Covina Sugar Bowl

I dislike this place and I don’t know why I keep coming back. There is always just one or two employees working. After waiting 10 minutes, frustrated our family decided to leave. Another reason I left was because the person standing in front of me sneezed on the uncovered cones on display. Gross!!!

OH MY GOSH. Never met an angry bitter lady in my life! she was rude and seemed to be in a hurry!
HORRIBLE SERVICE. BUT the ice cream is good and a good price …
The only problem was the lady working there.

I visited Covina Sugar Bowl today around noon, and I really wanted to like this place because Covina doesn’t have a restaurant with a great 50s diner feel. It would have been a great had the waitress given better customer service. SHE WAS TERRIBLY RUDE! She didn’t greet my friend and I with a smile or friendly attitude. Instead she took our drink orders and acted disgusted that we wanted to start with waters.
When she came back with our waters, she impatiently asked if we were ready to order. I asked her about the chipotle chicken sandwich, wondering if the chicken was grilled or crispy. She gave a WTF look, answering: «It’s regular chicken with chipotle seasoning.» Okay… and then she continued to say that other customers liked it. Obviously from that description, I needed more time to look at the menu.
She rolled her eyes at us again when we were confused about order sundaes. We wanted recommendations — not looks of annoyance.
The food was decent. I liked the chipotle chicken sandwich, but I wouldn’t come again due to the waitress’ impatience and horrible customer service.

This place is really good and I enjoy always coming here. Food is pretty good with good prices to follow behind it.
Customer service could be better, but I’m fine with it especially if I keep coming back.
I really enjoy how it feels like a 60s-​70s dinner and the deserts they serve omg the deserts are sooo good!!! Best place in town if you have a sweet tooth that’s for sure.

I love supporting downtown covina!
Ive been here a couple times and i always get an older lady server who really doesn’t care about the customers and seems like she hates the job…
My friends and i were shocked to receive attitude from our server… and my friends don’t want to come back unfortunately…
But– the food is good and i like the atmosphere.

Very cute little diner themed restaurant. Was just what I was looking for to treat my three year old on a Sunday afternoon. He had a PB&J that frankly had hardly any P&J and I had a bowl of Ok chili with stale salt crackers and then we shared a classic strawberry sundae. We sat outside and did a little people watching. So why four stars? Because our entire bill was under $ 11. You get what you pay for and I don’t expect a whole lot for $ 11.

I’ve lived in the area for about 3 years now, and I regularly eat at most of the restaurants on the downtown strip, but I had never wandered into Sugar Bowl.
I wandered in on a Saturday afternoon to order their «December Special» which was a burger, with fries or chips, and a fountain drink for $ 5.95.
Made my burger, ordered the fries, and a coke.
The place itself reminds me of a roadside diner… it’s the feel, the decorations.
Burger was pretty dang good, the fries were delicious, and the soda was good.
I eyed the gelato, so many interesting flavors.
They’ve got Thrifty ice cream, and I wish I’d had room for some of that.

I was introduced to this adorable hole-​in-​the-​wall diner by a co-​worker. I volunteered at IVC hospital for so long and had no idea this gem was right next to Starbucks all along.
PARKING: Usually easy to find a spot, but it can get a little tricky on a busy weekend. Street spots, 2 hr prking spots, and small lots along Citrus are available.
AMBIENCE: so divey, 60– theme with banners, jukebox, and other old school decorations. The usual old lady is a little blunt and doesn’t have the greatest customer service skill, but eh, the cute decorations make up for it.
FOOD:
Their sandwiches are decent. Homemade-​like with fresh fries and a soda for 5.95 off their monthly special. A solid portion and decent fries
Cherry coke: they put real cherries in them… SOO GOOD
GELATO: must I say more? Their gelato is A-​MA-​ZING, thick creamy heavenly sugar pick me up. My favorite flavor is white chocolate rasberry and white choc nutella.
Cute intimate private business. I’m obsessed!!!

Came here for a date with my cheeseburger loving boyfriend for a change of pace, and loved the décor, music, old timey drink menu, and of course the true counter experience!
When we placed our order, we did get the older woman everyone on here talks about. Not necessarily flat out rude, but not typically nice either. Once we started our order she told us to stop and say the food first and drinks after. Is it really that big a deal you had to interrupt my short order?
And also, don’t come when you’re hungry, they can take awhile. And the older woman definitely favorites the locals. About four came in and they all got their orders before we did! You think they’d try to impress new customers to keep coming back.
The older woman was so curt with us that I even resisted asking what an egg cream was for fear of getting a condescending look!
All in all a nice experience, and would come again, perhaps when the older woman is off the clock, or when we aren’t starving. Don’t want to diminish a small business on account of one person. Plus, I still need to try an egg cream!!!

