Stax Cookie Bar

This place is great! They have so many dessert options that drives anyone crazy. Their cookies are warmed and tastes like fresh made, and their ice cream is really good. My favorite cookies are red velvet, chocolate white chocolate and snickerdoodle. The best combination that I’ve tried so far was red velvet and chocolate white chocolate with dulce de leche in between, sooo good! Their smookies are good as well, it is kind of a cookie pie, I love the red velvet nutella with vanilla ice cream. I am looking forward to try their waffles, last time I was in store they were making one and the smell was really good!

Solid 4 stars! I only knocked off a star because the brownie smookie tasted like lava cake and not brownie. Very good hot fudge! Can’t wait to try something else next visit! I’m eyeing that affogato…
A plus… they use natural and good quality ingredients. They even offer vegan and gluten free items.

Walked across the street from the campus to eat at the complex and saw this place while leaving.
Remembered seeing this place featured on one of the foodie instagrams I was following so stopped by.
It. Was. So. Good.

I love coming here to get a cookie STAX or a scoop of ice cream! My boyfriend loves their café chocolate ice cream, and I love getting chocolate chip cookies with vanilla or kona coffee ice cream. It’s even better after a long day of work… The cookies are nice and warm (chocolate is deliciously gooey), and the ice cream matches perfectly.
I also like getting their pints of ice cream (a little pricey but it’s worth for their flavors). The service is great — I always see the same people working at night and they’re very friendly and helpful.

Service: It is obvious that college kids are working behind the counter. While my boyfriend and I were sampling, the gentleman assisting us randomly said «hold on» then walked away… okay? The younf girl who took over was sweet but had no idea what she was doing.
Food: Perhaps I have been spoiled with authentic icecream from Jeni’s and Salt & Straw but this icecream was not good. Tasted artificial and lacked flavor. The mint and birthday cake flavors had odd after tastes.
Overall, I had high hopes for this place considering the reviews. Unfortunately I was rather dissappointed.

I’ve been here one other time, and I have to say, since the last time my experience here was a lot better! At first I thought the cookie sandwiches here were pretty mediocre. My cookies weren’t as soft as I usually like, but this time around I got an Oatmeal Raisin cookie and a Chocolate Chip with Walnut cookie with cookies and cream ice cream and thoroughly enjoyed it! Both cookies were very soft, unlike the last time, and it was just a really good eat this time around. The ice cream is all vegan and gluten free. My excuse to eat ice cream without feeling bad about it! And they’re only $ 3.25 (prices raised $ 0.25 since the last time I came), so it’s still a good value for what you get.
I previously had a waffle with ice cream sandwich, and I think these are the best here. This is especially true when you order the waffle with the Maple ice cream since it tastes like my childhood favorite cereal, Waffle Crisp. So bomb!!! It was soooooo good! I think these are about $ 5,
I’d like to try the Smookies here, which are pretty much like pizookies. I’ll be coming back here again for that. Those are about $ 4.65, so in general, the prices at Stax are better if not comparable than most other cookie sandwich places, and the quality is up there.
If you follow their Instagram page they usually post weekend specials and promotions. Part of me wishes I was a UCI student, so I’d be closer to here! So for now, I just come here whenever I’m in the area.

The vegan ice cream sandwich is good every time! Good cookies (2 options) with a good vanilla soy ice cream.
Also love the vegan root beer float :) 2 big scoops whole can of root beer. :)

As a former Bruin and current Anteater, I honestly think that this place is better than Diddy Riese, which is only famous for being cheap (the cookies are average and the ice cream is grocery store brand – overated!). The Smookie is out of this world and the cookies have great quality, and the variety of ice cream flavors is great. My favorite cookies are the chocolate chip (both the Smookie and the regular cookie versions), and the tastiest ice creams in my experience have been the dolce de leche and the rocky road.
The only item I’m not a big fan of is the peanut butter Smookie base, which I think is overly gooey and overpowers the entire experience of having the cookie and the ice cream melt together. I also think while Diddy Riese was good for being cheap, Stax is on the opposite side of the spectrum where it is a little overpriced for what it is (for example, I had to pay more than $ 2 for an extra scoop of ice cream on my Smookie one time when other places would charge considerably less for a comparable scoop). The store space is also somewhat cramped, making it unlikely to find a comfortable seat or even any seat at all inside. There is plenty of outdoor seating, however this may not be an option on the colder or rainy days of winter.
Overall, I do recommend stopping by once in a while as this is a gem for the UCI and UTC area.

Stay has a lot of options and left me really indecisive, but I opted for a safe option, ice cream! I got their mint chocolate chip on a cake cone. I thought the green was a little too bright and made me a little nervous because of how much coloring they must have used. But I don’t think the coloring affects the taste haha. The ice cream had a strange salt aftertaste, BUT Yhe consistency was nice and smooth. I couldn’t finish my ice cream though, the salt aftertaste was too much for me.

