Ice Cream Fore-U, New Hampshire

Update Review, August / September 2021

As I've mentioned before in my original reviews, Ice Cream Fore-U was a place I grew up going to, and loved for the ridiculously low prices and large portion sizes, but, in recent years, I grew wary of, just because their ice cream, well, wasn't that good.  I'd mostly stopped going, until last summer, when I was staying with my parents for a while, and ... well, it got better.

So, end of summer, 2021, when I went to visit home, I decided to check it out a few times, you know, for "research".

Good news: it isn't the best soft serve out there, not even close, but, it isn't bad.  I won't go out of my way, in any way, for it, but, it is off my list of "no way"!

Coconut & Blueberry (Layers). X-Small. Rainbow Sprinkles.

I was in the mood for interesting flavors, and thus opted to get flavor infusions, they though I haven't always loved those.  I knew I liked the coconut before, and went totally roque and picked blueberry as my second flavor.  I went for the X-Small, which is actually the second smallest size, one up from the baby.

My cone may have not looked great, and really, looked quite homely, but I think that is because they layer the two flavors several times, and since each was a separate infusion, I think they had to do this in several steps.  You can't see it, but the blueberry was quite blue, was fairly fruity, and was good enough.

The coconut I liked as before, nice coconut flavor.  Both were fairly creamy, not icy, just, fine.  

Overall, this was decent enough soft serve.  Not the creamiest, not the most flavorful, but nothing bad about it.  The sprinkles were standard rainbow sprinkles, but I appreciated how generously applied they were.  My Joy cone was stale however.

***+.

I also sampled two flavors of the week. The orange was too "fake medicine" tasting, but it was a brilliant orange color, and was quite fruity.  The pistachio I actually quite liked, not a fake flavor, and it did have a lot of flavor to it.  Far better than Dairy Twirl pistachio that I had the next day.

Flurry: Vanilla soft serve, cookie dough, white chocolate chips,
whipped cream, sprinkles.  $5.75.

I had my first Flurry last year on closing day, and was quite pleased with the experience, so I opted to get another one this year.  Flurries are made with your choice of soft serve (I stuck with vanilla), a candy mix-in (I went for cookie dough, as I had intended last year but got the cookie-brownie dough instead, AND white chocolate chips), and are topped with whipped cream and sprinkles (which I didn't have last year as they were out).

I was again pleased with the creation.  The whipped cream and sprinkles were exactly what you'd expect, generic but fine.  They added to the overall effect of the creation nicely.  

The ice cream was perfectly bended with my mix-ins.  I didn't taste, nor detect, any of the white chocolate chips, so I'm not certain they were actually added, but perhaps they added to the sweetness?  The cookie dough bits I had expected to remain in decent sized bits, much like the cookie-brownie dough from last time, but they were totally chopped up and integrated in, just flecks of chocolate, flecks of dough, all throughout. The result was ice cream that tasted intensely of cookie dough, infused in every bite, but didn't have any hunks to dig for.  I think I liked it this way, and it made me think of how fun it would be to do a base flavor in addition to the candy mix-in, like, coconut cookie dough?  Next time ...

Overall, this was fun to eat, the ice cream was perfectly soft and melty, the whipped cream added to make it feel like a sundae almost, and it was quite tasty.

Flurries come in this one massive size only, and although I enjoyed it, I can't imagine finishing one myself!  Luckily ... it stashes away nicely in a freezer mug.

****.

Peanut Butter & Vanilla Soft Serve, with Chocolate Dip.  Large.

Um, wow.

Yup, last day of the season, so I upgraded to a large.  I tasted the special flavor of the day, maple, and it was fine, but not quite what I wanted.  Thus, peanut butter it was, always a favorite for me.

I was taken by surprise when the server asked if I wanted the flavor syrup, as is usually used (like any of their flavor infusions) or if I wanted her to make it with real peanut butter sauce instead, like what they use for sundaes.  Whoa, what?  I had no idea they did that!  She explained that it made the flavor far more rich and intense, and is how she liked it.  Given that I always thought the flavor infusion peanut butter was a bit weak, I went for it, even knowing that, gulp, this was NOT going to be a light offering!

The result was even richer than I imagined.  Literally, peanut butter sauce blended with vanilla soft serve, into a creamy, rich, and very, very, very peanut buttery treat.  Honestly, two spoonfuls was even too much on its own, but with the chocolate dip it cut it slightly to be like a peanut butter cup (it worked soooo well together!), and the layers of vanilla in here were very necessary to dial it down a touch.  But still, so very, very rich.

This was quite fun to try, and damn good, but I can't imagine eating it all in one sitting ... although I did quite a number on it!  I think I'd go back to getting the flavor infusion in the future, or, perhaps just getting a half-small like this ...

***+.

Update Review, Summer 2020

I'll be honest: I had sworn off Ice Cream Fore-U (which you can see in my original reviews, below).  Compared to other options in the area, like Dairy Twirl, there was just no reason at all to ever go there, when I consistently found their soft serve less creamy, really icy.  Yes, they use the same Hood base as other places, although they opt for the lower milk fat percentage (4% rather than the 6% or 10% other places use).  You can tell.  Their hard ice cream is Giffords, which is good ice cream, but, I can buy it at the grocery store for a fraction of the cost.

