Cauldron Ice Cream — Restaurant in Santa Ana

I came to Cauldron Ice Cream on one of their soft opening nights. Cauldron Ice Cream specializes in liquid nitrogen ice cream, similar to a few other stores; however, what differentiates Cauldron Ice Cream from those other stores is that Cauldron takes after a Harry Potter/magical theme! Which is amazing! I mean, watching them make ice cream seriously reminds me of Hermione making a potion in Snape's class.

Anyway, I came here to try their Wizard's float, which resembles Butterbeer from Harry Potter. Unfortunately they did not have those on sale during the soft opening - just a limited menu to figure out the kinks and whatnot of the business.

A few pros and cons that I got out of my experience at Cauldron:

Pros:

1. The interior/ambience of the shop is really cute. They have high ceilings with pipes that really remind me of the Chambers of Secrets if it was brighter and more ... happy. Or maybe it reminded me of Platform 9 3/4 ... Everything is very modern, yet chic with several tables inside the storefront. I also love the wall decorations - the classic clocks really take me back to the whole Harry Potter theme as well!
2. The basic experience of watching your order being made in front of your eyes is worth a visit! They have four ice cream makers, and I really liked seeing the creation being made in front of my eyes! Because the flavors are more unique, they also add different toppings to customize the basic ice cream.
3. The flavors are really unique. I tried the Salted Caramel Crunch, which had pretzel pieces and sea salt inside as well as caramel drizzle on top. They also have other flavors like S'mores, Milk & Cereal, Red Velvet, etc. Not sure if these flavors will stay during their grand opening stage or if they will be tweaked/phased out, but I thought the salted caramel was good.
4. Location is really good. It's close to a lot of restaurants, and right next to Ritter's Steam Kettle Cooking. Lots of parking spots.
5. The workers are really nice! Everybody is incredibly friendly and willing to give you recommendations/let you know about the menu and whatnot. The idea for the storefront has been in the making for several years, so I'm glad they can finally bring it to life!

Cons:

1. I thought the prices were a little high. A small was $4, medium $5, large $7. I ordered a small to split with my friend, and realized that a small was really tiny. And $4 is pretty hefty to pay for such a small amount of ice cream. I had originally thought the cup of a small was a sample sized cup! If medium is only a dollar more, it is definitely worth your money to upgrade to a medium where you get two scoops of the ice cream rather than one scoop for four. Personally I would pay $3 for that small, $5 for a medium.
2. The music was very loud so it was hard to hear what my friend was saying and we were sitting across from each other at the table. It was also really hard to hear the workers call out names of the orders because the music drowned out their voices.
3. The sea salt in the ice cream was actually a bit too overwhelming and made the vanilla really salty when I got just a few salt flecks.
4. Not being able to try the Wizard's Float :( but that was just due to my own timing and not their fault :P

tl;dr - A really great ice cream store that seems to be very promising! The experience, flavors, quality - all really great. I think with more things on their menu, Cauldron Ice Cream will do really well! They also have a self-serve water station which is nice. Will be back one day soon to try their...

The ice cream is okay, nothing special. The Puffle is the best part. This place is about an hours drive for me, by my work. I took my wife as a surprise tonight. We got there at 9:36pm thinking “Perfect, they close at 10pm. Just made it”. When we ordered I was informed they stop making Puffles at 9:30pm. If your open you should offer what’s ON YOUR MENU. No where on the menu or website does it say you stop serving your full menu after 9:30pm. I do have to thank you for forcing me to find a better option. Across MacArthur, less than 2 minutes away, is Han’s Ice Cream and Deli. It was some of the best ice cream we have ever had. Way better than anything at The Cauldron. They also close at 10pm but they offer their full menu until they close. We will be coming back to Han’s exclusively. Good Luck.

If your trying to reduce payroll hours and/or shift length of your young staff, there are other ways to do it other than false advertise your services. The easiest is have the opening staff clean and sanitize the Puffle machines. That allows the staff to leave even earlier as there is less cleanup for them. It seems like your prioritizing your young staff over your customers if their school is such a priority for you. They signed up for a job knowing the hours and what it takes. When school is over now they are going to expect their bosses to cater to their schedule. It could even be argued you are doing them a disservice by not showing them what the real working world is like. The staff doesn’t make you money, they cost you money. In this case they cost you customers permanently. Ultimately I do thank you because Han’s Homemade ice cream across the street is by far the...

Best Ice Cream in the U.S.? Not With That Matcha.

Cauldron Ice Cream proudly declares itself the best ice cream in the U.S.—a statement so audacious, it deserves its own documentary. Walking in, I was greeted by a lovely ambiance, an enticing menu, and genuinely friendly staff. The self-serve kiosk was a nice touch, efficiently removing any human witness to my impending disappointment.

Let’s start with the Vietnamese coffee ice cream. It was labeled strong, which I assume was a typo, and they meant shy. If this ice cream were any weaker, it would need emotional support. It had the smoothest texture you could ask for, but flavor-wise, it was about as committed to coffee as I am to a gym membership—meaning, not at all.

Then we have the matcha latte with almond milk. To call this a matcha latte is like calling a goldfish a shark—misleading at best, delusional at worst. What I actually received was a beautifully crafted cup of chilled almond milk, with a hint of matcha so subtle, it might have been a hallucination.

To be fair, their ice cream texture is silky smooth, like an influencer’s skincare routine. But unfortunately, great texture without great flavor is just a tragedy in a cone. In short, if Cauldron is indeed the best ice cream in the U.S., then we, as a nation, need to sit down and have a long, serious discussion about...