An's Dry Cleaning — Restaurant in San Diego

An’s Dry Cleaning in San Diego offers a gelato experience like no other, cleverly disguised as a dry cleaning business. This quirky and innovative gelato shop is located in the vibrant North Park neighborhood and has quickly become a favorite spot for locals and tourists alike, thanks to its creative concept and exceptional flavors.

Ambiance and Concept

From the outside, An’s Dry Cleaning appears to be a typical dry cleaning establishment, complete with a retro-style storefront and signage. However, once you step inside, you’re transported into a world of artisanal gelato. The interior maintains the playful dry cleaning theme, with whimsical decor that includes clothes racks, garment bags, and ironing boards repurposed as tables. This creative concept adds an element of surprise and fun to your visit, making it a memorable experience from the moment you walk through the door.

Unique Flavors and Quality

An’s Dry Cleaning takes gelato to new heights with its innovative and ever-changing menu of flavors. Each gelato is crafted in-house using high-quality ingredients and inspired by textiles, resulting in unique flavor combinations you won’t find anywhere else. The flavors are named after different fabrics, adding to the playful theme of the shop.

Signature Flavors:

• Silk: This luxurious flavor combines rich dark chocolate with hints of sea salt, creating a smooth and decadent treat that melts in your mouth.

• Chiffon: A light and refreshing option, this flavor features a blend of lemon and basil, offering a perfect balance of citrus and herbal notes.

• Velvet: Inspired by the classic red velvet cake, this gelato features a creamy base with hints of cocoa and cream cheese frosting, capturing the essence of the beloved dessert.

• Cashmere: A crowd favorite, this flavor combines roasted pistachios with a hint of cardamom, delivering a nutty and aromatic experience.

Seasonal and Rotating Flavors

One of the unique aspects of An’s Dry Cleaning is its commitment to creativity and innovation. The menu frequently changes to reflect the seasons and showcase new flavor experiments. This approach keeps the offerings fresh and exciting, encouraging repeat visits to discover new favorites.

Customer Experience

The staff at An’s Dry Cleaning are friendly, knowledgeable, and passionate about their craft. They’re happy to offer samples and provide recommendations based on your taste preferences, ensuring you find the perfect flavor to satisfy your cravings.

For tourists visiting San Diego, An’s Dry Cleaning offers a unique and fun twist on the traditional gelato experience. The shop’s playful concept and exceptional flavors make it a must-visit destination for anyone with a sweet tooth.

Insider Tips for Fellow Tourists

• Location and Accessibility: An’s Dry Cleaning is located in the bustling North Park neighborhood, known for its vibrant arts scene and eclectic mix of shops and restaurants. Street parking is available, but it can be limited during peak times, so be prepared to explore the area on foot.

• Social Media: Follow An’s Dry Cleaning on social media to stay updated on their latest flavor offerings and seasonal specials. They often announce limited-time flavors and events that are worth checking out.

• Explore the Area: After enjoying your gelato, take some time to explore the North Park neighborhood. It’s a vibrant area filled with unique boutiques, galleries, and cafes, making it a great place to spend...

We did this for the experience and it is excellent but I won't do it again. We got here around 5 pm on a Sat. It took a while to find parking in the area, which is frustrating. Then, we stood in line for 45 mins before we could go in. The process is that you queue up outside. There is seating inside, so as you see people get up, you go in to join the seating queue inside. They have a menu on the blackboard outside where they list the flavors. The flavors are unique and names are themed on dry cleaning/washing/clothing elements. Some of their classic flavors stay on.