Yet I wound up there several times in the summer of 2020, when I was staying with my parents to get away from COVID hampered San Francisco.  It is my dad's favorite, he finds the soft serve at other places *too* creamy, *too* rich.

For the most part, I went, sampled the weekly flavors, found them icy, found the flavors seriously lacking, and half-heartedly got the smallest baby cone (smaller than x-small even!), just vanilla, in a cone, and brought my own sprinkles.  I never liked it.

But something changed near the end of the season.  It makes me wonder if they changed the base, or if the issue really is the volume they normally handle?  The ice cream was dramatically better in the last few days of the season.  Not icy.  Creamy.  So I made the most of it.

Fall 2020

Heath Bar & Brownie Cookie Dough Flurry.  $5.50.

This was my first Flurry from somewhere other than McDonald's, which I've reviewed before.  In my life.  I'm pretty sure.  I know most soft serve stands offer them, but for some reason, I just have never ordered one.  I think because I'm always so excited for a soft serve cone, in the sun, with my sprinkles (or dip).  But at the end of the season, when it was no longer "ice cream weather" in my mind, not a day to eat ice cream outside, I decided to live it up and try something new.  A Flurry.

Now, believe me, I've had my share of McFlurries - when I was in high school, I was on the field hockey team, and our away games generally featured a stop at McDonald's on the way home, and you know I always got one.  I remember really enjoying them actually, either with Heath Bar or Butterfinger, sometimes M&Ms (I swear I always had them with Heath Bar or Butterfinger, even though I know they aren't offered like that anymore.  They used to be right?)

Flurries come in one size only, your choice of topping mixed in, and usually come with whipped cream and sprinkles on top, but, on my visit, since end of season, they were out of whipped cream.  Which was perfectly ok with me, given the massive size of the creation.

I opted for Heath Bar, remembering how much I loved it, and then randomly decided to ask to throw in Cookie Dough too.  Why not?  I was told they were delivered the wrong thing, the cookie dough was more like a brownie dough, and I said that was fine too.

I was pleased with this.  It was very well blended, plenty of mix-ins, all distributed evenly throughout.  I absolutely cannot imagine eating this whole thing in one sitting, but, given that it came in a cup, and I had a cooler with ice with me (#alwaysprepared), I was able to get a lid and stash it in my cooler, since I was driving straight home.

Brownie Cookie Dough.

There is nothing revolutionary about the Flurry, just their standard vanilla soft serve with mix-ins, and the mix-ins were standard Heath Bar bits and (obviously) not house made brownie dough, but, it worked.  

The brownie dough, or brownie cookie dough, or whatever it was - it really seemed like chocolate cookie dough? - was good, huge chunks as you can see here.  It turned out to be my absolute favorite part, although didn't mix well with the Heath Bar.  The combo didn't actually seem better than just allowing one to shine.

For $5.50 it was certainly a splurge, but this could easily feed 2-3 people, and was far more fun than most of the plain soft serve flavors.

Vanilla Soft Serve / Butterscotch Dip. Small. $3.25 + $0.25.

Another day where it wasn't quite "ice cream weather", so I decided to try something different, taking advantage of the fact that Ice Cream Fore-U does have a wider variety of dips than most places, including butterscotch, which I haven't seen elsewhere.  Plus, they charge only $0.25 for dip (or sprinkles) rather than the $0.50 for regular toppings.

Like all dip there (and most places really), it was kinda waxy, kinda sweet, kinda like white chocolate, but not the high quality kind.  

It coated the ice cream well, and was sweet, but it certainly didn't taste like butterscotch.  I'd stick with chocolate dip in the future.

Closing day, October 2020

Every year, on closing day, Ice Cream Fore-U gives away all remaining ice cream for free.  I expected it was going to be a baby size only, no toppings or anything, but actually, they were just giving away anything and everything they had left.  You could get any size.  Any toppings.  Cups, cones, sundaes, Flurries, Italian Ice, etc, etc.  Anything they had left.

Since I didn't prioritize this adventure, I didn't arrive until mid-afternoon, and they were out of all hard serve ice cream, which is what I planned to get, since I hadn't generally really liked their soft serve.  They had a couple sorbets, sherbet, and low-fat yogurt hard serve, but, other than that, no hard serve.

They had all the soft serve though, so, I asked to sample the special soft serve of the week, maple.  I expected to hate it, icy and not creamy and not rich as always, and then just pick a sherbet or something. Or try a slushie?  Italian ice?  I'm so glad I asked to try though.

I liked it.  It was incredibly creamy.  Richer, smoother, then they have ever served their soft serve before.  To be honest, I don't understand - if they *can* make it this good, why don't they normally?  Did they switch to the higher % base at some point this season?  Is it normally a volume problem?  While people were swinging by for free ice cream, it really wasn't nearly as many folks as usual.  I can't explain it, it wasn't just that "zomg it is free", it completely was different.

So, my choice was easy, soft serve it was.  I was too surprised to think about being more creative, getting a sundae, or even getting toppings, but, I sure got my share of ice cream ...

Maple / Vanilla Soft Serve. Layered. Large. $3.75.

Um, yeah.  Welcome to A LOT OF ICE CREAM.

I've never gotten anything other than a baby ($2), or x-small ($3) if I'm really ambitious, at Fore-U before.  I've seen my Dad get a Small ($3.25) on occasion, but even he, a grown man, generally gets the X-Small, as does my mom.  I've never seen anyone, not even other guests, order anything bigger - a Medium or Large.  I mean, the place has two sizes smaller than "small", they know their sizes are inflated, like most, clearly.  

