MUSH Overnight Oats

Update Review, August 2025

A few years ago, I tried a product from Mush, and wasn't very into it.  I've seen their products in stores many time since, but even though the flavors look decent, the prices are kinda high, and I've just never gone for it.  But I was recently attending an event where they were giving them out, so of course I tried again.  Still, meh.

Peanut Butter.

"Just when you thought peanut butter was at its peak, we leveled it up. MUSH Protein Peanut Butter Overnight Oats is stacked with nutrient-rich oats, real peanuts, creamy oat milk, dates, and a hint of sea salt. Now with 15g of protein, it’s fuel that takes your day to new heights."

I really wanted to like this.  I like overnight oats.  I like oat milk.  I adore peanut butter.  I was certainly happy to see 15g of protein.  I hoped I wouldn't mind the dates (the only ingredient for sweetness). 

But ... wow, this product really lived up to its name.  It was just mush.  The dark chocolate almond milk based overnight oats I had previously tried were a touch creamier and runnier, this was just thick mush.  I stirred it up, and did find the soft oats within, but, still, just thick mush.  There was nothing about the texture of this that I liked - and again, I do like overnight oats usually!

The flavor was ... ok.  I didn't actually taste the oat milk base which surprised me as oat milk is usually pretty dominant, and I also didn't really taste the dates (yay!), and I did taste peanut butter.  But it was sorta just muted peanut butter.  Mushy, muted peanut butter.  No real sweetness.

I probably could have salvaged this by thinning it out perhaps and maybe warming it up to treat it like regular oatmeal or something, but I gave up.  2/5.

Original Review, 2024

The concept of overnight oats turns off a lot of people.  Simple concept: take oats, add milk of your choice (sometimes yogurt), soak overnight, eat chilled from the fridge.  "Mushy old oatmeal?", I remember my mom saying when I tried to explain them to her.  "Who wants cold congealed oatmeal?", etc.  But for those familiar with bircher style muesli, the concept makes more sense, although they see overnight oats as super basic and lacking ... just milk base?  What about the citrus you should soak it with?

While I embraced overnight oats during a healthy phase I went through 15 or so years ago, I didn't really expect the general American public to, but, they did.  Just like instant oatmeal, you can buy overnight oats packets that you just add milk to and mix up the night before and place in your fridge.  No measuring required, and they often come with flavorings and mix-ins.  And now, ready-made refrigerated overnight oats exist in the cooler section at supermarkets, side by side with the plethora of yogurts.  Several leading brands have emerged, but MUSH seems to be pretty dominant.

Packaging.

"Ready-to-eat oats are different than traditional oatmeal in that they are never cooked. At MUSH, we soak old fashioned oats in almond, coconut, or oat milk. The resulting product is just as easy to digest as traditional oatmeal but is more nutrient dense. We haven't cooked off the vitamins and minerals. No need to heat, just eat!"

Mush makes a variety of flavors, and one thing I found frustrating is that you can't tell from the variety name which type of milk base it uses without reading the ingredients panel.  All use alternative milks, and all are gluten-free.  Flavors range from the basic vanilla bean or maple cinnamon, to fruity strawberry/blueberry/apple cinnamon, to decadent dark chocolate, peanut butter, peanut butter chocolate, or pb&j (yes, they went all in on the peanut butter varieties!).  Some use coconut milk, others almond milk, and others oat.  All use fairly minimal ingredients.

They suggest eating them chilled, but do mention that you can heat them if you wish, transferring to different packaging of course.

Dark Chocolate.

"It only tastes indulgent. MUSH Dark Chocolate Overnight Oats is a blissful blend of real cocoa powder, dates, nutrient-rich oats and silky smooth almond milk for a treat that’s hard to resist but easy to feel good about. Breakfast, dessert, or a 2pm snack…clean ingredients and 7g of protein make it the anytime treat that still keeps you firing on all cylinders."

I really wanted to love these.  But ... I didn't.  The texture of the oats is fine, soft, overnight oats after all.  Although they look creamy, the almond milk really isn't that creamy, I wanted more richness.  The almond milk flavor is fine, but more dominant is the dates.  Chocolate is there, but dominated by the dates too.

So ... reasonable texture oats, not creamy enough, ok flavors, but too much date and not enough chocolate.  I added fresh berries, cocoa nibs, and eventually whipped cream, but I wouldn't get these again.  **.

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Baked by Melissa

Whenever I visit my New York office, I encounter a lot of leftover cake, cupcakes, and other treats from the seemingly endless team celebrations.  I'm always elated when the cake happens to come from my absolute favorite, Empire Cake, but I'm always happy to try treats from anywhere really.  Which lead me to finally try cupcakes from Baked by Melissa.

I'm familiar with Baked by Melissa, but their concept (tiny little cupcakes) hasn't ever really called out to me.  I almost grabbed a few once when delayed at JFK and I saw a stand there, but they just look too tiny to be satisfying to me (even though I love to try ALL the things, so you'd think I'd relish in the idea of getting to pick a bunch just to make up a proper size dessert).  They just seem far too small (literally, bite size).  Event hosts like to get them because they are great for groups where everyone can have "just a taste" if they so choose.  They show up very frequently in our office mini kitchens.

