Ice Cream Lab

Would luv to give them more stars but they really screwed up our delivery order… i had strawberry it was delish bit so not worth $ 5.50 for that lil scoop. BUT when it’s 100 degrees at work and you ain’t going out then you are stuck ordering overpriced ice cream delivery… would i go back, probably not but hey never say never cause it’s a long summer.

The caramel pretzel ice cream was some of the best I’ve ever had. In this heat, I’ll be going back soon. Emo rock music was an odd choice for an ice cream shop though, lol.

My first time having liquid nitrogen ice cream!
I was expecting more of a happy and chipper vibe from an ice cream parlor, but it’s all good. I got to watch my sea salt caramel ice cream with pretzels being made in front of my eyes with all the cool puffs of smoke in the air while the machine was churning the ice cream. There’s just something that is utterly satisfying with seeing your food or dessert being made right before your very eyes.
Anyways, the texture of this ice cream was alright, though, it could have been a tad bit smoother. The flavor was delicious and the texture of the pretzels added a nice sweet and salty touch as well as a crunch.
Definitely a place that is as must try, and I believe there are a few other locations :)

Was cool to see how the ice cream was made. It would had been nice if the employees were friendlier. Part of the experience is to see them make our ice cream, therefore it would had been nice to see a smile and some sort of friendly interaction. While they were making my ice cream they were talking to each other and it seems to me like they were gossiping. Unfortunately, we were the only one in here so I has a feeling that they may be talking about us??? At least pretend to like your job… you’re in the customer service business.

it was exactly what you would expect a blue velvet ice cream to taste like. nothing spectacular but the unique way the shop makes the ice cream is very fascinating to watch.
–B&L

The workers are so rude!
The two Hispanic girls kept giving customers dirty looks as if taking ice cream orders was the most annoying thing to do.
This place needs better customer service.
The cashier did not smile, acknowledge customers (by even looking at them) and/​or say you are welcome!
The ice cream is decent. Cookies and cream is flavorful.
Check in for a free waffle cone.
I would recommend fellow Unilocalers to go to a different location if you want to try ice cream lab.
–Pasadena
–Rowland?
Time of visit: 7:48pm
Date: 6÷2÷16

I came here with my girlfriend and family for what was supposed to be a nice family outing.
The cashier was extremely rude and seemed annoyed by the fact that we were using a groupon. She also kept rolling her eyes to the other worker. I ordered mint chip. It was terrible. The chocolate mints did not compliment the vanilla ice cream.
For $ 8 dollar ice cream, I could have gotten a whole tub of better quality mint chip at the supermarket without the bad attitude from the workers.
Customers should not be treated so poorly.
I would not recommend this place to anyone!
Go else where, you’ll thank me!
Time of visit: 7:30pm on 6÷2÷16

Over rated… Came asking for a Nitro Cookie sandwich which was advertised all over the store and they didn’t have any more cookies. Gave them a $ 50 to pay and they didn’t even have change. Kinda disappointed.

1^st timer here and I’m already sold to come back! I was curious to what a «nitro pocket» was. Come to find out it’s an ice cream sandwich variation where your choice of ice cream is hard pressed in between two king Hawaiian rolls. I ordered it with their signature blue velvet ice cream and Cap’n Crunch topping. All I can say is WOW. So good! The pocket comes out warm while the ice cream is still cool on the inside. The place itself looks pretty cool (especially if you like the color blue) but the music is a bit too loud. Other than that, can’t wait to come back!

