Desserts Zone - CLOSED

Elite '08

135

230

Eric W.

Hayward, CA

*Update 8/31/07*

My greatest fear has now indeed come true. It was pretty much a general consensus for all in South County that Desserts Zone was the place to be for HK style snacks. Unfortunately, as with Fruit Oasis in Oakland Chinatown, all we are left with are the memories. It was only inevitable, with the sparse crowds, even on the hottest of summer days. Our efforts here on Yelp to promote it were all for not. RIP Desserts Zone. You will most surely be missed.

Welcome, Cool Noodle! You better live up to the high expectations set by your predecessor!

*Original 10/24/06*

It saddens me every time I pass by this place. Why? That's because more often than not, it's COMPLETELY EMPTY, which is a total shame, since this place is quite delectable!

In my opinion, this is one of the finest mango pudding shops in the greater Bay Area, and certainly blows the doors off the former *fake* Hui Lau Shan in Milpitas (now called Bolansa). All the fruit drinks are fresh (surprisingly so, considering the low traffic count), and the desserts are at just the right level of firmness and chewiness.

Unfortunately, if things keep going the way they are now, this place won't be around much longer. It's practically within an arm's length of the bustling Lion Supermarket, yet no one seems to be willing to take the few extra steps to get here. It could possibly be that Desserts Zone is ultra-Chinesey, and the large portion of Phillipinos and Indians who shop at Lion have no interest.

In this very strip mall, dessert and tapioca type shops have been falling down splat like retards on Drop Zone these past few months. First, it was Quickly, then Konyac (*edit* apparently, Konyac has reopened). Hopefully, the same fate will not meet Desserts Zone. I'm doing my part to spread the word. Now, it's your turn!

Keep in mind that it took awhile for similiar joints to gain momentum, such as Break Time in Cupertino. I remember I used to pass by that place all the time, and the employees were swatting flies with the Sing Tao newspaper. Now, look at it. There are more people packed into there than Mainlanders in a cargo container. If all goes well, we'll be saying the exact same thing about Desserts Zone in the very near future.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

Elite '08

247

713

Ken K.

Foster City, CA

I've only been here once, but it was a very memorable visit. Come here when the yellow skin oval mango is in season (like now) and be prepared to be delighted by all the senses in this no nonsense HK style dessert and snack eatery that trumps so many mediocre ones (although I have to say that in terms of innovation 100% Healthy Desserts is more or less in the lead despite the painfully slow service). But for this genre of "yumma-fruity-licious" sago based desserts and the ilk, DZ is da shizzle, yo, especially for you sweet toothers out there.

Anything mango sago is great, and ditto for any of the Hui Lau Shan style desserts that the fake HLS in Milpitas Square (now masked as Bolansa) did poorly but are sure fire winners here.

Hong Konger expats living on this side of the East Bay, FOBabees, Fobulous, Hoochie TABs, Super FOBs, YAPS, Twinkies, Bananas, and the like will not be disappointed. See http://www.urbandictio... for the various definitions.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

Elite '08

58

296

Linda C.

San Leandro, CA

FINALLY.

An East Bay desserts place that doesn't make me spew out my fake sago and watery red bean soup in disgust (ala shooting star) :) The only problem I had with this place was that the mango was REALLY sour, so much so that it was like a kick in the face.  I guess it wasn't ripe enough! But isn't it mango season!?

But maybe I'm just being a brat!  Will be coming back to try some other stuff here, just glad to know that there's an east bay desserts place that makes stuff i can actually put into my mouth! :)

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

 

3

73

Sarah H.

Newark, CA

Everything here is oh-so-yummy! I love that we have an HK-style dessert eatery in Newark! Venus Cafe is where you'll want to go for meal-type food, but desserts zone is THE place in Newark (really, THE place, I don't think we have another dessert dedicated HK eatery) for HK-style desserts. I'm especially fond of the mango pudding with ice cream. Coconut ice cream goes best, but for a Mango-tastical day I go with mango pudding with mango ice cream! My current obsession is "Mango Buzz" which is mango pudding, mango slices, coconut ice cream, and birds nest, yum-yum!