But it was free day, I could get anything ... so, large it was.  Not a day to mess around.  No more changes until spring to have it, after all.  And of course, I could stash some in my cooler with ice and bring it home to freeze, as I was driving straight home.

After the successful sample, I opted for the maple, but asked for it layered with vanilla, just to mix it up a bit (it was on the same machine as espresso, but I didn't want caffeine).   I sorta staggered away with my prize, not even knowing how to start eating this thing.  Massive.  Good thing I got a dish and not a cone!

The maple flavor was good.  It was sweet, it was maple-y, not nearly as maple forward as Mac's Maple right down the street, from their actual sugar house, but that has felt often too intense for me, and I need to really, really be in the mood for it there.  Same with King Kone, that also makes it with real maple syrup, which isn't quite as strong as Mac's, but is still a very maple forward experience.  This wasn't like those at all.  It was sweet, it tasted sorta like pancake or maple syrup, and I liked it, but it wasn't in your face, obvious legit maple.  In this case, the fact that they do fake flavor infusion, rather than actual maple syrup, worked in their favor.

I was glad to have the vanilla too, just like the maple, remarkably creamy on this day.  It was a sweet standard vanilla, not very strong vanilla flavor, not like a vanilla bean, but, it was fine.

For a free day, I am certainly not complaining.

Black Raspberry / Vanilla Soft Serve. Layered. Large. $3.75.

My mom's go-to, at all times, whenever the special flavor isn't one she loves: black raspberry.  A classic New England flavor, offered nearly everywhere on regular rotation (alongside vanilla, chocolate, and usually coffee), in addition to the special flavors of the week.  I still don't understand why the rest of the country hasn't embraced black raspberry, but *this* is the flavor I grew up with.  Black raspberry, in a cone, with sprinkles (often chocolate with black raspberry).  

But somewhere along the way, I stopped liking it.  I still like it in theory, but at least every time I try it, because I always try my mom's, I just find it ... lacking.  Either too fruity, or not flavorful enough, and just not the flavor for me.

I was again impressed with how creamy and rich and thick it was, as was the vanilla it was layered with, on this day.

But the black raspberry flavor?  Eh.  It was actually a bit stronger flavor than Dairy Twirl I think, I certainly liked it more, but, still just not a flavor I get super excited by.  My mom enjoyed it, but commented that she really prefers Dairy Twirl.

And yes, ZOMG, a large.

Original Review, July 2016

Summertime, in the north east, is about ice cream.  Sometimes froyo.  When I go visit, I manage to get ice cream basically daily.  I'm a bad influence on everyone around me, but, my visits are usually scoped to two weeks or less.  And I take full advantage of that time.

Last week, you read about my absolute favorite place for soft serve ice cream, Dairy Twirl, in Lebanon, NH.  Earlier this week you read about my favorite soft serve froyo and sundaes at the Boston area chain JP Licks.  Today brings a review of the other ice cream stand near my home town: Ice Cream Fore-U.

The Setting

Like Dairy Twirl, Fore-U is open only seasonally, generally Memorial Day through Labor Day.  Like Dairy Twirl, it is just an ice cream stand, not a restaurant, although it is located adjacent to a facility with mini-golf course, driving range, and batting cages, hence the name Fore-U.

The Stand.

The stand is more attractive than Dairy Twirl, as it is a nice wooden structure with multiple spread out windows to order at.  They have plenty of picnic tables under a roofed area and even a bathroom.

They also *always* have a line.  I have been there at 11am when they open, I've been there at 9pm at night.  In the rain.  In the heat.  In the cold.  It doesn't matter.  The line is always really, really long.  And it isn't because service is slow.  The place is just that popular, serving far more people than Dairy Twirl.  I suspect this is due to the location on the main strip in West Lebanon.

The Ice Cream

Just like Dairy Twirl, they offer Gifford's hard serve ice cream, and Hood soft serve ice cream.  The menu also has shakes, malts, smoothies, and sundaes, plus a few extra items like hot dogs and chips.  And coffee. A bigger selection the Dairy Twirl for sure.

Soft serve is always what I go for.  Fore-U offers up 4 flavors at a time: chocolate, vanilla, and black raspberry, plus a flavor that changes weekly.  Contrast this with Dairy Twirl, with 6 flavors at a time, including the same vanilla/chocolate/black raspberry, plus coffee, and two more that rotate.   (Side note: is the prevalence of black raspberry a thing in other areas?  I don't really feel like I've seen as much black raspberry anywhere but NH ...)

Fore-U also offers up an additional 40 or so more flavors through an infusion system, where they inject a syrup into the ice cream.  So even if a base flavor, or the weekly special, isn't your thing, there are tons of choices here.

Like Dairy Twirl, I've tried a ton of flavors of ice cream at Fore-U, and, none of the flavors are ever as intense as Dairy Twirl.  You would think that since the base is Hood in both locations, that it would be nearly the same.  But ... it just isn't.  I believe Hood only makes vanilla and chocolate, so, all flavors are done by the shops themselves with a mix-in.  The core flavors are certainly more flavorful than the infusion systems, but, still, Dairy Twirl is overall more flavorful.  Hood also makes their base in several different milk fat percentages (5%, 10%), and I'm not sure what either place uses.  I'm guessing 10%, as they are both quite creamy.

