Rita’s Italian Ice

I had a sudden craving for Italian ice the other night and decided to grab some at the Anaheim location. I arrived exactly at 10 P.M., which is the closing time for this store. However, I was still greeted with a big smile and the best customer service I could ask for by Seylu and Jose! I was able to meet my late night cravings thanks to these two! I love their green apple and vanilla ice cream combo! Will come back to this location for sure (:

Oh my gooodnesss! Today was my first time here and I am pleasantly surprised by how good it is!
I came here with two other friends on a Tuesday — which FYI is the best time to go because they have have «Happy Tuesday’s» which is where whatever is $ 3 will go down to $ 2 and anything from $ 4-​$ 5 will go down to $ 3 — one friend got a frozen custard and the other got two scoops of ice cream, each one costing 2 bucks. For myself, I got a iced gelati which was frozen custard and Italian ice. The concept is similar to frostbites.
The custard was pretty good and thick. I’m not much of a fan of custard in general though, but it was still delicious. The ice cream was good as well, but what sold me was the Italian ice! Oh myyyy… I got the cotton candy flavor and it was amazing! Like I said before, I’m not a fan of frozen custard so the next time I come, I may just get the Italian ice by itself. We also tried the mango flavor. It was good but really pungent.
Cons to this place would have to be the service and the flavors. The workers didn’t greet us when we walked in and they didn’t offer to help us. It was our first time there and we didn’t know what was what so it took us a while to get through the menu and figure out what we should get. The options for flavors is also very minimal compared to frostbites. Cotton candy was probably my favorite one that I tried, I really recommend.

I got a coupon for the Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich from Rita’s so I decided to go and try it. I was very disappointed with the customer service. The worker didn’t even ask me what I wanted when I first entered or at least welcome me. He took his time making the ice cream cookie sandwiches which I could tell already looked somewhat melted when he was scooping it. Within 5 minutes of coming home all the ice cream in the cookies was melted.

The Italian ice is bomb, custard is delish and customer service is always on point! To top it off the prices are really good. If you go on Tuesday, they have $ 2 specials on pretty much everything :)

This review is strictly for the service at this particular location. First of all, it goes without saying, the custard and Italian ice are delicious. That is why we go there. I recently discovered that there was a kids size. We we all decide to get the kids size for portion control. It turns out that the cup is filled in its entirety with Italian ice with a dollop of custard on top. That is not what we wanted. So we asked for a small amount of custard at the bottom of the cup. They said «sure, not a problem!» If they would have told me that they were going to charge me an extra $ 1 per cup for the kids size I would have chosen the regular size. Paying the same price as a regular for kids size just doesn’t make sense. A mention was warranted.

Wifey got a Groupon for this place, Yay!
It’s a few doors down from Bronx Sandwich, so it was a no brainer to hit this place after our meal.
The verdict:
Not as good as Joe’s Italian Ice.
They have a very good custard ice cream, but their Italian ice is NOT very flavorful.
Flavors I’ve tried:
Mango, blood orange & lemon Italian ice.
Vanilla & Orange ice cream
Service was okay.
They limit you to 3 samples to try.
You can only claim one Groupon deal per visit #WTH.
With a block of 10 Groupon deals, wifey has to use up most of it on her own. Lol.
I want Joe’s not Rita’s
Sorry!

Been meaning to try Rita’s for a minute now, but to be honest, with Joe’s being closer to me I don’t see a reason to. Then this particular night I was near the American Sports Center watching my homies hoop it up. Afterwards I decided hey Rita’s is pretty close, I might check it out. I came through and the place was empty. It might suck for Rita’s but to me, this is awesome. No wait, I can take all the time I need to choose.
They asked if I wanted any samples but I already decided on my two choices. I had the strawberry kiwi and the green apple just the ice. The strawberry kiwi was delicious. It melted quicker than I would have liked but it was extremely tasty. They are not stingy with their scoops either. She was trying to fill up my ice all the way to the top, I had to stop here and said it was way too much for me lol. Great customer service indeed. The green apple was really good too. I really like the texture of both of them. Italian ice rules in general.
Overall, I finally got to try Rita’s and it was a hit. I really like the quick friendly service. The store was super clean… spotless actually, and the ice was amazing in taste and texture. I will be back, I am a fan.
PS plenty of parking so that works wonders already

Not the worst but certainly not the best I’ve had. The soft serve reminds me of the butter frosting you’d typically find on cakes. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it’s just a bit on the heavier/​sweeter side. You’ll find that the custard balances well with the tart and fruity Italian ice.
What I especially appreciate about this places is how some of their Italian ice utilizes really pieces of fruit. Woot woot! I paired my vanilla custard with pineapple and the dark cherry, both of which utilizes real fruit. Out of the two, I enjoyed the cherry the most. I felt that it better masked the heaviness of the custard.
When eating things of similar nature, I always do my utmost best to have the perfect bite with a consistent ratio in every bite. There’s no better way to do this than to mix everything up. Fruity and creamy!!! Yum!
Why I find to be a better alternative is frostbite!
Go treat yo self!