Guide.

The cupcakes come in a zillion flavors.  Luckily the hosts of this particular event left guides alongside the cupcakes, much like a box of chocolate.  They are relatively easy to identify with a few minutes work, as they have different base colors, frosting colors, and tiny toppings.

So many extra cupcakes.

I was able to try quite a few flavors, as they show up every few days really.  I didn't particularly enjoy, well, any.

Assorted Cupcakes.

Vanilla & Sprinkles. 

Vanilla cake + white vanilla icing + rainbow sprinkles topping.

I started with the most simple in order to evaluate the base product.  It was a highly underwhelming bite.  The cake had no real interesting flavor.  The frosting was just sweet.  The cake was moist enough, but yeah, just nothing remotely interesting about this.  2.5/5.

Tie-Dye / Electric Tie-Dye (Seasonal)

"The bite-size cupcake began here. It's our signature flavor, and it's everything."

Original Tie-dye: tie-dye vanilla cake + vanilla icing + rainbow sugar crystal topping.

Electric Tie Dye: Tie-dye vanilla cake + white vanilla icing + nonpareil brittle topping.

Next I tried their signature flavor, which sounded like basically the same thing as the vanilla, just, colorful, and with rainbow sugar crystals instead of sprinkles (or, in the case of the seasonal "electric" version, a little rainbow nonpareil brittle piece).  And yeah, again, just boring cake, no interesting flavor.  The one I had was the electric version, so it had the brittle, and that itself was sweet and tasty, but overall, this cupcake was no better really than the basic vanilla, just more interesting to look at. 2.5/5.

Cookie Dough

"You know when you go to bake some cookies, but you never get to the actual baking part? Yeah. This cupcake is for you."

Yellow cake + cookie dough stuffing + chocolate icing + cookie dough topping.

Same kinda meh cake (they called this 'yellow' rather than 'vanilla' but it seemed the same?), but the cookie dough stuffing and topping were at least decent, they tasted like, well, pretty standard raw cookie dough.  3/5 cookie dough, 2.5/5 cake + frosting though.  This is the only one I really enjoyed at all.

Note that this is different from the Cookie Sandwich flavor they also offer, which is yellow chocolate chip cake + chocolate chip cookie dough stuffing + vanilla icing + chocolate chip cookie dough piece + mini chocolate chips topping, so a bit more loaded up.

Update review: I had this again a few weeks later, and again at least really liked the cookie dough gob on top.  Everything else though?  Meh.

Chocolate Chip Pancake

"They said you couldn’t eat cupcakes for breakfast? Well, we said you can."

Yellow cake + mini chocolate chips topping + maple syrup icing (also, mini chips in the cake).

This tasted very plain to me.  The mini chips on top were nice of course, but, the cake again meh, and the frosting was just a touch sweeter than the others, not particularly maple-y, and nothing that reminded me of pancakes. 2/5.

Mint Cookie

"Thin mints meet chocolate cookie butter? It was mint to be."

Mint cake + fudge stuffing + mint cookie butter topping + mint cookies & cream icing.

This one was definitely the most interesting, as it had more flavors and elements going on.  In theory anyway.  The cake was green and ... perhaps lightly minty.  The "fudge stuffing" was a tiny, tiny, tiny not of fudge, entirely lost.  The icing didn't seem mint nor cookies & cream, it seemed just as plain as the others.  The "mint cookie butter topping" seemed more like a hunk of brownie or something?  Anyway, overall, pretty meh, just some very vague minty and chocolately notes.  2.5/5.

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Cookshop

Cookshop is an American farm to table restaurant in New York, located a few blocks away from my office there.  There isn't a lot about it to make it stand out in particular - no celeb chef, no fancy decor or vibe lighting.  It somehow manages to be located in a touristy area (near the Highline, near Chelsea Market) and yet has a casual, neighborhood feel to it.  It is always busy but not hard to get reservations.  In short, you'd probably never notice it, if you didn't live or work nearby.  

I noticed Cookshop only because they are available on Doordash for delivery, and I was really craving liver one day, and they were one of the few results to come up.  The menu overall was quite appealing to me.  So I ordered from them (after doing a modicum amount of research to make sure people generally liked the place).  It was great.  A year later, I attended a work event with pre-organized small group dinners, and my group was assigned to Cookshop.  I was excited to get the full restaurant experience, but I found it really quite average.  I don't see any reason to return, but I wouldn't be opposed if someone wanted to drag me there.

They are open daily for lunch and dinner, and on weekends for brunch.  Both of my "visits" were at dinner.

Visit #1: August 2024, Delivery

My first "visit" to Cookshop was when I was really craving chicken or duck liver, and ordered just that for delivery.  I was really pleased with it, and vowed to order, or visit, again soon.

Chicken Liver Mousse. $14.

"Pickles, focaccia crackers."

This was really quite good mousse.  Remarkably smooth and creamy, no graininess to it at all. It was sprinkled with a little bit of something on top, that I couldn't quite identify. If I had any criticism, I would say it needed a touch of salt, but that was very easy for me to add some nice large flakes fleur de sel. Really top notch liver mousse, really. 4/5.

