Salt and Straw

[DLgal]

To me, it's just another gimmick. I went to the one in Portland with my daughter and son-in-law. To me, it's the kind of place that appeals to a younger, hipper crowd than I belong to. I love ice cream and was excited when my daughter told me we were going to this great ice cream place, but it took forever and after sampling several flavors, I settled on one that wasn't filled with herbs or other 'cool' ingredients. I love ice cream. I make my own and experiment to a degree, but Salt and Straw, IMO, is simply tapping a market of people looking for the next thing. I much prefer HD's Belgian Chocolate ice cream and I will miss them.

This is how I feel too. I'm an ice cream "purist", I guess, and still find Haagen Dazs to be the best commercially available ice cream. I make my own also, but when I buy it, it's Haagen Dazs or nothing. I'm sick of all these gimmicky ice cream places like the nitrogen ones or the crazy flavors with all kinds of mix ins. My kids like plain ice cream too...plain vanilla or chocolate. I'm actually surprised Salt & Straw even has a plain vanilla flavor, but I'm sure there's something about it that will make it unappealing to my kids. It's probably uber fancy with like 5 kinds of vanilla in it or something, and will probably be overwhelming.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

This is how I feel too. I'm an ice cream "purist", I guess, and still find Haagen Dazs to be the best commercially available ice cream. I make my own also, but when I buy it, it's Haagen Dazs or nothing. I'm sick of all these gimmicky ice cream places like the nitrogen ones or the crazy flavors with all kinds of mix ins. My kids like plain ice cream too...plain vanilla or chocolate. I'm actually surprised Salt & Straw even has a plain vanilla flavor, but I'm sure there's something about it that will make it unappealing to my kids. It's probably uber fancy with like 5 kinds of vanilla in it or something, and will probably be overwhelming.

I also love Haagen Dazs (chocolate and peanut butter for me!). I haven’t tried Salt and Straw but I recently waited in a 20-minute line for another trendy ice cream place (Afters) and I was sorely disappointed so I will only try Salt and Straw if there is randomly no line and I’m in the mood for ice cream. I actually don’t like to wait in line for much of anything and definitely not for food.

 

[DLgal]

I also love Haagen Dazs (chocolate and peanut butter for me!). I haven’t tried Salt and Straw but I recently waited in a 20-minute line for another trendy ice cream place (Afters) and I was sorely disappointed so I will only try Salt and Straw if there is randomly no line and I’m in the mood for ice cream. I actually don’t like to wait in line for much of anything and definitely not for food.

Ugh, our neighborhood Baskin Robbins just closed and will be replaced by an Afters. My kids were so upset.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Ugh, our neighborhood Baskin Robbins just closed and will be replaced by an Afters. My kids were so upset.

Bummer! We love BR too... again, chocolate and peanut butter. Mmmmm now I am REALLY craving ice cream!

 

[DLgal]

I also love Haagen Dazs (chocolate and peanut butter for me!). I haven’t tried Salt and Straw but I recently waited in a 20-minute line for another trendy ice cream place (Afters) and I was sorely disappointed so I will only try Salt and Straw if there is randomly no line and I’m in the mood for ice cream. I actually don’t like to wait in line for much of anything and definitely not for food.

I recently discovered HD chocolate peanut butter and WOW, what a flavor!

 

[ExcitedMama]

We tried it on Thursday and I wasn’t impressed but my husband and kids loved it. I thought it was lacking flavor.

 

[rentayenta]

We are headed back to Disney tonight; 3rd time this week. Salt & Straw is on our list for tonight.

 

[PatMcDuck]

Salted Malted Choc Chip Cookie Dough was incredible and I swear I even had a dream about it the night after having it. I agree, many other flavors sounded weird but I think I am now more willing to try them.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Two thumbs way up! Great service and really good quality ice cream. CM asked about my allergies, taking time in spite of the crowds to go over each ingredient list of every flavor DH and I sampled so we could share scoops (and we sampled many flavors, so this was great service!). She offered to get me a fresh scooper and a fresh container of my chosen flavor to prevent any cross contamination. They are not using the Strauss Organic Ice Cream Base which many gourmet ice cream shops use. They are making their own organic base. We made our choices, received our AP discount (yay!), and enjoyed our ice cream very much. This place is going to be seeing a lot of us in the future, I think.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

We tried it today, and really enjoyed trying different ice cream. My nephew settled on the Creepy Crawly one with chocolate covered crickets and mealworms. He really enjoyed it. I had the strawberry with balsamic - really good. My other nephew and the double vanilla, and my sister in law had the chocolate gooey brownie. I'll be going back there. The ice cream was good.