Irvine has a lot of places to get Asian desserts such as boba, shaved ice/​snow and frozen yogurt. Stax Cookie Bar does serve all those things I listed above but they opened as a purveyor of ice cream cookie sandwiches. Now, I’m generally not a fan of ice cream sandwiches but when I saw that they also served Belgian Waffles, I was intrigued enough to come in for a visit with my little sister.
We ordered the Waffle Mountain (1 Waffle + 2 Scoops + 2 Toppings + Hot Fudge or Caramel + Whipped Cream). We settled on scoops of Strawberry and Green Tea ice cream and for our toppings we chose strawberries and blueberries. Now, the waffle came out hot and even though I would have preferred my waffle to be more crisp, it had good flavor. The blueberries and strawberries definitely tasted frozen which was a little disappointing but it sort of helped keep the ice cream cold so I can’t complain much. I think price wise, it was too expensive but I don’t think we can get a waffle dessert like this in Irvine yet so I think it’s worth a visit. It certainly got rid of our sweet-​tooth for sure! ⁴⁄₅

Stax Cookie Bar initially opened as a purveyor of ice cream sandwiches, but the shop has evolved over time to offer a variety of other desserts. As other dessert joints have gained traction in Orange County, Stax has visibly tried to capitalize on this success through cheap imitation. In particular, Stax sells:
a. Ice cream sandwiches
b. Waffles: Belgian waffle bites, Belgian waffle Stax, Belgian Waffle mountain, Waffle puff (AKA a Cauldron puffle).
c. Cream bun: donut ice cream sandwich (AKA an Afters’ milky Bun)
d. Macaron ice cream sandwiches (AKA Milk/​Snow Monster’s macaron ice cream sandwich)
e. Shaved snow and Hawaiian ice
f. Drinks & floats
g. Signature desserts: Smookie (AKA a BJ’s pizookie) and affogato
We have only tried the ice cream sandwiches, which in our opinion, rank below Cream and Diddy Reise. Stax’s cookies are blatantly inconsistent. For example, the walnut chocolate chip cookies may be moist and delicious or they may be dry and hard.
Overall though, this place isn’t bad, so if you’re in the UCI area, head to Stax for some sweets.

First time trying these cookies was at a Unilocal event.
1^st experience at the actual store:
— The line moved quickly and the workers were patient.
— The cookies were warm & soft, almost crumbly. The softness/​crumbly part of the cookie makes it slightly difficult to keep together when eating the ice cream sandwich. You can choose 2 different cookies for your sandwich, which is nice. They have plenty to choose from. The only cookie I chose was the snickerdoodle– taste was great. Not overwhelmingly sweet or cinnamonly or anything. But when you add the ice cream into the mix, the entire dessert is enough to satisfy any sweet tooth.
— The ice cream is much more than a single scoop. Generous serving.
It’s very filling and well worth a try.

I found the cookies and ice cream to be average, nothing special. I ordered the red velvet cookies with cookie dough ice cream. The cookies were a good size and fit the ice cream well, and were also the perfect consistency (not too soft). One of the things I really liked about this place is their price. The price is really cheap compared to other places I’ve been, and they have a wide variety of goods. Such as a puffle cone and a pizookie like cookie.
All in all nice inexpensive ice cream place to check out, nothing special though.

Second visit, another great experience! First visit was for a free smookie and it was delish! This time we went after a hearty and filling dinner in the same plaza and came for a lighter dessert… shaved ice!
We were going to share one but they were having a buy 1 get one free deal so we went for it! We chose the medium size (they also have a large) but the medium size was huge! One is enough for two people to share!
My husband wanted to go traditional so he ordered the #1: vanilla shaved ice with brownie bits, almonds, and chocolate sauce. I tried it and it was delicious! My husband preferred our other italian ice hot spot but I preferred this consistency. It was less ‘icy’ and more ‘fluffy’.
I was going to order the piña colada but they were sold out. Bummer. However there were plenty of other tantalizing flavors like taro, strawberry, and green tea. They had about 7 custom creations but I prefer to build my own treats so I had a choice of a flavor, two toppings, and one sauce. I went with caramel chocolate shaved ice, almonds and strawberries (I wanted sliced banana but they were also sold out… do I sense a trend here?), topped with condensed milk. It tasted more like mocha but that still worked for me!
Neither of us could finish our ginormous shaved ice creations but we were still very happy with our visit. May be back again to try their puffles or sundaes!

Just walking around UTC, you’ll get the sweet aroma coming from the store!
There’s a small line that can form inside the store, but the line usually goes out the door because it’s so good.
What I got:
–Stax: two cookies (your choice) and one HUGE scoop of ice cream (your choice). The cookies are homemade and super fresh! You can tell how moist they are through the glass.
–Waffle Puff: I added the mixed fruit and chose the condensed milk. Definitely not very sweet and just the way i like it! It’s topped off with powdered sugar. If you want this though, it takes about 4 minutes to make so let them know!
Service:
All the workers were really nice and helpful, considering there was such a long line of people.
There’s free water cups for you to help yourself in case the dessert is a bit too sweet.
I like there there are so many different options that you can get from the menu, from a waffle to the cookie sandwich, to shaved snow. That way, everyone can get whatever they want!
There aren’t too many tables inside the store, but there’s plenty of seating outside in the UTC.
***PRO TIP: If you check in on Unilocal,you can get $ 1 off your shaved snow!***
Next time, I would really want to try a lot of their different cookies because everything looks so good!