For the amount of time you spend in line, you only really get to enjoy 7 flavors of gelato because that is their whole panel. This is disappointing. You can obviously get one flavor if you want or you can get a whole flavor tour. We decided on the flavor tour because it was our first time. They start you out with a palate cleanser with a ginger lemon sorbet. This was sharp, tart and is one of the flavors you can order! Our flavor menu included Plush (watermelon with mint - both flavors were very strong and at times antagonized each other even in the tasting sample), sandals (blue chamomile - mild, calming, hint of chamomile without being overwhelmingly sweet), basco cap (ricotta, pistachio, olive oil, lemon - this felt like too many ingredients and the pistachio and lemon didn't seem to gel as much as you would think), canvas (olive oil with rosemary with and without black sea salt - one of their classics, delicious with a strong hint of spice from the rosemary, the salt was an excellent touch, ask them to add extra because each server adds different quantities), vicuna wool (goat cheese, apricot, saffron, honey - felt too much, too sweet, almost like a custard than gelato), full grain leather (brown butter and brownie - this is the one for the chocolate lovers, hubby loved this but I didn't like it because of how strong the chocolate flavor was), California snapback (olive oil, pistachio, chocolate - another chocolate lovers favorite, but I'd recommend leather over this). During the flavor tour, the server takes the time to explain the flavors and I'm sure they will give more explanations if you ask. We were starving and also needed to get to another reservation, so we didn't spend as much time. You have the typical options of small, tall, medium, large and can choose 1-2 flavors. Pricing is based on the size. For the tall size, it was &7.95. You can choose a waffle cone, called "starch" which I found unique. Tall was quite heavy for me and I'd recommend going for a small size if you're not super hungry. They do overfill the cups.

There are 3 ironing board shaped tables with napkin stands shaping like an iron, keeping with the dry cleaning theme, to stand and eat your ice cream. There are a couple of tables outside but the ambiance pushes you to take your gelato and leave.

If you didn't want to do a flavor tour, you still have to wait in the line to order a cup. The only way you can skip the line is if you order a pint online.

So overall: Pros: unique flavors, unique experience, large portions Cons: the long wait, limited flavors, needing to wait in line even if you know what you want, lack of seating, lack of parking

Now that I've had the experience, I won't be back. My preferred ice cream is Salt and Straw and I'll stick to them. They've got rotating and classic flavors, flavor tours and quick service all...

Okay, it blows my mind that as visitors to San Diego we found this place- and when we asked other people who lived here if they'd been, they NEVER. HEARD. OF. IT. The disrespect. So my initial presumption was that this was an ice cream shop running out of an active dry cleaning business, and I was curious how that would work, because aren't dry cleaning shops usually on the warmer side and wouldn't that kind of not meld with ice cream? But no worries friends, because if you are also sometimes slow-witted like myself, I have done the legwork, and can confirm that there is one business that An's is involved in, and that business is making terrific gelato. And it is GELATO, not ice cream, because I looked it up just now on their website.

We visited on a colder December evening and there was still a line- why do we crave these things more when it's cold? The line didn't move super fast, but I was chillin, literally and figuratively, because the folks scooping that sweet cream had their incredible customer service skills on display and were taking the time to make sure that everyone was getting exactly what they wanted. At this time in line I was still a little wary, as my gluten-free and Celiac plagued homies can empathize with, since I had read mixed reviews on whether or not I would actually be able to partake. When in doubt, go straight to the source, right? Well, the source came THROUGH. I shall set the record straight. At the time of writing this review, the only gelato flavors that are not always safe for those with Celiac disease are the ones in which An's does collaborations with from time to time. All the cookies, pie crust, waffle cones, etc. that are mixed in with the various standard flavors are made in-house and are gluten-free. What did this mean for me? This means that since it was my first time there, this already incredibly helpful girl had me try EVERY flavor. And every flavor was phenomenal. I ended up getting Oven Mitts (apple cinnamon pie crust) and Leather (chocolate-chip cookies & brown butter). Leather surprised me because I am not typically a cookies-in-my-ice-cream-or-in-this-case-gelato type person, but that brown butter had me weak in the knees. They do NOT cut corners on scoops here. I could not finish. I blame this on two things. One, we had just eaten dinner and I pretended to leave room for dessert- a cute lil lie that I like to tell myself. Two, the freakin scoop of Oven Mitts felt like it was 80% pie crust. BREH. I felt like I was eating another meal. In hindsight, I would've ditched the cone. It was entirely too much for me, but that's what freezers are for, right? In conclusion, An's Dry Cleaning that is not actually dry cleaning is a great gelato spot for anyone who enjoys gelato....