Salt & Straw — Restaurant in Miami

The flavors are authentic and sophisticated. As I have mentioned in my other reviews, I have a palate of a 5 year old so this is not going to be on my favorite list but I do appreciate the quality of flavors in this establishment. As a challenge from my sister and her boyfriend, I was tasked with trying several ice cream shops in the coconut grove area during the Chinese New Year celebration. They only allowed me to taste test two flavors from each local. My strategy was to try my least favorite and most favorite flavors, which is pistachio and chocolate respectively. The first two stops were a “No Go” since the ice cream were more water than cream and reminiscent of a fudgesicle instead of a creamy chocolate ice cream. Salt and Straw was the better of the three (it got too late and the other 2 shops had closed so we didn’t get to try all 5 ice cream shops in the area). Since this shop was more of a gourmet experience (with a line that went all the way into the street - a good sign of good food for most places), they didn’t carry pedestrian flavors such as pistachio or chocolate so I went to the next best thing and chose Lavender Honey and Coffee-Chocolate-Tres Leches. To my surprise the Lavender Honey had immense lavender aroma and good natural honey flavor. I had tried that same flavor in Australia from a fancy gourmet ice cream shop in Sydney and did not get anything but sugary candy imitation flavors, so this was a good sign that this shop was on the right track. Once I did my due diligence of taste testing, I proceeded to order my usual favorites (fruit flavored ice cream). But unfortunately the toasted pineapple coconut concoction was true to its name and was similar to a toasted coconut Chinese candy from my youth (I am not a fan of cuisine from my own culture- I am a true americanized second generation immigrant). I ate but did not enjoy my very adult flavor ice cream. The fancy gourmet stuff is wasted on me, I am more of a “Good Humor” ice cream brand type of girl, give me a strawberry shortcake ice cream or orange creamsicle any day of the week. Since the quality is there, I gave them 4 stars. I couldn’t give the 5 stars yet cause it didn’t serve the flavors for us common folk. Maybe if they had a flavor just for us kids with simple palates, I might bump them to 5 stars. I will bring my friends and family to try this place since they might enjoy this place as it is different from any ice cream parlor I have tried. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures since I wasn’t really planning to review this place. Will do for my update if...

Just by the smell you will feel tempted to come in! The scent literally impregnates the Coco Walk area. I tried the Sea Salt w/ Caramel Ribbons. The Caramel ribbons perfectly surrounded the cup so you could sweet up the vanilla flavor, as well as there is plenty of salt to level down the sweetness in it, nailing down the sweet spot between savory and sweet. My ice cream was topped with a second scoop of Salted, Malted, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. It had plenty of chunks, as well as chocolates chips sprinkling the surroundings. The icing on the top was the whip cream with the chocolate and birthday cake sprinkles decorating it. The whip cream is home made, so you can taste the creaminess in it. The girl who took my order was super charming and let me tried all the flavors I wanted before finally submitting my order (they are pretty chill about allowing you to taste any flavor you will like to).

Overall, it is the spot for ice cream if you visit the Coconut Grove area. I still wish they had more variety of flavors, even though they offer special edition flavors according...

Hey! Um okay… so… it’s sucks I have to write this but it was understaffed. We waited 20 min to order high priced ice cream that was then like just okay? My ice cream had way too many ice crystals. The staff seemed flustered as they were trying to serve groups and then ring them out but it wasn’t their fault. By the time you get to the counter you almost feel guilty asking to sample flavors cause there’s a huge line of people waiting behind you and the staff just want you to keep going. Also, they use compostable spoons which break super easily and I appreciate their initiative but unless these spoons are actually being composted in a facility it’s a waste of money for them, greenwashing and it’s a bad experience for the customer. A bamboo spoon would be a better option cause these bio plastic spoons are not getting composted. Anyway… I’ll try it again at some point but I think hype is what’s keeping...