Frozen yogurt has been making a revival in a big way. Ever since Pinkberry opened their doors in LA (or was it since Red Mango opened in South Korea?), people have been lining up for this new style of yogurt. Instead of trying to mimic ice cream like the froyo of old, Pinkberry retained much of the yogurt’s tangy yogurtiness. The LA Times dubbed it the “taste that launched a 1000 parking tickets”.
And with success came legions of imitators. Over a dozen Pinkberry-ish yogurt shops have opened in San Diego over the last year or so.
My two yogurt enthusiast friends (Liz and Eric) and I decided to visit fourteen tart frozen yogurt shops in San Diego to find out which ones were the best. So how did they stacked up against each other? We divided the shops into 5 categories: Yum!, Very Good, So So, Meh, and Yuck!
I have a feeling some of the results will be controversial. All I can say is that shops seem to vary in quality from day to day, and we can only judge them by what happened when we made our official visit.
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Dolci Freddo (Banker’s Hill)
Rating: Yuck!
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The Yogurt:Dolci Freddo did not fare well with us. Though the texture was creamy and we liked the quality of the fruit toppings, both the plain and green tea flavors we tried had an odd artificial aftertaste. The green tea flavor was stale and tasted like hay.
Cost: $4.99 for half plain/half green tea with 3 toppings. Other: 4 flavors. Parking can be a challenge. |
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Paradise Yogurt (Mission Valley)
Rating: Yuck!
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The Yogurt: Paradise does not specialize in tart frozen yogurt, and it really shows. The tart strawberry flavor (the only one available the day of our visit) tasted like supermarket strawberry fruit-on-the-bottom yogurt dumped straight into the yogurt machine. The yogurt was almost gritty with little ice crystals.
Cost: $5.05 for tart strawberry with 2 toppings.
Other: Skip the tart flavors and go for the Wow Cow flavors instead |
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AppleGreen Yogurt (La Jolla)
Rating: Meh
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The Yogurt: AppleGreen’s yogurt suffered from something we call “flavor void” - basically the absence of all flavor. This is strange since most stuff tastes like something - even water. AppleGreen’s yogurt had a decently creamy texture. At first, we could taste a hint of lemon in the plain, and then … a big mouthful of nothing - like eating when you have a cold. The green apple flavor was very much the same, but it tasted like green apple at first instead of lemon.
Cost: $4.95 for half plain/half green apple Other: 4 flavors / over 20 toppings. |
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Yogart (Hillcrest)
Rating: Meh
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The Yogurt: I know this one will be controversial, as I know it has its fans and we’ve had good yogurt here before, but we were pretty disappointed in our visit to Yogart for the official tasting. Though the yogurt still had the lush creaminess we liked about Yogart, there was not enough tart yogurty taste or enough sweetness to the yogurt - just a bland milkiness. This was true of both the plain and taro flavors we tried; though the lychee flavor fared a bit better.
Cost: $5.50 for a medium with 3 toppings. Other: Strangely, when we first arrived, no one was behind the counter. We, along with two other customers, yelled over the counter for over 5 minutes before venturing behind the counter to find the clerk sleeping on a couch in the back room. Could a hard night of partying been behind the less-than-stellar yogurt on our visit? Parking can be difficult here. Yogart has lots of board games making it one of the more fun shops to just hang out in. |
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Golden Spoon (Hillcrest)
Rating: Meh
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The Yogurt: Golden Spoon is medium-sized chain known more for its non-tart yogurt. It recently started serving a couple of tart flavors - the Hillcrest location was carrying plain and tart mango. The texture was great - lush and creamy, but the yogurt had an odd flavor to it. The best that I can describe it is that it tastes like the component of carob, that makes me not like carob.
Other: Stick to the non-tart flavors that have made Golden Spoon popular in the first place. |
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Yolicious (East Village)
Rating: So-So
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The Yogurt: Yolicious landed in the middle of the pack. We tried the strawberry and plain flavors, and we liked the silky creamy texture, but the plain yogurt needed more tartness and more sweetness. The toppings were a mixed bag with; the fruit was frozen, but still tasty, and the mochi was a bit mushy.