The one area that Fore-U really does win however is the price.  When I started taking notes a couple years ago, the size cone I got was $1.  $1!!!  

And speaking of those sizes.  Sizes range from baby, to x-small, small, medium, large, then pint or quart.  Yes, they have not one, but two sizes smaller than a small.  And, um, they are very, very generous sizes.  I've accidentally ordered the x-small a few times, forgetting that baby is actually the smallest, and it really is too much for me.  A baby size of hard ice cream is two full scoops.  An x-small is three.  And so on.  You can pick any two flavors to have in a cone, layers, or, if they are on the same machine, swirled.  They only do a single layer, not multiple like Dairy Twirl.

Prices are the same for both hard and soft serve, unlike Dairy Twirl that gives a discount for soft serve.  If you choose a flavor infusion, it is more expensive, I think $0.50 more, as they have to individually prepare the flavor for you.

Anyway, based on value alone, I pick Fore-U.  Prices have gone up slightly, but, just several years ago, I could get a cone, larger than I wanted even, for $1.  It now is $1.50 (plus 10 cents for my sprinkles/dip), so, still better than Dairy Twirl's $1.75 + $0.50, but, the flavors really are better at Dairy Twirl, so, it is where I generally head.  I won't say no to swinging by Fore-U when I'm in the area though!

Vanilla with Rainbow Sprinkles, Baby. $1.50 + $0.10.

As basic as it gets: vanilla with rainbow sprinkles, always a classic choice, and one I order often when I don't feel inspiration for a particular flavor.

The vanilla at Fore-U tends to be nicely creamy, with a decent vanilla flavor.  My numerous tasting notes say things like, "Creamy, nice flavor, pretty good", or "Nice creamy decent flavor", or "Creamy, subtle vanilla" and so on.  I regularly note how creamy it is.

Sprinkles are available in rainbow or chocolate, and are always well applied.

This is always a solid choice at Fore-U, particularly given that I get disappointed by the flavors.

Here you can also see the baby cone size.  This is a decent size ice cream, nothing really "baby about it.

Black Raspberry with Chocolate Sprinkles, Baby, $1.50 + $0.10.

Black Raspberry is the only flavor, besides vanilla and chocolate, that is always offered.

It is decently creamy, just like the vanilla, but, the black raspberry flavor is very subtle.  It doesn't necessarily taste like raspberry, just, some subtle fruitiness.

I have ordered this flavor more times than I can count, because I always want to like it, but, alas, it never has enough flavor for me.  Dairy Twirl has a much, much better black raspberry.

I always pair my black raspberry with chocolate sprinkles.

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Other Weekly Flavors

I've tired the weekly special nearly every time I have visited, but I rarely pick them, as the flavors just fail to impress.  All are nicely creamy though.  Some tasting notes:

• Banana: creamy, banana-y, but uh, meh.
• Chocolate: creamy, but I don’t like this chocolate flavor [ I just don’t like chocolate ice cream ]
• Coconut: creamy, nice coconut flavor
• Espresso: Creamy, but not much flavor at all [ Creamy, decent coffee flavor ]
• Orange: Fake, sweet, meh. [ Creamy, good flavor, would have liked swirled with vanilla ]

Flavor Infusions

As I mentioned, you can get basically any flavor you want, via the Wadden Systems infusions.  Fore-U has multiple extra flavor cards, literally, at least 40 more options.  These are made by injecting the syrup into a vanilla base.

Choices are basically every fruity flavor you could imagine (apricot, banana, blueberry, black cherry, blackberry, lemon, orange, peach, pina colada, raspberry, strawberry, etc), plus boozy options (amaretto, rum), or sweet (caramel, butter pecan, maple nut, cheesecake), and more.  I've tried a bunch over the years, but, since you can't taste test these before you order (since they mix them up individually, you have to commit without trying, something I'm always hesitant to do).

I'm glad they offer so many options, but, the flavors just aren't nearly as intense as I'd like.

Maple Nut (bottom) Peanut Butter (top) with Rainbow Sprinkles, Extra Small.  $2.50 + $0.25.

On one visit, I didn't like the weekly flavor, and I was sick of regular vanilla, and grumpy at the flavorless black raspberry, so, I opted to go for flavor infusions, not just one, but, two.  Hedge my bets.

I accidentally ordered an Extra Small, as the person in front of me (my mom) ordered an Extra Small, and I accidentally repeated what she said.  Plus, um, doesn't that sound like it should be the smallest one?  What I meant to order was a Baby cone of course, the option *smaller* than the extra small.  Doh.  It might not be obvious in this photo, but, they actually use a bigger cone for the x-small than the baby.

It really was more ice cream than I wanted at the time.  I love ice cream, but, I just wasn't in the mood for this quantity.  It was night time, not very warm, and I'd just had a big dinner.  I just wanted a final sweet treat, not a massive commitment.  My bad.   (Side note: I really can't imagine getting an actual small.  Or medium.  Or large.  Or extra-large.  I mean, REALLY?!)

The ice cream was fine, fairly creamy, but not remarkable.

The peanut butter flavor infusion didn't have much peanut butter flavor to it at all.  It was very, very subtle if anything.  Honestly, it tasted like vanilla.  This matches my notes from all the other times I tried it, where I note that the peanut butter flavor is good, but, too hard to detect in the ice cream, particularly if you add sprinkles.

