626 Ice Cream — Restaurant in Arcadia

Wanted to check this place out! There was a fairly long line outside for ice cream! But the flavors are unique and good energy with plenty of people outside and inside the shop! You can tell the place is opened from love and passion for their craft! I've tried quite a few of their flavors (which rotate out depending on the season) like: Hojicha, honey misu garu, matcha, brown sugar vanilla\ ube vanilla, sesame, yakult, and strawberry lychee, mandarin!

The Hojicha was really good, you could taste the steeped tea, and it wasn't too sweet! The money misu garu was more nutty, and it almost reminded me of a subtle unsweetened peanut butter! Its awesome you can get 2 flavors per cup for fun and endless combos! The matcha was a bit bitter for me, but paired great with the decadent brown sugar vanilla! The vanilla and hojicha are my top flavors! A more sweet and refreshing flavors would be the yakult and strawberry lychee. But honestly everything is a hit!!

The servers were very kind, explaining to us all of the flavors and their origins, even though they were so busy, and gave us our soft serve almost instantly.

I first heard of them a couple years back at a random rooftop Christmas market in Little Tokyo, thinking they weren't a soft serve, but a community service location, which, with their mission statement, isn't that far off! They are a local passionate group of people bringing us delicious and uniquely Asian flavors in the 626!

I really do appreciate them and their mission statement, this homegrown feel and love of ice cream and their communities. We need more places like them!

There is ample parking since it's in a plaza and open in the late evening and night. But by the time we finished and left, there was no linehaha. I also love the decor inside. It gives me an almost nostalgic feeling with a fresh take on it, I can't really explain it...!

Since my previous review, I've been at least a dozen times at this point! I even have a small sticker book collection with all the free stickers so far, and so...

Tried out this new ice cream spot for the first time, and got one of each flavor! Owners are super nice and this is definitely going to be my new go-to spot whenever I'm nearby. I tried all of their current flavors below:

Black Sugar Vanilla This is what I'm going to call the philosopher's flavor because this one actually changes in your mouth as your taste buds pick up the black sugar, then the delicate vanilla kicks in and doesn't let go. Their vanilla here is anything but plain.

Lychee Strawberry This isn't lychee and strawberry casually lumped together. It's like they managed to fuse the two fruits together perfectly to create a life changing new taste. I can only assume alchemy is involved here, cause my brain, and tastebuds, are still reeling from its effect.

Yakult If you love Yakult, you may not ever want to go back to the drink form. Powerful and memorable flavor due to the nostalgia, gentle puffy texture, and creaminess. Wow!

Mango Calamansi Who DOESN'T like mango or calamansi? Take mango, add some citrus, and honestly no toppings needed. I need this everywhere.

Hojicha If you've never had tea-infused ice cream, this is a great place to start. Imagine a delicious tea flavor without any bitterness, has some nutty undertones, and leaves you calm and at peace afterwards. It's lot to ask for in ice cream, but they managed to pull it off!

Malted Chocolate The malt takes what would just be your "classic chocolate" flavor and instead creates something way more exciting. Ignore the cheap powdery taste you might be thinking of - this tastes like the real deal, and it has me questioning if I've ever had real chocolate malt.

They teased new flavors of ice cream ready to roll out in the future that I can't wait to try. Given how much thought and care has gone into every single of these so far, I for one am very excited for what the...

The BEST soft serve and ice cream you will every have! Our friend introduced us to 626 Ice Cream in 2023, and we fell in love with their soft serve. They hand make all of their flavors, and you can tell from the ingredients used are of the highest quality. The best part is - the flavors are "not too sweet." Amber was there that day we tried their soft serve, and she took the time to go over the making and thought process of each flavor. Just from the way she described everything to us, you could sense the passion and pride she took in 626 Ice Cream.

Fast forward to a couple months before our wedding, and we could NOT figure out what desserts to serve our guests. We instantly thought of 626 Ice Cream - it made the perfect sense to have them at our wedding since we're both originally from the 626 area. Plus, the ice creams were the perfect mix of asian-inspired and childhood nostalgia flavors we grew up enjoying.

We happened to get in touch with Amber again, and she coordinated all the logistics for us to have 626 Hospitality Group as our dessert vendor! She was so detail-oriented, and we even got to set up a tasting with her to narrow down the flavors we wanted to serve at our wedding.

On the day of the wedding, Amber and the 626 Hospitality Group team were so professional and really went above and beyond to ensure our guests were happy. Our guests could NOT stop raving about how delicious the ice cream was, and we even had a couple of friends stop by the store front to get more soft serve the following day.

We truly appreciate Amber and the 626 Hospitality Team for making our wedding day a memorable night. We highly recommend everyone to check them out either at the store-front or to even reach out to them for any catering services for...