la.foodblogging

Hopefully I will not invite the wrath of my friend, Colleen Cuisine, with this tale of my first trip to Pinkberry.

Last night we hit up the new Westwood location at about 10:00pm after an obviously long and busy day of business for the new outlet. I could tell they had a long and busy day because the toppings were scattered everywhere behind the counter, next to the counter and even in front of the counter. As my wife observed, “you better not come here with food allergies tonight, because everything is touching everything else.” I’m willing to let the messiness slide, for now, since the store had only been open for three days and it was their first Saturday serving the UCLA crowd.

The line was out the door, but not too long. The store is very small inside and even three or four people waiting would push the line outside. We waited maybe 10 minutes to place our order. As a Pinkberry virgin, it would have been nice to see a list of the toppings somewhere, I would have looked at the toppings themselves, but the crowd waiting for their orders to be filled blocked access. Another very minor ding. Fortunately I had some prior information about the cereal and fruits offered, plus we intently watched as people carried their orders out to see what looked good.

There are just two yogurt options at Pinkberry, plain or green tea. I ordered plain (actually, I ignorantly asked for vanilla, but the cashier was nice enough not to correct me) and opted to top it with blackberries, mango and Fruity Pebbles. I ordered a medium because I has heard that the yogurt was distributed around the side of the cup, leaving a hollow middle, so the sizes look a bit bigger than they actually are. The medium with three toppings runs $4.95.

Even though the store was packed to overflowing, we didn’t have to wait too long to get our orders. My first impression was “wow, that is a beautiful frozen yogurt”. The whole black berries were deep colored and ripe, the mangos were diced into small cubes and the Fruity Pebbles were sprinkled about like confetti. My second impression, after taking a bite, was “wow, that is some sour yogurt”.

Pinkberry’s big selling point, and what makes it unique when compared to the fro-yo of old, is that they serve “real” yogurt. Real yogurt is made from cultured milk using some specific bacteria. Yep, age milk with a dash of bacteria and you get yogurt. I have some history with real yogurt, my mom used to make it on our kitchen counter when I was growing up with her yogurt maker. I definitely recognize that sour taste in Pinkberry.

What I really enjoyed about Pinkberry was the toppings. I like that the fruit was just that; fruit without a sugary syrup. Also, the fruit was nicely ripe, the blackberries were plump and sweet without being over ripe and mushy. The Fruity Pebbles added a nice sugary crunch, although they were pretty sparce, I could have used another spoonful on top.

My final verdict: It was ok. I think that I personally prefer the sweetened frozen yogurt. I would like to get some yogurt from somewhere else and then take it to Pinkberry to be topped. Pinkberry’s yogurt was a little too sour for me. I will absolutely go back and give the green tea flavor a try though and see if it is any better. $5 for a medium is a bit high, but not altogether outrageous when compared with some other dessert treats around town.

As a counter point, my wife’s final verdict: She loved it. She preferes Pinkberry to the sweetened alternative, and that is coming from someone who loves dessert and sweet treats.

My prediction: Pinkberry will hold on for the next 18 months, then will be a victim of over saturation as they open too many stores. Competitors will continue to pop up and water down the market, there are already a number of Something-Berry out there, I saw a “Beach Berries” in Huntingon Beach, check out the packaging, look familiar? I am curious if this concept is being sold by a franchising company, or if these other stores are just taking a hot idea and running with it.

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.