The Maple Nut was a bit better, as I could actually taste something besides vanilla.  It had a nice sweetness to it.

Overall, this was all just fine.  It wasn't icy, it was creamy, but it wasn't anything special.

The sprinkles were ... too generously applied.  I know that sounds ridiculous, but, I actually ended up scraping some off, because in this quantity, it was just way too many sprinkles.

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More Infusions.

• Butter Pecan: very sweet, enjoyable, but I wouldn’t get again.
• Creme de Menthe: Minty but kinda fake tasting, not very good.
• Coconut: a bit coconuty but not remarkable.
• White Chocolate: did not like.  Way too sweet, not good flavor.

Toppings

Fore-U is better at pricing than Dairy Twirl for toppings.  At Dairy Twirl, all toppings are $0.50, no matter if you get the smallest cone or the largest, and no matter if that topping is sprinkles or if it is peanut butter cups.   At Fore-U, sprinkles and dips are only $0.10 for baby cones, $0.25 for everything else, and other toppings are $0.25/$0.50 accordingly.  This makes so much more sense, and, I always do get a bit grumpy spending an extra $0.50 to add some cheap sprinkles on my cone at Dairy Twirl (of course, JP Licks wins this one, always offering sprinkles for free).

The topping selection is pretty classic and decently extensive, with all sorts of candy and sauce toppings, but, I always go for sprinkles or dip.  Sprinkles are available in rainbow or chocolate, dip in cherry, chocolate, or butterscotch.

Sprinkles are always applied generously, sometimes almost too generously.  I've only ever had the chocolate dip, but, I've never cared for it.  It never seemed to harden as much as the dip at Dairy Twirl, not creating the same kind of shell, and, it had no flavor at all.

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Gambino's New York Subs

Gambino's New York Subs is a top find from my pandemic life.  A small sandwich shop, that I had walked by without a second glance for years, quickly became an essential part of my Covid restricted lifestyle.

"We are very excited to be able to bring this comfort food to all of you. We have taken every step to find the best meats, cheeses, produce and bread this side of the Brooklyn Bridge. Gambino’s is all about indulgence, and anticipating sinking your teeth into a steak and cheese, hot coppa and turkey, or toasted ham and cheese straight out of the oven. "

But let me back up.

Gambino's New York subs is, at heart, a sub shop, open weekdays only, for breakfast and lunch, closing mid-afternoon.  As such, it never had a place in my life, as my office provided breakfast and lunch, and thus, I never sought those meals out during the week.  Until, of course, my office shut down, and I was left to my own devices.  At some point, my random quests to get out of the house and go on a "mission", like acquiring some food, led me to Gambino's small Embarcadero Center location.

I was immediately drawn in by the charm.  It was bustling, or, as bustling as anywhere was during the lockdown days.  Everyone seemed like regulars, or at least, they were treated that way, greeted with kindness.  Orders were prepared quickly, and customers left, looking quite happy.  Clientele ranged from suit wearing folks who presumably were somehow were still working in offices, to construction crews, to random lost souls like myself.  

"Whatever your favorite is, we will deliver it with pride, knowing that it is made with the finest ingredients, made just the way you like it." —Jeannie Gambino

This saying, from the owner, is not lip service.  The staff really, truly seem to want you to enjoy your order, and go out of their way to offer customizations.  They take time to learn names, and, I was shocked, as they remembered mine by my second visit.  My second!  

The owners are a husband and wife team, and many of their family members work in the stores.  The husband makes all the deli salads fresh every day, the wife does much of the baking, and together, they run the business.  It is family run, and feels that way.  It is the sort of place, you WANT to give your business too, which is made even better by the fact that it is delicious.

Gambino's has two locations, both near each other, with similar menus, although one has a bigger kitchen facility, and can offer things like offer french fries, and has seating.  I've been to both, but more often visit the closer, but smaller, Embarcadero Center location.

I'm a repeat customer, and will continue to be, even once I'm back in the office.

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• 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 ]

I ordered in advance through AllSet most times, and my orders, including my special requests, were always ready on time.

Feasts

I've had many, many, many fabulous items from Gambino's, and was a customer for months, but I was particularly thrilled when Too Good To Go launched in San Francisco, and Gambino's was a launch partner.

If you are not familiar, Too Good To Go allows restaurants, cafes, bakeries, corner stores, etc to offer up surplus food, at a discount, at the end of the day.  Customers cannot generally select what they get, but rather, order a "mystery bag", with whatever leftovers there are.  Prices range from $2.99 to $6.99, and the value is expected to be 3x that.  It is a great way to prevent food waste, and get a nice deal.  I used it to discover many great new establishments, although, of course, there were some duds (like a corner store in Chinatown that gave me just a bag of onions!).

Anyway, Gambino's bags were offered at $5.99, so valuing ~$18, and were available for pickup during their last 30 minutes of service.  I snagged them twice, and was thrilled with the results.

Too Good To Go Mystery Bag. $5.99:
Roast Beef on Dutch Crunch, Extra Dutch Crunch, Chocolate Cake, Macaroni Salad, 2x drinks, 2x chips.

This was the first Mystery Bag I got from Gambino's, from Too Good To Go, after being a longtime Gamibino's regular customer.  To say I was blown away was an understatement.

