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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Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge, SFO

Attention United domestic flyers.  Did you know, that if you have Star Alliance Gold or higher status, that you can use the Air Canada Maple Leaf Lounge at SFO, even when flying domestically?  So even if United doesn't give you UA Club access, you have an option!  Yes, it is located over in the International Terminal, near D gates, but it isn't a long walk from the E or F gates that United uses for these flights.  This was my first visit.

The lounge really was a pleasant enough experience, particularly compared to a UA club.  It was very full, but not bursting at the seams like the UA club (which, literally had no seats available, and swarms of people just standing up waiting for a seat).  It was light filled, and seemed relatively calm, which was impressive given the fullness.

The main attraction seems to be the outside terrace (yes, real fresh air!), although it was a dreary rainy day when I visited, so I didn't spend time out there.  I'd like to visit again sometime when it isn't breakfast hours as the offerings weren't particularly interesting.

Seating.

There are several kinds of seating areas, all along the bright windows.  It was full, but seats opened up fairly readily.

Runway Views.

The windows were large, and had great runway views.  This is not a dismal lounge.

Bar.

The bar opens at 11am when breakfast service ends.  There is a barista, but they do not do decaf espresso drinks.

Breakfast buffet.

The breakfast buffet had oatmeal and baked beans in the soup wells, plus hash browns, sausage, eggs, and "french toast".  I tried the later, which was just a very eggy casserole/bread pudding.  Far too eggy for me.

Fruit/yogurt/oatmeal toppings.

Some basic fruit, yogurt, and other toppings for oatmeal came next.

Toast.

Simple bread, "tea cake", and a toaster completed the line up.  No muffins, danishes, or pastries of any kind.

Soda machine.

The self-serve soda machine had a few options, but nothing I was interested in.  I found it interesting that they went for a simple model like this, rather than Coke Freestyle machines everyone else has been adding.  They also had a sparkling and regular water tap, and a robot coffee machine.

I tried the decaf coffee, but it was pretty awful.

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United Club, SFO

I've visited the rather lackluster United Club a couple times, both morning and evening.  The only real highlight is the snack mixes.  And candy, when they have it, but I think that may be entirely removed now. Start below for my original reviews.

Update Review - April 2026 Visit

Wow, um, what happened to the United Club locations at SFO?!  Not that they were ever amazing, but they used to have a small salad bar (sometimes a nacho bar too?), some decent snack mixes and candy, and 1-2 other quasi interesting things.  Its all greatly reduced now.  I was not pleased.

Hot Foods.

The hot food buffet was chicken meatballs, a veggie tofu dish, and rice.  It all looked very unappealing.  The clubs have previously had some decent items, but this was not a good lineup.  

Sandwiches, Salads.

The salad bar is gone, 2 mushy pre-made salads were in its place.

Salads (bigger club).

I went to the bigger location near the Rotunda, but it too no longer had a salad bar, just these salads.  All had quite a few components I didn't care for.  Boo.  The one with the berries though at least had fresh, ripe berries.

Cheese/crackers/olives.

The little cornichons were the only thing worth eating.  I was desparate.

Pho Bar.

The bigger lounge did have a pho bar, with some garnishes.  I didn't try this.

Cookies, Centennial cake.

In honor of the centennial, they did have some birthday cake.  It was fine, but really just like grocery store funfetti mix with some Crisco based frosting.  Which honestly, can be fine.  Bakery quality cake?  Not at all.  Honestly, not even buffet/lounge quality cake.  But it reminded me childhood birthday parties at friend's houses where the mother didn't bake, and I found it quasi charming.  3/5, lol.

Chocolate Chip Cookie.

People often talk about how good the lounge chocolate chip cookies are, and even though their photos look entirely different from what I've ever seen in SF, I decided to try one.  

And yeah, this was not a good cookie.  Quasi-soft, but no real flavor, it didn't taste fresh, seemed honestly like a packaged cookie.  I think the people that rave about the really thin crispy chocoalte chip cookies must have a different product than we have in SF.

Snacks?

The snack mix / candy section, always a highlight for me, had only corn nuts.  There were signs for energy mix with dark chocolate, and plantain chips, but alas, it was never brought out, in the >1 hour that I was there.