It was our first time here, ordered a Cookies & Cream and the salted-​caramel-​pretzel flavor. The girl working the counter was making two salted-​caramel-​pretzel (mine as well as another customer’s) yet the other customer received caramel and after I had already got in the car to leave, I realized that mine didn’t get any! I shouldn’t have assumed that mine was simply just mixed in. All I tasted was milk and pretzel pieces…
Edit: it was called the Salt-​Lick Crunch… according to what I was served, don’t get this flavor because it’s really, really bland unless you have an affinity for the taste of straight up milk/​heavy cream and chopped pretzels.
Two medium (their smallest size) totaled out to $ 11 before tip.
Anyways, like the other reviewers before me, I too, waited about 15 – 17 minutes for two cups of ice cream when there was only two other customers beside me, and two people working the counter. The wait wasn’t a huge deal breaker for me but for some it will be.
Will I recommend them? No – there are tons of nitrogen/​dry ice ice cream stands popping everywhere and my personal favorite Creamistry has more flavors and better, efficient service. Will I come back to give this place another chance? Maybe. I won’t go out of my way to drive out into the city (even though I live about 7 miles away) with all the stupid traffic but if I ever am close by and there’s really no other ice cream place to go to, I might consider it.

Overall I thought this place was ok. Parking is street and garage. It’s located around many other restaurants, so it’s a good place to check out for dessert after if you didn’t get it before. The lab itself was not huge, but had adequate seating. Bathroom was still out of order, which I read was also a problem according to another review, so I’m not sure how long it’s been like that. I only noticed this because I wanted to use it when I was there. The interior design is pretty cool. Liked the wall art. The service was on the slow side, but there wasn’t many people working. The portions were generous, and the flavor was good. Would come back to try the other flavors.

It is impressive that they are able to duplicate what old store-​bought ice cream would taste like in seconds!
For those who don’t know, they make the ice cream ‘fresh’ here by mixing it in really, really cold ‘dry ice’-like cryogenic bowls. They keep these silver bowls frozen in cryogenic tanks or something at sub zero temperature to make this ice cream ‘cream up’, but this process gives the ice cream the effect of what an inverted microwave would give to food. There is no sense at all that this freshly made ice cream is fresh at all! It is actually so impressive that I left here with my left brain feeling massaged like watching a really interesting science experiment go awry at the expense of my two-​for-​one Groupon. Lol.
ON TO THE VEGAN VANILLA ICE CREAM! It was really, really dry and crumbly. It was probably the dryest ice cream I have ever had. It tasted kind of like a wad of dippin’ dots. My first spoonful was too eager and I didn’t realize that a dry wad of ice cream would go flying straight up from the bowl. It crumbled as it landed on the floor and broke into a bunch of tiny dry flakes. Everybody looked at the floor as I tried to pick these pieces up, and accidentally dropping them again, and they’d break into even smaller pieces! In order to eat this ice cream, I had to slowly scrape this ice cream off to eat it. It kind of had a light pleasing taste, but almost to the same effect of trying to eat a homemade ice pop by putting sugar and milk in the freezer without a popsical stick.
I am surprised and a bit disappointed that So Delicious or any vegan ice cream that probably sits in a factory for months could taste way more fresh than this cryogenic mess. At least it was very interesting in a Bill Nye the Science Guy kind of way. Lab Fail, Ice Cream Lab!

To be honest, I was pretty disappointed with this place. First of all, this little strip in Little Tokyo is really hard to find parking. Second, it’s SO loud inside which I’m never a fan of. But I’ve had better liquid nitrogen ice cream elsewhere, with flavors that are more creamy and rich and cheaper, too.
I just had the salt lick crunch which was fine, but really wasn’t that amazing. Also it was $ 5 or $ 6 for a medium which is actually a small, I don’t know why they call it a medium size. It was pretty empty when I came here at around 8:30 on a weeknight, but started getting pretty packed later in the night.
Overall I wouldn’t come here just for the liquid nitrogen ice cream — I think other «normal» ice cream shops have better ice cream.

