Ole & Steene

Ole & Steen is an "all day Danish bakery" that started in 1991 in Copenhagen. They expanded to London in 2016, and then in 2019 to New York City, which is where I visited.  They now have 5 locations in New York, I visited the one closest to Union Square.

The menu offers up sandwiches, parfaits, and whatnot for breakfast, toasties, soups, bowls, and salads for lunch, a full line up of espresso drinks and coffee, but the focus really is on the bakery side of things. On the bakery side, the breads take center stage, with a slew of different Danish rye and sourdough loaves, assorted sweet and savory buns, many pastries (including their well known Cinnamon Social), along with cakes and tarts.  Given my love of dessert and baked goods, you can guess what I was there for.  Oh, and did I mention, that they give you a birthday treat for free if you join their rewards club?  I can never resist a good freebie, and this actually was a good one.

Blueberry Muffin (sample).

"Vanilla batter, blueberries, topped with almonds and crunchy sugar." 

When I first visited to scope the place out, they had samples on the counter.  I eagerly grabbed one.  It turned out to be the blueberry muffin.

It was a fairly sweet muffin and tasted rather processed.  The base did have a strong vanilla flavor.  More like a blueberry crumb cake for an afternoon snack than a breakfast item.  Mine didn't have any almonds, but did have pearl sugar on top for a bit of crunch.   The berries weren't particularly plump nor plentiful.

Seemed sorta like the kind of muffin you find it a hotel breakfast buffet.  2.5/5.

$6.50 normally.

Carrot Muffin.

"Carrot cake, cream cheese frosting."

Other visit, this time to actually get my birthday treat, but I couldn't resist trying another sample that was laid out, this time the carrot muffin, which, given the fact that it had actual frosting, certainly seemed even more like a snack/dessert item than the blueberry crumb cake muffin, which I already thought wasn't really a breakfast item.

I love carrot cake, and had been sorta craving it, so this sounded great to me.  Alas, it did not please me.

The frosting was a bit too fluffy, a bit too sweet, and tasted more like butter or shortening than cream cheese.  I didn't detect any cream cheese element really.  The cake was too strongly spiced, and dry.  It lacked any raisins, nuts, or pineapple to jazz it up.  Bo-ring, and I didn't even want to finish my little sample.  2/5.

Also $6.50 normally.

Strawberry Tart. $10.

"Fresh strawberries, vanilla cream filling, dark chocolate-covered nutty shortcrust base, sprinkled with

chopped almonds ."

For my birthday free small cake, I went for the strawberry tart.  Regular readers of my blog know that I'm not normally one for tarts, but this wasn't a standard American/French style tart.  I'm told it is a classic Danish style though?  It certainly wasn't as pretty as tarts from French patisseries, but it also wasn't quite rustic, rather, just somewhere in-between.  This is the small, personal size, but they also make this in a larger format.

It actually was really quite good.  The strawberries on top were fresh and ripe, and the almond slivers added great crunch.  Good, but not standout, elements.  The rest is where it got both unique (to me anyway) and delicious.

Strawberry Tart: Cross-Section.

The rest really was quite different from what I was expecting.

Yes, there was a thin shortcrust base that was fairly average (and why I'm not into tarts in general) but above that was a thick layer of almond frangipane.  It was soft, nutty, sweet, and quite tasty.  Lovely almond notes, that were accented even more by the sliced almonds on top.  The dark chocolate covering it was a very thin layer, so easily lost, and I did find myself wanting more dark chocolate (so I added mini dark chocolate chips!).

Then, the part that really surprised me, was the "vanilla cream filling", which was a thick, rich, diplomat cream.  The consistency was perfect, it did have quite a bit of vanilla flavor, and it was the right level of not too sweet.  

Any set of these elements was enjoyable, e.g. just some frangipane and strawberries, or cream and strawberries and sliced nuts, and I almost enjoyed eating it more deconstructed in different combinations than all together.  It really had a lot to offer, and was better than I expected.

Low 4/5.

Raspberry Almond Croissant.
(Special). $7.95.

"Almond and raspberry jam filled croissant dusted with freeze dried raspberries."

I visited at 6:50pm to use up my rewards points that were going to expire.  I could pick any Danish item, and was immediately drawn to the raspberry Almond croissants, which aren't actually part of their formal menu, but were a special at this location.  There were two left in the case, and the person bagging up my order hesitated for a second, and just scooped them both up.  Score!  It was interesting to see them side by side though, as, not sure if you can tell from the photo, but they were quite different in shape and baking job, one was super puffy, and one was flat as a pancake.  And both were massive (that is not a normal small individual pastry bag, for reference).  I knew I wouldn't eat them both that night, and croissants are never that great a day old, so I handed one off to a friend who happened to be just a few blocks away.  I couldn't decide which one I'd prefer: the lofty one clearly looked better, but the smushed one had more topping, so I let her pick.  I got the pancake version.

I had pretty low expectations for this, given that Ole & Steen gets pretty mediocre reviews in general, plus laminated pastries like this are rarely good at the end of the day, even from a great bakery, but, hey, I had reward points to blow, and these did look unique.  

I was really quite surprised by how decent it was, smashed and all.  The pastry itself wasn't the flakiest, the most well laminated, the freshest, but it did have a really great, strong buttery flavor to it.  Perhaps a touch over baked though, pretty dark.  But the butter flavor was quite notable.

Of course, a twice baked and filled croissant is only partially about the croissant itself.  The fillings and toppings are the star attraction really, and they most certainly were here.  It was extremely generously stuffed with almond frangipane.  So much of it - nearly too much, really, it made it really a heavy item! There was more baked on top, along with the crunchy sliced almonds, which I loved for the extra crunch.  But that is all standard twice baked almond croissant.  The raspberry is what took this over the top.  There were pockets of intensely flavorful, fruity, sweet, raspberry jam within.  That jam was very, very good, and the bites I got with it were fantastic.  That said, it was not well distributed, so there were a few bites loaded with it, and most without.  The freeze dried raspberry dust on top was nice for looks, but I didn't really taste.  

I brought this home, warmed it up a bit, and stuffed it with ice cream to balance the heavy frangipane, and really quite enjoyed it.  3.5/5.

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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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Liberty Bagels, NYC

Update Review, August 2025

Another year, my annual visit to Liberty Bagels to get my free birthday bagel with cream cheese.  I appreciated that the person taking my order smiled and genuinely seemed happy to wish me a happy birthday, and didn't act like I was annoying.  My receipt even said "Happy Bdayyy" on it (yes, with that many 'y's).  It all felt genuine somehow, which made the experience even better.

My visit was around 12:30pm, on a weekday, so there was basically no wait to order, and it was ready in just a few minutes.

Blueberry Cream Cheese (sample).

While I waited, I tried the blueberry cream cheese.

It was very creamy, sweet, and enjoyable, but the blueberry wasn't particularly strong. You could definitely eat it just like a mild blueberry cheesecake though. 3.5/5.

Rainbow Bagel / Birthday Cake Cream Cheese. $6.85 (or free on birthday!).
(untoasted, on the side).

As always, the birthday freebie was the rainbow bagel with birthday cake cream cheese, no options to pick your own.  They do always ask if you want it toasted or not.  I declined toasting, and asked for cream cheese on the side, so I could consume later.  This was no problem.  

I of course tried a bite of the bagel right away, even though I intended to actually properly toast it at home.  It really doesn't need toasting though; the bagel has a great chew to the exterior, is soft and fluffy inside, and just a very good bagel. The color and design is stunning of course, but it is just a plain bagel. A good plain bagel, but a plain bagel. 3.5/5.

The cream cheese was perhaps slightly less sweet than I remembered, but still quite enjoyable (and really, better suited for a bagel, just less well suited to be a dessert as I like to use it!).  Creamy, smooth base consistency, good distribution of colorful sprinkles.  Good with the bagel, great spread on strawberries with cocoa nibs for a little sweet treat too.  4/5. 

Update Review, August 2024

Another year, another birthday, and, my second year in a row being in New York City for my birthday.  This meant that I could get my free birthday bagel at Liberty Bagel.  My birthday fell on a Monday this year, so the lines were less dramatic than last year (which was on a weekend).  Ordering was straightforward, the staff knew exactly what to do, just checked my ID, and moved on.  For the birthday free bagel, you don't get a choice of bagel (always rainbow) nor of cream cheese (always birthday cake), just FYI.

I enjoyed my bagel yet again, and will make this part of any birthday agenda when I'm in NY.  Only valid the actual day of your birthday.

Cream Cheeses.

While I was waiting for my bagel, I asked to sample the peanut butter nutella cream cheese.  It was as tasty as I hoped it would be, basically like a chocolate hazelnut peanut butter cheesecake.  So good.  Great as a little sample.  ****.

The server also had me try his favorite, which was cinnamon raisin.  It was good, nice plump raisins, good cinnamon level, but it tasted more like cream cheese, and wasn't quite as enjoyable to just eat by the sample-spoonful.  ***.

Rainbow Bagel (untoasted) w/ Birthday Cream Cheese (on the side).
$5.80 (complimentary for birthday).

Since I was not planning to eat it right away, I asked for my bagel untoasted and with the cream cheese on the side, both of which were easy to do (and are standard questions they ask when you order if you don't specify anyway). 

When I was handed my bag however it was warm.  I was slightly annoyed, thinking, "ugh, they toasted it even though I said not to", but then I pulled it out to take a bite anyway (I did of course WANT to try it fresh, even though I was on my way to lunch), and discovered that it was not toasted, it was actually just warm, literally fresh from the oven.  Incredible.  