The pickled red onions had a great harshness to them, and the acid helped cut the richness of the mouse. I usually like to have a sweet element to a liver dish though so I did miss that. 

The crostini weren't interesting, very hard and abrasive, drizzled with a lot of olive oil. I didn't end up using them, and opted for some truffle brioche toast that I had instead and greatly preferred that combination. I generally want a light fluffy brioche as my carb component for any kind of liver.  2/5 For the toasts, but I still give the dish a 3.5/5 overall. 

My Creation.

The next day, I made my own little creation with the rest of the mousse.  I was VERY pleased with what I made: chicken liver mousse + my great aunt's homemade dilly beans (for acidity to cut the richness) + fresh blackberry (sweet component that is always nice to have with pate/mousse) + sprinkle of smoked sea salt (to make it all pop), on a truffle brioche toast (major upgrade from their crostini).  This was 5 star all the way.

Visit #2: August 2025, Dine-In, Dinner

My next encounter with Cookshop was a full year later, when I went in person, for dinner, with a group of 7, for dinner, at 6pm.  The food really didn't live up to my expectations though, and was really quite mediocre.  Themes were far too much olive oil on everything, and underseasoning.  Service was average.

Patio Seating.

In nice weather, there is a fairly large patio space for outside seating, which I suspect is a big hit at brunch in particular.  However, it was dreary and cool the day we visited, so we were inside.

The restaurant was pretty empty when we arrived, but quickly filled up.  It was extremely noisy within, I failed to get a photo, but there was just nothing to dampen the sounds, and it was impossible to hear each other even at our own table, across from each other.  Service was ok, not neglectful, but not super attentive, infrequent check backs.  They did try to hit some higher service points, like crumbing the table between courses, bringing out fresh cutlery between courses, etc, but didn't really deliver on a high service level experience.

Oven.

One feature inside is the big wood fired oven, where you could see pizzas and roast meats being cooked.  I was surprised that the menu doesn't call out the wood fired items more explicitly, as that seems like a unique feature.

Menu.

I was excited to order from all areas of the menu this time, as there were appetizers, mains, and desserts all jumping out at me when I looked online.  Alas, some of the menu changed the day I got there.

Cabernet Sauvignon. $20.
Trig Point 'Diamond Dust' Alexander Valley, California 2022.

The wine list was pretty short, for reds, there were four options: an Oregon pinot, an Italian, a Spanish, and a California cab, which I went for.

It was a very boring wine.  No real structure, nothing really to it. Not high acid nor tanin, but just ... boring.  Low 3/5.

This is a $30 bottle that they were selling for $20/glass.

Appetizers

Most of my group was fairly hungry when we arrived, as we were at a work summit all day, and, unlike me, they relied on the event catering, and hadn't eaten in 6+ hours.  They quickly ordered some appetizers for the table, doubling up on most of them per the server's recommendation for our group of 7.  We went for mostly hot apps, and skipped the single raw bar option, oysters.

I was heartbroken when we arrived to see the menu.  The dish I was planning to order for my appetizer, and probably NOT share, was gone!  My precious chicken liver mousse that I had before.  It was literally on the menu the day before, but rotated out that day.  I decided to still ask the server about it, who initially told me "if it's not on the menu, it means we changed the menu, and don't have it anymore", in a polite enough way.  I did ask her if she'd still check with the kitchen to see if they had any left, and she sorta non-comitally acknowledged my ask.  She returned several times to check on us, deliver drinks, etc but didn't mention the liver.  I asked again if she was able to ask, and she said no, she hadn't, and this time at least said she would.  I think she could tell I was going to be a bit annoying. She never got back to me this time either, BUT it did work out ...

The appetizers arrived in a couple waves, with a few min lag between waves.

Focaccia. $12.

"Whipped ricotta, olive oil, lemon, rosemary."

The hungry carb lovers really enjoyed the focaccia.  I never care for focaccia, so I skipped it, but tried the whipped ricotta.  I thought it was fine, not interesting, but the group really liked it.  The pool of olive oil on top seemed unnecessary, but set the tone for the rest of the main, which was very olive oil heavy throughout.  It was attractively presented on the cutting board.

Deviled Eggs. $14.

"w/ tuna salpicon."

The group also ordered a bunch of deviled eggs, which came 4 (halves) to an order.  I do like deviled eggs, although rarely order them out (and yes, deviled eggs went through *such* a phase in SF a few years back where ~everywhere had them on menus, with fun toppings/seasonings/etc, so this is not novel to me).  I think I ate way too many deviled eggs in college, where making them myself in the dining hall was my fun hack (as we had hard boiled eggs available in the salad bar, mayo and mustard and pickles in the sandwich bar, etc).

They had a somewhat unique presentation, with the eggs perched on top of extra yolk filling, and the filling clearly applied inside and out with a piping bag.  They were sliced the opposite way of how I slice them when I make them myself, but I suspect this allowed for more generous filling (and they seemed to use more yolks than whites per piece).