THIS IS NOT DIDDY RIESE
THIS IS NOT DIDDY RIESE
THIS IS NOT DIDDY RIESE
Their ice cream sammiches are actually pretty horrible. The cookies are overly thin and overly hard – tending to crack in awkward places instead of allowing your teeth to sink into its soft shell. The ice cream is also beautifully flavorful, which unfortunately overpowers the comparatively plain flavor of the cookie.
Nope, what really shines here is everything else they have here… a la mode.
Order a stuffed Smookie (s’more) cookie and ask ‘em to slop a scoop of ice cream on it. Or the stuffed s’more cookie. Or a waffle with two scoops of ice cream. Heck, even just a single cookie with ice cream on top is super tasty. Or get ice cream and a cookie, and crumble that crispy goodness all over the ice cream.
Because the ice cream here is what really shines. Every flavor comes alive in your mouth and is strongly vibrant. Combine that with some crispy cookie or waffle, and you’ve got a winning combination. Just don’t make the amateur mistake of trying to make a cookie sammich. It just doesn’t work here.

Stopped but this cute little place on the campus of UC Irvine, and I defiantly want to return back ! The smell of cookies greets you right away and you are in a small store filled with fresher baked cookies, brownies, waffles, and many ice cream flavors ! They have 2 VEGAN AND GLUTEN FREE COOKIES, as well as 1 ice cream to pair ! From brownie sundaes to cookie ice cream which to even floats, Malts, or milkshakes, their will always be something for everyone.
I did the GF Vegan chocolate chip coconut cookie and the GF Vegan double chocolate almond cookie with soy vanilla ice cream! It was heaven !! So good and rice the 2 flavors of cookies so fun and soft and chewy with loads of cold creamy ice cream !
This is defiantly a need to stop if your in the area and love ice cream !

I got a cookie ice cream sandwich and I thought it was just okay. Nothing special. I picked two cookies; red velvet & the black/​white cookie with coffee ice cream sandwiched in the middle. I think it would’ve been better if the cookie was warmed up first so it’s easier and softer to eat. Honestly, it was just way too sweet for me so I ate about half and just tossed it. If you have a major sweet tooth, you’ll probably enjoy this place.
They also have daily specials; we went on a wednesday and the deal was if you spent more than $ 5 you get a free cookie. I got the chai tea cookie because it was so unique but it literally tasted like a snickerdoodle cookie.

Great first impression with how good everything looked and how nice the young man helping us was.
The cookies and ice cream just didn’t quite measure up though.
I had a couple cookies, one chocolate chip with walnuts, and the other a root beer flavored cookie. Neither was memorable. Actually the root beer cookie was pretty bad.
Another in our party had an ice cream sandwich. It wasn’t very good and the same with the waffle cone another person had.
The ice cream isn’t very rich and creamy tasting, and the cookies are just barely OK tasting.
None of the four of us even finished our cookies or ice cream. That about describes how good it wasn’t.
It’s not horrible, and the prices aren’t bad, so I’ll stick with the 3 stars, but I can’t really recommend this place either.
They do have a Unilocal coupon for 15% off any waffle related item, so if you go, be sure and check in on Unilocal

I visit the University Center a lot either with my friends or after picking up my brother from class. When I’m there I usually go to cha tea but recently I noticed a new dessert place next door… Stax. Finally today I decided to give them a try. I have seen the concept of cookies with ice cream before (from snow monster). Tbh I didn’t like the snow monster cookie ice cream at all. This place is a bit better for sure. They have a really really nice selection of cookies which I believe is their specialty. Everything from chocolate chip, red velvet, oatmeal, you name it they got it. The ice cream selection is decent (I’m not that big on ice cream anyhow).
I came in and ordered a simply chocolate chip cookie ice cream thing and it was pretty good. I’d give it 3.8 out of 5, but since I’m rounding up Stax gets 4 for me. You can mix and match everything red velvet on top, chocolate chip on the bottom and the middle pistachio (for example). The possibilities are endless. I find that concept pretty cool, just the thought of me creating lol. The cookies weren’t too fresh but they weren’t old either. It was somewhat average. The ice cream was pretty good, like really good. Realistically I should have just gotten the ice cream by itself because it was the most enjoyable treat at Stax. Next time though, I probably would get ice cream and cookies on the side. The two combined together had me struggling to finish it lol.
I love the customer service here. They were really really friendly and nice. I was greeted with a warm smile so you already know thats an automatic 3 stars and then the cookie ice cream just propelled the ratings up. Good stuff guys!