The bagel was excellent.  Obviously very fresh, nice crust to it, fluffy inside, fabulous chew.  It wouldn't need toasting at all if I was planning to eat it right then.  Such a well made bagel.  And obviously a very pretty one, although it was just a plain bagel, so, um, kinda plain tasting.  ****+ quality, *** taste, **** overall.

The cream cheese was also as delightful as I remember.  Yes, it is basically like a dense cheesecake, very sweet, loaded with sprinkles, and not really what you should eat everyday, but for a special occasion, it really is delicious.  I love it on strawberries or crackers too (not just bagels).  ****+ cream cheese.

Original Review, August 2023

Ah, New York bagels.  Yes, a cliche perhaps, but, when I was recently in New York, I had to get a bagel at some point, right?

"Liberty Bagels is your neighborhood bagel shop; it is where you can gather for good conversation and great food. Our head bakers make certain every bagel is baked to perfection, so we can proudly provide our guests with freshly baked bagels, breakfast sandwiches, lunch sandwiches, great coffee, catering and so much more. Come on in. Our bagels are delicious and our coffee is strong."

I opted to try a place new to me: Liberty Bagels.  They get strong reviews (4.5 stars on Yelp with zillions of reviews), and ... well, they have a birthday free bagel with cream cheese promotion.  You know how much I love a good freebie, and a birthday one at that, so, Liberty Bagels easily made it on my list of birthday adventures.

Setting

The location I visited was in midtown.  It was a Saturday afternoon.  12:30pm.  I don't recommend this.

Um, the lines.

"Liberty Bagels is home to the best bagels in New York. Our old-fashioned, hand-rolled, and kettle boiled bagels are a NY staple and is a stop you cannot skip during a trip to NYC. But you don’t have to just hear it from us, check out this video Uber featured us in! "

So, yes, I expected some crowds but I was shocked when I turned the corner to see a line going far down the street.  There were two employees outside *just* dealing with the crowd and directing pickup orders.  Others seemed to have no issue with this line, but, I was deterred, and moved on to another one of my freebie quests instead, particularly once I looked inside and saw just how far it was before the register to order.  It easily would have been an hour wait.

Clearly, their Instagram success with the rainbow bagels, and whatever guidebook has been featuring them, was working for the business.

Inside Chaos.

I returned a few hours later, later afternoon.  There was only a short line outside, and once we were allowed in, then it was time to get into another line.  After ordering, we were aggressively told to get out of the way and queue up on the other side.  These crowds are clearly normal for them, but certainly made it a less enjoyable experience for me.

Bagels.

Like most bagel shops, the bagels were clearly visible in baskets behind the counter.  Of course, actually getting to the counter area to see them was a bit of lost cause.  I only managed to snag a photo on my way out, as the crowd control handlers were keeping us moving along.  You really couldn't browse with your eyes to decide what to get.

Bagel Line Up.

Luckily, closer to the register, they had a illustrated visual guide to move of the bagels. 

Individual bagels are $1.85 for the basics (plain, egg, poppy, onion, salt, sesame, garlic, multigrain, cinnamon raisin, pumpernickel, everything, pumpernickel everything, whole wheat everything, egg everything), $2.75 for specialty such as Blueberry, Jalapeño Cheddar, Jalapeño Cheddar Everything, Asiago, French Toast, Flagel (Flat Bagel), and $3.50 for the Rainbow or Empire multi colored ones.

Cream Cheeses Part 1.

And then ... the signature cream cheeses.  On display like a gelato shop in Italy.  But, you know, cream cheese.  There was something for everyone here, with sweet, savory, spicy, and everything in between. I won't enumerate all of the choices, but, um, the bacon honey sriracha definitely sparked my interest.

Regular cream cheese is $2.10 with a bagel, flavored is $2.55, vegan tofu based is $2.35, vegan flavored is $3.10, lox spread is $3.85 and flavored lox is $4.40.  You can also get individual portions (1/4 lb) for $2.95-5.25, depending on the flavor, or by the pound ($11.80-$21).

Cream Cheeses Part 2 (including vegan), salad fillings.

The vegan tofu based lineup was particularly impressive, with nearly as many choices as the regular.  Deli salads (tuna, chicken, egg, etc) and meats were also on display.

Food

I would have definitely had a hard time making decisions here, just given the plethora of options and how inviting they all looked, but, for the birthday freebie, there was no choice.  I was getting a rainbow bagel with birthday cake cream cheese.

Rainbow Bagel with Birthday Cake Cream Cheese. $4.40.
(Untoasted, on the side).

I did ask to have it untoasted (options are toasted, double toasted, untoasted, or scooped out), and to have the cream cheese on the side, as this was just a pickup for me, in the midst of my great freebie crawl.  I'd toast it at home later.  This request was easily accommodated.

So, how was it, my first actual NY bagel this trip?

It was good.  NY bagels really do put others to shame.  It was soft, it had a great shine to the exterior, and light chew.  It certainly didn't need to be toasted.  And yes, very colorful and interesting to look at as well, obviously.  A very good bagel, no question, but quite plain.  I wouldn't normally pick a plain bagel.  ****+ for bagel execution, but ***+ because plain was boring.  As much as the rainbow is made for Instagram, if you are eating for your stomach instead, get another variety.

The cream cheese I was even more interested in than the bagel.  It somewhat let me down, as I expected more flavor from it.  It was loaded with funfetti, which added sweetness (and I suspect the base was sweetened as well), but, it didn't taste like much besides sweet cream cheese.  Fun, festive, appropriate for my birthday, but at the end of the day, just sweet and colorful cream cheese.  ***.

Overall though, for a birthday freebie, this one was quite fun, and I'd recommend just for the experience (and for Instagram, of course).  ****.

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Delivery from Pacific Catch

Update Review, January 2025

Sigh.  This is the story of a sad delivery experience.

I ordered online, on Pacific Catch's own website, in the early afternoon, and set a delivery time of 5pm.  I immediately got the confirmation email.  Excellent.  It said expected delivery time of 5pm, as I requested.  Great.

At 4:46pm I got a message showing the tracking.  It had a delivery person (through DoorDash) nearly there, set to pick it up.  It gave a 5:07pm delivery time.  Ok, a bit late, but not that bad.  And then it showed the Dasher there waiting.  The delivery estimate kept increasing.  By 5:20pm, I no longer had a delivery driver.  My order status just went back to being received.  Sigh.

Um, what?  I had a 5pm delivery set, and now it was much past that.  By 5:30pm I had a new delivery driver.  They were on the other side of the city from the restaurant.  New delivery estimate?  5:57pm.  Sigh.  I ordered in advance, with a set delivery time, for a reason.  Also, there was raw seafood, and hot fried food, in the order, neither of which would take well to being just totally abandoned for an hour.  Sigh.  The delivery estimate then just kept increasing, as the Dasher slowly made their way towards the restaurant.  6:07pm it now said.

As expected, when it arrived (closer to 6:30pm), the hot food was stone cold (it likely had been ready before 5pm) and the sashimi was lukewarm, both of which definitely detracted from my experience.  But overall, it was still a decent overall experience, particularly because my order was inspired because I had a free birthday bowl on my account to redeem (and then I had to add more to the order to meet the delivery minimum), so this was minimal cost to me.

Bowls & Grains

For my free bowl, I could have picked from any of the standard bowls, which include the Japanese wasabi bowl I had last time and thought was ok, or the less appealing (to me) West Coast Style (roast veggies, pesto, drizzles), Hawaiian teriyaki (stir fry), Latin Chimichurri (potatoes, chimichurri, etc), or Mexican Grill (elote, black beans, guac, cotija, chips, etc), all of which could have my choice of salmon, kanpachi, shrimp, tofu, chicken, or steak (for an additional charge). Or the newer sushi bowls, which sound much like the Japanese wasabi bowl, just with sashimi instead of poke on top.  It was these bowls that drew me in.

Double Rainbow. $31.50.
(No avocado, crab salad on the side, sub all mixed greens).

"Sashimi (2 ea) of kanpachi yellowtail, salmon and sesame-seared ahi, crab salad, yuzu tobiko, avocado,

wakame, marinated cucumber, pickled ginger, daikon, soy-wasabi vinaigrette, 1/2 mixed organic greens, 1/2 sushi rice."

The regular "sashimi trio" bowl comes with 3 slices each of kanpachi, salmon, and ahi, but I opted for the double rainbow version, with only 2 of each sashimi, but also a scoop of crab salad, as that was the highlight of my bowl last time (and strangely is no longer an option to add on or sub in any other bowls).  I asked for no avocado as I'm allergic, and suggested adding extra of any of the other toppings, as I had last time as well.  I also asked for the dressing and crab on the side, so I could use them separately and so they wouldn't get soggy.

I was immediately let down to see the avocado perched right in the middle.  The dressing was indeed on the side as I had asked (and maybe is standard for delivery anyway?), and the crab salad was on the side, so they did honor some of my requests.  The crab salad was a much bigger portion than my previous order.

For a base I opted for all mixed greens (rather than half rice) which is one of their standard offered customizations.  The greens were fresh, crisp, assorted.  Pretty standard mixed greens base.

One side of the bowl was made up of the other vegetable toppings: pickled ginger, marinated cucumber, seaweed salad.  It was a decent sized mound of seaweed salad, pretty standard generic seaweed salad with sesame seeds and kinda sweet dressing.  The kind of seaweed salad that gets stuck in your teeth easily.  It did taste kinda ... fishy though, and I think I'd opt to have it left out in the future.  There was also a fairly generous mound of pickled ginger that had a nice bite to it, and a rather small portion of the marinated cucumber that wasn't particularly flavorful and was kinda soft.  All made it very poke bowl-eque, and went well with the other ingredients. *** toppings.

