Sugar - Sweets & Gelato — Restaurant in Richardson

I've seen this place a dozen times and kept wanting to go in but never came across the right opportunity to take the family in for dessert. Even though this place is walking distance from my house, I just never made time to take my wife and kids in.

Yesterday evening I was picking up food from LA Burger and we stopped in here to see what all they had available and consider grabbing some items to go for dessert after we finished dinner. The first thing that took me by surprise was how big and bright the inside of the store is. They really did a good job renovating this place, the inside is absolutely huge. Great for bringing in large groups, and bug enough to have some space to yourself if you're there on a date. Also, some quirky features that would be great opportunities for social media posts.

I didn't get a chance go to the outside area, but it looked like they had a nice courtyard with artificial turf and some yard toys for the kids, along with plenty of shaded outdoor seating. They had some wood stacked to the side that I assume is maybe for an outdoor fireplace, but might just there for a woodfired oven (they make various flat breads and pizzas which I haven't tried yet, more on that later).

The guys working the counter were very helpful and quick to strike up a conversation with my younger kid and get him engaged. They were quick to offer samples of some of the Gelato on offer, which was nice because they had an insane amount of flavors that made it hard to choose just one. We ended up trying a few fruit flavors, grapefruit and pomegranate, which were both phenomenal. I highly recommend the grapefruit Gelato which ended up being the biggest hit with my family. We also got a cup of birthday cake Gelato for my youngest which she absolutely loved. It's right with vanilla, cream, and sprinkles, great for kids and adults alike. The quality of the vanilla they are using is really something you should try if you are a fan of vanilla. It's clearly high quality and they are not shy with it.

Finally, I had to ask about the Gelato cream cakes, which were apparently an original dessert created at Sugar. We tried the Dubai Chocolate flavor and it ended up being my favorite item we picked up. It was not too sweet, and the textures were incredible. The small is definitely big enough to feed 2 - 3 people, and it held up well even with me taking it to go and waiting 30 minutes or so to eat it.

Overall, I am excited to try some of the other offerings from this place. They had so many interesting creations like Turkish baklava, knafeh, and even cheesecake that I want to try out. I am also a fan of Turkish coffee and really want to give theirs a try. They didn't have it in the dessert case, but I also saw that they have some zataar Flatbread and pizza that looked delicious on their website. I'm a huge fan of Turkish flavor combos and want to pick up some of their flatbread to serve with halumi next time I make it at home. The to-go service was top notch and they even provided a small insulated bag to help keep the Gelato and cake cold in the Texas heat. It was a nice touch to a very positive first experience I had at Sugar.

My pictures aren't great, I took them hastily to send to my wife to get some input on what I should order for her. I'll get some better ones on...

The reason why so many 5 star reviews?!? Well it is Dallas, where people don’t really have very high standards when it comes to food and have no clue about what’s good. Another reason, most of the reviewers have one or just a few reviews, so put that together.

First off, what the hell was this hard thing (see pic) in the “chocolate” bar? Since we’re talking about the so-called “chocolate” bar, it was pretty awful. When the guy handed it to me I took a step back and wondered why it was freezing cold. After trying it, i knew why it was cold, it’s because the “chocolate” was soft. Either they don’t know what tempering chocolate is (it’s when you melt the chocolate to a certain temp, cool down the chocolate while moving to a certain temp and then slightly warming to a workable temp. all of which create a crystallization of the cocoa butter in chocolate that gives it that snap and nice melting) or they’re using compound “chocolate”, which doesn’t need to be tempered, but also doesn’t give it the snap or mouth feel of chocolate. Anyway, that’s why people usually store chocolate in a very cold environment. Not only was the chocolate shell horrible, the filling tasted as if the pistachio were not real or some kind of flavor compound and the texture of the filling wasn’t enjoyable either. Overall, pretty poor.

The few gelati we tried lacked flavor and the texture was gummy. Definitely made from a gelato base and compound flavors. The gumminess could have been because it sat in the case too long, they incorrectly mixed the base, to much stabilizer or all the above. Again, not enjoyable. I really didn’t want to buy any gelato, but after tasting many flavors, none of which I cared for, I didn’t want to be one of those customers that sampled and didn’t buy. I guess it was my good deed or donation of the day. Probably the worst gelato I’ve ever had.

The guy that helped us was a nice guy though.

I don’t like giving a bad review to a place that had nice staff, but the product is pretty horrible. Given the price of $6.50 for a small cup of gelato and $8 for a small “chocolate” bar, you deserve to...

Overpriced Baklava! And questionable weigh technique for pricing.

I came specifically for their baklava. Based off the menu, I saw that they sold by the piece, but I was charged by the pound, so I felt a little misled :( especially because one of the items in the box was not baklava but was weighed in. My main issue however was how they weighed my box. I used to weigh livestock for a living, so I know you have to weigh subtracting the box, and this is a cardboard box they're weighing here, which is a heavy box! Because of this, I know that even a small styrofoam box can mess with weight and makes a pretty decent impact, so I was shocked to see this practice! I did not once see him weigh the box separately before or after. It feels kind of scammy, especially when i'm paying for weight, but I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt that the worker did not know or was new. However, he was a bit hostile and unfriendly. He did not have the best attitude in anything that he did, such as talking to me, placing the pastries in the box, etc. I understand that everyone is human and has their days, but based off other negative reviews about the service, I felt like I should include this comment.

The baklava itself however was not as bad as the service, but not as good as the price says. I paid around 18 dollars for this box (image attached, photo makes pastries look huge, but they are actually quite small since it's baklava pieces), and they tasted good, but not as fresh as i've had! There are many other bakeries around who are cheaper. I just like to explore new places and just did not have a good experience with Sugar :( Cannot say I have any complaints taste wise though.

I had four pieces of baklava total, with one custard pastry (so sorry for not knowing the name), and the sum was around 18-19, and 21.10 after tip. The atmosphere...