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.

[ No Photos ]

• 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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United Airlines Domestic First Class, BOS-SFO

Flight Details

Flight: UA1187

Departure: BOS 1:58pm (scheduled) (1:54pm pushback, 2:12pm takeoff)

Arrival: SFO 5:30pm (scheduled) 4:56pm actual

Aircraft: 737 Max 9

Seat: 4E

This was a pretty average United domestic flight.  We took off on time, minimal drama in-flight.

The aircraft itself is pretty meh for such a long flight - the seats just really were not comfortable at all, and mine wouldn't recline.  No footrest.  No real functional spaces around to put things, besides a slot for water bottle and space for a phone and laptop.  No in-seat entertainment units.  Not even USB ports for charging.  No amenities besides a small thin blanket, no pillow, which I really wanted for some lumbar support.  Meh.  Wifi worked fine.

Service was good, the FAs were very good about offering more beverages and picking up used items.  They weren't overly friendly or interesting, but were attentive enough.

Food & Drink

Once everyone *finally* boarded (it was a lengthy boarding time), PDB of water or sparkling wine was offered.  I asked for sparkling water, and that was accommodated.

One underway, drink orders were taken, as were food orders for those who hadn't preordered.  Beverages came out fairly quickly, meals around the 1 hour mark.  No snacks later in the flight, even though the same length as the other transcons like those from Newark than include an entire second meal service.

AHA Sparkling Water Pineapple + Passionfruit / Red Wine.

I started with sparkling water as always (no ice) and opted to try the Pineapple + Passionfruit AHA (I usually go for the blueberry + pomegranate). It was way too fruity for me, so now I know. I opted for the blueberry + pomegranate for the rest of the flight. I appreciate that they have flavored sparkling water.

I also opted for "the red wine", no idea what it was.  It was decent enough, not too much acid nor tanin, and actually some body to it. ***.

No nuts provided.

Decaf Coffee.  Black.

With my dessert, I asked for decaf coffee.  It was clearly instant, and not very good.  But nice and hot. **.

Menu.

For my main dish, I had an amusing list of choices: chicken (grilled), chicken (charred), or chicken (also grilled), or two vegetarian options.  Wow, United, wow.  2 of the dishes (one of the chickens, and the enchiladas) were pre-order only.  Those who didn't pre-order had only two choices in practice, the salad or the chicken with rice.  Nearly everyone had pre-ordered, I only heard the FA ask 2 people what they'd like, and they were not given the pasta choice.

Given that I loathe chicken, and truly disliked one of the vegetarian options before (the enchiladas), I essentially had no choice.  Mezze rigatoni it was, even though I can't say I've been impressed with United's pasta in the past.

Meal.

My meal was served about an hour after the actual takeoff, as expected.  All of the meals, besides the entree salad, come with the same side salad and roll, butter, salt, pepper, and olive oil, and dessert, all served at once.

Roll.

The roll was served nicely warm.  It was my least favorite of the selections in the United lineup though, just a white roll (I actually quite like their grainy one or the wheat one).  It was fresh enough tasting, not stale, not dried out.  I liked the cornmeal on top.  Good to dunk in the sauce too.  Low ***.

Salad.

The salad was different from versions I've had in the past, this time with a base of mixed greens, cucumbers, and sundried tomatoes (instead of fresh), and copious amounts of large shards of cheese.  The greens were actually pretty fresh tasting, not wilted, and not frozen (both of which are things that happen frequently with United salads).  I don't care for cucumbers, so those I pushed aside.  And although I'm not a big fan of sundried tomatoes, they were dramatically better than the usual mealy and not ripe fresh tomatoes, so they worked really well here.  Lots of flavors.  The cheese was good, but there was really quite a bit of it given the small amount of greens (which is my only real complaint with the salad, it is really quite small!).  I added my own additional greens and veggies, and my own dressing (they only provide olive oil now?  What happened to the generic balsamic vinaigrette pots?).  Higher end of ***.

Mezze Rigatoni.

"Mezze rigatoni with vodka sauce."

People on social media have said reasonable things about this dish.  As have friends of mine who have flown with United recently and had it. And, like I said, it's not like I really had a choice ... I don't eat chicken, and I didn't want the enchiladas that I had truly disliked before.  I did consider just getting the entree salad (which has chicken, but I could avoid that), and bringing a bit more of my own food, but hey, in the interests of research, I figured this was worth a try.