I tried one when there were still several left.  The filling was entirely average - it wasn't particularly creamy, it wasn't particularly seasoned, it was just generic deviled egg filling.  The tuna salpicon on top was a nice touch though, it added a salty briny pop to the eggs, much like roe does (another common bougie-up deviled eggs topping).

The tuna was unique, but still just 3/5 as there was nothing compelling about these.

Tempura Vegetables. $17.
w/ lemon aioli.

The server told us all about the vegetable tempura, which changes out based on fresh seasonal vegetables.  She recommended it, and told us it had squash, okra, squash blossoms, and I think a few other things.  I wasn't particularly interested as none of the particular veggies called out, but the group ordered it.  It was a fairly sizable portion, so I did try a few pieces.

It wasn't very good.  The ratio of batter seemed way off, far too much coating, which I wouldn't have minded if the flavor was good, but the batter also didn't really have much flavor.  Nor were they well seasoned.  Kinda greasy.  The pieces were nicely crisp however.  Eh.

The lemon aioli was standard, not particularly strong lemon.  Others dunked their tempura in the ricotta instead.  2/5.

Crab Beignets. $19.

"Carolina lump crab, smoked bluefish, corn, tartar sauce."

We finally got to an appetizer I ordered, not because I was that excited for it, but because it was the most appealing thing on the available menu (as the liver was not an option).  I knew from having read reviews that people were pretty lukewarm on it, and that in particular I should not expect a beignet, but rather, basically a crispier ball shaped crab cake (that also had corn and bluefish in it), so my expectations were set accordingly.

And yeah, the reviews seem accurate.  The balls were very crispy, perhaps a touch over fried, and definitely nothing beignet like about them besides the shape.  They came on top of what was dubbed a tartar sauce, and I usually love tartar sauce, but I wasn't into this.  It seemed more like a watery relish, with lots of chunks (good), but far too much red onion/acid, no brininess, and was just strangely liquidy.  I was excited to dredge my crab in it, until I took one bite, and changed my mind. 1/5 tartar sauce.

Crab Beignet: inside.

Inside was indeed a generous amount of crab, but also bluefish that had a pretty strong flavor, and masked the more delicate crab.  It was fairly fishy.  The corn I didn't actually notice while eating them, but the kernels were there.  So crispy, yes, but again a bit greasy, and the taste just wasn't very good. 2.5/5.

Charred Bread (for liver).

A few minutes later, another server emerged, and put a bread board on the table. We had not ordered another bread, but he quickly explained that it was a gift from the kitchen.  The bread was toasted fairly crisp, and was a kinda generic rustic/peasant loaf style.  Kinda average, not good nor bad, but also not something any of us really wanted.  3/5.  

I later realized this was intended to go with the liver (when I had it previously, it came with little crostini.  I'm not sure if their preparation changed, or if this is just how they improvised given that the liver was no longer on the menu).  

Off-menu Liver!

And behold, my liver!  Although it was not on the menu, and although my server definitely never indicated that they could still indeed whip this out for me when asked, it did show up, with a smile (from another staff member) and a mention of being a special gift from the kitchen.

It came served just as I had it a year ago with pickled cucumber and onion, plus a slightly odd garnish of an herb I couldn't identify.  That herb showed up later on my scallop dish, looking equally, if not moreso, random.

It was creamy, richy, and quite good, but I again felt it was missing salt to make it pop (harder to solve there in the restaurant than at home where I had nice finishing salts handy, and they had no salt or pepper on the tables and I was too lazy to ask), and missing a sweet component to balance it out. The pickles were quite harsh and highly acidic, but did cut through the richness of the liver a bit.

So, the liver itself was easily 4/5, probably 4.5/5, but the composed dish was more like a 3/5.  It wasn't a problem as I had ordered the other appetizers, and just took this home to play with.  I served it on top of fluffy toasted brioche one night, and on truffled brioche crackers another, and added fresh blackberries and fancy salt, and really adored it again.

Salads / Sides

The menu has a trio of salads, only a super basic little gems (literally, just lettuce and radishes in, you guessed it, olive oil dressing), a stone fruit salad, and heirloom tomatoes.  For sides, there are four vegetables, one of which is another raw tomato dish (this time beefsteak tomatoes, but I'm not sure what else is different from the salad version, as both has oil and basil and little else ...), plus romano beans, eggplant, or corn on the cob.  The middle two options didn't seem particularly seasonal, which seemed odd, given the farm to table nature of the restaurant, and the fact that it was peak summer.  I found it interesting that there were no carbs/starch side options, no token mashed potatoes or even fries (although the later did come with a few dishes).

The server tried to encourage ordering some vegetable sides for the table, but no one was interested.  No one wanted salads either.  I however really did want some vegetables, so I ordered one of the two tomato dishes, randomly picking the heirlooms (considered a salad) as it seemed perhaps a bit nicer?

Heirloom Tomatoes. $18.

"Olive oil, salt crystals, basil, red onion."

The dish was basically exactly what it seemed it would be.  Assorted colors and sizes of heirloom tomatoes.  Some thin sliced red onion.  A bit of basil.  And of course, lots of olive oil.  Like other dishes, they needed salt, despite salt crystals being an explicit ingredient.

