dough hunks, but I truly didn't miss them.  The mini Guittard chips were great hits of crunch and quality chocolate, and the pretzel bits were awesomely salty.  Put it together, and I had fun textures and sweet and salty.  I was happy.  But if you are expecting, well, cookie dough to be a prominent feature of the cookie dough flavor ... you'll be disappointed.

The sweet and salty elements were good for me though, so this would be a low 4/5, but I need to knock down to 3.5/5 because it just wasn't very creamy.

Brookies 'N Cream.

"A fun twist on a classic flavor! When a brownie meets a cookie, you get a “brookie”! We fold milk chocolate brownies and gooey chocolate chip cookies into our sweet cream base, along with a hint of vanilla."

Ok, so I suspect this makes me "weird", but, I don't actually like cookies 'n cream things.  Not the ice cream, and primarily, not Oreos either.  So at first, I glanced right past "Brookies 'N Cream" in the lineup, until I realized that it wasn't anything like standard cookies 'n cream, and used brownies and regular chocolate chip cookies instead.  Now that I could get behind, as I do like topping warm brownies or cookies with a scoop of ice cream ....

This flavor uses their sweet cream ice cream base, along with the Guittard chocolate based "brookies".  The base was mediocre - again just not very creamy.  But I was most interested in the mix-ins, particularly those brownies, which ... um, totally seemed like perhaps slightly softer standard cookies 'n cream.  The bits were too tiny to notice they were brownies, and the result was an ice cream that ate, well, like a cookies 'n cream ice cream.  Which isn't a win for me.  The bits of cookie were similarly pulverized, so they just added grit, not any of the promised "gooey" cookies.

Not a flavor for me, but perhaps if you 1) don't mind Smitten's base ice cream and 2) like cookies 'n cream, you might like this.  1/5.

Pretzel Toffee Crunch. $5.

While I don't ever eat plain pretzels, I do tolerate them in snack mixes, or, when coated in delicious things.  So when I saw housenade toffee crunch pretzels as a topping, I added a side to my order.

I was underwhelmed.  I expected a sweet and salty, quasi-decadent, treat.  While there must have been salt on the underlying pretzels, I didn't taste any.  And while they were sweet, coated in some kind of dust that seemed like brown sugar, I certainly wouldn't have called them "toffee".  They also had an odd bitterness to them.  I did like the assorted size bits.

I finished my topping no problem, but, it really wasn't what I was expecting, or really even that good.  2.5/5.

Update Reviews October 2021

To bond while still working from home, a group from work decided to hold an ice cream social, and ship us all ice cream (and toppings!) from Smitten Ice Cream, to enjoy from our own homes, while we socialized over the video conference.  We had our pick of 2 pints and 2 toppings, from a restricted line up.

Ice Cream

American Pie.

"Luscious summer berry ice cream laced with buttery pie dough crumbles. This beloved flavor transforms the classic ‘berry crisp a-la-mode’ into the perfect summer bowl of cold deliciousness!"

My first pick was easy - "buttery pie dough crumbles"?  I was in!  And, of course, I'm definitely all about "berry crisp a-la-mode", although, usually the crisp needs to be warm ... and, uh, if it is channeling a fruit crisp, then why does it have pie dough?  Shouldn't it be crisp topping?

Anyway, I was surprised when I opened the pint to see the stunning blue color.  Somehow I was picturing a vanilla base, with the pie crumbles and berries throughout ... but I realize it *did* say "berry ice cream".  The ice cream was quite fruity, from strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.  Fairly unique actually, particularly for me, as I don't normally pick a fruity ice cream (e.g. I NEVER get strawberry ice cream, and this was like a sophisticated version of that).  The flavor was complex, and interesting.  I still don't gravitate towards a fruity base, but, this was original at least.

The pie crumbles were exactly as I hoped, decent size hunks, recognizable as pie crust.  They added another fairly unique touch, and good texture.

This ice cream however was a strange consistency.  It froze very hard, crumbly almost, and even when I allowed it an excruciatingly long time to warm up, it never got nicely soft and melty.  It was odd, really.   I know that higher fat percentage usually yields harder ice cream, and more flavor, etc, and less air also means harder ice cream.  Hard ice cream is usually a sign of quality, but this ... really just seemed off.  It just didn't soften nicely, even with time. I wonder if something happened to it in the shipping process?