Moving on to the middle, the avocado looked freshly sliced, ripe, no browning, but I had to discard it.  The diakon sprouts were nice for fresh touch besides just the mixed greens base.  Lemon to drizzle on top added a nice pop of acidity.  Again, all good compliments to the overall bowl.

And then, the closest half of the bowl, the sashimi.  This was ... a mixed bag.  The pieces were quite thin, but mostly very wide, and sorta just looked odd.  Definitely not standard sashimi cuts.  All were warm, which was a bit disconcerting, due to the long delivery and likely having sat there for quite a while before pickup.  The salmon didn't have much of a fresh raw salmon flavor, if that makes any sense.  It was raw salmon, but it tasted more like smoked salmon (just minus the smokiness), sorta like lox, which was accented by the fact that it was sliced so thin.  I actually ended up putting it on my grill to quickly lightly sear it, and really enjoyed it mid-rare like that.  I think the quality was more suited to being cooked.  *+ as raw sashimi, but *** as cooked thin salmon.  The kanpachi was very chewy, and both pieces had a large blood line running through them.  Not particularly good.  **.   I ended up grilling this too, and thought it was much better that way.  *** grilled.  The "sesame-seared ahi" had the tiniest bit of sesame and the slightest sear of the edge, but both of those aspects were easy to miss as they were so minimal. The piece right on top right was reasonably cut (although, like the other varieties, thin and wide), but the other piece, that you can't see well, was totally mangled.  It was so thin I think that it just tore apart, and was about 1/3 the size of all the other pieces.  Consistent knife cuts really do not seem to be their strong point.  The ahi was as lackluster as the others taste wise. **. So the sashami really was not what I'd consider sushi quality.  Poor knife cuts, not flavorful, and I question how fresh it was.  I think this place does a better job with their cooked seafood and poke, which, granted, are the majority of their menu.

I moved on to the crab salad, which I intended to throw on top of a salad the next day, but of course I wanted to try it right then.  It was all real crab, a mix of shredded and a few large pieces of lump crab.  It seemed fresh, no fishiness to it.  Very lightly mixed with mayo, and sprinkled with furikake.  Good enough crab salad, and a generous portion, far more than I had last time.  ***+.

And finally, the soy-wasabi vinaigrette, which I enjoyed on my previous bowl quite a bit too. I love the hit of wasabi.

Overall, such a mixed bag, the base salad and veggie elements were good, the crab and lobster salad were great, and I did like the salmon once I seared it, but it is pretty hard to overlook the lower quality sashimi and odd slices of fish.

Kid's Meals

Pacific Catch has a remarkably good kid's menu.  Not only are the choices interesting, they are very reasonably priced.  Just $10, and all (besides the sushi rolls) include a side of choice (including sweet potato fries as an option with no up-charge, or side salad, regular fries, chile-lime fries, chips & salsa), plus some token broccoli and fruit.  The entree choices range from more standard kid favorite chicken strips to mini versions of the Mexican or teriyaki bowls (with choice of salmon, chicken, shrimp, steak), to several small sushi rolls, to even a 2 piece fish & chips or coconut shrimp.  Coconut shrimp is also available as a standard appetizer for $13.95 with 7 pieces (but no sides), and a 2 piece adult fish & chips is $15.95, so this really does seem like a great value (I think the fish pieces included in both is the same, just the portion of fries is less, and kid's version has the broccoli/fruit, the adults has slaw).

I was torn between the coconut shrimp (which gets great reviews as an adult appetizer but I wasn't entirely in the mood for) and the fish & chips (fried Alaskan cod, which gets ... mixed reviews as adult version as fish & chips or when used in fish tacos, but was more of what I wanted).  Really, I wanted the other fried seafood item that is served either as an appetizer, or as part of the "mixed catch" trio with those other two, the fried calamari, just not in full size appetizer form.  However that wasn't an option on the kid's menu.  I took a gamble, and tried to order it anyway, with a note in the comments.

Custom Kid's Meal. $10.
(Calamari, Sweet Potato Fries, Sauces).

I did technically order the kid's fish & chips, with sweet potato fries as my side choice.  But I asked them to sub fried calamari for the fish, and to include sauces for it (they don't normally include dipping sauce for the kid's meals fish & chips nor the coconut shrimp for some reason).  I truly had no idea what I'd get.  I thought the chances were high that I'd still get the fish & chips, which would be fine, but I did really prefer the calamari instead.

And ... I did mostly get what I wanted!  It was calamari instead of fried fish, and there *were* sauces, just, uh, not the ones that normally come with either of the items I had (plus lots of ketchup packets, because, kids).  I was still quite pleased with what I got, besides the fact that it was literally stone cold (not even lukewarm, like, actual cold, likely due to the exceptionally long delivery time).

Fried Calamari

"Crispy calamari, fried lemon slices, Fresno chile, chipotle aioli." 

My off-menu kid's portion of the fried calamari was fairly substantial, there is a lot under the sweet potato fries too.  My portion most mostly rings (likely the most kid friendly pieces?), but a few tentacles, and two little tips.  It also included two of the fried lemon slices, but no Fresnos that come in the appetizer version, and, rather than providing me the chipotle aioli that normally comes with the calamari, they gave me two other sauces (presumably believing a child wouldn't want the spicy aioli?)

The calamari was good (once reheated).  Light batter, not chewy pieces.  It was very oily and didn't seem like it had been drained very well (sooo much oil in the base of the box, and then in my air fryer as I heated it up), but that was easily to remedy.  The batter wasn't particularly flavorful, and it needed a hit of salt, but, the seafood itself was well cooked, and I enjoyed it.  I'd get this again.  ***+.  

The regular menu item for this, as an appetizer, is $15.95.

Sweet Potato Fries

I opted for the sweet potato fries as my side a bit skeptically, as I really love a certain style of sweet potato fries (Oren's Hummus has my favorites in SF, thick, double battered, super crispy), and Pacific Catch's look like boring thin ones, but reviewers all love them, say they are the best they've ever had, etc.  

They tasted as underwhelming as they looked.  Just, very generic, very average, thin sweet potato fries.  Cold they were really not good, but I did quickly warm them in my toaster oven, which improved them slightly, but, there just was nothing remarkable about the taste nor style.  Not sure why people love these.  Would not get again.  **.

Thai sweet chili sauce (normally with coconut shrimp): 

This was pretty standard sweet chili sauce.  Mostly sweet, a tiny bit of heat.  No better nor worse than any supermarket brand.  ***.

Jalapeño tartar sauce (normally with fried fish): 

This was great!  It did have bits of jalapeño in it, which gave it a slight kick.  Great level of creaminess.  Didn't just taste like mayo, balanced by some acid too.  Far better than average.  ****.

Broccoli, orange

All kid's meals come with broccoli and fruit, which, um, turned out to be a single piece of broccoli and a orange wedge.  I think this is what it always is.  Both were fine?  Fresh enough citrus, lightly cooked broccoli.  ***.

Update Review, 2024

Wow, many, many years (10!) had passed since I last had Pacific Catch.  The last time I had it, um, DoorDash didn't exist, and I ordered via Caviar, which has long since shut down.  Wild.  And the menu seems to have changed pretty dramatically too.

I still haven't visited in person, as this was also a delivery order.

Bowls | Grains & Greens

Pacific Catch has a bunch of curated bowls on the menu, all of which can have a base of mixed greens or rice, or, as they come by default, 1/2 and 1/2.  Each bowl is a different style, with toppings and proteins to match (although you can easily customize to swap out the main protein or double it up).  

Each bowl style is fairly unique, such as the Korean Bibimip inspired bowl with spicy cumber banchan, kimchi, etc and gochujang soy-chile sauce, or a Mexican Grill with elote corn, black beans, gaucamole, etc, etc and guajillo shrimp, or a healthy "West Coast Style" grilled salmon with roasted cauliflower, avocado, etc and pesto, yadda yadda yadda.  Don't worry carnivores, the Korean BBQ option with ribs and fried egg on top is there, as is the Hawaiian Teriyaki for those who don't want such bold flavors, etc, etc, etc.  10 different bowls total, and really, one for any flavor profile you seek.  They are mostly all available in two sizes, "Small" or "Regular". 

Japanese Wasabi Ahi Poke Bowl. Regular Size. $19 + $6.
(Sub Crab Salad, No Avocado, Add Shrimp).

"Avocado, wakame seaweed salad, marinated cucumber, pickled ginger, daikon sprouts, furikake, soy-wasabi vinaigrette, mixed organic greens."

I went for the Japanese bowl, which normally comes with ahi poke, but I subbed in crab salad, because, <3 crab.  I also added on additional shrimp, which I planned to use with my dinner.  I asked for the seafood on the side, as the shrimp I intended to use later anyway, and the crab I didn't want to make the lettuce soggy.

Because of my avocado allergy, I had to ask to have the avocado left off (I hoped they would add more of something else instead, but I don't think they did).  I opted for a base of all mixed greens rather than the standard 1/2 rice, 1/2 greens.

This bowl had strengths and weaknesses.  The base was kinda boring, just mixed greens, but fresh and crisp enough.  I liked the diakon sprouts as something a bit different. The marinated cucumber was kinda soggy/soft and didn't have much flavor.  The pickled ginger and seaweed salad were both average, about the same as you'd get at any poke shop or sushi place.  Nothing great about them, but nothing bad either.  I'm not sure where the furikake was, just a tiny sprinkle on top the crab? I didn't find any elsewhere.  So ... kinda all fine, but underwhelming, and lacking any crunchy component.  Getting a bowl this style at a poke place is a better bet for having more interesting ingredients and more textures.  So base?  ***.