That said, I do love their corn nuts.  They are considerably more crispy than most.  4/5 corn nuts!

Update Review - December 2024 Visit

Another visit to the bigger location near the rotunda.  I was satisfied with this visit.

Snack Mixes: Chocolate/almond/dried fruit, corn nuts, dried fruit.

United generally has decent snack mixes, and I love snack mixes, so I love that they have them as the first thing you encounter when you enter.

This lineup was a bit boring however.  The corn nuts were good, fresh, crispy ***.  Dried fruit average, not what I wanted.

The one that let me down was the mix that said it had chocolate covered espresso beans (and dried fruit and almonds).  It did have those later two things, but ... every chocolate covered thing I encountered was a raisin.  BOOO.  That said, the almonds in particularly were strangely good, and the dark chocolate hunks in here were high quality.  ***+.

The second snack station over by the bar had the same offerings, another slight disappointment, as usually they have something different over there.

BBQ Rolls.

The main entree selection of the day was a build-your-own bbq sliders station, that they called, "bbq rolls", featuring Hawaiian buns as the base, two hot filling choices, and coleslaw.

The Hawaiian rolls were soft, not stale, and enjoyable.  ***.

Pulled Pork, Vegetable Succotash.

The hot options to stuff inside (or eat alongside) were pulled pork that actually smelt great, and a corn succotash.  The pulled pork was tender and flavorful (although fairly generic bbq sauce flavor), but was a bit greasy for my taste.  **+. 

Nacho Bar.

The nacho bar had standard chips, salsa, sour cream, guac, etc.  The slaw for the sliders was hiding here too.  

The slaw was very classic slaw, mayo based, and I liked it well enough.  Fresh, crispy, not drowning in dressing but well dressed.

Noodle & Salad Bar.

The main food station had a noodle bar that people seemed really into, with add-ins that could also easily morph into salad bar toppings, made even more easily given their placement side by side.  This area had a second, totally different, coleslaw as well, this one with apples, and more mustardy flavor.  I preferred the classic slaw from the pulled pork station.  The salad greens were fresh and crisp enough.  Pretty standard salad bar offerings.  ***.

There was also a section of pre-made sandwiches that I failed to take a photo of, and chicken orzo soup.

Cheese, Crackers, Desserts.

The final station was the generic cubes of cheese and assorted crackers, along with desserts.

Almond Toffee Blondies.

Rather than the standard cookies and brownies, they had blondies with attractive big hunks of chocolate in them.

Apple Cinnamon Crisp Bar.

I was delighted to see the apple crisp (although mislabelled as a apple cinnamon crisp bar).  They do sometimes have the soft, mushy, pretty awful apple crisp bars in this lounge, that I always lament, because they have such good apple cobbler style cake on board some flights.  So real fruit crisp?  Sounded great.

It was served in a vessel as if it should be warm, but it was not.  It was still decent - nice size hunks of apple, not too mushy, well spiced, tons of streusel on top.  I wanted some whipped cream to go with, and I wanted it warm, but, really, this was a nice surprise.  ***.

Update Review - January 2024 Visit

This visit was to the larger location near the Rotunda.

I had extra time before my international flight, so I took the opportunity to wander over to the bigger United Club in the rotunda area.  I hadn't visited that one in a while.

Overall it was the same as any previous visit, and not noteworthy.  Basic salad/sandwiches/chips and salsa/soup of the day, yadda yadda, but I was still pleased to find a different mix of snacks and candy than the Polaris lounge, the Coke Freestyle machine with a huge array of options, and, shockingly good cooked plantains?

Snacks!

Not fancy, but, the corn nuts, wasabi peas, and Jelly Belly beans all made me pretty happy.  In particular, I really do like their wasabi peas, they are really well coated with nice kick to them.

Caramel Apple Bars.

Besides the basic cookie and brownies they had the same caramel apple bars that the smaller lounge had my last visit, and I forgot I didn't like.  Oops.  Yeah, just mush. These are shockingly bad. *.

Cuban Pork?