I didn't find any of the flavors of any of the tomatoes to be nearly as intense as I hoped.  They were vibrant, and it looked great, but the flavors were fairly average.  My office salad bar had more flavorful tomatoes.  Absolutely nothing remarkable about this dish, and certainly not worth $18.  3/5.

Mains

The dinner menu has only 8 main dish protein choices, pretty much the basics: burger, steak, roast chicken, and slightly more interesting pork chop for the meat & poultry eaters, two kinds of fish, scallops, and lobster.  They came as fairly fully composed dishes, the burger and lobster with fries, the steak with potatoes, and others with some kind of minor vegetable side.  The majority of the group, myself included, ordered the scallops, although we had one person get each of the fish (tuna, bluefish), and one person get steak.  I was curious about the bluefish, as I've never had it, but I can never pass up scallops.

There are also two pastas and one pizza, all vegetarian, and it was unclear if these were main dish portions or smaller dishes.  We didn't get any, although one diner was tempted by all of them.

Pan Roasted Sea Scallops. $33.

"Fresh corn pudding, oregano, roasted red pepper relish."

My heart kinda sank when the scallops were placed in front of me.  This was perhaps the least attractive dish of scallops I've ever seen!  But aesthetics aside, I had issues with the execution too.

First, the scallops were sliced horizontally 2-3 times, so although there were 7-8 slices, I think it was only 2, maybe 3, full size scallops.  I know this is a style, and one even Gordon Ramsay does at his restaurants, but, I really like whole scallops, with a hard sear, and mid-rare center.  Particularly for a main dish, not appetizer portion, this prep seemed odd.  These were cooked fine, not rubbery, but barely any sear, and obviously fully cooked since so thin.  They were fine, but just not the style of scallop prep I would prefer.  3.5/5.

Then there was the "fresh corn pudding", that was a sorta chunky corn puree of sorts.  I loved the sounds of this, as I adore summer corn, and the natural sweetness of both scallops and corn seemed like they'd pair beautifully, but it was strangely bitter.  The texture/consistency was good, but the bitterness really somewhat ruined the otherwise delicate nature of the dish.  Another dinner who also ordered this commented that it was bitter and seemed like maybe it was made with just too much olive oil, which can make things bitter.  So, great concept, not great execution. 2/5.

The roasted red pepper relish I actually was sad to see on the menu, as I don't care for red peppers usually, but this was fine, and did compliment both the corn and scallops well.  It was fairly oily though, like many things in this meal.  3/5.

The random herb garnish seemed entirely out of place (the same garnish that came with my liver).

So put it altogether, and it was great concept of a dish, but alas, just not great in actual taste.  3/5.

All Natural Sirloin Steak. $44.
(partially consumed).

"Crisp potatoes, brava sauce, garlic, smoked paprika, salsa verde."

The server told us the steak was her favorite dish, and really sold it.  The diner next to me ordered it, and definitely thought it was oversold.  She thought it was fine, but not particularly great, and definitely not the patatas bravas style dish that was enthusiastically described.  In particular, she was let down by the sauce, that seemed like just gochujang.  She offered me what was left (pictured here), and of course I tried it.

The potatoes were decent - *very* crispy, very oily.  They reminded me of the style of potatoes that are frequently served in Australia, except that the interior wasn't as creamy.  The salt level was good on them.  But they were kinda dry, besides the oil, and I felt myself wanting something to dip them in (even ketchup would have helped!).  And, just swimming in oil on the plate.  Low 3/5.

The condiment provided was a "brava" sauce/spread, that had a bit of smokiness to it, but also just wasn't very good.  It seemed to be lacking something, not quite sure what, but it just wasn't very balanced nor enjoyable. 2/5.

Dessert

After the dishes were cleared from our main course, the table was crumbed again, and we were presented dessert menus.  Even after a kinda ho-hum meal, of course I wanted dessert.

Dessert / Cheese / Drinks.

The desert lineup is fairly small, with just three real desserts (a fruity one, a chocolate one, a cheesecake), plus cookies, ice cream, and sorbet.  Our group all mostly ordered the same thing (shortcake!), although two people opted for just a simple scoop of lemon sorbet, and one selected cookies.  I was disappointed that no one ordered the cheesecake, as I did want to try it (although, it was goat cheese!).  

We were strangely all given spoons only for our dessert, which was difficult to use to eat the shortcake.  Several of us asked for a fork instead.

Summer Berry Shortcake. $12.

"Jersey strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, vanilla whipped cream."

The shortcake was good.  It wasn't quite a traditional shortcake, at least, not how I grew up with it with a biscuit (generally cut in half), topped with macerated (or fresh) berries, topped with whipped cream, but rather it was a layered tower with the shortcake biscuit split in half, with layers of whipped cream between the pieces and on top, and then more of a berry coulis or sauce than fresh or macerated berries spooned over it all.  In fact, the number of sliced or whole berries was fairly minimal.