Sugar Bowl is a cool take me back to history kind of place. We recently them visited again; we came in for the monthly specials for $ 4.95. I follow them on Facebook and read the special (choice of any two sandwich, fries and a drink) I had the chili dog and also had their wings and they were tasty.
Topped that off with chocolate malt thirty ice cream!

Ok, we have become REGULARS here. The deals are fantastic, $ 6 for a GREAT sandwich and freshly-​made chips AND a drink!!! Can’t beat it. CAN’T.
Plus now we get to talk about Breaking Bad with the girls who seem to always be working when we come in, all of which are awesome.
Odds are you’ll see us at the counter, so say hi!

I’m mainly giving this a two star rating simply because one of the waitresses there is rude and does not know how to prioritize with serving customers nor does she understand good customer service.
I ordered a BLT sandwich during my short 30 minute lunch break. As I sat down, she asked me if I knew what I wanted and I said yes, but she went off and started doing something else. Then she asked if I wanted this here or to go and I told her that I wanted the food to-​go. She then brought my food out for dine-​in and I told her that I wanted it to-​go and she told me, «no you said you wanted to eat in» with this big attitude. wtf. horrible customer service. The BLT sandwich was nothing special either, I went there to support a small business.

Wow I used to really love this spot and frequent here for dinner or just ice cream but that was… when they actually had staff.
I don’t know who’s super idea it was to fire all the staff and have one lone senior citizen waiting tables, serving ice cream, and acting as a cashier.
We went for dinner during a weekday before 5pm. It wasn’t too busy. Food was good and no one else was in the diner. As 30 minutes went by it got progressively busier and I just watched the organization of this poor woman just fall apart. I felt so bad at the time, that I couldn’t be mad at the fact that she had given me a rag from the kitchen to clean up our own mess when my son spilled his soda. I mean there was no one there to help her and there were about 5 different customers. But really that’s just bad customer service and the place has just gone downhill from there.
Another incident. I came in to get some ice cream. Place was busy. So busy she served my ice cream and maybe she just didn’t notice the serving she gave me was about half a scoop before she dashed off to do another task then dash back to ring me up.
ugh…was tired just watching her. After my ice cream was still just half a scoop. I concluded I would go to Rite Aide from now on for my Thrifty Ice Cream even though it was more expensive getting it at the Sugar Bowl I loved the experience, but not anymore.
Hire some staff and I’ll be back!

The only thing I really like here is their root beer float ($ 2.75) and the lemon phosphate ($ 1.95) of theirs.
The food isn’t really memorable and I would not get it again.

So gelato?
Yes. It was all good. White Chocolate Nutella… really no one else thought of this flavor yet… Went on a whim to check out it out since there was a 2 for 1 special.
Should you go?
Looking for a good meal and dessert, or maybe just desserts… this spot gets it right…
Food: Gelato, but they offer Thrifty’s ice cream as well as food like burgers. .but for this review it’s all about the gelato. Got the two for 1 special (now expired) cookies and cream and white chocolate nutulla. It was delicious.
Price: $ 1 and some change… not bad at all…
Locale: Parking all around, either street or structure. No meters. Very friendly and safe Old Town Covina area.

What a cute place! Fellow Unilocaler, Michelle R. who also reviewed this place took me here.
It’s a cute diner style place with ice cream and gelato! Their menu items are your standard diner fare — burgers, fries, hot dogs, and sandwiches. I ended up getting the chili dog special — chili dog, fries and a soda for $ 5.00. You definitely cannot beat that. Food was good, generous helping as well. My friend had a burger which she liked. We then had to get ice cream after! I love the Thrifty’s ice cream — I remember having this as a child. I got chocolate chip! Yumm! There’s a variety of flavors, ahhh takes me back to being a kid and paying $.50 for a scoop of ice cream. (I know I’m giving away my age) :P
Anyway, cute spot and food is good (but the ice cream is the best part!).

SUPER quaint!
I love how small and how old-​fashioned. I love the whole 50s theme. Everything is so tiny, that I feel like I just went back in time [BACK TO THE FUTURE] and somewhere in the corner stands Marty’s mom. Haha! I do want to try their gelato, but I had a hair appointment near and so all I had time for was an ice cream sundae that only cost a DOLLA! Well it’s actually ninety-​nine cents, but whatever…
I will come back very soon with someone to eat lots of sweets with!