The hot dish was more interesting than the standard meatballs or pasta this time.  Reasonable looking cuban pork, with beans and ...

Plantains!

Plantains!

They really were pretty good, nicely cooked, not too mushy, light seasoning.  A surprise to find in the basic United Club.  I wished for some whipped cream to take them in a dessert direction though ... ***+.

Update Review - Nov 2023 Visit. 

This visit was to the smaller location near the G gates in the International Terminal.

Clam Chowder.

The soup of the day was clam chowder, something I seem to frequently try in airline lounges.  I blame the The Lounge in Boston, where I once had actually quite good clam chowder.  Ever since then, I seem to get drawn in to it, even though most version aren't very good.

This was no different.  It was at least reasonably thick and creamy, but, I didn't taste nor find any clams.  Mine had a few small bits of potato.  It definitely needed seasoning.  No reason to eat this.  No crackers to go with.  **+.

Update Review May 2024: I like clam chowder.   I often like airline lounge clam chowder even.  This was ... a nice, thick, rich chowder.  But ... clam?  I didn't find any clams.  I didn't taste any clams.  I didn't really taste much of anything.  It was woefully under-seasoned.  It did have some hunks of soft potato and celery.  But wow, it needed salt, pepper, sriracha, and, well, clams.  **+.  

Beef Meatballs.

The main entree was beef meatballs in red sauce.  I'm not entirely sure what you were supposed to do with them ...

Bread and Cheese.

The rest of the meatball station had slices of bread and shredded cheese, so I think you were supposed to kinda make meatball sandwiches?  

Pesto Tofu.

But for vegetarians, this station had pesto tofu, which seems kinda weird to put on bread slices.  The station mostly seemed like it was missing pasta (and additional sauce).  

Sandwiches.

The other main dish was sandwiches, either a vegetarian curried chickpea wrap with hummus, veggies, and more, or a pastrami reuben on marble rye.  If I was actually wanting food, I do like a reuben, and nearly tried it.

Cheese & Fruit.

The cheese and cracker selection was more pedestrian than the Polaris lounge version, and no meats on offer, but it was kept better stocked.  They also had fresh grapes rather than dried fruit.  The grapes were fine.

Salad Bar.

The salad bar was more meager than the Polaris lounge version. 

Nachos & Toppings.

However the chips and salsa lineup was more extensive, with fresh jalapeno and onions, sour cream, and even guac.

Snacks.

The snack dispenser lineup was different from past visits.  Today it had savory corn nuts and wasabi peas, and Jelly Belly jelly beans.  I had the wasabi peas in the Polaris lounge, but snagged corn nuts (average, good crunch, not stale, nice salt level) and plenty of Jelly Belly beans here.  ***+.

Caramel Apple Bars.

Shockingly the dessert was not token cookies, but rather, caramel apple bars.  So seasonally appropriate.  Given that I've enjoyed the apple pie on recent United flights, I gave this a try, hoping it would be the same vendor (Eli's Cheesecake).

This was far less good.  Fairly mushy all around - mushy apples, mushy topping.  Relatively strong spicing.  I didn't like this much.  **.

Pumpkin Swirl Cake.

This looked *exactly* like the pumpkin swirl cake I had last year from Boudin.  I didn't like theirs and had little hope for this.  It was a little better than the Boudin one, this at least was moist, and had a decent pumpkin flavor.  To me though it needed to be warm with ice cream, or with whipped cream or icing to be a dessert.  It seemed more like a breakfast coffee cake.  **+.

S'mores Bar (May 2024).

It was ... fine?  But much like s'mores, I don't really care for the elements.  Gooey marshmallow, dominant graham crumble, minor chocolate element.  It ate very dry. **.

Update Reviews - Early 2023 Visits

Snack Mixes.

Three different snacks were available, different from the ones I had in the Polaris lounge: "Super charged cranberry blend", M&Ms, and another seed and nut mix dubbed "healthy trail mix".

I tried the trail mix (mostly sunflower seeds), and the super charged mix, which at least had some reasonable quality dark chocolate chunks and yogurt covered raisins.

Nacho Bar.