The crab salad however was quite good.  Real crab, not krab stick, shredded, and mixed with mayo.  Perhaps a bit more mayo than I really prefer, as you couldn't taste the crab all that much, but, I liked it all the same. ***+.

The shrimp really let me down.  I was expecting larger, grilled shrimp, as I'd seen in other photos online.  I was hoping for 5-6 big juicy shrimp with lovely grill marks and smoky flavor.  These were small, and just sautéed I guess?  15 of them.  The shrimp were fine, well cleaned, not too rubbery, not too fishy, but really not very good either.  Eh.  **+.

And finally, the dressing, a soy-wasabi vinaigrette that was absolutely fabulous.  It had a legit kick from the wasabi, and the soy complimented the bowl ingredients well.  It was slightly creamy too, I think it may have had mayo in it too?  I also think I tasted some miso?  Anyway, it was really addicting dressing, and once I added it to my bowl, my flavors really popped.  ****.

So overall, I did quite enjoy my bowl, but I found it lacking a bit texturally, and really wanted some more exciting toppings.  *** overall.

This was the "Regular" size, so, $19 + $6 for the shrimp, making it a $25 salad, pretty pricy for what it was.

Side of Wonton Chips. $7.

When I ordered from Pacific Catch many years ago, I remembered really liking their house made wonton chips, served with all of the different pokes.  I didn't want poke this time, but I still wanted those excellent chips, so I reached out to the restaurant to find out if this was an option.  Although not on the menu, they said ordering a side of the chips (either these wontons or tortilla chips that go with the ceviche) was no problem.

My order included 3 little bags of chips, for $7, the cost of a side of fries normally.

The chips were good - crispy, light, fresh, not too greasy.  I enjoyed them with crab salad stacked on top of them, and I think they'd go great with sweet chile sauce too.  I wouldn't go out of my way to order these again unless I was really craving something like that, but, I appreciated that they let me do this.

***+.

Original Review, April 2016

One night, we were really craving sushi for dinner, but didn't want to go out to get it.  I looked through all the possible sushi locations on the popular delivery sites in San Francisco: Seamless.com, GrubHub, Eat24, Foodler, delivery.com.  Sure, they had sushi, but every place that I cross referenced on Yelp scared me away.  They all seemed to be the bottom of the barrel.  I was at a loss.  We considered using Postmates to deliver Whole Foods sushi.  It isn't amazing, but seemed less scary than the other choices before us.

And then ... I remembered Caviar.  A much smaller delivery service than the others, they partner with restaurants that do not normally offer delivery, but offer takeout.  They charge a flat rate delivery fee of $9.99 anywhere in the city, and automatically add on 18% gratuity.  It isn't the cheapest option, but their web site is beautiful, with quality photos of every dish so you know what you are getting, and they provide real time monitoring of your delivery.  But the best part: they partner with places you actually want to get food from.  I've only used Caviar once before, when we wanted pizza, and were able to get Little Star Pizza, my favorite pizza in the city.  So I eagerly pulled up their site, hoping that their curated options would include sushi.  And indeed they did.  I had two choices even.

I picked Pacific Catch, mostly because I've walked by their Marina location in the past, and it always looks busy, which seems like a good sign.  They actually have 2 locations in SF (6 total in the Bay Area), and I think my order came from the further location.

Ordering on the Caviar site was easy and flawless, and I received a call from the driver when he was a few blocks away.  I appreciated being able to GPS stalk him via the website as he approached with our sushi.  No problems with Caviar, at all.

The food was fine, which is saying something for delivery sushi, but it certainly wasn't remarkable, and seemed pricey for what it was.  I'd still consider going to Pacific Catch in person sometime to get some of their other food (the menu is very extensive, featuring fried seafood, seafood tacos, etc, but those items didn't seem particularly suited for delivery), but I wouldn't go for the sushi again.  So far, no takeout sushi has even come close to the takeout sushi we had from Roka Akor.

White Tuna Poke.  $12.

I know I said we were ordering sushi, but Pacific Catch has an entire section of the menu devoted to Hawaiian Poke, in more styles than I even knew existed - 7 total, including a vegetarian tofu option.  Since they featured poke so prominently, I had to try it.  And, it was raw fish I was craving, I didn't entirely care what form it was served in, poke worked for me.  Most of the pokes are ahi based, and since we were getting an ahi roll, I decided to go for the white tuna version.

Described as "yuzu citrus, fresno chilies, white soy sauce, red onions".  Served on the side were crispy wonton chips.

This was good.  Nice sized chunks of tuna that tasted fresh.  Very thinly sliced onions and peppers.  Flavorful from the soy and burst of citrus, well seasoned.  Everything was well balanced, both in the flavors, and in the ratios of different ingredients.

I really liked the crispy wontons.  It sounds silly, but they just got these right, super crispy, not too oily, great for scooping up the poke.  But, the poke itself was so tasty, I preferred to just eat it plain, and enjoyed the leftover crispy wontons dipped into sweet chili sauce later.

Definitely my favorite dish of the night, clearly fresh, and well thought out.  I'd gladly try another variety of their poke, or order this one again.

$12 price seemed a little high for the small quantity, but this was clearly fresh, quality seafood, so it wasn't too bad.

Spicy Tuna Roll. $9.

Next, an actual sushi roll, since, sushi is what we wanted.  Pacific Catch doesn't actually serve any nigiri or sashimi, so rolls were the best we could do.  Plenty of the rolls included deep fried components, which wouldn't work for delivery.  And all but one use avocado, which I'm allergic to.  I could easily ask to have the avocado left out, but I was worried my note would get missed in the delivery order, and I'd be unable to eat the sushi.  So, I had one choice: spicy tuna.

Described as "ahi tuna, sriracha aioli, chili oil, cucumber, daikon sprouts & green onion".

The role was very mediocre.  All components were a bit mushy, particularly the rice.  I couldn't taste the tuna, as there was way too much of the sriracha aioli, which didn't actually taste like sriracha, just like mayo, but it was orange colored.  The cucumber was fresh and crispy at least.

So, somehow flavorless, just mushy rice with a crunch of cucumber.  I didn't really care for this, and it turned me off from ordering any of their other rolls too.  Price was fine.

California Roll Salad. $19.50.

And finally, we went for the only other cold choice, a salad.  They offer salads topped with seared ahi, grilled salmon, chicken, or crab salad.  The ahi looked good in photos, but since I love crab, and Ojan was craving California rolls, we went for the California Roll Salad.

Described as "meal sized" and "made with organic spring greens & hearts of romaine, real crab salad, avocado, cucumber, ginger, tomatoes, carrots & shredded nori with soy-wasabi vinaigrette".

Ah yes, avocado, again, clearly, since it was a salad version of the California roll.  I asked to have the avocado on the side, and knew that if they failed to read my instructions, it hopefully would just be touching part of the salad, and I could work around it, unlike inside a roll.

My request was honored, and the avocado came in a separate container on the side.  I didn't get a photo, but it was a generous amount.

I'm not really sure what I was expecting, since I'd seen photos, and read the description, but somehow, I wanted this to be more than just the sum of its parts.  It wasn't.  It really was just a salad.

The lettuce was a mix of spring greens and hearts of romaine, fresh, crispy enough.  Same with the shredded carrot, the grape tomatoes, the sprouts.  There wasn't any cucumber, as was listed in the description.  Nothing exciting here.

I found the addition of a big clump of ginger a bit fascinating, as it was really strange inside a salad, but given that Ojan is a ginger-o-holic and stole all the ginger from the sushi roll, this meant I actually got some.  The nori sounded great, but because it was thinly shredded was just totally lost in here.  Perhaps some kind of bigger chunks would work better.  Both of these components reflected the sushi roll aspect of the salad well.

The salad normally comes with one scoop of the crab salad, but I had them add on a second scoop (extra $4.50), since that is what we really cared about.  I knew it was supposed to be "crab salad", but I wasn't quite sure what that meant.  It turned out to basically be the filling from a California roll, which, I guess is expected.  Cooked, shredded crab.  It didn't contain any pieces recognizable as crab, which was disappointing.  While filler-style crab like this works fine inside a sushi roll, it was a bit sad on the salad.  Sorta like eating canned tuna, as opposed to the real thing?  I think I was hoping for something more like the style of crab salad you get inside a sandwich crab roll, not a sushi crab roll.  It wasn't seasoned either, so it was pretty flavorless and mushy.

The soy-wasabi vinaigrette was good, it had a bit of zing from wasabi, and the soy flavor went well with the crab.

Overall, this was disappointing, but really was what it advertised to be, it just turned out to not be what I really wanted.  $19.50 is pretty pricy for a salad, even if it has two scoops of crab salad on it, since the crab salad wasn't remarkable.  I wouldn't get this again.

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Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream

Update Reviews, August 2024 Visits

Another year, another free birthday scoop at Baskin-Robbins, and more disappointment at the quality of the ice cream (at least in scoop shops).

Cherries Jubilee.

"This dreamy, classic flavor features Cherry Pieces packed in lush Cherry flavored Ice Cream with a Hint of Rum flavor."

I was drawn in by the rum promise of this, and the fact that I do like cherries.  I'm glad I asked for a sample though. The flavor was fine, I guess cherry flavored, not too medicinal, although a bit like maraschino cherries.  But ... it was icy and freezer burnt.  Like basically any Baskin-Robbins I've ever gotten from a scoop shop.  Sigh.  Flavor? **+, but due to the freezer burn, *+.

Jamoca Almond Fudge. Single. $4.49.

"Jamoca® ice cream with roasted almonds and a chocolate flavoured ribbon."

I wanted to like this ice cream much more than I actually did.  So many elements were just not great.

First, like seemingly every scoop of ice cream from Baskin-Robbins, it was freezer burnt.  That is to be expected at this point really.