Overall, this did deliver on what it set out to, it really was like a berry crisp a la mode (ok, a berry PIE a la mode), but I never really enjoyed it.  Something about the texture just really put me off, no matter how much I tried to like it.  It was better with whipped cream and fresh fruit to round it out, but still, just, somehow wasn't quite right.

2.5/5.

Cookie Dough w/ Pretzels & Chocolate Chips.

"Hand-chopped pretzels add a salty crunch to made-from-scratch (egg free) cookie dough pieces studded with teensy Guittard Chocolate chips.  These buttery chunks of cookie dough are then mixed into a malted brown sugar ice cream base.  Churned FRESH."

My second pick was also pretty easy, as this one was loaded with many great sounding things.  This was not your average generic cookie dough pint.  Buttery cookie dough and quality Guittard chocolate chips?  A fascinating malted brown sugar base? Yes, please!

This pint also was very, very hard, but did soften a bit better with time.   Again, I know that is a sign of premium ice cream, but, it again seemed just odd.  Maybe liquid nitrogen flash freezing doesn't translate as well to our home freezers?

Anyway, the base flavor was interesting, a kinda complex sweetness (from the brown sugar?) with a nice hit of maltiness.  Definitely a unique base, and I appreciated not having just plain vanilla, even with all the mix-ins.  The base flavor is what kept drawing me back to this pint, I found myself craving the malty flavor.

The chocolate chips really were "teensy" as described, cute little mini chips.  I sorta wanted them bigger, so I could get more hits of quality chocolate, but they worked well given the size of the other mix-ins.   The pretzel pieces were also very small, just little broken up bits, which I was glad to see, as pretzels often don't work well in ice cream, they come out soggy (at least in so many Ben & Jerry's flavors!).  

What is most interesting about this flavor though is the cookie dough.  I left them for last for a reason: they were the least noticeable part of this pint.  This is not the kind of pint you are unable to put down, digging through seeking out another big gob of cookie dough.  There are no big gobs.  In fact, I had to re-read the pint info several times at first, thinking I was mistaken as I didn't see any cookie dough hunks.  I finally found them, but they were sooo tiny, just as small as the mini chips, and given their blond color, they blended right in with the pretzel bits and the base flavor.  They did perhaps add a bit of texture, but really, this is not a cookie dough forward flavor, which was quite unexpected, given the name

Overall, I enjoyed this far more than it probably sounds - I really did like the malty base flavor, and the little itty bits of mix-ins did work.  I found the malty flavor paired really well with many desserts, something I never expected.

This pint was easily finished, and I'd consider getting another, I just wish it stayed a bit softer in my freezer, scooping it was always the biggest deterrent!

3.5/5 ... borderline 4/5.

Toppings

For toppings, Smitten offers sauces (chocolate, strawberry, or brown sugar caramel), "healthy things" (toasted almonds, spiced oat crumble), and crowd pleasers (cookie dough chunks, chocolate crispies, rainbow sprinkles).  I decided to try the cookie dough chunks as they sounded the most fun, and the crumble, as I knew I'd be able to use it in others ways too (like on my morning breakfast fruit and yogurt parfait!).  

Spiced Oat Crumble.

I was a bit nervous about the oat crumble, due to one key word: "spiced".  I like spices, don't get me wrong, but spiced crumble I feared could be like many seasonal offerings that spring up in the fall, with just far too much nutmeg.  Luckily, there was no nutmeg in the spicing, the spicing was just cinnamon and ginger.

The crumble was ... fine.  The chunks fairly large, and mostly just reminded me of Nature Valley crunchy granola bars, which I don't really care for.  Just oats-butter-sugar, and light spicing.

Fine, but not exciting, and not the crumble I was expecting ... I thought it would be more like a fruit crisp or crumble topping, not granola bar.

2.5/5.

Cookie Dough Chunks.

The cookie dough chunks are the same as those used in the Cookie Dough with Pretzels & Chocolate Chips ice cream, so they include bits of pretzel, in addition to the expected (mini) chips.  The big difference, compared to the ice cream, of course is the size.  These are real chunks.

The chunks were ... fine?  Large size, soft enough, some slightly interesting sweetness from the use of brown sugar (in addition to regular sugar).  They seemed out of place as a topping with this size though, kinda large to throw on a sundae, but weren't really quite right to just eat as finger food.

3/5.