I'm sure some people are excited by the nacho bar, but, I didn't try anything.  

Sandwiches.

The sandwiches are generally lower quality here than in the Polaris lounge, e.g. on this day one was ham here, and it was prosciutto there.

Cheese / Crackers / Cookies / Brownies.

The cheeses and crackers are also a notch below the quality in Polaris lounge, and the desserts are usually just chocolate chip cookies and brownies.

Peach Cobbler.

I did discover a hidden treat though - in the back corner of the lounge, near the coffee and tea station, was ... peach cobbler?!  These came pre-portioned in cardboard cups.  Of course I had to try one.

It actually wasn't bad ... soft but not too mushy peaches, generous sweet crumble.  It was served at room temperature, and without any toppings, but I think if it was warm, and/or had whipped cream or ice cream to go with it, it would be pretty good.  I think you could throw yogurt on it and call it breakfast too.  A nice surprise, but at room temperature with no accompaniment it was only ok.  ***.

Update Reviews - 2022 Visits

There are several United Clubs at SFO, I first stopped by the bigger one, near F gates.  It is considerably bigger than the one in the International Terminal G gates.  There are far more seats, and a few more food options.  However, I wouldn't call it a particularly nice lounge.  Besides soup, there is no hot food.

Sandwiches.

Basic pre-made sandwiches with lower end ingredients than the Polaris lounge are the main dish.

Salad Bar.

A basic salad bar with lackluster looking ingredients comes next.  They did have some kind of marinated chickpea salad to add on for protein.

Chips & Salsa.

Perhaps slightly unique is a nacho-ish making station, with corn tortilla chips, salsa, pico de gallo, beans.  Sadly, no cheese, a vat of nacho cheese would really help improve this offering!

I did try the pico de gallo and it really was not good ... it didn't taste fresh at all.

Minestrone Soup.

The token hot item, vegetarian minestrone soup.

Cookies.

Cookies were large, and looked ok actually, but they were not as soft as they looked, weren't particularly buttery not sugary, just, highly mediocre.  **.

Brownies / Fruit / Cheese Cubes.

They also had some dry looking brownies, juicy enough grapes, and little cheese cubes.  The Polaris lounge had slightly nicer cheeses and more cracker options.

Update Review - Late 2019 Visit

Although I had access to the far fancier Polaris Lounge, I decided to check out the United Club as well, mostly because it was closer to my gate, and I was hoping that they might have more snack-style things, which is what I was in the mood for.

The feel really was dramatically different between the two lounges - here the furnishings are blah, the space crowded, but, I just wanted to swing by the food station anyway, and that really was a bit more my style.

The buffet has no substantial food offerings, just soup (minestrone) and a salad bar (more significant than the Polaris one, actually), but features potato salad, that I really did kinda like.  Nothing special, grocery store quality, but the potatoes were not soft and mushy, it was really creamy and loaded with mayo and well seasoned ... it was my kind of potato salad.

Snack Station.

The real exciting thing for me though of course was the snack station.  The snack station that even featured little candy bags, and a sign that said "What's better than snacks? Snacks to go!".  Yes, yes, a lounge was actually *encouraging* me to take their snacks!!!

The lineup was not all that exciting, banana chips, the same honey mustard pretzels as the other lounge, generic looking hard style chocolate chip cookies and brownie cubes, and ... Mike and Ike's? Or something that sure looked and tasted like Mike and Ike.  

I was not sad to suddenly have a bag of chewy candy and loaded up on Mike and Ike's.

Hot Chocolate Station.

And then .... the best part ... the hot chocolate station!

No, not because I wanted hot chocolate.  But because it was basically a topping station.  Whipped cream!  Sprinkles!  Mini chocolate chips!  Marshmallows.  And ... togo cups.  Again, "take me away!" it screamed out.

So I did.  I knew my flight would have ice cream, so I got my toppings here in the lounge, and brought them on board.  I had a killer sundae on my flight, and was quite pleased with myself. 

Original Reviews 2018-2019

Morning (April 2019, 9:30am visit)

The lounge was bigger than I remembered, with plentiful seating.  A snack station, several drink stations, small food buffet, bar.