The dish actually looked pretty good.  Well sauced.  Not overcooked.  Attractive sprinkle of cheese on top.  It was hot but not scalding, and held its heat well.

But I was underwhelmed by the flavor.  The pasta was cooked well enough - not mushy, not dried out, I'd even say maybe actually somewhat al dente.  The portion was fine.  The ratio of sauce to pasta was good.  But the sauce was highly mediocre.  It tasted like it came from a jar, or a cafeteria.  It was creamy, but just didn't taste like much of anything.  Mild tomato flavor.  No spices whatsoever.  It definitely needed salt, and really would have benefitted from anything else like garlic, herbs, chili flakes ... just, something.  Remarkably bland.  I was glad I at least had red chili flakes with me.

**+.  I wouldn't get this again.  If I had the same menu in the future, I'd either take a gamble ordering one of the special meals like Asian vegetarian or Kosher, or see if I could order the beer cheese burger from economy.  This menu just had nothing I wanted.

Dessert.

The dessert made me laugh when I saw it.  For two reasons, first, because it wasn't what was on the menu, but moreover, because it was *tiny*.  I know I come from a family that enjoys dessert and eats big slices, but, wow, this was a child or mouse's portion! 

The menu said we'd have the "harvest apple tart", which I've had before and actually quite like (it is one of Eli's Cheesecake and United's better items), but instead we had tiny pieces of blueberry cheesecake.  The cheesecake was served a bit too warm, but otherwise was fine.  Reasonably creamy, reasonable cream cheese flavor.  Minimal soft crust, better than generic cardboard like graham crust.  The blueberry element was also minimal, clearly it was a distinct layer in the cheesecake, but my tiny slice had only one bit of berry in it.  So, "fine", but not special, and one of the weaker desserts in the United lineup (that generally I think are reasonably decent).  Low ***.

Bonus Slice!

When I laughed about how tiny it was to the FA, she offered me an extra, which I gladly accepted.  And yes, I had plated my first slice up with my own fresh fruit to embellish it.

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Burma Love

Update Review, 2024 Visits

Golden Ginger Salad ... new version?

I loved this salad before.  But I was very confused when I saw the container for it this time.  Why ... why was there butternut squash?  Where was the vibrant purple cabbage?  What happened to the lettuce base?  Why did the dressing look so different?  Where did the lemon go?  And what about that powder (that I didn't really care for before anyway), where was it?  I actually like butternut squash, so these were not bad changes, but it really seemed like an entirely different product, but still had the same name.

Golden Ginger Salad.

"Butternut squash, kale, napa cabbage, red bell pepper, toasted coconut, and our citrus ginger dressing."

So, yes, this was an entirely different salad.  Frankly, I'm not sure why they didn't change the name.

It had a base of shredded kale and napa cabbage, which felt hearty, and had good texture.  It was reasonably fresh, although browning in places.  In the mix was also a lot of large shards of coconut, which somewhat dominated both the flavor and the texture (a bit soft and chewy).  I would have preferred no coconut in this base.  

On top was a mound of small bits of red bell pepper, and a mound of butternut squash cubes.  Both were fine.

A large container of dressing contained the citrus ginger dressing, that was looked entirely different from the version I loved so much before.  That one was loaded with shards of ginger, this looked to be just regular dressing.  It had a bit of a zing to it, and tasted a bit healthy, but, sadly, it was nothing like the previous version.

And finally, the small container of crunchy mix, that I did love again.

Overall, an ok base, ok mix-ins, and better in some ways than the previous version (e.g. no powder), but I preferred the prior version.  ***.

Tea Leaf Salad.

I also got the tea leaf salad again.  It too had changed, but only slightly, now with bits of green bell pepper and red onion on top, and some napa cabbage in the base.  Otherwise though, this was mostly the same.

The base lettuce/napa cabbage was fresh enough, as were the bits of onion and bell pepper.  The tomatoes (only 3) were very ripe, a bit mushy.  The lemon was nice to drizzle over it.  The dressing again reminded me of a tea-chimichurri, and I didn't mind it, but also didn't love it.  **+.

Burmese Crunchy Mix. $8.99/container.

"Our Burmese Crunchy Mix is a medley of roasted peanuts, garlic chips, chickpeas, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds that can be used to top salads made with our range of Fermented Tea Leaf Dressings, or any dish requiring a nutty, rich garnish."

