Wanderlust Creamery — Restaurant in Pasadena

I can’t believe there wasn’t a Wanderlust Creamery in Pasadena before. I am sad to see other ice cream shops leave the area such as “21 Choices”, up the street, and “Coolhaus”, which was formerly at this location. However, I have always been a fan of the Wanderlust Creamery concept since I love traveling so much. Note: I came to the soft opening as part of a yelp event. Carl/Karl was the employee who helped me and he was fantastic!! From his bright smile to his kind demeanor, his customer service and hospitality was 110%. He provided recommendations such as “oh if you like florals, definitely try the Pasadena Rose and Violet Marshmellow” and would offer a sample instead of me asking for one. This is important because no one likes being that person who asks for 10 samples in a row :) Carl/Karl also offered a background on wanderlust and his own personal favorites. Even with a long line behind us, he still did not rush me and took his time explaining everything in a calm, cool, and positive manner. In the end, he helped me choose the Trio Samples: 3 scoops. I couldn’t decide if I wanted a cup or cone so he offered the scoops in a cup with a cone on top! YES! Yo go Carl/Karl! My 3 scoops were: Violet Marshmellow (if you love that violet flavor with a creamy vanilla mixed in, this one is for you), Pasadena Rose (very rosy, with hints of chocolate), and Kinder (like eating a frozen melt kinder chocolate bar)! I am actually obsessed with the fact that they made a “Pasadena Rose” flavor. Love the name, the flavor, and it’s a great tribute to the location of the store. Way to keep it personalized and local! And the cone I got was the brown butter, which was super yummy and homemade right then and there, causing the whole space to smell like delicious heaven! Wanderlust Creamery, welcome to Pasadena! I will be...

Most unique and delicious ice cream flavors you'll find. Even though it's on the pricey side, it's totally worth it!

Wanderlust drew me in with their Pint Drops, which features a limited pint each week. I signed up for their mailing list and was given a password to enter their site to purchase their limited boba ice cream flavors, but they sold out in less than 15 min! It was insane! So... instead of paying $20 for shipping on their non-limited pints, I bought the following flavors online for curbside pickup.

Ube Malted Crunch - 6/5 - this is way better than any ice cream I've tried. I love the little crunch bits and the creamy ube texture! I love it so much my family and I ate the whole pint in 3 days! Mango Sticky Rice - 4/5 - It tastes exactly as the dessert name states. I've never had this flavor in ice cream form which makes this flavor super unique! Vietnamese Rocky Road - 5/5 - If you love coffee, you'll love this flavor. It has hints of cacao nibs and coffee beans blended into a creamy ice cream. The coffee isn't too strong which makes it great for non-coffee drinkers too! Dewdrop White Peach Sorbet - 5/5 - The initial scoop had a sour kick, which was very light. The white peach is faint and refreshing for any hot day. Pandan Tres Leche - 5/5 - Very rich, gooey, and creamy ice cream with tres leche swirls.

Curbside pickup is very fast and easy if no one else is in the loading zone. The only issue is that there's only one loading spot. All other zones in front of the shop are for the bus stop, so be careful because that can get a bit stressful and hectic.

I'd like to add, the pints taste better than ordering scoops. Especially when ordering the Ube Malted Crunch. I found little to no malted crunch bits...

While the flavors are delicious and the service is mostly acceptable, there was a recent incident where the associate was very impatient with us tasting their flavors, it wasn’t like we were tasting everything, we only asked for a total of 2-3, where in the past no matter how busy it was, the associates had said that we could sample as much as we wanted, not that we ever did. But there was literally no one else there and we made purchases. And for some reason, the associate decided that it was ok to reach across the counter to press on our screen and redeemed points that we definitely didn’t authorize. When I brought up that the point balance didn’t look correct, she said she didn’t see the balance before but that she did see that there was a free scoop that expired that day. I informed her that she had redeemed it and she denied it at first, but later she admitted to it and said she refunded it so it should be back on the account, which it was not. By this time, there was a customer waiting so she just slammed our ice cream on the counter and walked away. How very unprofessional. The only circumstance that she should be touching our screen is if we had asked for help, which we definitely did not. And she should have admitted and apologized for her actions and told us to contact corporate for the points to...