Original Review, July 2014

I eat a lot of ice cream.  For the most part, I don't blog about it.  Most of it is just standard ice cream, from a pint in a grocery store, or, more often, soft serve from the machine at my office.  I've also tried most of the quirky, unique San Francisco ice cream shops, offering up non-mainstream flavors, but it isn't a scene I've really gotten into.  Ok, ok, I admit it, I do love Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous, but Bi-Rite?  I really don't understand the hype, nor the willingness of folks to wait in ridiculously long lines on freezing cold days for it.  Or, Humphrey Slocombe?  Sure, the flavors are novel, but ... meh.

Given all this, it makes sense that it took me a few years to get to Smitten Ice Cream.  Yes, I like ice cream, but it seemed like yet another San Francisco trend, always with ridiculous lines.  The San Francisco location is in a parklet in Hayes Valley, in a shop crafted out of a shipping container.  They also now have a location in Oakland, and one down in Los Altos as well.  The shipping container houses the area where the ice cream is made, and an awning extends out over a few benches for seating.  But most people take their ice cream to the sunny park across the street, and mingle with the folks sipping juice from the juice shop, or coffee from the coffee shop (both popup style), or pizza from a food truck. So. Trendy.  I wanted to hate everything about this place.

But the shipping container isn't even the trendy part.  The ice cream is prepared, batch at a time, using liquid nitrogen.  The claim is that since it can freeze ridiculously quickly, you wind up with a much smoother product, and you don't need to add any chemicals or stabilizers, since it doesn't need to have any shelf life.  You can create a premium product, made from all "real" ingredients.  They use only organic milk and cream, source the fruit from local farms, the chocolate from a local chocolate candy.  And, they price it accordingly.  This is just the dessert version of $4 toast.

Shipping Container Turned into Ice Cream Shop ...

On my first visit, I was apparently not unique in my seeking out ice cream on a reasonably hot San Francisco Saturday afternoon.  I wondered if the long line was really going to be worth it, as it certainly wasn't moving quickly.  As in, it was barely moving.  The line was just to order, once you ordered, your ice cream still had to be made, and there was a wait after that too.

I'll admit, I was a bit grumpy by the time I got my ice cream.  25 minutes elapsed between the time I took this photo of the line, and the time I took the photo when I got my ice cream.  I think my total wait time was closer to 30 minutes, since I didn't snap this photo immediately.  San Franciscans love to wait in lines ...  I hated that I was one of them.

Inside, each machine makes one flavor.

Each batch of ice cream is made individually in a machine dedicated to that flavor.  Since they have only 4 machines, this means they exactly 4 flavors on any given day.  They always have classic vanilla and chocolate (60.5% TCHO), along with a monthly flavor (on my first visit in February it was earl gray with chocolate chips), and one other (alternating between salted caramel, mint chip, and brown sugar cinnamon).

Each machine is staffed by an single worker, who completes a batch, pulls the container off the machine, and then immediately starts another batch churning.  Once it starts up, he or she turns their attention back to the completed batch, and begins filling orders, one by one, until it runs out.  A batch seems to produce about 5 scoops.  Depending on what the people in front of you have ordered, this can take a while.

Besides the base flavors, you can add toppings.  Sauces are available for 50 cents each (updated: now 75 cents), and include TCHO chocolate sauce and 3 types of caramel (spicy, brown sugar, or malt).  In all the orders I saw, the sauces always amounted to a tiny drizzle, so I'd recommend doubling up on the sauces.  I'm really not sure why they apply so little.

Or, you can splurge for a crunchy topping for 75 cents, and pick from toasted walnuts, TCHO crispies, cinnamon shortbread, housemade brittles (peanut, pistachio, almond), or fresh whipped cream.  Unlike the sauces, these seem to be applied in generous amounts.

The menu is rounded out by vegan popsicles and a few bottled drinks, neither of which I tried.

Munchkin Vanilla with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Caramel and Peanut Brittle.  $4.25.

As I said, I was a bit grumpy by the time I finally received my ice cream.  Was it really worth a 30 minute wait?  I'd actually avoided going to Smitten for several years because it sounded so hyped.

But ... damn it was good.  A few bites, and I immediately stopped caring about how long I'd been waiting.  Yes, indeed, it was worth it.

The texture of the ice cream was unlike anything I'd ever had before.  It was fluffy, yet dense.  Insanely creamy.  Very, very rich.  Wow, ok, so the nitrogen thing isn't just a gimmick, it produces amazing results.