Next, I didn't taste any mocha really, no coffee notes, just fairly plain (icy) ice cream.  The base really let me down.

Next, the almonds were soft, as if they were soggy.  How were they soft inside frozen ice cream?  I have no idea, but the texture was not pleasant.  There were plenty of them.

The chocolate ribbon was decent.

Overall, lacking coffee flavor, soggy almonds, hard pass. *.

Rum Raisin.  Single.  Cake Cone.

"Rum flavoured ice cream with raisins."

This was pretty average rum raisin ice cream.  Decently boozy.  Fairly plump raisins.  Met expectations.  Made me want walnuts in it though.  Low ***.

Update Reviews, August 2023 Visits

Every month, Baskin-Robbins has a special flavor of the month.  They run from the start of the month, until they run out.  Depending on popularity, sometimes this means you can find a flavor months later.  I like to try these flavors, as they are generally more interesting than the standard lineup.

August: Game Night.

"Salted Caramel Ice Cream stacked with M&M'S® MINIS Milk Chocolate Candies, Buttered Popcorn flavored Clusters, and a game-winning Caramel Pretzel flavored Swirl."

This sounded great to me.  Not because I care about, well, watching any game, but, because it was full of goodies I love to snack on.    Sweet and salty, and with *popcorn*?!!  Yes, yes, yes.

I'm glad I asked to sample it first, because, it turned out, I really didn't like it.  The salted caramel base was just far too sweet, and the popcorn pieces were soft and soggy.  Meh.  **.  

March: Chick’n & Waffles.

"Buttermilk waffle flavored ice cream with plenty of crispy chick’n* and waffle flavored bites drizzled in a decadent bourbon maple syrup flavored swirl."

The shop I visited still had this March flavor in August, which generally isn't the sign of a winner, but, it really did sound pretty interesting, so I gave it a try.  I didn't taste buttermilk.  I didn't taste chicken.  I didn't taste waffle.  Mostly, I tasted sweet, which I guess was the maple syrup swirl, but came across like generic caramel.  There was some textural bits that I guess were waffle?  Overall, too sweet and didn't deliver in the interesting flavors.  **.

April:  PB ‘n J. 

"This fresh take on your childhood favorite offers smooth peanut butter ice cream with sticky and sweet grape jelly swirls smeared into brown butter flavored ice cream."

Next, they also had April's flavor still available: PB 'n J.  This was actually pretty good, although fairly heavy.  Rich, strongly peanut butter flavored base, lots of fruity sweet jelly.  It definitely tasted like PB&J, but was just a bit too rich for my mood, a full scoop would have been a bit much, but, it was an enjoyable flavor that lived up to the description.  ***.

Icing on the Cake.

"It’s your birthday everyday when you can indulge in this cake flavored ice cream with cake pieces, frosting bits and candy confetti ribbon. Now you can eat ice cream and have your cake too!"

Since it was my birthday, I was tempted by the "Icing on the Cake" flavor, which I also sampled, and it too let me down.  Just sweet.  Meh.  ***.

Old Fashioned Butter Pecan.
Single, 4oz. $4.95.

Pralines 'n Cream: "Vanilla flavored Ice Cream with Southern-inspired Praline Pecans & a gooey Caramel Swirl."

Butter Pecan: "Butter-Roasted Pecans folded into Butter Pecan flavored Ice Cream."

I don't actually remember if I asked for butter pecan, or pralines 'n cream ... both feature pecans, both feature a high fat dairy product ... I *think* it was butter pecan I randomly picked in the end, selected as it was a fresh tub, whereas most were on the last dregs.  I hoped that would mean less freezer burnt ice cream, which seems to commonly be a problem at their shops.

It was ... ok.  It was sweet, it had nice hunks of pecans, but, it wasn't particularly creamy, and didn't really draw me in.  It did melt nicely, but even then, I wasn't left with a feeling of really wanting more of it.  Highly mediocre, decent flavor, but lower end ice cream base.  **+.

Jamoca Almond Fudge.
Single, 4oz, Cone. $4.85.

"Baskin-Robbins' Jamoca® Coffee Ice Cream with Roasted Almonds & a Chocolate flavored Swirl."

I've heard good things about the Jamoca Almond Fudge flavor, so I got a cone without trying it (after sampling, and ruling out, the monthly flavors).  The ice cream base was more mildly chocolate flavored to me than coffee, I was definitely expecting a stronger coffee flavor.  It was nicely loaded with goodies, crispy roasted almond flakes and chocolate swirl.  

This seems like it could be an enjoyable flavor, however, mine was very freezer burnt.  It just tasted stale, like the inside of a freezer.  Decent enough pedigree (although I wanted stronger coffee flavor), but alas, the lack of proper storage totally ruined it.  **.

I asked for it in a cone, wanting a cake cone, and was given a sugar cone, and then charged an additional fee for it.  I explained that I wanted a cake cone, and she just shrugged and took away the fee, not offering a cake cone, or bowl, or anything.  I've literally never had good service at any Baskin-Robbins location, the staff are always just so grumpy.

Update Reviews, 2019 Visits

A few more visits, and I found a new flavor I do like!

Nutty Coconut & Peppermint. Small (split scoop).

Did you know you can get a split scoop at Baskin-Robbins, even for a small?  YES!

I was thrilled when my server suggested this, as I really was torn between 3 flavors: the Nutty Coconut and two different peppermint ice creams (this one, and the York Peppermint Pattie).  I only had to rule out one, and decided on the regular Peppermint, rather than Peppermint Pattie, but it was a close call.

Nutty Coconut:
"Feeling crazy? So will your senses when they feel the chill of coconut flavored ice cream mixed with almonds, pecans, and walnuts."

This is one of Baskin Robbins "Classic" flavors, that has been around ~forever, yet somehow, I hadn't ever tried it before.

It turned out to be rather awesome.  I *think* my favorite flavor so far!

The base is coconut ice cream, great coconut flavor, and I think some texture from shredded coconut as well.  But the real texture comes from the plentiful nut mix-ins, bits of almond, pecan, and walnut, all of which are chopped up and give this ice cream a ton to look forward to.  The nuts and coconut worked together surprisingly well!

Peppermint Stick:

This is another classic flavor, but I believe it has been discontinued.  But my shop still had it, and I actually tried it accidentally - I asked to sample the Peppermint Pattie, and she gave me this instead.  Good mistake on her part, as I liked it *slightly* more than the Peppermint Pattie!

It was a ridiculous fake pink color, but besides that, it was just simple peppermint goodness.  Far more minty than any of their other mint offerings, and enhanced with bits of peppermint stick.  For mint lovers, no question.

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YORK® Peppermint Pattie -  December 2017 Flavor of the Month

"Mini York peppermint patties and a rich dark chocolate mint flavored ribbon swirled in mint flavored ice cream."

This was a "returning favorite", last offered in December 2014.

It was good.  The mint base was slightly minty, a white base not a silly pink peppermint.  The ribbon and mini York patties gave it plenty of interesting bits.  But I actually preferred the regular Peppermint slightly, as it was a more intense mint, and didn't have the chocolate to take away from the minty experience.  But chocolate and mint are a great combo, and this worked, for sure.

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Bobsled Brownie® - January 2018 Flavor of the Month.

"A combination of Butter Caramel-flavored ice cream and Milk Chocolate Mousse-flavored ice cream with blonde brownie pieces and a fudge crackle swirl throughout."

This certainly sounded interesting, butter caramel ice cream, chocolate mousse ice cream, blondies, fudge crackle ... but, it was all blended together too much, so all you could really taste was some chocolate with a bit of cakey texture.  Not for me.

Also: why was my scoop shop still selling in April when I tried it?  This is more evidence that half my dislike of Baskin-Robbins comes from their low turn around and freezer burn!

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Golden OREO® ‘N Churro

"This innovative new flavor features cinnamon caramel-flavored ice cream with crispy churro pieces and Golden OREO® cookie pieces all wrapped together with a fried dough-flavored ribbon!"

Discontinued flavor.

This one caught my eye, amusingly.  I don't like Oreos (golden or not), and I don't really like churros, so, why this?  Well, I do like cinnamon flavored ice creams, and, uh, the promise of a "fried dough" ribbon was just too much to pass up.

I'm glad I asked to sample first though.  Because I did not like this.  It did taste like fried dough, but, not in a good way.  It tasted like fried oil.  Greasy, old, stale, carnival oil.  Somewhat like the June Flavor of the Month in 2015, Dunkin’ Donuts® Coffee ‘N Donut, that tasted like stale donuts.

Not good.  No wonder this was discontinued (and yet still in stock at my location ...)

Update Review, 2017

Another year, a few more flavors tried ...

Icing on the Cake, Regular (4 ounce). (July) $3.25.

"Have your cake and lick it too! Cake flavored ice cream with cake pieces, frosting bits, and a candy confetti ribbon."

I loved the sound of this one.  I don't like cake exactly, so the cake pieces aren't what drew me in, but I adore frosting, and, "candy confetti ribbon" sounded awesome.  Plus, I could see sprinkles!

The base was sweet, but didn't actually taste like cake, just like the when I had it in the America's Birthday Cake flavor.  Just sweet, not very high end ice cream, not very creamy.  But I wasn't here for the base.

The cake pieces, also unremarkable, also just like in America's Birthday Cake.  Texture, sure, and not stale, but, not special.

So what about the good stuff?  The "frosting bits", for example?  Well ... I'm not quite sure where those were.  I didn't find them really, and the ingredient listing never has a component for frosting bits, but instead has "cookie pieces" listed, in addition to the "cake pieces".  Uh ... what?  Not that I found cookie pieces either.  I find this puzzling.