I adore this.  Not only as a salad topping, but also just as a snack to munch on, and I think it would be great on top of things like mashed potatoes too.  Big pieces of fried garlic, crunchy little chickpeas and seeds, mmm, peanuts.  So much flavor, so much crunch.  Love it.  ****.

Original Review, April 2023

Prior to 1992, the San Francisco Bay Area did not have much Burmese cuisine awareness.  But that all changed when Burma Superstar opened in the Richmond, founded by a recent transplant from Burma who lamented the lack of Burmese food, and became "famous" for their tea leaf salad.  It soon won national awards. I remember hearing about it way back when I first moved to the area, and remember visiting at some point during my first year in the city to try that salad.  My memory is mostly that it was on the far other side of the city, didn't take reservations and had a long wait, and the food was totally unfamiliar to me.  I don't recall if I liked it or not.  By 2014 they had opened a spin-off, Burma Love, in the Mission, far more accessible to most, and the fame spread further.  And then in 2019 another, Burma Love downtown.  There is a 4th location coming soon as well.

In 2016, Burma Superstar/Burma Love products became even more accessible, when they opened a retail line.  They won more awards, now for their pantry items, such as the dressing.  They also sell their own blend of fish sauce, housemade fried garlic chips, other tea leaf products (such as aioli), a slew of grab-n-go premade salads, noodles, and wraps, plus meal kits.  You can now find the retail products all over the area - from grocery stores to Good Eggs to local cafes.  Or, where I discovered them, at the San Francisco International Airport, at Napa Farms Market (which I've reviewed before, covering their own items) and Green Beans coffee shop.

During my last few trips through SFO, I've grab a few of the grab-n-goes, and gotten a chance to at least have something a bit different in the airport.

Golden Ginger Salad.

"A refreshing salad of green leaf lettuce, matchstick carrots, shredded purple cabbage and our fragrant organic pickled ginger dressing deliver the flavors of Burmese ginger salad. This salad is vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free."

The first item I tried from Burma Love was the golden ginger salad.  I had just come off an international flight and my body was craving something healthy and refreshing, so when I saw this at the Green Beans coffee shop, it looked totally appropriate.

The salad was decent.  The base a touch boring, just green leaf lettuce, shredded carrots and cabbage, but all fresh enough.  The lemon I think was nice in theory, but I didn't find it did much, even when I tried to squeeze out the juice to get a bit more pop and acid in the salad.  It just wasn't actually juicy.  The toppings though are what made the salad interesting.  

The "dressing" was basically a slightly sweet pickled ginger, chopped up more than you'd see for sushi ginger.  I quite liked it, but, it wasn't really a dressing, and I found myself wanting a bit more moisture for the salad, something to really dress it, given all the leafy greens.

The "crunchy mix" was fantastic - great flavors and textures.  It was a mix of roasted sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts, split peas, garlic, and more.  Honestly, I would like to just buy a package of this to sprinkle on just about anything (which, it turns out, must not be a unique ask - they sell it as a standalone item).

And finally, the small little container that was ... chickpea powder.  I'm still not sure how I felt about this.  It mostly just was an odd, dry element.  The salad already didn't quite have a dressing, and then adding powder to it made it eat ... interestingly.   Dry.  I also didn't particularly care for the taste of it.

So overall, it was good - average vegetable base, interesting toppings.  I really did like the crunchy mix.  It was not really worth the high airport price tag though.

*** overall, **** for the crispy stuff.

Fermented Tea Leaf Salad.

"Take our iconic Tea Leaf Salad with you on the go! Includes our award winning Vegan Dressing, our Burmese Crunchy Mix, fresh plum tomatoes, crisp romaine lettuce and a slice of lemon to flavor to taste. This salad is vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free."

The next time I was flying through SFO and landed in the same state of mind really needing vegetables, I decided to try the other Burma Love salad, this time, their signature fermented tea leaf salad.  It too had a fairly boring base, just romaine and a few plum tomatoes, plus another lemon slice.  Fresh enough, but, boring.

But it had a real dressing, their famous fermented tea leaf dressing, which, yes, has tea leaves along with garlic, green jalapeño, lime juice, ginger, dried mushrooms, dried tomato, really, an interesting batch of flavors together.  This was my first time having a tea leaf salad that I remember (although I'm pretty sure I tried it back in 2005 at the restaurant), and when I tasted it, I was rather surprised.  It tasted, well, like tea leaves, actually.  Basically, think tea leaves in place of parsley in a chimichurri.  It was a fascinating flavor, lightly bitter, and just not what I ever expect with salad.