None of the flavors that day really jumped out at me - I didn't want the caffeine from chocolate or the seasonal earl gray, so I was left with vanilla or salted caramel.  I would never normally order vanilla, except that I wanted to try out the toppings, as I was really in an ice cream sundae sort of mood, and I didn't think putting caramel on caramel ice cream would make sense.  So, I was boring, and got vanilla.  It wasn't the most intense vanilla flavor, in fact, the vanilla was barely noticeable, but the toppings made up for it.

I wanted a sauce, and my choices were three types of caramel: spicy, malt, or brown sugar cinnamon.  I didn't really know what was different about them, so asked for a recommendation, and the person taking my order suggested the brown sugar cinnamon.  So I went for it.  It was sweet, a bit cinnamony, not bad.  But there was very, very little of it.  Just a tiny drizzle.  Toppings cost the same no matter what size you get, so if I'd had a bigger ice cream, I think I would have wound up with only 2 bites with sauce.  It was not hot, and was a bit thick, but just a tiny tiny drizzle.  I'd gladly pay double for more, as this wasn't sufficient.

I also wanted a crunchy topping, so went for the housemade peanut brittle.  I was hoping it would add a crunch, obviously, but also a sweet and salty component.  Unfortunately, it didn't really have any salt to it, not in the peanuts, not in the brittle.  But, it was crunchy, it was sweet, and I enjoyed it.  Definitely a premium topping, and that was applied in generous amounts.  ***+.

The ice cream didn't melt too quickly, and I loved the even smoother consistency it got as it melted slightly.  I tried to stop devouring it to let it melt a little, but ... it was too hard to resist.  Seriously, so good. ****.

Besides the small amount of caramel, the only other complaint I have is with the spoon.  It was an obnoxious little gelato spoon, so hard to take big bites.  But, moreover, it was one of those potato spoons, so it was too flexible, and bent easily, making it even more difficult to eat.  Yes, I'm complaining that the spoon was too small to shovel ice cream into my mouth fast enough, and that its bio-degradable nature made that even worse ...

Smitten isn't a cheap place, as a small, without toppings, is $4.75.  I knew a secret though - it isn't listed anywhere on the menu, but you can get a "munchkin", a single scoop, for $3.  I saw several smalls come out ahead of mine, and I really didn't think my munchkin was that much smaller.  It wasn't a huge ice cream, but it was plenty satisfying as an after-meal treat.  I think my munchkin plus two toppings was a better deal than a plain small.

I really enjoyed my ice cream, and I'd go back, even if there is a long line.  I'd love to try their homemade waffle cones ($1), which smelt amazing, and perhaps the shortbread cookies as a mix-in ... mmm...

Munchkin Rhubarb Crisp with Toasted Walnuts and Whipped Cream. $5.

So, I went back.  This time my choices were again vanilla, chocolate, and salted caramel, along with the seasonal flavor for April: Rhubarb Crisp.  Due to its more complicated mix-ins, the rhubarb crisp carried a $0.50 premium.

I'm not sure if I've ever written about my distaste for rhubarb before, but, let's just say I sorta have a vendetta against rhubarb, due to its sneaking into my mom's homemade strawberry jam when I was a child.  Even as an adult, I haven't gotten over it.  But ... fruit crisp and ice cream is one of my most favorite things on earth.  I liked the vanilla on my first visit, but I wasn't super excited about getting it again, and I still didn't want the chocolate or salted caramel for the same reasons as my previous visit.  So ... I went for the rhubarb, against my better judgement.

Like the vanilla, the ice cream was incredibly smooth and creamy.  It didn't melt too quickly.  The rhubarb was added as mostly a liquid, so it was entirely integrated into the ice cream, no chunks.  It was tart.  Rhubarb-y.  Certainly not my favorite flavor, but I did appreciate that the ice cream wasn't super sweet.  The crisp part of the "rhubarb crisp" was streusel pieces, all very tiny, well mixed in.  They added texture, but I would have liked bigger chunks so I could actually taste them.  ***.

The base ice cream wasn't turning out to be the fruit crisp I was striving for, but I hoped my topping choices would enhance it.  I always love cold ice cream with my hot fruit crisps/crumbles/pies, but, in reality, I also always want whipped cream.  So, I added it to my creation.  The whipped cream was very fluffy, lightly sweetened, fresh whipped cream out of a dispenser with Co2 cartridge, not canned stuff.  I got a generous amount for the additional $0.75 charge. ***+.