Cost: $5.39 for a medium with 3 toppings. |
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Red Mango (Mission Valley)
Rating: So-So
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The Yogurt: Here’s another controversial one. I know that lots of bloggers favor Red Mango over Pinkberry when comparing the yogurt behemoths, and I’ve had good yogurts at Red Mango in OC, but we were let down on our visit to the Mission Valley location. The yogurt lacked tartness and verged on the aforementioned “flavor void”, though that would be an exaggeration. On the positive side, the green tea flavor was pleasant (though still lacking in yogurty tartness).
Cost: $6.00 for a medium with 3 toppings. The most expensive yogurt of the taste-off. Other: Has 2 flavors and about 16 toppings. |
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Redberry (Convoy)
Rating: So-So
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The Yogurt: We sampled the plain and green apple flavors here. The plain had a subtle, though distinctly yogurty taste, but it was too subtle - again the “flavor void” reared its head. Liz felt it had a bit of an odd artificial taste to it. The green apple was better, and a good match for a tart yogurt flavor. We were pleased with the quality of the fresh, ripe fruit here.
Cost: $5 for a medium with all-you-can-add toppings. It used to be a better deal at $4. Other: I think Redberry is the only place offering all-you-can-add toppings for a fixed price. They seem to have fewer topping choices than before, but if you’re all about the toppings, this is a good place to go. |
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Berries n Beans (Clairemont)
Rating: So-So
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The Yogurt: The yogurt here had perhaps the creamiest texture of all the ones we tried, and the yogurt actually tasted like yogurt. On the bad side, the yogurt left us with a strange, powdery mouthfeel, and the toppings were of mixed quality (frozen sour strawberries, decent blueberries, and doughy mochi).
Cost: I lost the receipt, but I remember it was under $4 for about a medium with 3 toppings. It’s $0.33 an oz which makes it the most affordable yogurt of the bunch. Other: At the time we went, you could get a free coffee or tea with purchase. I believe that they only have one tart flavor and it’s inexplicably called “baby yogurt gelato”. |
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Tutti Frutti (Hillcrest)
Rating: Very Good
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The Yogurt: Though the icier texture of the yogurt here was not our favorite, we really liked the balance in the plain flavor - not too tart, not too sweet, just right. We had a hard time telling the kiwi flavor from the plain though. The toppings were both numerous and high quality.
Cost: $0.38/oz. We paid $4.98 for a medium with 3 toppings. Other: Completely serve yourself. Six flavors. Big selection of toppings. Great for yogurt control freaks. |
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Frutti Yogurt (UTC)
Rating: Very Good
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The Yogurt: We tried the plain and taro flavors here. The yogurt here had a nice, crisp bite to it, and the texture was smooth if not quite creamy. We didn’t enjoy the strawberries here, and wished for more fresh fruit topping selection though.
Cost: $5.23 for a medium with 2 toppings. Other: 6 flavors and 20 toppings. Easy parking. |
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Dolci Mango (Pacific Beach)
Rating: Very Good
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The Yogurt: Dolci Mango’s yogurt had a really nice creamy consistency, and we enjoyed the distinctly yogurty taste of the plain, and the natural tasting green tea flavor. One minor nitpick is that the yogurt tended to leave a coated-tongue finish, though not as much as Berries n Beans.
Cost: $5.34 for medium half plain/half green tea with 2 toppings. Other: 4 flavors. Almost 30 toppings. Though it’s in PB, you can usually find parking fairly easily within a block. Free wifi. |
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Yogurt World (Convoy)
Rating: Very Good
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The Yogurt: Though the texture was more on the icy side rather than creamy side, we still liked Yogurt World for it’s bright, clean, balanced taste. The green tea flavor here was arguably our favorite of the tasting.
Cost: $0.38/oz. We paid $5.07 for our medium with 3 toppings. Other: 15 flavors. Lots of toppings. Serve yourself. There are throngs of teenagers here many times of the day, which is great for them, but hectic and crowded for older folks like us. |
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Yogotango (Gaslamp)
Rating: Yum!
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The Yogurt: We tried both the plain and green tea yogurts, and were impressed with their clean, natural flavor, and the almost perfect blend of tart and sweet. The green tea was mild and pleasant, and the toppings all fresh and high quality. If we had to nitpick, my fellow tasters thought it could be slightly less sweet (but I was fine with it).
Cost: $4.12 for a medium with self-serve toppings weight by the ounce. I believe toppings are weighed at $0.58/oz. This works out to be a good bargain if you aren’t a topping fiend. Other: A lot of flavors - over 8, I think. You can get it in a waffle bowl too. Parking is generally difficult here unless you use the Horton Plaza trick (ie. park at Horton Plaza, and just get your ticket validated, even though you’re really supposed to buy something there). This location has tons of seating. |
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Pinkberry (Gaslamp)
Rating: Yum!
