Salt & Straw — Restaurant in San Diego

I absolutely love ice cream and have it at many places, so when I was in Little Italy(San Diego) & saw Salt & Straw (20Mar23), I absolutely had to give it a try after dinner. So after I ate at the pub across the street(not that good there), I needed a pick-me-up treat and headed to try the ice cream.

I chose the 4-scoop "Flight" sampler so I could try more flavors. Well... I choose 1. Honey Lavender 2. Cinnamon Snickerdoodle 3. Pear & Blue Cheese 4. Rum Custard w/ Raisin Shortbread & Bran Butter. At first, I was disappointed in the small scoop sizes for the $15.89 total price that I paid. I know it's downtown & little Italy but that was way too skimpy for what I paid. I get more ice cream for my buck at MooTime in Coronado across the bridge. Not only was the quantity skimpy, they were also out of the waffle wafer cookies that are supposed to come with the Flight so they wrapped a waffle cone in paper for me instead.

The flavors were also just OK. For what looks like a high end Ice Cream shop, the ice cream wasn't spectacular enough for me to want to go back. Not creamy and mouth watering enough but just OK.

I liked the Snickerdoodle and Rum Custard the most. The Honey Lavender was good but not my cup of tea. I liked the Pear Blue Cheese until I took a bite into a blue cheese lump. Oh what a shocker. Those two don't pair very well. Ugh. I won't try that again.

This place also has an online ordering system that seems efficient and gets you thru the line faster. That was a good point for this establishment. They also have single flavor pre-packed pints for about $12. Another nice option.

Anyhow, for what I paid, and for the just OK blah taste, I won't be going back on my own, unless I'm with friends that are wanting to try it out. I'd much rather seek out either MooTime or a Handel's Ice Cream, as I get more quantity, much better flavor and more choices for my buck. Handel's is top on my list with VERY Creamy ice cream. Look them up!! Get their sampler pack!!

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I’ve created a habit of asking Uber drivers for local food recommendations; often, they offer tips that help me find the less-obvious places while traveling.

I always look for ice cream when I travel, and I always get some vanilla to compare. In this case, I’m glad the Uber driver mentioned it, because I would have never guessed that a place called Salt & Straw sells ice cream.

Anyway, S&S is a great place. They encourage, yes completely encourage, you to try as many of the flavors as you like. What a great business model. Actually, I think you need to try them—unless you already know how Honey Lavender or Dandelion Chocolate Hazelnut tastes! I attached a photo of their “regular” flavors—this is probably the most unique ice cream menu I’ve encountered across the US!

Good luck picking a flavor. I suggest you bring a significant other so you can each get a double and share four different flavors. Or maybe go for lunch and dinner and get eight scoops. It sounded like the Sea Salt and Caramel Ribbons and honey lavender are the local favorites.

It’s a great place. No seating. But that’s ok, get a waffle cone and stroll through Little Italy while enjoying San Diego’s perfect weather.

The staff does a great job managing the ever-present long line (which includes a sidewalk queue), and they keep each group separated just enough at the counter so that you get a touch of personal service and personal space while you are sampling ice cream. I really liked how theymanaged the crowd.

Oh, not my favorite vanilla (no beans), but still very good; the other flavors and tasty and unique. It’s just a little more expensive than, say, Dairy Queen, so it’s completely reasonable for homemade, one-of-a-kind flavors and excellent customer service. Also, everything felt very clean.

I should have asked about the origin of the name; I suspect there is an interesting story.

Love ice cream? Go.

If you are intrigued, I snapped a photo of the menu. They also have some other monthly...

Overall: 3.9/5 (take out)

We went on a Thursday night around 8:30 PM but there was still a line out the door. You can listen to the live music playing across the square at the Little Italy Fountain. The service here is great as you can sample as many flavors as you want and the workers will still have a smile on their faces.

Scoop Pricing: Kid: $4.50 Single: $5.95 Double: $7.95

Cloudforest Chocolate Ishpingo & Mango: This ice cream has dark chocolate, spiced lemon verbena swirl, & mango curd ripple. Hard pass for me and my brother. It just didn't taste good at all.

Compartés Coffee & Love Nuts: Coffee ice cream studded with glazed, chocolate-coated pecans. I got this since I love coffee and nuts but it was a bit sweet for me, especially once I got near the end. I couldn't finish it all and I got a kid's scoop size too. The flavors of this ice cream was the strongest of all the ice creams I tried.

Cinnamon Snickerdoodle: This wasn't as sweet as I thought it would be. The flavor was subtle and went surprisingly well with pear & blue cheese.

Pear & Blue Cheese: I hate blue cheese but this was actually good! There are small bits of blue cheese in the ice cream and the flavor is more subtle than the pear. The pear was really sweet and had an intense flavor. I don't know who came up with this crazy combination but it worked.

Arbequina Olive Oil: This ice cream flavor was very interesting. I didn't know how to feel about it after sampling it so I didn't get it but it wasn't bad. My brother said it will grow on you so who knows, take a chance.

Marionberry Coconut Sherbet: This was very tart thanks to the marionberries but you do get hints of coconut. It was lacking sweetness so you can probably get away with a sample or pup size of this. Definitely wouldn't...