— Locale Destination —
It’s on S Euclid St and W Ball Rd in Anaheim.
It’s in a big shopping center, yet kinda hard to find among all the small retailers. Across from «Chipotle».
Ambiance: The shop is very small. Simple ice cream shop setting.
Service: She was friendly and offered me several samples.
Menu: Italian ice cream and some Sundae like menu.
Parking: Plenty
— Gluttony Expedition —
* Custard * The one here is almost like a cold «whipped cream, not «custard (AKA: soft serve)»
It had a weird texture, tasted very artificial. Nasty. It’s not as bad as the one at «Joe’s», but I would never order «custard» here.
—- Frozen Custard —-
All Italian places somehow misunderstand «custard» — they usually serve «soft serve» as «custard». (Frozen) Custard is a lot thicker and richer ice cream than «soft serve» due to the usage of yolks. It is shaped like «soft serve», so many of them are confused about «custard» and «soft serve», I think. Soft serve and custard are totally different in terms of texture and taste. Get that right! Many of «Italian ice cream» shops are run by Asians somehow, so I guess they just misunderstand it? It’s a weird trend for Asians to go for Italian ice cream shops nowadays. I don’t know who runs «Rita’s», but I think all the «Italian ice cream» shops don’t know much about «custard» and use the word wrongly. This isn’t «Custard» in any means, IMO. I don’t know what the heck it is (it’s gross for sure), but I prefer «Frosty» at Wendy’s to this crap. «Frosty» is awesome unlike this!
Vanilla custard: I don’t know how they fked up such a standard flavor. I hate the whip cream like texture nor the artificial flavor. Pass.
Orange cream custard: Bleh. Very cheap artificial flavor and poor quality.
Coffee custard: very hint of coffee flavor. Bleh.
* Italian ice cream * More «natural» and better in taste department than the ones at other Italian shops. The sign by the entrance says all natural, but only pineapple flavor says «natural”(I’m sure «custard» isn’t natural at all). So I’m not sure they were all natural. That’s why I’m not fond of Italian ice cream in general because they use artificial flavoring and coloring, which loose my appetite instantly. They got cotton candy flavor…
Blood orange Italian ice: bleh
Pineapple Italian ice: good! The best one out of all I tried.
Lemon Italian ice: kinda like «lemonade». Not bad.
— Conqueror’s Deduction —
Finally I tried «Rita’s». So my Italian ice cream list is finally completed!
* Italian ice cream ranking (1÷14÷16) *
1. Confetti (Costa Mesa) — both ice and custard are tasty
2. Rita’s — ice is good but custard isn’t good. Slightly better than Joe’s
3. Joe’s (Anaheim) — some ice is good but custard is terrible
4. Chelo Creamery (Rowland Heights) — forgettable
5. Kups (Garden Grove) — too sweet. Bleh
6. Frostiebites (Cerritos) — too artificial, too sweet
7. Goodyce (Fullerton) — artificial. Bland
8. OMG dessert lounge (Anaheim) — very low quality — despite of 5 stars (Idk why — the desserts weren’t tasty at all). OMG and Unilocal won’t let me post any review nor tips on them because I wrote 1 star HONEST review.
I don’t mind «Rita’s» for their Italian ice cream, not custard. However, it’s not good enough to make me think I wanna come back. It’s just alright, not awesome… At least I tried it.
I’m so happy with «Confetti» — I don’t wanna go anywhere else for Italian ice cream /​custard. The only place that offers both good Italian ice cream and custard. Everyone else pretty much sucks on my book. Many people love «Joe’s», but I’m not a fan of «Joe’s» at all.

I never considered myself a fan of Italian Ice so you better believe that before I tried Rita’s, which I have heard of for months now, that I would be quite the skeptic… well, Rita has found a way to weasel a spot into my heart, and more importantly, into my belly.
First impressions were no bueno however. Upon walking into the store (they had about a good hour left to go before closing), all I could smell was the «stench» of harsh cleaning chemicals. It did not make me crave the Italian Ice.
For me, I usually like the custard but considering this is my first rodeo, I had to get the ice+custard combo to try out. I ended up getting mango and vanilla custard and this combo was quite delicious… I found myself eating and eating it without really thinking about what I was doing… did I have a brain freeze, I won’t ever know.
In any case, I think Rita’s is a solid choice if you want to skip on your ice cream/​yogurt/​cake dessert options that are out there.

I’m a fan of Rita’s Italian Ice. I normally go to the spot in Brea which is really good. This one is pretty good too. The store was clean and the two gelatis we got were tasty. No complaints.