But it was still decent.  The shortcake biscuit was fairly firm (and nearly impossible to eat with the spoon they gave us!), but it had a decent flavor to it, a slight tang, and some sugar crystals on the outside to accent it.  A fine, but average fine, biscuit.  Not memorable, but it certainly didn't detract if that makes sense.  3/5 biscuit.

The whipped cream was above average, very thick, rich, not overly sweetened, and just tasted like really good fresh cream.  It reminded me of whipped cream you'd get in Japan where the taste of the fresh milk/cream is the dominant feature.  4/5 whipped cream.

The berry element, the least traditional aspect of it, is what I liked most.  The coulis was super fruity, very sweet yet somehow not cloying, and just really intense berry.  I wanted to lap up every last drop of it.  I did sorta miss having more actual berries, but this was too tasty to really be mad at.  4/5 berry stuff.

The plating did feel a bit like they were trying to elevate a classic comfort food homemade dessert to restaurant level, and failed slightly, as it did look messy (and not in a rustic charm way), and the mint sprig was just sorta there.  Overall though, very enjoyable, low 4/5.

One of my fellow diners was smart enough to order vanilla ice cream with theirs, which I got to try as well.  It was good - fairly creamy, quite strong vanilla bean flavor.  Not something worth getting on its own, but so great with that sauce. 3.5/5.

Oatmeal Dried Cherry Cookies. $10.
(+whipped cream, berries).

"White chocolate, pumpkin & sesame seeds."

The cookies actually came with 3 to the order, but the person who ordered them had only one, and passed the rest along to the rest of the group.  No one wanted to even try them, so of course I couldn't let them go to waste, even though cookies are definitely not what I consider a real dessert (particularly when I had my glorious shortcake!).  She also asked for basically the shortcake toppings with her cookies, basically wanting the berries, and was given a small bowl of the berries (which you can see she enjoyed!) and whipped cream that she did not have.  I was more than happy to take the extra whipped cream too!

The cookies were ... fine?  Fairly soft but still crispier around the edges than I like.  Pretty hearty, kinda healthy tasting cookies from the seeds and oats, yet plenty sweet from white chocolate, dried cherries, and sugar, the base cleary was a regular sugar content style cookie, not a healthier style.  I really wanted to like them more than I did, as I do love white chocolate, but I just didn't find anything particularly special about these.  Some slight lemon notes to them as well.  Low 3/5.

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PLNT Burger

Update Review, August 2025 Visits

I visited PLNT 3 times when I was in NY this summer.  I ordered in person twice for shakes, and once online for a burger.  That time was only a quasi-success, as my order was ready at the expected time, but really, it was ready at least 10-15 mins earlier, and wasn't actually warm when I got it.  The times I ordered in person were fine, ready fast. 

Sweets

When I visited last year for my free birthday shake, PLNT used Oatly for the soft serve (and for the oat milk they blend it with).  However, Oatly has ended that product, so they had to find a new plant based soft serve to move to.  They went with Eclipse, which I've had in hard serve before (didn't care for the vanilla, but the cookie butter was good!).  I'm not sure I noticed a difference in milkshake form, since it is blended with the Oatly oat milk still.  

Banana Brulee Milkshake (Small). $6.69.
No caramel, add rainbow sprinkles (+$1), half banana.

"Try this limited-edition, chef-crafted collaboration between PLNT Burger and Cookies, while supplies last. Infused with love and 100% plant-based deliciousness."

I was again a bit stumped on what flavor milkshake to order.  I don't order milkshakes in regular life, and vanilla, chocolate, twist, or black and white just seemed ... boring.  And although I love strawberries, I don't care for strawberry ice cream /  milkshakes / yogurt at all.  Which left me with the mint cookies & cream (that I had last year, uh, sub chocolate sprinkles for Oreo) or this, the special banana brulee milkshake.  I was drawn to it because I saw photos of it, and it was supposed to have whipped cream and brulee sprinkles on top.  Whipped cream isn't even an option with any of the others, so that alone drew me in.

It is made with the vanilla soft serve (Eclipse), oat milk (Oatly), caramel syrup, bananas, and the aforementioned whipped cream and brulee sugar crystals.  Or at least, that is what all their materials say, and what the photos show. But it was handed over like this, sans any fun toppings.  I asked about this, and the staff member just shrugged and said, "Yeah, we don't make them like that no more.".  Well, ok then.  So, no whipped cream, no brulee topping.  

When I ordered, I had the option to include no whipped cream or no sugar topping (and no caramel, no bananas, or sub chocolate soft serve for the vanilla).  I did NOT take those first omissions, but it seems they need to update the menu and the app to reflect how they are currently making the shake.  I did opt to have no caramel added (I was worried about it just being too sweet), but added rainbow sprinkles to give it some sweetness and fun texture, as I had loved the texture the chocolate sprinkles added to my mint shake last summer.  You can add sprinkles (either color), caramel, chocolate sauce, or Oreo for $1 more.  I also asked in person (since not possible in the online ordering) to use only half the banana as I didn't want it over the top banana-y.  After all, I was mostly getting this for the fun toppings (alas!).