But that ribbon.  I was there for the ribbon.  "Candy confetti ribbon", according to the description, or, "Confetti Swirl Ribbon", per the ingredients.  Whatever you call it, it was pretty great.  Sweet, full of texture from the sprinkles and sugar bits.

So, overall, not bad.  The ice cream quality still isn't high, but this had lots of mix-ins that worked together well to provide textures I enjoyed.  I still wonder if my local Baskin-Robbins just has low turn-around (because, really, San Francisco isn't known for ice cream weather, and, when people want ice cream, we have too many artisan ice cream shops to ever actually pick Baskin ...), or if they just don't keep their freezers well calibrated or something, because the ice cream is always so icy, and I just don't see how that could be normal.

No Sugar Added Peanut Buttery Bar Blast Ice Cream. Kid's Size (2.5 ounce). (August) $2.79.

"Go nuts for no sugar added peanut, caramel, and nougat flavored ice cream, chocolate chips, and a buttery peanut butter ribbon running throughout!"

This sounded great.  I like peanuts and caramel.  A crunchy peanut butter ribbon sounded awesome.  Chocolate chips would add some texture.  Sure!

I tried a sample of if, and I was drawn in by the crunch ribbon.  It didn't actually taste like peanut butter, it was basically like crunched up Butterfinger, but, I liked it.  So, I got a scoop.

It wasn't until I had the full scoop in front of me that I realized I had selected a No Sugar Added flavor.  "Hmm, well, if I didn't notice, great!", I thought.  And then I had a few bites.  Doh.  It tasted like sweetener.  I wasn't ever able to stop tasting it after that, and it left a particularly bad aftertaste.  Note to self: do not get the No Sugar Added flavors.

The ice cream base was described as "peanut, caramel, and nougat flavored ice cream", and, well, it just tasted like sweet (fake sweet, that is).  I did not taste peanuts, nor caramel, nor I guess nougat.  It also just wasn't creamy.  At least this time it wasn't icy like most of my Baskin Robbins visits, but, creamy it was not.  Not as it melted either.  I think their ice cream just isn't very good.

I did still like the crunch ribbon, although I didn't get much of it.  The "chocolate chips" were very confusing.  I had no chips.  But, there were bits of chocolate.  When I read the ingredients later, I found the reason why.  The ingredient listing said "No Sugar Added Chocolate Liquid Chip".  Aha.  Not real chocolate chips.  Still, they added flecks of chocolate and some texture, which is why I wanted them.

The ingredients also listed pretzel pieces, which weren't in the flavor description, and I don't think I ever really found either.  Odd.

Overall, just not very high quality ice cream, and I'm really not a fan of the No Sugar Added base.  Whoops.

Others

Wild ‘N Reckless Sherbet

"A green apple, blue raspberry, and fruit punch flavored sherbet party. Fruit has never had so much fun."

The colors in this were quite vibrant, and although I'm totally not a sherbet person, I did like Baskin Robbins Splish Splash Sherbet, so I gave this one a chance.

Woah, sweet.  Soooo sweet.  I did like the tartness of one of the flavors, but wow.

Peach of Cake
"Peach and butter cake flavored ice creams combine with blonde brownie pieces and a caramel ribbon for a flavor that is far more than just peachy!"

This was actually quite good.  The peach flavor was vibrant.  It was quite refreshing.  I only tried a sample, so I didn't get any of the blond brownie pieces, but, I almost ordered it.  Next time ...

Update Review, August 2016

Yadda, yadda,  start with my original review, then the update, and then come back here, if you want more context for Baskin-Robbins.

For my birthday, I of course went to Baskin-Robbins to get my free birthday scoop.  I had a hard time picking a flavor, since, I don't actually think their ice cream is all that good.  I sampled a couple, and in the end, decided to just go for the special Flavor of the Month, OREO® Milk 'n Cereal Ice Cream, since it was, well, special.  This was an interesting choice for me given that I don't really care for OREO (sorry, Dad).  I was drawn in by the promise of the crunchy frosted corn flake ribbon.  Ben & Jerry's always does such a great job with ribbons, and my pick last year had an insanely good cookie dough batter flavored ribbon, so, I knew Baskin-Robbins could pull off the ribbon.

OREO® Milk 'n Cereal Ice Cream, Child Size.

"It's breakfast with Baskin! Cereal milk flavored ice cream swimming with OREO® cookie pieces, frosted corn flake cereal pieces, and a crunchy frosted corn flake cereal ribbon."

This was actually pretty good.  And I admit, I was pretty skeptical about this flavor, as it sounded rather confused.  Cereal and OREO?  How do those go together?

The base ice cream was apparently cereal milk flavored, which, to be honest, I didn't really taste.  I assumed it was a vanilla base until I copied the description from the website here.  It was loaded up with goodes though, so the base didn't really matter.  Chunks of OREO cookie were as expected, assorted sizes, and, well, they were OREO.  Since I'm not an OREO lover, these were what they were, and were not particularly interesting.  But, everything else was.

I didn't necessarily find distinct "frosted corn flake cereal pieces" and "crunchy frosted corn flake cereal ribbon", but, there was plenty of light brown stuff in there that had a slight crunch to it.  The texture was pretty strange, sorta like what you'd expect peanut butter to be like if it were made of corn flakes.  It wasn't bad though.  If you got a bite of it, it was also sorta like cookie dough with a bit of crispy crunch to it.  Pretty fascinating actually, and there was plenty of this too.

So, overall, a decent flavor.  The base ice cream wasn't flavorful nor particularly creamy quality ice cream, and the OREO cookie pieces I could do without, but the corn flake components were interesting enough that I enjoyed my scoop.   I'd likely try something new next time though.

Update Review, August 2015

If you didn't read my original Baskin-Robbins reviews, I suggest you start there, and then return to this update, since I'm skipping the background this time around.  See "Original Review: August 2014" below.

This year's visit was inspired by, you guess it, a birthday freebie.  I can't resist free treats!  My birthday rolled around, and, just like clockwork, Baskin-Robbins sent me an e-mail offering up a free scoop.  I eagerly headed there to pick a new flavor.  Spoiler: I found a winner.

Mom’s Makin’ Cookies™, Child Size.

"Mom’s secret recipe of brown sugar flavored ice cream filled with chocolate chip cookie pieces, chocolate flavored chips, and a delicious cookie dough batter flavored ribbon."

Ok, this was just downright delicious.  It was like everything you always want chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream to be.  All the flavors and textures, just amped up another notch.

So, stepping back.  The base was a sweet base, apparently brown sugar.  I'm not quite sure I'd identify it as brown sugar, but it was clearly more interesting than vanilla and not cloying sweet like cake batter.  It was creamy, and it melted perfectly on the hot day.

But the mix ins are where the magic was. First, the cookie dough batter ribbon.  This was really interesting, it wasn't thick like cookie dough gobs, or the flavored ribbons you find in Ben & Jerry's ice cream; it was more like a caramel, albeit a cookie dough flavored one.  Yup, it tasted like cookie dough, buttery and sweet.  Kinda awesome.

Next came the chocolate chip cookie pieces.  This is where I was a bit skeptical.  I didn't want chunks of cookie in my ice cream, I wanted cookie dough!  Except, these were soft, just like gobs of cookie dough, perhaps just a bit grittier?  Big, sizable chunks, perfect for some texture.

And finally, little chocolate chips, which added more crunch.

This was definitely awesome.  It was sweet, creamy, had a fun cookie dough batter swirl to keep discovering, and chunks to dig for.  It reminded me of Ben & Jerry's Milk & Cookies, just with the chocolate cookie swirl replaced with the cookie dough one, and a more interesting base swapped in.  Similar concept, but I think Baskin-Robbins had a slight edge here.

I'd definitely get this again.

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June Flavor of the Month, Dunkin’ Donuts® Coffee ‘N Donut

"Dunkin’ Donuts coffee and donut-flavored ice creams dunked with donut pieces and a chocolate flavored icing ribbon."  

Before settling on the Mom's Makin' Cookies, I also tried another tempting sounding option, inspired by their partnership with Dunkin' Donuts.  You know my fondness for Dunkin' Donuts, as I am originally from the east coast ...

I'm glad I tried it.  Because, well, wow, it was exactly as advertised.  It tasted like donuts.  Like greasy, sorta stale, cake donuts.  I didn't taste any coffee, but wow, donuts.  I can't imagine eating a scoop of this, unless maybe used in an affogado?  It was fun to try, and I'm glad I asked to sample before committing to a full scoop.

Original Review, August 2014

I grew up without a Baskin-Robbins nearby, and we always got our ice cream at home from Schwans delivery, so I somehow made it to my 30s without ever having Baskin-Robbins.  But, I love ice cream, and I'm always interested in trying out new places, so I finally checked it out.

My first visit was when I had a very sore throat, and I was on a quest to eat soft, cold things, using my GoPago credits as inspiration on where to go (yes, this was a few years ago, since GoPago is no longer active in San Francisco).  I'd just spent a couple weeks on the east coast, eating tons of soft serve ice cream, so even though it was still freezing out and totally not ice cream weather, I headed for the one place on GoPago that had soft serve: Baskin-Robbins.  (Yes, soft serve.  No it is not normal for them, they clearly specialize in hard ice cream)/

My second visit was prompted by joining their e-club, which gave me a certificate for a free scoop of ice cream for my birthday, so I went to cash in on it.  I looked up all of the flavors online beforehand so I wouldn't be too slow to decide, and had picked out a slew of flavors that I wanted.  I thought choosing one would be impossible!  Unfortunately for me, it turned out to be quite easy, as they didn't have ANY of the flavors I wanted to try!  Out of my list of 8 flavors, they didn't have a single one I wanted!  Not quite sure how that was possible.  They also didn't have the monthly special flavor.

