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Bruster's Real Ice Cream

4.1 (127 reviews)
Open • 12:00 pm - 9:00 PM
Updated a few days ago

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Banana split only $899 with the one dollar off any item coupon. Delicious delicious delicious 11-2025
Tracy M.

The ice cream here is amazing. We got banana chocolate chip and we just talked to the owners. They really put bananas in there and put it into the machine. I haven't tasted ice cream this good in years. The service is great The ambience is nice sitting out on these red tables under an umbrella five stars

ice cream
Arturo R.

The best of the best l was very surprised when l tried this place reasonable prices thank for you atención come try

Cotton candy explosion
Steph L.

They have a dedicated parking lot and a drive through. Their parking lot is one way however we saw numerous people driving the wrong way. Be especially careful driving around the corner, as we had a very large truck fly around in the wrong direction. They only have outside seating, no interior seating. They have some umbrellas but it was still unbearably hot outside. There is also no shade when you are waiting in line/ordering. They have lots of different ice cream options as well as ice cream cakes. They offer non dairy and sugar free options. Tried: Cotton candy explosion $6 - good taste. Loved the pop rocks.

Chocolate peanut butter buckeye - add cookie dough
John M.

This place is brand new and there was only a few individuals outside eating ice cream when I arrived. They have a drive thru which is pretty awesome and will make it easy for families to stay in the car instead of fighting over the 3 benches they have. Ice cream was OK, nothing special. I expected more from such an expressive name like "buckeye". It was chocolate ice cream with a small amount of peanut butter and nothing else! So why the extravagant name???? Would go back to try a plain flavor but this place seems to be no different than any other ice cream place.

David T.

We came here after the zoo and we wanted fattening stuff. We walked up and it said grand opening. I found out later this place been open a bit lol. Anyway, we got like 3 samples and settled on the gooey ice cream, sea salt brittle ice cream and cake batter. I got my daughter a kids cone for free which she made a huge stink at 2 years old and wanted her own giant cone. It looked like the cone was filled more with ice cream than the cup. Anyway, the gooey butter ice cream was very good. So was the Carmel ice cream. The cake batter was good. The vanilla was good. I wouldn't say outstanding.

Vicky R.

Love this place for a quick icecream fix. The staff is nice, service is quick, and the overall quality of the icecream is on par. It's really noisy there though because your only options to eat and enjoy your icecream are to sit on the benches next to the drive though, or in your car while driving to your next destination, neither are ideal. Nonetheless, great icecream.

Tito R.

Best ice cream in the world! Worth waiting in line for. Has a drive thru. Staff is fast and friendly!

Richelle O.

Abby out here, emotionally healing people, one scoop at a time. Best banana splits I ever had and of course I got the waffle cone because a girl is extra thank you Abby. I really appreciate you and I hope you get a raise. -grateful

Drive thru ice cream
Tan P.

Nice ice cream joint in the middle of La Mesa and near a Tesla Supercharger. There is plenty of free parking and a few outdoor tables and benches. The drive thru option is nice if you are on the go. The service is friendly and did not take too long despite the small crowd on a Sunday afternoon. Recommend getting their rewards program because this is a national chain and the discounts will be worth it if you plan to be a repeat customer.

The dairy free vanilla was frostbitten, but everything else was good
Tiff H.

Didn't know there was one of these out here on the west coast. Was excited when I found it! The convenience of the drive through and cute sitting area out front. Ample parking to eat in your car if you'd like as well. Friendly and fast service, even though we went at like 12pm on a Friday lol. The area of La Mesa it's in also reminds me of the east coast. You feel like you're not quite in San Diego anymore. It's pleasant. The only thing that wasn't good was the dairy free vanilla and only because it was so frost bitten. I think a fresh scoop of it will be better but not sure. I ordered a pistachio and coffee chocolate chip scoop in a waffle bowl. I'm happy with my choices and will definitely be back

Ordering window
Nicole M.

Great place to grab a sweet treat! They have a large selection of flavors and will let you sample some at the window if you want to try any. I also like that the small size allows you get 2 scoops so you can try different flavors. I ended up getting the chocolate raspberry truffle and cookies and cream and it was everything I wanted, rich, sweet, creamy, but not too heavy! There's a couple of tables nearby if you want to sit and eat and a couple of parking spaces as well. The workers all seemed very nice and service was pretty quick!

1/30/26 portion size matched the price for 2 scopes.
Ona R.

I really like all the selection of their flavors. The first time I went here on January 30, 2026 I got two scoops and they were decent portion size for the price. I went back on February 6, 2026 around 2 o'clock and I was gonna ask young lady did she give me kiddy scoops? The ice cream on the bottom was nearly melted in a manner of minutes and it look like it was half a scoop. For the price of each scoop which my total is $7.04 for two scoops the amount of ice cream received wasn't justifiable. I didn't complain because I know it's hit or mess with the reviews, but it did not take away from the flavor of the banana puddin on the bottom was chocolate with some peanut butter cups, and the young lady gave me the wrong one which I wanted the peanut butter with the vanilla, but it doesn't matter cause I'm looking forward to try all of their flavors at some point in time! There's a lot more benches for people to sit and enjoy. The owner mentioned that they were going to be delivered and it's nice to see that this establishment is on the up and up. It gets crowded so you have to be strategic when you're heading over there! Don't forget to ask for samples! Overall, this will be my new stop for a sweet treat when I'm in the area and next time if I have questions about the portion size, I will say something. Otherwise, I'm just gonna start getting two scoops and they each can be in their separate cup

Service windows
Emmett T.

Bruster's is an East Coast-based ice cream chain that set up its first location in the SD area at the Grossmont Trolley Center late last year. It was an interesting choice to place their shop in this part of La Mesa as the foot traffic was minimal. What's unique was they had a drive thru lane to order so you didn't have to leave your vehicle. I don't know of another local ice cream shop that has this feature. There were several spaces available to the south of the stand which was where I parked and then walked up to the service windows. I think there were only two tables and a bench for seating if you wanted to enjoy your treat on-site. A refrigerator to the left of the menu screen displayed ice cream cakes for sale. About 30 different flavors on rotation were available. Waffle cones & bowls, cake cones & cups, shakes, blasts, and sundaes were the categories. You could also purchase hand packed quantities (pint, quart, half gallon) to go. I picked the last two on the alphabetical list of premium flavors. They were the Sea Salt Caramel w/Toffee and Southern Banana Puddin. The creamy quality and price of their frozen product was on par with the other gourmet ice cream purveyors in town. What lowered my rating of Bruster's Real Ice Cream was the service. Perhaps they were short staffed on the evening I visited because it took over 20 minutes from the time I lined up to when I finally received a cup with my flavors. Only two sets of customers were ahead of me while a few vehicles did place orders in the drive thru.

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