Anyway, my annoyance that they changed it to be more boring aside, this was good.  The flavor was definitely oaty, which I don't mind.  It had good banana flavor, definitely exactly what I was aiming for, and if that really was half, I think regular amount would have been way too much for my tastes.  It was perfectly blended, easily drinkable with a straw with some intentional suction, also possible to eat with a spoon with no problem.  It had only a small amount of rainbow sprinkles blended in, which did add a nice sweetness and a tiny bit of texture, but there wasn't much, definitely nothing like last year's copious additions.

So overall, this was enjoyable, and obviously free so a great value, but I wouldn't get this again unless craving banana.  3.5/5.

Vanilla Shake (small). $6.79.
Add chocolate sprinkles (+$1).

A week later, I was craving another shake.  An oat shake at that.  What had gotten into me? For my next shake, I went back to my mint chocolate chip inspiration, this time opting to create a chocolate chip version, so just a vanilla shake to which I added chocolate sprinkles.

It was prepared quickly, and served super full, which I was pleased by.  No skimping here!  It was well blended, a great consistency, and yeah, just a pretty decent vanilla, oat based, shake.  It was easy to drink with the provided straw, or use a spoon if I wished.  Nice sweetness level, no fake vanilla taste.  Just, good.  3.5/5 base.

Vanilla Shake: SPRINKLES!

And the chocolate sprinkles?  Fabulous!  It was much like my first shake that was absolutely loaded with them.  Very bite/sip had tons of sprinkles.  The base had tons of sprinkles.  So much texture, and it really made it eat like chocolate chip soft serve.

Approaching 4/5 really, although I'm still not one to really ever crave a shake, let alone a vegan one, this really is nicely made.

Chocolate Soft Serve.

I asked how chocolately the soft serve was and was offered a sample.  I'm glad I tried it, as I really did not care for it.  It tasted exactly like a fudgesicle (just a sorta oaty one) and I really, really don't like that flavor.  Something about that kind of chocolate flavor and the iciness.  Not for me at all. 1/5.

Burgers

PLNT offers 6 different burgers, ranging from simple burger to a double to a patty melt, plus a few other variations.  You can easily make a few changes to the burgers such as getting it as a swiss chard wrap (no extra fee) or on an actual gluten-free bun (+$3.59), switch out the cheese to pepper jack, get a bigger patty (+$2), change the patty to chik'n (+$1), or change it to their "actual veggies" patty (+$2), and ask for the sauce on the side as easy changes.  You can further customize by "adds" such as guacamole/grilled or fresh jalapenos, crispy onions, mushroom bacon, an extra patty, or "spicy dust" for varying upcharges, and have any of the base elements left out.  They also have 2 chicken (er, Chik'n) and one fish option.

Cheeseburger. $9.39.
(Sub Swiss Chard Wrap, Sauce on the Side).

"Plant-Based Patty, Caramelized Onion, Pickles, Stockeld Cultured Cheddar (V), Green Leaf Lettuce, Roma Tomato, PLNT Sauce, Potato Bun."

For my first actual burger from PLNT, I opted for the cheeseburger.  Since I'm not all that into buns, and I adore swiss chard, I got it as a swiss chard wrap rather than a bun, and asked for the sauce on the side in case I didn't care for it.  These were all predefined easy mods when ordering.

It came wrapped in a pretty large piece of greens, that actually seemed like collard greens, not swiss chard.  I didn't mind this, as I like collards too, but, take note.  The wrap was crisp, fresh, a bit awkward to eat, but a nice change from a bun.  I did actually just end up eating the contents mostly without it, and bringing it home to saute later.  4/5 for the wrap though, good, and a unique offering.

Cheeseburger: Inside.

Nestled within was the rest of the burger ingredients.  Everything was as expected, all ingredients included, although the tomato seemed to be a regular large round tomato, not Roma as the menu said (the third menu inaccuracy I found, after the lack of brulee milkshake toppings and the change of the type of green for the wrap ...).

The cheese was nicely melted, gooey, decent cheddar flavor, and really not distinguishable from regular dairy cheddar, particularly with all the other ingredients within.  The caramelized onions were chopped up bits and were very tasty, particularly with the cheese.  There were tons of them.  I loved these two components, along with the very tasty copious pickle slices.  4/5 for all of that.

The tomato was the only letdown.  I didn't care that it didn't seem to be Roma, but it wasn't very juicy nor fresh, and it was August, peak tomato season, so this was quite sad.  At least it wasn't mealy, it was just not ripe and tasted like nothing really.  2/5 tomato.

And then of course the burger patty.  This was a thin, fast food style patty, so not thick and juicy, but it was nicely charred.  It ate like a meaty style patty, e.g. Beyond or Impossible (although it is proprietary, not either of those brands exactly), not like an old-school traditional veggie burger (although they offer that too, the "Actual Veggies" burger).  With the excellent toppings, I barely cared that it wasn't beef, I mostly cared that it was a thin style patty, which isn't normally what I go for.  But very good for a non-beef burger, 3.5/5.

Put it all together, and particularly carried by the strength of the caramelized onions/cheese/pickles, this may be a low 4 star.