After having dinner with my friend, we decided to go for ice cream, and since it was really the only nearby option, decided to try this place that I’d passed a million times. It’s funny that their smallest cup is a «medium» (well, it was funny to us), but in trying to engage the cashier, he didn’t seem to find that particularly funny. In fact, he didn’t have much personal warmth or energy or anything that you’d expect at an ice cream place (like they do Salt and Straw, McConnell’s, etc).
The other problem here, because of their fancy «make it in front of your eyes» nitrogen process, is that you can’t sample anything. At least not the flavors I asked about sampling. So you just have to take a chance that you’ll like it. I ordered a special, the Roc n’ Rocca, which was a vanilla base with bits of chocolate and almonds. It was good. But good enough for the less than stellar service or the inability to taste anything to see if you like it before you spend close to six bucks? I’d say it’s enough to save it from a «meh» review (my friend liked his mint chocolate chip ice cream as well but had the same issues with the service), but not enough for me to be a fan or really want to come back.

The first time I went here a few weeks ago, my experience was good, and the blue velvet ice cream was amazing. Hence, when my friend was craving ice cream, I immediately suggested this place. We came here on Monday, April 4^th around the 6 o’clock hour.
The worker was really rude. In a place where you expect really bubbly friendly youngins, we were unfortunate to have to face the wrath of a truly horrible awful lady.
She was very cruel when I ordered, as though my existence was a bother to her. Also, my card got declined and stuff, but we were the only people there, so it’s no big deal. I didn’t look her in the eye the whole time because of the negative vibes I was getting, but apparently my friend said she rolled her eyes a lot.
She was also rude to my friend to the point where he had to confront her about it and then ended up not ordering anything.
Don’t know if I’ll be back. Clearly, customers aren’t welcome here.

My first time trying a legit place that has liquid nitrogen ice cream. The designs/​paintings on the wall seems very chill and graffiti looking like. Lots of ice cream flavors to choose from but I went with cookies and cream (chocolate colored, not white). I just got one scoop in a cup. The way that they made the ice cream is too cool, I was amazed with my jaw opened and my eyes widened, I couldn’t look away.
I thought the ice cream was super creamy! I felt my taste buds was indulging the ice cream and I loved the way it just melted in my mouth.

Liquid nitrogen ice cream– made fresh on the spot! YES
I am glad there’s an ice cream place in the Little Tokyo area that’s not Yogurtland or Mikawaya Mochi. Employees here are friendly and make your dessert creations with love. The ice cream is very smooth and creamy and there’s no skimping on the toppings here.

Good stuff. Great and friendly service. Parking yes sucks. Street or pay in the structure.
What I ordered was the horchata (seasonal flavor) and it was Delish. It comes with cinnamon and a teddy graham on top. My daughter ordered the cookies and cream with spinkles. Wow that was so good. The gentleman told me that cookies & cream and blue velvet is the most popular. Great stuff. They also have affogato, hot coco and a new sandwich kind of stuffed nitro ice cream thingy. I think I’ll get that next time.

I came here randomly since I was walking around little tokyo with the bf. Since we’re both lactose intolerant I ordered the vegan vanilla ice cream with captain crunch and caramel. The friendly girl at the cash register told us they didn’t have the vegan ice cream so we got coconut milk instead. It tasted sooo good! I don’t think we were missing out on the original vegan ice cream. I’ll see if I can order next time with coconut milk as my ice cream. Delicious!
The wait for our ice cream wasn’t long since we were there on a weekday after lunch hour and we were the only ones there. I’m sure the line backs up when there’s more customers.
Unfortunately we weren’t able to redeem the free waffle bowl as they apparently ran out? Bummer. We’ll be back next time to try the oh so famous blue velvet!

This place seems to rely on selling how their ice cream is custom made. They mix it and make it right in front of you. I guess that’s how they justified $ 5.50 for a small cup of ice cream.
I ordered the blue velvet ice cream. It was a solid choice that definitely hit the spot. I was surprised that they used an actual blue velvet cupcake to make the ice cream. It was pretty cool and I had actual cupcake chunks in my ice cream. Also, my ice cream was blue!
They have a few other unique and original ice cream flavors. Not too many choices tho.
If you check in, they will give you a free waffle cone. Although when I went (on a Friday afternoon), they had run out of waffle cones. So I didn’t get one :(
Overall good ice cream, unique flavors, but pretty pricey. But if you’re in the area and looking for something different, definitely try it out!