I also wanted to make sure it was crunchy and reminded me of a crisp, so I added the toasted walnuts.  They were ... just walnuts.  Not quite sure what I was expecting, but there wasn't anything remarkable about these.  I got a generous spoonful of nuts for my $0.75.  ***.

Overall, I didn't love this, but I only blame myself.  I ordered a flavor I know I don't like, and I wanted it to be a fruit crisp and ice cream, which it wasn't.  I think that flavor with a sauce might have worked better, to compliment the tart rhubarb with something more sweet.  And the cinnamon shortbread cookies would have worked for a better crunchy, crisp-like topping than the nuts.  For next time ...

Munchkin Fresh Mint Chip with TCHO Chocolate Sauce, Malt Syrup, and Peanut Brittle. $4.75. 

Finally, I visited when the famous mint chip was being made!  It is part of the standard rotation, yet somehow I kept missing it.  I’d read great things about it, and had been hoping to run into it for ages.

Like all of the ice cream from Smitten, I liked the texture, so smooth and creamy, although, it seemed less rich than some of the other flavors.  Maybe I’m just used to it by now, or maybe it is due to the mix-ins?  Anyway, the remarkable thing about this flavor was how intense the mint was, and, that it was real mint.  Not mint flavor, but mint.  It tasted like eating leaves of mint.  I can honestly say I’ve never had any mint product taste so legitimately minty.  I actually didn’t love that flavor, but, I was impressed.

The chocolate wasn’t actually chips, rather, large flecks of dark chocolate.  A generous amount of chocolate, all high quality.  Given that they use TCHO for their sauces and toppings, I imagine it is TCHO as well.  ***.

Speaking of the sauces, I went for a duo this time, since I have felt in the past that they didn’t put enough on.  Rather than doubling up on one, I decided to ask for two, the chocolate sauce and the malt sauce.  I really had no idea what to expect from a malt sauce, but I didn’t want to have caramel with mint chip, as that just sounded odd, so malt was my only other choice.  The chocolate sauce was a thin style, and good enough, but it was very lost when mixed together with the malt, which, really just tasted sweet.  It wasn’t the right topping for the mint chip.  ***.

I also added peanut brittle, just because I wanted something crunchy, and they were out of the TCHO crispies I would have liked to add.  Peanut brittle was also not the right thing to add, it was just sweet, and super strange with the mint.  Good on its own, but not in this combo.

So, overall, I didn’t create a winner here.  I still enjoyed the toppings, and I enjoyed the ice cream, but they didn’t combine very well.  And, although I really was impressed by the minty flavor of the Mint Chip, I wouldn’t go for it again.

Update: Ojan got this flavor on a subsequent visit, with whipped cream and chocolate sauce.  I again felt like it was crazy minty, like real mint leaves, and again just didn't care for it much.

Munchkin Nectarine with Brown Sugar Caramel and Cinnamon Shortbread.  $5.

Seasonal Flavor for July, nectarine: "Ripened by the hot sun overhead, stone fruits from local orchards are juiciest and most plentiful throughout July."

The nectarine was recommended with brown sugar caramel, so I choose that as one topping.  Inspired by the thought of a fruit crisp, I also added cinnamon shortbreads, since I thought the cookie crumbles would be a bit like a crisp topping.

The nectarine ice cream was tasty, same good texture and density as all of their other ice cream.  It had some very small pieces of nectarine inside.  Very seasonal and fresh tasting.  ***+.

The brown sugar caramel didn't go with it at all.  I was really shocking by what a poor pairing it was.  nectarines with brown sugar sounded good, but the caramel was just too sweet, and masked the nice flavor of the nectarines.  In the past, I've mentioned that I only received a tiny drizzle of the sauce, and this time, there was tons of it.  Doh.  (Sauces also increased to $0.75 from $0.50, so maybe they are intentionally giving a bit more now?)

The cinnamon shortbreads were also a fail.  I didn't taste cinnamon at all, and they were just dried out and boring.  Not very buttery.  I appreciated the generous amount and the crumble sizes, but, I really didn't like them.  **.

A munchkin base price is $3, but nectarine was an additional $0.50, and both toppings were $0.75 each, making this a $5 investment.  Normal for Smitten, but pretty pricy for such a small treat.

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