Breakfast options are what you expect.  Basic, not high quality, but there.

Snack Station.

Right when you enter is a station with the essentials: water, coffee, snack mix, pretzels, goldfish, banana chips, cookies.

I immediately grabbed a cup of snack mix, as I do just love this stuff.  I was pleased to see sesame sticks in the mix.  I discovered later it was kinda bbq flavored, which certainly wasn't an appeal to me.

Oatmeal.

Hot oatmeal, with basic mix-ins.

Fruit / Yogurt / Granola.

A small yogurt/fruit/granola station.

Cold Cereal.

A small cereal station, including fruit loops!

Fruit.

Whole fruit, nothing out of the ordinary.

Bagels, Toast, Toppings.

A toaster was available to toast bread and bagels, basic plain cream cheese, butter, and Smuckers jams on the side.

Pastries.

Mini muffins, pastries, and quickbreads of several varieties were available.  I don't know why I bothered try one, I think I was bored, so I took a custard danish.  The custard was fine, but the danish itself was exactly as expected, not flaky, and not actually good.  Maybe better than one served on board.

Illy Coffee Machine.

Several self-service coffee machines are distributed around, in addition to the vats of pre-brewed regular only.  I was pleased to see decaf available, but it was really quite horrible.  I left the lounge to find a Peets nearby.

Coca-Cola Freestyle.

The self-service soft drink machine was one of the Coke freestyle machines, with some fun options like all flavors of flavored Sprite Zero, but ... it wasn't working, vending only plain water, and only a thimble full at a time.  Sigh.

Hot Chocolate Station.

The hot chocolate station was cute, it had sprinkles (!) and mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips.  No whipped cream.  At least this was unique.

Evening - 2018

No, I wasn’t flying United.  I don’t do that.  But I was flying with Air New Zealand, and unlike my last flight where we used the Singapore Airlines Kris lounge this time my only option was the United Club.  Which was under construction, as they were building the fancy Polaris lounge.

Underwhelmed.

Let’s just say … my expectations weren’t high, and, well, it still underwhelmed.

Lounge Seating.

The lounge was much smaller than I anticipated.  And it was very full.  There was literally no seats.  We were told to share tables with other guests.  The bathrooms were nice enough, stalls with real doors, and nice quality soap and lotion.  No showers.

This was not a space I wanted to spend any time in.  The main terminal was more tranquil.

Drink Fridge.

I mostly went to the lounge to check it out, and get a drink.  A self-serve fridge was stocked with bottles of beer and Schweppes drinks (tonic, club soda, ginger ale). 

Soda Fountain and Hard Alcohol.

A soda fountain had classic soft drinks.  There were some basic wines and hard alcohol, all self serve.  All fairly standard offerings for an international lounge.

Coffee.

A coffee machine had Illy coffee, and there was some pre-brewed as well.

Soup, Salad Greens.

The only hot item was soup, a single variety (vegetable).  Next to it was base greens for making salad.

Rolls.

Some stale looking plain rolls and packaged crackers went alongside the soup.

Salads.

A few more salad ingredients were available (carrots, tomato, edamame), along with pre-made deli style salads (soba noodles, two types of pasta salad, and waldorf salad).

I tried only the waldorf.  It was actually ok, in a strange way.  The apples and celery were crisp, the grapes juicy.  The dressing really as just mayo it seemed, with very little seasoning, but, I kinda liked it.  The walnuts added a good crunch.   I know it wasn’t a good salad, but, it was sorta refreshing, in a mayo-coated way.

Wraps, Cold Cuts, Cheese.

There were two types of wraps (I think chicken and ham), some cold cuts, cubes of cheese, and fruit salad.  I didn’t touch this stuff.

Hummus, "Dessert"

And lastly, veggies with hummus, and a very very sad dessert selection of chocolate chip cookies and brownies.  I also didn’t try this.

Mixed Nuts.

I’ll admit, I adore snack mixes in airline lounges.  Like the addicting American Airlines mixes.  But United had only mixed nuts.  I was kinda excited when I saw it contained brazil nuts, but alas, the nuts weren’t very well seasoned, and tasted stale.

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