79c Thrifty Tuesdays? I’m there! Wait, you have gelato too? Sorry 79c doesn’t apply to gelato, but I don’t caaaare!
In all my ice cream career, it is dead given that I will try every unique sounding flavor (or at least try to) before I end up at my middle ground. It never hurts to try new things, right? I have discovered some amaaazing flavors while doing this, but of course, they always wind up to be the seasonal or limited time flavor, just my luck… But it looks like they rotate their flavors quite often here!
Now I really hate doing this, but I came right before closing time and was bummed to see all the flavors they had. Why? That means I’ll take forever sampling each one! Lucky for us, the staff here was super cool about it and even gave me a sample big enough to share with my friend, Byron N. because he happened to want to try the same flavor. That’s what I call efficiency!
I tried the following flavors:
Red Velvet — Tastes just like the real thing! Recommended with the sugar cone, because it’s a bit too sweet on its own.
Dolce de Leche — They don’t call it sweet milk for nothing! If you have an extreme sweet tooth, this is just right.
Cherries and Brownie? — This was a weird mix, nothing like black forest.
Amaretto — Can never go wrong with this flavor! In any form!
Biggest and best discovery about this place? It’s RIGHT down the street from my house! You know I’ll be back!
Hey, you’re going to Covina Sugar Bowl right now? Hold on! I’ll be there in a jiffy!

I walked in looking for some gelato but I noticed a few things.
A décor of an old fashioned ice cream parlor where Fonzie would have his happy days, the Outsiders, The Socia’s, Joan & Chachee, where Richie Valens would seranade his dear Donna!
A homemade burger which tasted similar to what I would make you if you came to my house. Was not sirloin but was excellent and never sitting under a heat lamp. It had a perfect dressing, I could not identify the ingredients.
French fries that were NOT out-​of-​the-​bag served in an old fashioned basket.
The Coca Cola I was served was less fizzy but smooth and very sweet, sweeter than most. Serve in a large red coca cola cup with a decent amount of ice, this soda has a notable sweetness, very smooth and easy like a Sunday morning.
The service here was excellent, I had my meal in minutes, served with a smile and took some pics of the classic sodas on my way out. They have tons of parking in the area, a great place to sight see, theater nearby on the strip, I will be back.
Oh yea, I will be back, in fact, I can’t wait another minute.
Song parody of Hi-Five’s 1991 song «I Can’t Wait Another Minute»
Hamburger, you look so fine
Can’t turn my eyes away
Cancel my diet today
To dine, I wanna make you mine
I will eat nice and slow
Then spit these rhymes that flow
I know that I don’t know Covina well
But I can’t believe I’m wasting much time, oh no
So tell me what to do
To taste more of your food
Tonight
Cuz I’ve been hungry for, all your appeal
So real
But I can’t wait another minute
I can’t wait another minute
Cuz I’ve been holding back hunger I feel
I’m for real
Cuz I can’t wait another minute
I can’t wait another minute for food luv
Foodie luv
No…
No no baby
Coke tasty
Not too much fizz today
They don’t put too much ice
They serve it in no time
Home-​made burger, here to stay
Fresh fries that make me say
That I will find a way
I know that there is a possibility
That I will get a Gelato once again, oh, no
So tell me what to do
To taste more of your food
Tonight
Cuz I’ve been hungry for, all your appeal
So real
But I can’t wait another minute
I can’t wait another minute
Cuz I’ve been holding back hunger I feel
I’m for real
Cuz I can’t wait another minute
I can’t wait another minute for food luv
Foodie luv
Oh yeah
I know that I don’t know Covina well
But I can’t believe I’m wasting much time, oh no
So tell me what to do
To taste more of your food
Tonight
Tonight baby
Cuz I’ve been hungry for, all your appeal
So real
But I can’t wait another minute (I can’t wait)
I can’t wait another minute
Cuz I’ve been holding back hunger I feel
I’m for real
Cuz I can’t wait another minute (wait another)
I can’t wait another minute for food luv
(I can’t wait another minute)
(Not another minute baby)
But I can’t wait another minute
I can’t wait another minute
Cuz I’ve been hungry for, all your appeal
So real
But I can’t wait another minute
I can’t wait another minute for food luv
Oohhh…nooo…
Don’t make me wait another minute
Oh no baby
For food luv

This is a great 50’s style soda shop. I was craving a good milkshake today and had this place bookmarked so off I went on a lunchtime roadtrip to beautiful downtown Covina.
I had no problem finding street parking during the lunch hour — and it’s free! I really like the interior of the place and I found the servers to all be very friendly and attentive. I sat on a stool at the counter and ordered a bacon-​avocado-​cheeseburger and a coffee milkshake.
The milkshake was superb. The coffee ice cream had a robust coffee flavor and the consistency was perfect; thick but not so thick that you couldn’t suck it up through your straw without your eyes popping out of your head. They also give you the mixing tin (as they did in the old days) so it’s really more like 2 milkshakes.
The burger was enormous. The avocado was fresh and the bacon crispy. The beef burger itself was not so great — very dry and without much flavor. I opted not to order fries but the burger came with a small bag of potato chips.
So the milkshake was a «5» and the burger a «3». A fun place to come and I’d recommend it for the shakes and various ice cream treats (Thrifty ice cream!).