My third visit was due to my realization that Togos was on LevelUp, with a $2 credit.  Sure, I could use my free credits to get some chips or a drink, but Baskin-Robbins is attached to Togos, and they use the same checkout.  Thus, I could use my credits to get a mini sundae!  Way better than chips or drinks :)

My next visit came from Togos running another LevelUp promotion, with a whopping $10 credit.  I think the idea was that you could get a full meal at Togos, but again, I didn't really want Togos, and that could get me quite a bit of ice cream.  And ... since Ojan wasn't going to use his credit either, I could fetch some for him too!

So, over the course of the past few years, I've tried a lot of their ice cream.  And for the most part, I'm highly unimpressed.  Maybe I'd go back for another freebee, but I certainly wouldn't pay for this ice cream.

The service at the SF location was varied.  As I mentioned, it is adjacent to a Togos, with the same staff running both places, running back and forth between them.  They are attached, but not exactly right next to each other, so this seems a little crazy.  It means you can stand there for a very long time with no one paying any attention, since they are all on the Togos side.  One staff member was also completely unfriendly, never smiling, never seeming remotely interested in her job, and generally annoyed that I was there getting ice cream.  I'll call her Ms. Surly for the rest of this review.  Another staff member was less friendly on my first visit, but was more informative and personable on subsequent visits, even striking up random conversation with me the last time I was there.  The third, I think a manager, gave decent standard service.

Soft Serve

The menu was advertising a new item: mini soft serve parfaits.  They had several varieties, each with a sauce in the bottom, then the soft serve, and then a candy topping.  Since I wanted soft serve, and a sundae is far more fun than just a cone or cup, I eagerly tried a few.

The soft serve just wasn't very good, and the form factor of these mini parfaits was far from ideal, making it impossible to get to the sauce until the end.  Why was the sauce on the bottom?

Reese's Mini Soft Serve Parfait.  $2.

I have a thing for peanut butter, so the Reese's one immediately called out to me.  Peanut butter sauce in the bottom, vanilla soft serve, peanut butter cup crumbles on top.

It was ... basically exactly as advertised.  The soft serve is a newer item for Baskin Robbins, and they only have vanilla flavor.  It wasn't very good.  It had a strange sourness to it, not tart like frozen yogurt, just ... sour.  It was creamy and a decent consistency.  It also wasn't really vanilla flavored.  Very, very mediocre soft serve.  The peanut sauce in the bottom was basically just generic creamy peanut butter.  It was hard to get to, since it was only in the bottom, and thus even though I wanted some to mix into my initial bites, I couldn't really without spilling the whole thing.  And at the end, I wound up with just a ton of peanut butter left over.  The pb sauce also got really hard from having the cold ice cream on top, making it difficult to scoop up.  The peanut butter cup crumbles were exactly what you'd expect.

I wanted this to come together better, being more than a sum of its parts, but it really wasn't.  Mediocre soft serve, pb cups, and hard to get to low end peanut butter.  Meh.

But for $2, it really did seem like a bargain, particularly compared to anything else on the menu.  I don't really understand why it was so cheap (as in, cheaper than just a bowl or cone of soft serve, even though it was bigger and had toppings ...).

Hot Fudge and Almonds Mini Parfait.  $2.

On my next visit, I tried a parfait again, since it is the only ice cream item that tell within my LevelUp budget.  I wasn't a fan of the peanut butter last time, so I went for one with hot fudge.  Even mediocre hot fudge is usually pretty good, right?

This parfait suffered from exactly the same issues as the first, namely, that you couldn't get to the sauce in the bottom, until the end, when you are left with only sauce.  Unlike the first one however, I didn't have the problem of spilling the parfait as I tried to dig for the sauce, as this one was tiny.  I thought it seemed like it had much less ice cream than the first one, and looking at the photos afterwards confirmed it.  This one barely extended above the top of the rim, whereas my first one had a nice swirl on top.  I'm not sure which one was correct, I'm guessing the first, as this looked pretty sad.  This one was made by Ms. Surly.

Anyway, the ice cream was the same mediocre soft serve, decently creamy, but not very vanilla, and with a slight sourness.  The nuts were just generic little bits of almond.  The fudge wasn't actually hot, and it wasn't particularly chocolatey.

This would have been a very boring parfait, but being the pro I am, I brought along a banana and a peanut butter cup, and turned it into a real sundae.  My final product was pretty good, but that wasn't exactly what they were offering.

I certainly would not order this plain parfait again, as it offered nothing flavor-wise.

Build-your-own Mini Parfait, hot fudge and cookie dough.  $2.

My third and final attempt at a parfait.  I kept trying, because $2 for a parfait really does sound like a great deal, if I could come up with a combo I liked.  And Ojan didn't want his $2 credit, so I might as well try again if it was free ...

On my last visit, I saw that they had the standard parfaits listed (chocolate with M&Ms, Oreos, or nuts, caramel with Snickers, peanut butter with Reece's, or strawberry with nuts).  But then it also said "or, build your own".  When I asked about it, Ms. Surly  told me that was only for the 31 Below Mix Ins, not the soft serve parfaits.  I was skeptical, since it was listed under the parfait section, but she was so grumpy and clearly unwilling to entertain this idea, that I gave up on it and picked the simple hot fudge and nuts, since I had my extra toppings with me anyway.

On this visit, I had the nicer employee, and I asked him about it.  He told me you can pick any sauce and any dry topping.  The dry toppings available were the standard candy toppings (M&Ms, Oreo, Snickers, Butterfinger, Reece's, gummy bears, sprinkles, nuts) or ... cookie dough!  This seemed like the clear winner, as it was more likely to be good than a generic candy topping.  Plus, cookie dough can be so good!  For sauces, there was the peanut butter, hot fudge, caramel, or chocolate sauce.  I didn't care for the peanut butter the first time, and thought the hot fudge was pretty mediocre, but it was the only one that seemed to go with the cookie dough, so I selected it again.  I guess the chocolate sauce would have as well, but why pick chocolate sauce when there is hot fudge?

As you can see, the nicer employee again made a much bigger parfait.  He even layered it a little, so there was the hot fudge in the bottom, then the soft serve, then some cookie dough, then he added even more soft serve, and more cookie dough!  Surly employee certainly did not do that.  Then, he asked if I wanted chocolate sauce on top too.  Such a difference!

The chocolate sauce on top was standard chocolate sauce, indistinguishable from Hershey's.  It didn't have a lot of flavor, but I appreciated that there was something on top, since, like every time, the hot fudge was trapped in the bottom.  The fudge was the same as last time, except that it was luke warm this time.  But like always, I had a very hard time getting any until  the end.

The ice cream was actually better this time, it still didn't have any vanilla flavor to it, but it didn't have the strange sourness.

But ... the cookie dough.  It was, quite literally, the worst cookie dough I have ever tasted in my life.  It was dried out beyond belief.  It tasted stale.  It just tasted ... awful.  I don't know how to describe it really, just beyond horrible.  I tried a couple pieces, and then picked them all out.  Or so I thought, forgetting that they nice employee had layered it throughout, so I accidentally got more later on.  Ugh.  It was truly foul!

Would never, ever, ever get this again.  Luckily, in my bag of tricks, I had a banana and other assorted toppings, and turned it into a proper sundae, which I enjoyed.

Hard Ice Cream/Sherbet/Frozen Yogurt

I've tried quite a few flavors of the regular ice cream, and several frozen yogurts.  Most were pretty standard, a few were kinda bad, and a few I really liked.

Mint Chocolate Chip, sugar cone.  $2.19.

For your birthday, you get a free kids size cup or cone.  I went with the mint chocolate chip, without sampling it first, because Ms. Surly looked like she wanted to kill me when I asked to sample one.  Rookie mistake.  It really wasn't very good.  Not creamy, no real mint flavor, even the chocolate bits weren't flavorful.  Really, really mediocre.

The sugar cone was also pretty generic.  Not much to say here.

The ice cream was just plopped on top of the cone.  It would have fallen off with my first lick if I hadn't secured it more properly.

Would not get again, and would have been very sad if I'd paid for this.

America's Birthday Cake, single scoop.  $2.19.

"Strawberries, cake-flavored ice cream, confetti topped cake pieces and blue whipped cream".

Another year, another birthday. I started this post over a year ago, which is crazy!  I returned this year to get my birthday scoop, and this time, went for America's Birthday Cake.  I'd probably never normally get such a silly flavor, but hey, it was free, and it seemed like the most fitting choice, given the circumstance.

Cake and ice cream, very festive, and quite colorful.

Like most of their ice cream, it wasn't creamy, was a bit icy, and kinda tasted stale.  I still don't know if that is just Baskin-Robbins in general, or if it is just this location.  Really just not good ice cream at all.

The "cake" flavored ice cream I actually thought was just plain vanilla, it wasn't until I looked up the description online that I saw it was supposed to taste like cake.  Very unremarkable.  The "strawberries" seemed to just be strawberry ice cream, fake tasting strawberry at that.

There were a few small chunks of vanilla cake mixed in.  I didn't see any promised confetti topping.  The cake wasn't stale tasting, or too hard, but was pretty unremarkable.

The "blue whipped cream" was my favorite component, and the real reason I picked this flavor.  It was sweet, fluffier than the ice cream base, which improved the overall texture.  It reminded me of the whipped cream style icing on Carvel ice cream cakes, which I always had growing up, and still have a weakness for.

Premium Churned Light Orange 'N Crème Ice Cream. $2.19.

"Soak up the sun with this orange light ice cream with a whipped cream flavored ribbon for a new twist on a frozen favorite!"