 

[dina444444]

Stopped by and got a single scoop of the double fold vanilla today. It was good. Not sure if I’ll get it again though since I can get a bigger single scoop of vanilla in the park for less money.

 

[SOCALMouseMommy]

Tried it tonight... some of the flavors were interesting but not for me. Honey lavender was surprisingly pleasant although I wouldn’t want an entire scoop. I couldnt bring myself to try the turkey flavor though.

I wanted the malted cookie dough but I couldn’t get a straight answer as to whether there are raw eggs in the cookie dough pieces and I wasn’t willing to risk it as I’m pregnant so I ended up with the chocolate brownie flavor, which was while less adventurous than some of the other flavors was pretty darn good. My son enjoyed the roasted strawberry coconut.

There was not much of a line (only waited 5-10 minutes) when we went but we could see the line queue set up and clearly the lines can get pretty LONG. I enjoyed it but I wouldn’t wait much longer than the 5-10 minutes we waited.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Tried it tonight... some of the flavors were interesting but not for me. Honey lavender was surprisingly pleasant although I wouldn’t want an entire scoop. I couldnt bring myself to try the turkey flavor though.

I wanted the malted cookie dough but I couldn’t get a straight answer as to whether there are raw eggs in the cookie dough pieces and I wasn’t willing to risk it as I’m pregnant so I ended up with the chocolate brownie flavor, which was while less adventurous than some of the other flavors was pretty darn good. My son enjoyed the roasted strawberry coconut.

There was not much of a line (only waited 5-10 minutes) when we went but we could see the line queue set up and clearly the lines can get pretty LONG. I enjoyed it but I wouldn’t wait much longer than the 5-10 minutes we waited.

Turkey flavor?! I'm all for interesting flavors but that might be too much for me too! Maybe I can get my husband to try it though....

 

[PirateRedhead]

This is how I feel too. I'm an ice cream "purist", I guess, and still find Haagen Dazs to be the best commercially available ice cream.

It really is. I was sorry to see Haagen Dazs go. I can just get it at the grocery store, of course, while Salt & Straw is a destination. I'll still miss having it there, though!

 

[tarheelalum]

We tried it a few days ago and it wasn't bad but we probably won't go back. The service was great but the product was kind of off to me. Having worms and other stuff in the ice cream is kind of a gimmick imho. If your product is great and priced well, you won't need to put bugs in your ice cream to get lots of customers in the door.

 

[Whistlebee]

I had no interest in trying this place but my friends did and I had some of theirs and I loved it. Thought it was some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had. It had a very fresh taste to it. I’ll definitely eat there again.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

... Having worms and other stuff in the ice cream is kind of a gimmick imho. If your product is great and priced well, you won't need to put bugs in your ice cream to get lots of customers in the door.

Most of the customers we saw weren't ordering the flavor with bugs -- the lines were out the door for the other flavors! And the bugs flavor is no longer offered, and the lines were still out the door today.

Note for APs: according to the CMs at Salt & Straw, the AP discount was discontinued as of 11/03. No reason given. They are hoping this will be cleared up soon. Keep asking and write in to Disney to get this discount reinstated!

 

[dina444444]

Most of the customers we saw weren't ordering the flavor with bugs -- the lines were out the door for the other flavors! And the bugs flavor is no longer offered, and the lines were still out the door today.

Note for APs: according to the CMs at Salt & Straw, the AP discount was discontinued as of 11/03. No reason given. They are hoping this will be cleared up soon. Keep asking and write in to Disney to get this discount reinstated!

Disney isn't the one who determines if a non Disney retailers at Downtown Disney offers an AP discount that's up to the retailer. So Salt and Straw corporate probably decided to discontinue it.

 

[theluckyrabbit]

Disney isn't the one who determines if a non Disney retailers at Downtown Disney offers an AP discount that's up to the retailer. So Salt and Straw corporate probably decided to discontinue it.

Of course, writing in to Salt & Straw helps, too, but it helps letting Disney know that APs like and support this vendor and will support it more if the discount is offered. Disney can pass this information on to Salt & Straw. They cannot force Salt & Straw to offer the discount, but they can discuss the matter with their management. Saying nothing just makes Disney think no one cares.

 

[midnight star]

Most of the customers we saw weren't ordering the flavor with bugs -- the lines were out the door for the other flavors! And the bugs flavor is no longer offered, and the lines were still out the door today.

Note for APs: according to the CMs at Salt & Straw, the AP discount was discontinued as of 11/03. No reason given. They are hoping this will be cleared up soon. Keep asking and write in to Disney to get this discount reinstated!

Aw man! Glad I got to use the AP discount while it lasted!