The bag contained some clearly surplus items, and, I even got to pick several things myself. Contents:

• Someone's unclaimed roast beef and cheese sandwich, East Coast style. Clearly not freshly made, but still delicious, and SOOO much roast beef. It was kept in a hot box, so still hot. Normally $9.99.
• An extra dutch crunch bun, clearly surplus at end of day, not normally sold.
• "What deli salad would you like?" --> macaroni, duh. A full container of basically all the macaroni left over. Normally $4.25.
• "Go ahead and take some drinks and chips, whatever you want" --> I grabbed a whole milk to go with my cereal/cookies, 7 Up to go with my meal, and 2 bags of chips in a brand I hadn't had before. I'm not sure of the costs of these, like $1-2 each?
• And ... homemade chocolate cake!

Crazy value, and I was beyond pleased.

Too Good To Go Mystery Bag. $5.99.:
Lasagna, caesar salad, Specialty Sub: The Gambino, and a chocolate muffin.

This was another pretty winning mystery bag.

I was offered my choice of muffin, so I went for chocolate since I hadn't tried it before.

They included a random sandwich, which was made fresh to order - the Specialty Gambino, with mortadella, ham, salami, hot coppa, provolone. On soft french roll. West coast style. I would have preferred to pick, since they made it fresh, but, I was quite pleased.

HUGE slice of lasagna, piping hot.

And a caesar salad, premade, so clearly leftover.

The lasagna and caesar salad is usually $10.99, the Gambino sub is $9.99, and a muffin ... $3?

So clearly, >$20, amazing value.

Subs

The namesake item at Gambino's New York Subs is, obviously, the subs.  Nearly every customer I've seen there orders one.

The sub line up is fairly extensive, ranging from warm chicken parm to simple tuna salad.  Proteins and cheeses are all Boar's Head, sliced fresh daily in the morning.

Gambino's serves all subs on your choice of bread (soft sub roll, Italian hard roll, wheat roll or Dutch crunch), and one of two styles "East Coast" or "West Coast".  Both styles feature sliced tomatoes, red onion, and shredded iceberg, and East Coast style is rounded with by olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and other herbs.  West Coast style adds pickles, mayo, and mustard.  I think you could probably add just a subset of any of these toppings if you please, but most customers seem to just pick East or West.

Hot Subs

The subs that always call out to me when I visit are the hot subs.  They always look, and smell, amazing when being prepared.  Hot subs all come with Gambino's custom house cheese blend, and you can add hots or pepperoncini with no additional charge.

The hot sub lineup includes several kinds of cheesesteak, sausages, assorted parms (chicken, eggplant, meatball), pulled pork, burgers, and more.

Roast Beef & Swiss. Dutch Crunch. $9.49.
East Coast Style.  Toasted.

The first sub I tried was the roast beef, on dutch crunch, part of a Too Good to Go "Mystery Bag", so it was not something I picked out myself.  I was still pleased to get it.

Dutch crunch is the SF darling, and it held up well here.  Crusty on the outside, soft inside. 

The sub was loaded up with fillings.   The swiss cheese was extremely generous, tons of it, well melted.  And speaking of generous, it felt like a pound of freshly sliced Boar's Head roast beef!  The roast beef was standard Boar's Head quality, medium-well cooked.

Roast Beef, East Coast Style: Inside.

The sub was East Coast Style with shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, onions, olive oil, vinegar, herbs, salt, and pepper.  If I were picking this, I'd certainly go for West Coast Style, but it was nice to try something different.  I appreciated the herbs, but, I do miss my pickles, mayo, and mustard!

The shredded lettuce was a nice touch, it reminded me of old school delis, and the rest of the veggies were well suited.

Overall, a good sub, HUGE and generous, good value at $9.49.  ***.

Traditional Subs

Traditional subs are not heated by default, but can be toasted in their pizza oven upon request.   From here, you can select your choice of deli meats and cheeses, or opt for one of their "Specialty" subs.  I had a Specialty sub.

Specialty Sub: The Gambino.  Soft French Roll.  $9.99.
East Coast Style.

"Ham, Salami, Hot Coppa, Mortadella, Provolone."

A few days later, my Too Good To Go "Mystery Bag" included their namesake sub, The Gambino, again East Coast style.  It came on a soft french roll, not toasted.

It reminded me in some ways of the sub I used to get at Subway when I was growing up (as in, when I was <16 years old, and my family went there regularly for Sunday night family dinner ... ), the Cold Cut Combo, with ham, salami, and bologna.  Except this was a more grown up version.

The bread was quite fresh, so soft.  Clearly baked fresh daily.

Fillings were great, the same shredded romaine, sliced tomatoes, sliced red onions, oil, and herbs as my previous sub, and 2 slices of each meat and cheese, again Boar's Head, sliced fresh that morning. 

I love mortadella, so this was a nice mystery bag win for me.   Yeah, fancy bologna.  I liked the salami, but wouldn't go out of my way to order it.  It was well seasoned.  The coppa was too fatty/greasy for my tastes.  The ham was ... ham.  Overall a nice blend of meats though, and although provolone is rarely my cheese of choice, it went nicely with them too.

***+.

Hot Plates

While subs are the main business, Gambino's offers a few hot plates of Italian specialties: meatballs, eggplant parm, sausage & peppers, and more.  These come with side salads and garlic bread.

