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Total cost: 5 bucks and some change | Photo by Zach Behrens/LAist
In the earlier days of the frozen yogurt craze, Yogurtland sprung up in Fullerton in February 2006. It was a success and so more stores opened in Hollywood, Long Beach, Little Tokyo, Sherman Oaks and many other Southern California locations and one in Cupertino up north. They even opened a location in Greenwich Village in New York City with plans for Vegas, Hawaii and Texas.
There's a good reason for this multiplying franchise. It's hundreds of times better than Pinkberry and Yogurtland is the closest you'll get to frozen yogurt that actually tastes amazingly close to, well, yogurt. It's rich, creamy, tart when needed and the best part, the 16 rotating, some seasonal, flavors are self-serve along with 33 toppings. At 30 to 39-cents per ounce, $5 can easily feed two people to satisfaction. What stuck out was the insanely amazing Taro flavor and the sugared red bean toppings.
But there's one problem with Yogurtland. It's minimalist modern design is as cold, but more homely, as what it tries to mimic -- Pinkberry. Try to snap a photo and you'll get reprimanded by management. The fun friendly concept behind Menchies in Valley Village (also a self serve concept that feels more in line with ice cream) is ruined by a corporate policy and employees untrained on how to handle it nicely. In fact, when we informed them a public relations firm sent us to the Sherman Oaks location to check it out so this could be written, they denied having any such company spreading their good word.
When two frozen yogurt places with similar concepts and excellent products are nearby each other and a choice has to be made, we'll have to stick with Menchies where the environs are comfortable and the values are community, not the bottom line and self obsession over image.