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The Yogurt: So the yogurt megachain made it into our top tier. We loved the refreshing taste of the plain yogurt with just a hint of lemon. The texture is not quite creamy, but not icy either. The result is a light, clean, and refreshing. The green tea was good as well (though not our favorite of the tasting).
Cost: $4.95 for a medium with 3 toppings. Other: 3 flavors. I’m tempted to drop Pinkberry down a notch for the downtown store’s screwy design, which leaves customers confused about where to order. The result is a chaotic crowd of customers staring slack-jawed at the clerks for several minutes until they finally figure you have to just go straight to the register to order. Also 3 tiny tables is not enough for such a popular store. Affordable parking in this area can be a nightmare (unless you use the Horton Plaza trick). |
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Yogurt Lounge (Clairemont)
Rating: Yum!
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The Yogurt: Yogurt Lounge ended up being our favorite of the tasting. The plain was had the most natural yogurt flavor of the bunch, but it was the taro flavor that blew us away. It was one of the few flavors that made these jaded yogurt palates sit up and take notice. It’s hard to describe how well the exotic taro flavor works with the tangy yogurt, but it’s oddly perfect.
Cost: $0.38/oz. We paid $5.31 for a medium with 3 toppings. Other: 16 flavors, and self-serve toppings. Easy parking. The store is run by an older, austere-looking Asian man; he could probably improve sales by hiring a couple of Asian teenagers to run the till. |
So that’s it for this edition of the yogurt wars. With its tasty yogurt, convenient location and parking, and its great choice of flavors, Yogurt Lounge has become our go-to yogurt place (or rather, it will be when we aren’t sick of yogurt anymore). Though we loved Yogotango and Pinkberry, the parking situation makes it less likely that we’ll visit unless we’re already doing something in the Gaslamp.
Agree, disagree? Did we miss your favorite yogurt parlor? Let us know in the comments…
Hi Howie - Wow, yogurt wars……impressive body of work. Lactose intolerance be damned!
Comment by Kirk — July 28, 2008 @ 7:55 pm
Howie got me addicted to this damn tart yogurt. And now after this enormous yogurt tasting project, I can say Howie has also cured my addiction. Luckily, I still love mochi. See you at Gelato Vero?
Comment by Liz — July 28, 2008 @ 8:11 pm
Thanks, Kirk! Lactose intolerance was definitely the biggest problem in conducting this tasting. Ugh!
Liz, Gelato Vero sounds very good right about now.
Comment by howie — July 29, 2008 @ 10:11 am
Red Mango was actually opened first in korea.. it’s like Pat bing su. if you know what that is.
Comment by Nani — August 12, 2008 @ 4:36 pm
Hi, Nani,
I didn’t realize that the current froyo craze was related to pat bing su. That’s an interesting little tidbit. (For the uninitiated, pat bing su is a dessert made of shaved ice mixed with a combo of red beans, fruit, condensed milk, ice cream, and/or frozen yogurt).
Comment by howie — August 12, 2008 @ 6:12 pm
you should try rockies frozen yogurt, insanely big portions, great taste, they have wow-cow and often have coupons in the get-1-free magazine.
Comment by gina — August 19, 2008 @ 8:19 pm
Yogurt Lounge also has games. That’s my fave, too.
Comment by Alison — August 26, 2008 @ 2:16 pm
Yogotango is the best! I go almost everyday!
I like pinkberry too but Yogotango they have a lot of flavors and the toppings! HolYCoW!!
Comment by Timmy — October 31, 2008 @ 5:44 pm
Yogotango is the best! They have 10 flavors I guess and so many kinds of fresh, yummy toppings.
Last time when I’ve been there, they were baking the cookies and waffle chips there. Smell sooooo good and tasty.
It’s holy cow!!
Comment by K. J. — April 1, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
I LOVE yogotango!!! The flavors are very real and good to me. I get 3-4 of the Almond cookies everytime I go there. I went tonight with an old stamp card and new stamp card. The guy told me the old stamp card had expired but let me use it anyway. It don’t get much better than that!!!
Comment by Maria Delgado — May 5, 2009 @ 9:23 pm