Oh, and, um, I might have also picked this because it had an even bigger container of the crunchy mix with it than the previous salad, the same blend.  I again loved that stuff.  Next time, I'm just getting a bag o crunchy mix!

Overall, a fine salad - again pretty average base, but interesting toppings.  I wouldn't get it again as I just don't see myself ever wanting tea leaf dressing, but, I was glad to try it.  ***.

Burmese Samusa Wrap.

"A hearty spinach wrap featuring Burmese curried potatoes and peas and crunchy fresh veggies."

Deciding to branch out from the salads, next I tried the single sandwich-like item that Burma Love produces, a samusa wrap.  It was a basic spinach wrap, with samusa-like filling (e.g. potatoes, peas, carrots, onions with curry seasoning), plus crispy shredded cabbage/carrots, and their tea leaf dressing turned into aioli (or so they said, I never found that).  On the side was a chili dipping sauce, that unfortunately had opened up in my container, and got all over everything, making it a bit soggy.

So ... the wrap was soggy both from the spilled sauce, and just from the way it was packaged and condensation.  The spinach wrap was actually fine, but, soggy wrap isn't particularly appealing.  I thought it might be fine if I toasted it, or at least extracted the samusa bits and warmed them up in the toaster oven to use some way, but I never got that far.  I took a few bites of the fillings and was really, really, really put off by the taste.  The cabbage/carrots tasted fermented, not in a nicely pickled way, but in a "this food as gone bad" way.  The taste was foul.  And the cooked potato/pea/carrot/etc mix also tasted a bit off, but really, there just wasn't much of this, and it was just a little cold small diced potato/peas/carrots, basically some mush, along with all the very fermented tasting "crunchy fresh veggie".  I honestly do think that perhaps this had gone bad, and that might explain why it was so moist too?  It was dated with a "Eat by" date of the day I got it.

The only redeeming thing about this was the sauce.  That chili dipping sauce was quite good, sweet and lightly spicy, and I suspect would be necessary to give this thing any flavor if I had been willing to risk eating it, but, I ended up extracting a little of the non-soggy wrap, dunking it in the sauce, and ditching the rest.  This really was no good.

*.

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Siete

My little niece recently became gluten-free and dairy free (not by choice).  During the initial adjustment phase, my mother, and her mother, both basically bought every snack food, baked good, alternative pasta/milk/baking mixes, etc that they could find.  Most, my niece was uninterested in.  And thus, the rest of us greatly increased our gluten-free and dairy free product intake.  Not that I minded really, as I love trying things, even when they are generally less likely to be good.

Which lead me to Siete, a brand of paleo, non GMO, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, vegan products.  The brand focuses on Mexican-American foods, including chips, seasonings, salsas, beans, taco shells, tortillas, and cookies.  We tried mostly the snacks.

Churro Grain Free Cinnamon Chips.

"“Churros...” Even the name melts in our mouth as we roll our tongues to say it! Inspired by trips to the plaza in Mexico on Saturday afternoons, walking from vendor to vendor under vibrant papel picado and piñatas, with newspaper-wrapped churros in hand, we made these Grain Free Churro Strips! Not only are they extremely delicious, but they’re also made with simple ingredients like cassava flour, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla bean powder, so everyone can enjoy. All that’s left for you to decide is whether or not to pair with cajeta, dip in hot chocolate, or savor straight from the bag!"

These really are quite tasty, and don't taste gluten-free or odd.  The fat strip form factor is effective: they have a slightly blistered nature, and good crunch to them.  They are very well coated in cinnamon and (coconut) sugar.  Crunchy, sweet, cinnamon-y, yup, nothing to dislike here.

They are great to just munch on, and a bag goes quickly, but I think they'd be great dunked in whipped cream or used on an ice cream sundae or pudding garnish too.  But my bag didn't last long enough to test any of those theories out.  ****.

Sea Salt Tortilla Chips.

"Tortilla chips without any grains that taste better than any regular chip you have ever eaten."

Tortilla chips are available in a variety of flavors: Sea Salt, Lime, Nacho, Fuego, Ranch, Sal y Limón, and No Salt.  We had the basic sea salt.

They ... were tortilla chips.  Triangle shape.  Some grains to them.  Very minimal salt.  Relatively thin.  Crispy.  Pretty average tortilla chips, but I guess that is success, in that they didn't taste gluten free?  Not my thing as I don't go for tortilla chips really.  **.

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