Original Review, August 2024 Visit

When you think of vegan food, you most likely don't think of burgers, fries, and shakes.  At least, I don't.  I think of generally more healthy cuisine, with a focus around whole plants and vegetables.  But ... it makes sense that vegans want indulgent comfort food too.  Enter: PLNT Burger.  Basically akin to Shake Shack or your favorite burger joint, but, entirely vegan.

"Our menu is 100% plant-based, kosher and delicious."

They aren't trying to be ultra healthy, just, tasty.  Now this I can get behind. 

The chain has locations in NYC, the Boston and DC areas, and Pennsylvania.  I wasn't aware of it however until I recently visited NY, and I kept walking by both locations.  I was intrigued enough to look it up, and the reviews were quite positive.  I was sold when I saw they were offering a free burger or sandwich just for signing up for the rewards club, and doubly sold when I saw I'd get a free shake on my birthday (which just happened to be that month).  You know I love my freebies.

Setting

In NYC, there are two PLNT Burger locations, both adjacent to parks, one across the street from Bryant Park, the other half a block off Madison Square Park.

Bryant Park Location.

The Bryant Park location had virtually no seating, just three seats in the window, and a few stools around the center island.  No outdoor seating.  Clearly a location for takeout, during the warmer weather, it is easy to cross the street and dine in Bryant Park.  I'm curious what people do in the winter however.

Ordering is done via several kiosks along the wall, online through your phone, or, in person if you wished.  I ordered online as I had a reward to redeem and that seemed easiest since I was logged in.  The staff at this location were wonderful, very friendly, welcoming, up for modifying things, and wished me a happy birthday (as I was there redeeming my reward).  I was the only guest at 12:30pm on a Sunday though, which seems a bit concerning for their business.

Burgers / Sandwiches

If you are curious, the burgers use Beyond Burger, the cheese is Follow Your Heart vegan cheese.  I'm not sure what brand the crispy or grilled chicken, fish fillets, or "actual veggies" veggie burgers are.  I still haven't tried one of the burgers, but I hope to next time I'm in NY.

Sweets

For desserts, PLNT has four offerings: soft serve, shakes, floats, and cookies.  All are obviously vegan.  

Cookies are your standard chocolate chip, or a healthy sounding carrot-oat-pineapple. The soft serve is oat-milk based, available in chocolate or vanilla, with or without rainbow or chocolate sprinkles.  I was pretty interested in that, as I adore soft serve in general, and really do quite like oat milk (and the common brand of oat based soft serve on the market, Oatly), but my birthday reward was for a shake only.  

For shakes, I had a lot of options.  Too many, really.  I was so indecisive.  The lineup started with the basics: vanilla, chocolate, or swirl, using the vanilla or chocolate (or both for swirl, obviously) based soft serve.  Then there was strawberry, which I think used syrup with the vanilla base.  Or black and white, which, my research tells me, is a fairly common type of milkshake, that uses vanilla base plus chocolate syrup (rather than the swirl, which is both the vanilla and chocolate bases).  So I think it is less chocolately than a chocolate shake (that uses chocolate base), but more chocolately than the swirl (since that has the vanilla mixed with chocolate)?  Next up is peppermint cookies & cream (vanilla base, peppermint syrup, Oreos). From there, the specials roll in, which during my visit was a banana creme brulee, with bananas blended in and a brulee topping.  You can add sprinkles (rainbow or chocolate), graham crumbs, Oreos, chocolate sauce, or caramel to any shake.  So if the peppermint cookies & cream isn't your thing, but you still want cookies & cream, just add Oreo to the vanilla base (or chocolate, if you want more chocolate flavor, etc).   No whipped (non-dairy) cream topping options.

Mint Cookies N' Cream OATasty Shake. $6.49.
(-Oreos, Sub Chocolate Sprinkles).

Even with all the customization options possible, I still wanted something a bit different, not from the menu.  See, I don't like Oreos, or strawberry shakes, but I wanted something more interesting than just vanilla or chocolate (or even either of those with sprinkles).  I loved the appeal of the mint, but, that was only available in the peppermint cookies & cream.  There was no option to remove the Oreos, but I asked anyway, and asked if I could sub chocolate sprinkles for the Oreos.  Both are priced the same as add-ins, so I hoped this would be allowed.  The staff member I asked said it was no problem at all, and she'd be happy to do it.  I told her I was basically trying to make mint chip, and she approved of my creation.

My shake was quickly prepared, and handed over with a smile.  She wished me a happy birthday.  I was really pleased with the service.

I was even more pleased when I took a sip of the shake.  It was good.  Very good.  The mint flavor was very strong (nearly too strong).  The shake was really well blended, the perfect level of soft and melty, easy to suck up with a straw.  It was loaded with chocolate sprinkles.  Again, borderline too much, but, I loved the texture from the little bits, and the pops of chocolate flavor.  Sure, actual chips would be better, but this definitely created the mint chip experience I was looking for.  The oat milk base was, well, oaty, but really quite enjoyable, creamy, rich.  I'm surprised they don't have a cinnamon/horchata shake available, as it seems like it would be a natural fit.

I absolutely loved it, and would get again without question, although I am also interested in trying others.  ****.

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