Review #939
2026-003
Ice Cream Order:
Cookie Monster (vanilla base ice cream, Famous Amos cookies, Oreo, fudge) & Matcha Berry Crunch (Japanese matcha ice cream, strawberry swirl, crunchy white chocolate pearls) with Sprinkles $8.70
Strawberry Cookie Crunch (strawberry ice cream, chocolate chip cookies) $6.25
I first heard of Afters Ice Cream just before the pandemic lockdown... their unique "milky bun" ice cream sandwiches were all the rage. It was a glazed donut stuffed with a scoop of ice cream that created a yummy, messy contrast of hot (donut) & cold (ice cream).
Afters Ice Cream has a space in the digital food court in my neck of the woods, but I wanted to visit the actual store to sample of flavors before committing to an unfamiliar brand. We just finished lunch & was pretty stuff when my brother mentioned their shop was just a few doors down.
The ice cream shop is located on the corner of Main & 1st Sts. No dedicated parking lot but there's free street parking; there's a free parking structure, aptly named "First Street Parking Structure" (refer to Review #938), around the back. The space is a bit minimalist with a huge Street Cred mural tagging their PR outreach, & 4 tagline murals further in on the left... my fav is "ice cream is cheaper than therapy." Hehehe...
Afters was empty at lunch rush; there was just us & only 1 server behind the counter. My l'il guy & I sampled a few flavors before choosing a shared cup of 2; he tried Cookie Monster & Milk & Cereal, & I tasted Matcha Berry Crunch & Strawberry Cookie Crunch. We both ended up with our initial pick, & my brother got Strawberry Cookie Crunch. I didn't get the milky bun because I wasn't sure how fresh it would be since there's no customers; other reviewers noted it was a hit or miss... inconsistent temperature, stale bun, or not available (I didn't ask since I didn't want to handle the hot, sticky mess because there's no public restroom to be seen).
I personally prefer Bruster's Real Ice Cream's Cookie Craze more over Cookie Monster for flavor & texture; both consists of blue vanilla ice cream & Oreos with the former having dino sugar cookies & cookie dough, & the latter having Famous Amos cookies & fudge. My son says they're both tasty! I had to wait a bit for him to scoop out his flavor since it was on top & mine was buried underneath. Once I saw green, I dug in; it had pretty good matcha flavor, earthy & creamy, & paired well with sweet strawberry swirls (sort of edible version of strawberry matcha drink) & crunchy pearls for texture, but didn't taste much white chocolate flavor (usually has notes of milk & vanilla). M only took a couple of bites before his lips were stained blue! I'm guessing there's a lot of artificial coloring (blue dye) for the bright hue. It wasn't temporary even after drinking boba shortly after & rinsing his mouth when we got home. For a cold rainy day, the ice cream melted faster than I would expect. I'm glad I didn't opt for a (waffle) cone, which is a $1 surcharge. It doesn't look like they offer traditional wafer/cake cones which usually included for single scoops. My brother seemed to enjoy his pick since he finished it.
While there were 4 sections containing 6 flavors ea., some of them were repeats. Afters Ice Cream is expensive, though portion is somewhat decent for the price. For 2 scoops, it would be cheaper on the wallet for a single flavor pint since it's only $1 more. However, a quart is more expensive & best to opt for 2 pints (= 1 quart) for 2 different flavors & a cost savings of 60¢ ($18.50/quart - $17.90/2 pints). Yikes! \(`0´)/ It's noted that they don't accept cash. And I teach my kids how to use cash & perform simple math in their head for small purchases like these using their birthday or red envelope money, but it seems like we're heading towards a cashless society?
I'm a fan of boba shop ice cream flavors & plan to try Jasmine Milk Tea & Thai Tea. Curious to see if their flavors are similar to eating a boba tea than drinking. Afters Ice Cream is pricey for my empty wallet (laid off last fall), but I wouldn't mind stopping by for this sweet treat every now & then.
Recommended: Matcha Berry Crunch, Strawberry Cookie Crunch, & Cookie Monster (I'm not a fan of the blue dye, but my child likes it). read more