Ramy H.
Yelp
This is my second time visiting this location and I've left happy both times. The ice cream here is excellent and they offer atypical flavors that transforms enjoying a classic treat into a mini indulgent adventure.
For the classic lovers, you'll find something on the menu for yourself; vanilla included. For the more adventurous, I recommend trying their 'pear & blue cheese' or 'honey lavender'. They're staples here for a reason.
While walking by today, I saw the sign outside for the limited Brewers series which I guess JUST kicked off at the end of May. I've had most of those beers in their own and I was excited to try them as part of an ice cream. I ended up trying all 5 they had available and I was impressed that you could pick up the beer flavor fairly easily while it also not being overpowering. I hope a brewer's series becomes something standard.
My favorites were the Breakside barrel aged chocolate stout which is described as an "intense, stout-soaked cocoa nib ice cream and stout tres leches cake" and the Monkish Space Cookies & Cream Hazy IPA which was described as a "very cool ice cream, triple-dry-hopped, with fresh grapefruit zest and 'nilla wafer cookie butter". I laughed at the "very cool" descriptor because... it's ice cream... so DUH it's "cool". I found both of these ice creams to be the ones that had a perfect balance of the beer-to-'other' flavor ratio. The Breakside Stout comes through at the beginning and the cocoa nibs give this a great texture. The Tres leches cake pieces remind me more of cookie dough, which isn't a bad thing.
The monkish IPA really shows its fruit forwardness at the beginning, and the added grapefruit zest increases the citrus notes with the cookie butter rounding out the ice cream for a sweet finish.
The Russian river ice cream would be a top contender if it wasn't for the added cherry marmalade. Russian River is one of my favorite breweries and this particular beer is excellent on its own and I think the cherry actually off-balance's this is a bit. Still good but it was the only one I found underwhelming and the beer flavor slightly subdued.
Service:
The service was surprisingly fast given how packed the inside of the store was. There were at least 10 to 15 people in front of us when we entered the line but we waited around 5 minutes to be served. The crew showed really great teamwork behind the counter, which I greatly appreciated.
Ambience:
The inside of the store is fairly small with limited seating, and there are a handful of seats outside in the alleyway. Most people grabbed their ice cream and took it to go so this wasn't a big deal for most.
Overall:
For four scoops of ice cream and a waffle cone, our grand total, before tip, came to $18.80. Considering the excellent quality of the ice cream, efficient service, and unique offerings, I think the price is somewhat justified. I can't believe I'm saying that myself - don't judge me - but this is an occasional treat and not your regular store branded ice cream. Just be aware that a single scoop will cost you $6.50, the same as a premium coffee, so you need to ask yourself; are you looking more for a caffeine hit or a sugar rush? Then you'll have made your choice.