I didn't actually realize this was a Light version, but the flavor sounded somewhat interesting, at least, compared to my other options.  Baskin Robbins does have some really interesting flavors, but for some reason, my local shop never seems to carry them.  I hoped this would be somewhat like a creamsicle.

It was ridiculously sweet.  I'm not sure if they try to make up for the Light version by adding artificial sweetener or something?  Just way too sweet.  There was very little of the whipped cream ribbon, which is too bad, as I actually liked that, and it helped combat the sweetness of the orange ice cream.

The ice cream itself was fairly fluffy and light, but it was loaded with ice chunks.  Not just ice crystals, but actual chunks.  Sad for a scoop shop to not properly store their ice cream, as the result was just not appealing.

I ordered a single scoop, and got a very large multi scoop serving, which would have been quite nice, if I liked it.

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• Apple Cinnamon Crisp Ice Cream: "Cinnamon flavored ice cream topped with a sticky brown betty ribbon and packed with tasty apple and oat chunks."  Tasting notes: This was decently creamy, seemed fresh, and had a ton of cinnamon flavor.  There was even little chunks of mushy apple in it. Not bad, but not great. [ This is really quite good.  Its like apple pie and ice cream, all in one!  Great cinnamon flavor, ridiculously sweet brown betty ribbon, but quite good. ] [ Loving this!  Yes, it is very sweet, but it is apple pie in ice cream form!  Kinda amazing.  Love the cinnamon flavor and the brown betty ribbon, oat chunks give some good texture. ] [ So sweet.  Love the gooey caramel swirl. ] [ My favorite of their flavors, by far.  Would gladly get again. ]
• Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream: "A little bit blue, a lotta bit delicious. Creamy cheesecake flavored ice cream packed with cheesecake bits and swirled around with a blueberry ribbon."  Tasting notes: I didn't taste cheesecake at all, the base seemed pretty plain vanilla.  I also didn't find any cheesecake bits.  The "blueberry ribbon" however was quite generous, which was not a good thing, as it was just sweet and didn't really taste like blueberry.  I really didn't care for this.
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream: "Vanilla flavored ice cream with cookie dough and chocolate flavored chips".  Tasting notes: Standard vanilla ice cream, with chunks of cookie dough.  This cookie dough was much, much better than the inedible stuff from the parfait.  It had a decent buttery flavor and wasn't all dried out.  Pretty standard cookie dough ice cream. [ Something tastes a little stale about this. ] [ Just not interesting.  Vanilla ice cream doesn't have much flavor, it isn't creamy.  There are little chocolate chips and some stale tasting dough.  I don't like this much at all. ]  [ Not creamy, base ice cream very generic, cookie dough bits not that great.  Would not get again. ] [ Just really not very good.  I've had a lot of different cookie dough ice creams, and this one just offers nothing.  The ice cream itself isn't very good, the cookie dough are just tiny chunks and not flavorful.  Meh. ]
• Nutty Ice Creams
• Nutty Coconut Ice Cream: "Coconut ice cream mixed with almonds, pecans, and walnuts." Tasting notes: Good coconut flavor, fair amount of nuts.
• Old Fashioned Butter Pecan Ice Cream: "Butter pecan flavored ice cream with, yep, butter-roasted pecans.".  Tasting notes: Somewhat generic tasting base ice cream, with plentiful whole pecans.  Not particularly remarkable.  Decently creamy.  [ Ok creaminess  I like the whole pecans, ok buttery flavor, not really standout though. Could be any old butter pecan ice cream. ]
• Pralines 'N Cream Ice Cream: "Praline-coated pecan pieces and caramel in vanilla flavored ice cream."  Tasting notes: Nice sweetness, thick swirl of caramel, pretty good.  Better than Butter Pecan.
• Black Walnut Ice Cream: "Walnut flavored ice cream with a black walnut explosion." Tasting notes: Decent walnut flavor, but not particularly interesting.
• Chocolate Ice Creams
• World Class Chocolate Ice Cream: "Rich white chocolate flavored mousse ice cream swirled with even richer milk chocolate flavored mousse ice cream."  Tasting notes:  Not really sure I get the whole mousse part here.  Nor the white chocolate, mostly just seemed like generic chocolate ice cream and some white ice cream.
• German Chocolate Cake Ice Cream: "Swiss chocolate ice cream with coconut, walnut pieces, and milk chocolate brownie. Oh and let's not forget the caramel swirl!" Tasting notes: the caramel swirl was nice, good sweetness.  Chocolate ice cream was pretty generic.  Liked the chunks of brownie. [ Big chunks of brownie, nice walnuts.  Yum! ] [ Love the nuts, love the texture from the coconut, great flavors. ] [ Nice coconut flavor, good rich chunks of brownie.  My second favorite of their ice creams. ]  [ Good creamy chocolate ice cream, nice flavor from coconut, plentiful brownie bites. ] [ I like this.  Fairly creamy, mellow chocolate ice cream, with good coconut flavor.  I love discovering the generous chunks of brownie and nuts throughout.  And the caramel swirl adds a little bit of gooeyness to it.  Second favorite flavor. ]
• Splish Splash Sherbet: "Blue raspberry sherbet and a splash of blueberry sorbet".  Tasting notes: This was really quite good!  It was icy, but in the way that sorbet is.  Overly sweet, but fruity and refreshing.  I love, love, loved blue raspberry Slush Puppies when I was a kid, and it reminds me exactly of that. [ The blue colored one is way too sweet, so if you get some without the other swirl, it can be pretty cloying ] [ You need to be in the mood for sweet with this, but it is somehow refreshing at the same time.  Quite good. ]
• Frozen Yogurt
• Raspberry Cheese Louis: "Cheesecake flavored frozen yogurt is sprinkled with raspberry cheesecake pieces and graham crackers with a sweet raspberry ribbon.".  Tasting notes: I didn't taste cheesecake in any way.  Very icy.  Raspberry swirl just sweet.  Didn't like.
• Sweet N' Salty Frozen Yogurt: "Super smooth salted caramel frozen yogurt and caramel pretzel balls tied up in a salted caramel ribbon bow."  Tasting notes: Just sweet, didn't really get any salt, my sample didn't have any pretzel in it either.

Novelties

Praline Caramel Ice Cream Cake Bite: Pralines 'n Cream ice cream over white cake, white coating, finished with caramel drizzle and crushed praline pecans.  $2.99.

This is one of their "novelty" items, small versions of their cakes, called cake bites.  Since I wasn't about to buy a whole cake for myself, this seemed like a good way to try out their ice cream cakes.  I grew up having Carvel ice cream cakes for every birthday, so ice cream cake has a special place in my heart.  Of course, Carvel cake is all about the crunchies and the frosting, of which this had neither.

The white cake was not good.  Kinda dry, and very flavorless, with a horrible aftertaste.  Cakes made from boxed cake mix come out better than this.  Not a good base layer.  The ice cream was just their standard Pralines 'n Cream ice cream, good enough I guess, but not really special.  It was covered in "white coating", which I give them credit for not even trying to call white chocolate.  It was kinda just sweet and there.  On top of that was a fairly tasty caramel drizzle and some bits of pecans.  The toppings were the best part.

Yes, this was cake and ice cream, which should be good together, but honestly, it didn't have much going for it.  Wouldn't get again.

Shakes

Very Berry Strawberry Shake, mini, $3.49.

I've went through a serious milkshake craze.  It had been years since I'd had one, and then I just got hooked.   I had just about every type of shake possible, ranging from ones made in real blenders (like the one at Roxy Cafe that started the trend), to those from shake dispensers at fast food joints (like my free birthday shake from Del Taco), to something in-between (like my shake from Bistro Burger).  But the best was from Holy Grill, made with Mitchel's vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries.  Even though that one didn't have whipped cream, which I consider to be an important element, it was still the best one I've had flavor-wise.  Quality ice cream and fresh fruit really just makes a big difference!   Every time I've seen strawberry shakes since, I've gotten it, even though I never would normally pick strawberry, hoping to replicate my experience from Holy Grill.  The last one I had was the least successful shake ever, from McDonald's (yes, I should have known better).  That was horrendous.

This one wasn't nearly as bad as the McDonald's shake, but really wasn't very good.  There was no offer of whipped cream, even though I know they have it for making sundaes.  I wish I'd gone out of my way to ask for it, because once I left with it and tried it, it was obvious that it would have really helped out.

It was made in some sort of blender/mixer combo device.  Not quite a classic blender, nor a classic milkshake maker.  The result was not a good consistency.  Mostly, it was just milk, with a few bits that were too thick to suck up.  And then a ton of froth.  The high powered mixer thing just really destroyed the ice cream.  The small amount that stayed frozen melted far too fast.  It wasn't exactly hot out, as I was in San Francisco after all, and I had basically no ice cream or iciness remaining after about 2 minutes.  Very poor execution.  I was really surprised, since I think they sell a lot of shakes, and the machine seemed custom.

Flavor-wise there wasn't much going on.  Slight strawberry flavor, not even in the same ballpark as the one from Holy Grill, but not fake and horrible like the one from McDonald's.  It was at least made with real ice cream, with some bits of strawberry in it, but the addition of all the milk just watered it down.

On the plus side, I had the nicer employee this time.  I also ordered a hand packed pint, which he thoughtfully stashed in a freezer while he made the shake and rang me up.  I really appreciated that extra effort, as it helped my pint not melt as fast for my trip home.

I got the mini size, which was "only" 12 ounces.  $3.49 was actually kinda pricy for this size, more than the 12 ounce mini I got from Bistro Burger for $2.99 and just slightly less than the $3.99 large sizes I got many other places.  Certainly not worth the price, would no get again.

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