Wendy's Homemade Lasagna. $10.99.

"Meat lasagna with marinara sauce, and cheese. Served with Gambino's custom house cheese blend."

Gambino's always has a sign out front advertising the homemade lasagna, yet I've never seen anyone order it.  I love lasagna, so I finally had to try it.  

Let's be clear here though, um, I love some types of lasagna.  Lasagna has a lot of variety to it ... but let's just talk meat lasagna to keep it simple (although I do love a good veggie lasagna too, particularly one with butternut squash puree, swiss chard or other greens ...).  Meat lasagna.  Now, many versions have ricotta.  I do not like ricotta in my meat lasagna.  So, no ricotta please (ricotta in a veggie lasagna, not red sauce based, yes!).  Red sauce, sure, but not too much.  Even better if the meat is incorporated into the sauce, in a rich, deep bolognese.  Bonus points for béchamel in there.  Bonus points for fresh pasta rather than dried, still al dente.  Even more bonus points for crispy edges.  And yes, sure, some cheese melting about.

The Gambinos portion was HUGE, and covered in cheese.  Red sauce.  Very little ricotta.  No veggies.  Sadly no crispy edges.

It is a meat lasagna, with ground beef, and the same marinara sauce and "custom house cheese blend" used in their eggplant, meatball, and chicken parm subs and plates.  The marinara sauce was quite flavorful, well seasoned.   Far above average.  And that custom cheese blend?  Fabulous, and wowzer, tons of cheese on here.  I'm not sure what the blend is, clearly mozzarella, but there was much more to it.  Great cheese element.

The noodles were average, softer than I liked.  Meat was minimal, ground beef in a layer with the sauce on top, not throughout.  So, fantastic sauce and cheese blend, ok beef and ricotta, eh noodles.  Overall, slightly above average.

The lasagna meal is served with a side Caesar salad and garlic bread, an incredible value at $10.99 for massive portion.

***+.

Sides

Perhaps an often overlooked part of a menu, but the deli salad sides section is not to be missed at Gambino's.  All are made fresh daily, and are far, far above average.  From here you can pick from the classics like macaroni or potato salad, or the top selling pesto pasta salad, a traditional caprese with mozzarella and tomatoes, one with roasted greek veggies, and more.  All are available in two sizes.

Spoiler: I'm obsessed, really, with their macaroni salad.  I think at this point I dub it the best I've ever had.  Anywhere. 

Macaroni Salad. Small.  $4.25.

Simple enough looking macaroni salad.  Sure.

But this was good macaroni salad.  Just classic macaroni salad, with bits of bell pepper inside, and classic mayo dressing, heavily dressed, but not gross.  The macaroni is well cooked, slightly al dente, and the dressing had a slight bite to it that I like.

***+.

Macaroni Salad. Small.  $4.25.

My next visit, I had to get it again.  This version was slightly different, with large chunks of celery instead of bits of bell peppers.

It was still quite good.  I really liked the decent sized chunks of celery, and how crisp they were, adding a slight crunch.

****.

Macaroni Salad. Small. $4.25.

Another day, another version.  No celery.  No bell pepper.  Instead, herbs this time.  It did not have much extra flavor, and as always was really heavily dressed, but I still love it. ***+.

My perfect lunch I make is adding a scoop of it, plus seaweed salad, pickles + pickle juice, soy sauce, and furikake, and served over salad base (kale, bibb lettuce, sprouts), and topped with Chex mix crumble.  That creation is ***** all the way, and the macaroni salad is a key component.

Half Macaroni Salad / Half Potato Salad. Small.  $4.25.

My next visit, I decided I wanted to try the potato salad, since I adored the macaroni salad.  But ... I had FOMO, so I asked if I could get half and half, since they were the same price.  This was easily accomodated.

The potato salad unfortunately was ... eh.  It was "fine", but had sundried tomatoes which I don't really care for, and didn't have any hard boiled egg, which I do like in my potato salad.  It was fine, I finished it, but I haven't gotten it again.  ***.

The macaroni was great again though, this time with bell peppers again.  ****.

Half Macaroni Salad / Half Fruit Salad. Small.  $4.25.

Another day, and I decided to try another salad, again getting half and half, so I didn't miss out on my macaroni salad.  I opted to try the fruit salad, and it was glorious.  It has since become a repeat order, more on that soon.

**** for both (this was actually a large container, as they were out of small containers, hence why it was not full.  They did give me a full portion!).

Again, I love the macaroni mixed with kale, iceberg, pickle juice, soy sauce, and seaweed salad, and this time crumbled tempura seaweed and bbq chips on top.  It was insanely delicious. ****+.

Side Salad (sub romaine). $3.99.

Eventually, I moved on to the "side salad".  I didn't know what it would be, but the menu did say it came with mixed greens.  I asked for romaine, wanting something crisp.

It was a decent version of a garden salad, with 4 large ripe tomatoes, 4 slices of cucumber sliced to order, red onion, pepperoncini, and marinated artichoke hearts (meh).  The cucumbers were standout, really, really good.  Super juicy, quite fresh.  

It came with balsamic vinaigrette, which I didn't care for, but I used my own dressing at home anyway.

This was a great value for $3.99.  ***+.

Side Salad. $3.99.
Sub romaine, no artichoke, ranch.