Even though Frostbite (another Italian Ice shop) is down the street from my house, most of the time, my friends and I prefer to drive the extra miles for Rita’s Italian Ice. Rita’s Italian Ice is cheaper in price and the portions are larger, what more can I ask for? The workers are friendly and helpful and they allowed my friends and I to sample most of their flavors. I have only been here 3 to 4 times, so I have not had the chance to taste all of their flavors yet. However, I managed to taste a few flavors that I love and would highly recommend.
The cherry, green apple, watermelon an the mango strawberry are delicious and refreshing, especially on a hot summer day. Both Frostbite and Joe’s Italian Ice use the basic vanilla ice cream, however, Rita’s uses vanilla custard. I am not saying that I am a fan of the custard, since it tasted fatty, but at the same time, I actually like it. Pretty weird. I usually paid an extra dollar to upgrade my order from a small to a medium, totally worth it. The store is somewhat tiny, so seating is limited, however, I never had trouble with finding a seat.

Super friendly staff! Clean facility and lots of Flavors to offer!
I love Rita’s Italian ice! Especially their gelati’s which is a layer of your choice of custard, A layer of Italian ice and another layer of custard again!
It’s the best dessert I’ve ever had!

I really think I’ve had this before in Pennsylvania, or at least something with the same name.
Or maybe I’m imagining things, but I swear I’ve had this before.
Anyways I really like their refreshing dessert. Had their chocolate and really liked it.
It’s like a blended chocolate fudgesicle.
But much, much better.

Came for the first day of Spring. Rita’s was giving away a small cup of Italian Ice of your choice. The line was insanely long, but likely due to the fact that free dessert was being offered.
We finally got to the front where we were able to sample flavors. Offhand, I wasn’t too impressed with the flavors they offered so I settled for cherry which the girl at the counter told me was one of the more flavorful choices. I made sure to pay the extra $ 1 for the custard that was highly recommended.
I was less than impressed. There was hardly any flavor to the ice and custard had an interesting flavor. It didn’t taste cold at all, odd.
Overall I was less than impressed, but not bad for a $ 1 dessert. Not likely to come back.

Went here to get free ice as part of their anniversary promotion.
Service was good. The girls were nice and allowed us to sample quite a bit of the flavors.
The ice flavors are very limited here compared to places like Confetti or Frostbites. The flavors were either too subtle or did not taste good to me. Consistency of the ice was offputting too; the ice was pretty watery.
The gingerbread ice did not scream gingerbread when I sampled it.
The Dulce De Leche tasted like the fake caramel syrup you buy off the shelf.
Birthday cake was the only one I kind of liked since you can’t go wrong with that flavor.
I would stick to Joe’s, Confetti, or Frostbites if you want good italian ice.

3.5
I’ve been wanting to try Rita’s for the longest time. Considering that it’s Italian ice, I was expecting it to be more icey than slushy. The day I went, the Italian ice portion was just too slushy/​melted for me. Got the orange crème custard which is good. Very thick and rich. Maybe I’ll give this place another try and hopefully the Italian ice won’t be as melted.

Had a craving for a frozen concoction so grabbed my phone and pulled up my Unilocal app, only to find out that there is a Rita’s not too far from home. Being a chain, I’ve heard of them before, but have never had a chance to go.
It is in a strip mall off Euclid and Ball, a little hard to find since it isn’t right on the street. Parking was easy.
We walked in to a clean dining room and were not sure what we wanted but the two fabulous girls behind the counter were helpful with a plethora of samples. My boyfriend and I both got Gelatis (a parfait ice and frozen custard), him a tropical ice flavor and myself, a Starburst strawberry and green apple. The small is definitely enough, but if you want even more sugar, buy the regular.
A little pricier than I would normally spend at a pay-​by-​ounce froyo place, but not bad.

As a big fan of Italian ice, I can’t say I am a fan of this location of Rita’s.
I don’t know what it is about Rita’s, but this isn’t the first Rita’s that I’ve been to that has really slushy, melted ice. It makes for very unpleasant experience when you’re eating your ice or gelati because it quickly turns into a watery mess.
Also, the flavors here have flat out sucked the couple times I’ve gone. Most of the fruit flavored ice taste hella artificial! Come up with some solid flavors and keep them in the rotation!
For now, I would prefer to drive farther to Joe’s Italian Ice or Frostbites.

Brrrr, it’s cold in here! It’s because of the Gelati!
Gelato + Frozen custard = Gelati… and a happy tummy!
This is the place to go for a major cool down from all the humidity and heat wave happening in SoCal! Came here with a few of my gal pals for dessert. Plus, we heard that this place was happenin’ so we figured it’s best to check it out. This is one of their new locations that recently opened. Surprising, there was no line, but the fridge that held all their frozen treats (ice cream cakes and cookies) was almost empty! The Italian Ice shop is fairly small and it seems everyone that comes by grabs their treats to go. The staff is friendly and gave good recommendations. Very good customer service! The menu is easy to navigate and it tells you the calories of said items. Now, I’m all for eating healthly, but mainly I’m all for eating! However, when it comes to dessert, bring on the calories!
I got the Gelati (key lime (italian ice) + vanilla frozen custard. It was very refreshing and cool. It actually made me cold! The Italian ice was very tasty, smooth, and had the right amount of sourness (key lime) while the custard was sweet but not too sweet. It’s not frozen custard like I tried in Chicago, but it shall do on these warm, humid, nights! Again, great place to cool down and chow down on Italian ice and frozen custard!