Craving greens, I got it again, again asking for romaine, and no artichokes, since I don't like them.

Just like last time, it was crazy fresh ingredients, juicy cukes, thin sliced onion, tons of pepperonici, juicy tomatoes (sliced this time instead of cherry), and this time, it also had some roasted red peppers.

I tried ranch this time for dressing, and it was pretty generic.

***+, again, great value for freshness in particular.

Side Salad. $3.99.
Sub romaine, no artichoke, add mushrooms.

Another day, another side salad.

This time I was asked if I wanted something in place of the artichokes, and was offered mushrooms, so I went for it. They were marinated, not fresh mushrooms.

Again, solid, although the slimy marinated mushrooms I didn't get again.

***+.

Side Salad. $3.99.
Sub romaine, no artichoke.

I get this side salad regularly, always the same modifications.  This one had a comical amount of pepperoncini.

Side Salad. $3.99.
No artichoke.

For once, I got the mixed greens instead of romaine. They were fine, standard mixed greens, but I prefer the crunch from romaine. This version also had really thinly sliced red onion, which I quite liked, and TONS of super fresh cucumber.

***+.

Caesar Salad - Side.

"Romaine, croutons, parmesan cheese, and Caesar dressing."

One day, I finally broke from my mold, and got the Caesar instead.

The base is the same romaine I always get in my side salad, fresh, nice sized chunks.

Rounded out with shredded parmesan, flavorful crisp good sized croutons, and the same Caesar dressing that I'm not quite into, very generic.

Good enough standard salad.  ***.

A full Caesar is $7.49, this was the side size included with lasagna meal.

Desserts / Baked Goods / Sweets

Gambino's isn't really a dessert destination, but they always has a small pastry case with some muffins, danishes, cookies, and cakes, most of which come from Costco, but from time to time, homemade items appear.  They also have fresh fruit and yogurt parfaits, for those who want something healthier.

Fruit Salad. Small. $4.25.

The Gambino's fruit salad may be my favorite item.  It is a close tie with the macaroni salad.  I get it nearly every visit.

The fruit mix always contains cut strawberries, and an assortment of berries, usually raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries, although every once in a while one type of berry is absent.  The fruit salad never contains fillers like melons nor pineapple, no grapes, nothing else, just, berries.

The fruit has always been fresh, flavorful, ripe, and just very, very good.  The price is great for quality fruit, and I get it over and over again.

****+.

Fruit Parfait. $6.49.

"Our delicious and light yogurt topped with granola and blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries."

Eh.

The yogurt was just generic vanilla-ish yogurt, not thick, rich, Greek yogurt.  It had a slightly fake sweet taste to it.  The granola was equally generic, I think the same Kellogg's granola that airport lounges and hotel buffets have.

The fruit though was fantastic, the same berry mix that I get as a side often.

So, overall, generic hotel/airline lounge quality yogurt and granola, enjoyable fruit.  Large size, but $6.49 felt a bit pricey for not using local yogurt or housemade granola.

**+.

Homemade Chocolate Cake.

The owner's wife makes many of their baked goods, and this was the first that I was able to try.

Moist chocolate loaf cake.  Loved the sweet white chocolate, dulce, and dark chocolate drizzled on top.

Clearly freshly made, but loaf cakes aren't really my thing (where is the frosting!).  I brought it home, heated it up, and added a scoop of salted caramel nib ice cream, and it was quite satisfying.

***+.

Chocolate Chip Cookies.

The cookies looked far above average.  Large size, and were soooo soft.

But, um, they tasted kinda like a large soft baked Chips Ahoy cookie. Not fresh, but not stale, if that makes sense.  Tasted, um, processed?

I wanted to love them, as I loved how soft they were, and they did have nice large hunks of chocolate, but they just tasted too fake and generic.

I would not be surprised to learn that these are just Costco cookies ... 

**+.

Almond Poppyseed Muffin.

Gambino's always has a variety of muffins, wrapped up individually in the case.  I'm quite certain these are Costco muffins, and if you've read my review before, you know how much I love the almond poppyseed Costco muffins, so, one day, I just had to get one.

It has been years since I had a Costco muffin, but I remembered the poppyseed always being my favorite.  Unlike nearly every poppyseed muffin on the market, this one is not lemon poppyseed.  No, it is *almond* poppyseed.

It lived up to my memories.  Mind you, this is not a homemade tasting muffin, you can tell it is a mass produced generic muffin.  So bad for you, really, yet so good.

I loved the crunch of poppy seeds, the strong almond marzipan-like flavor.  

****.

Double Chocoate Muffin.

The next time I visited Gambinos, I was craving chocolate.  Chocolate cake.  But alas, the homemade chocolate cake was not available.  I settled for a chocolate muffin, which, yup, was from Costco too.

MEH.  

While I adore the almond poppyseed muffin, the same cannot be said about the double chocolate.

This was such a boring muffin.  Light chocolate flavor, not deep and rich, and certainly nothing like a chocolate cake.  It wasn't stale, but was fairly dry.  Not moist.

The "double" chocolate came in the form of 2-3 chocolate chunks in my muffin.  Bo-ring.

Highly underwhelming, and I'd like to know what they put in it to make it 680 calories and yet ... not even tasty!

I salvaged it by soaking it in milk, warming it up, and serving a la mode, more like a cake, and that was ok, but I clearly wouldn't get another.

**.

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