The menu features pictures and most of the dishes are customizable in some way, providing for hundreds (if not thousands) of delicious combinations.

The service is sort of spotty, but in a consistent way. They never have more than 2 employees, so if they are busy or your group is large expect the dishes to come out sporadically, as they can only make 1 (or 2) desserts at a time. I have not tried any of the non-dessert foods, but they have a variety of dishes ranging from noodles to dumplings to porridge to eggs.

Pros:
- good desserts
- games to play (and Chinese magazines/comics to read) while you wait
- Can comfortably seat large groups
- Plenty of parking

Cons:
- Cash only
- Hours are not posted on the door (when we ask we are told different times by different employees 0_O) but they usually seem to close between 10-11, sometimes earlier if business is slow.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

 

20

138

Orie M.

Union City, CA

Great place to get some refreshments or desserts, especially on a hot day. The quality is pretty good, and the price is fair for what you get- say, compared to pearl milk tea. As the others have stated, a lot of the times it is quite empty in here, which is a shame. I hope this place stays in business because sometimes I have an urge for a mango smoothie with coconut milk and aloe jelly.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

 

14

51

haywood h.

Mountain View, CA

Great, great, great desserts!  Fresh ingredients, and I particularly like the snacks - the taro cake is of the best I've had anywhere!  My personal favourites here are the fruit juices and the tofu flower/pudding...

It's a shame it seems empty every time I'm there (for some reason, people seem to like the tasteless pearl milk tea place a couple of shops down a lot more) -  Like the other reviewers, I really hope it stays in business!

(update 2007-04-04 - looks like it's been sold, we met the owner yesterday as he was leaving the shop....  truly quite sad)

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

 

1

29

APM ..

Fremont, CA

I came here after reading all the great reviews on yelp and I agree wholeheartedly with everyone's reviews.  They have an extensive selection for desserts, it took me a few minutes to read over everything to try to decide what I wanted.  The place was completely empty, which is sad because the people here were so nice and I'd like to see them keep their business open.  Hopefully things will pick up for them as the weather warms up because they have a huge shaved ice selection.  I can't wait to go back and try the "Black and White Unify" which is black sweet rice, coconut icy with mangos on top.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

 

5

12

Kevin H.

Fremont, CA

I actually read about this on yelp today (craving desserts) and I'm sure glad to have actually walked in today. I must admit, I have walked by this place once or twice wondering whether I should have gone in... but seeing as nobody else was in there - I decided it must have had bad food.... so i scampered away... Anyway, I am here to undo the evils of my ignorance.

The desserts here are great! I had the Mango Buzz (mango pudding, with slices of mango and coconut ice cream and slushy) and it was perfect! The coconut ice cream they used had bits of coconut in it - and combined with the mango pudding - yum yum

my gf had the sago a-gogo which was fresh fruit on top of coconut slushy with sago. This made to be a very healthy and delicious dessert!

We made the mistake of eating my coconut ice cream dessert with the slushy one at the same time. Ice cream is much sweeter, so at the time, the sago dessert seemed to be less satisfying, but after we gave our palete some time to reset, the slushy was really very good.

I really have no idea why this place is so empty all the time and I really hope it does not go out of business anytime soon. This is the perfect asian (healthy and yummy) dessert place in the area! Go check out it out! tell your friends to go check it out!

They seem to have good, savory, asian meals for sale too! I'm definitely coming back here again, but i'm pretty sure that my business alone will not keep them open. Go try it and spread the word!

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

Elite '08

83

145

Tu D.

Milpitas, CA

What a great way to beat the heat and get a yummy treat!

We went here wearing nothing but our bathing suits because we were burning up from this 100+ degree heat wave.  We were dying, the kids were melting, and we desperately needed to be saved.

And along came Dessert Zone.  We had the mango madness and the mango smoothie with coconut milk.  Both were delicious.  It tamed the kids and brought sanity back into our lives.

They have free Wi-Fi, lots of magazines, some games.  It would probably a cool place to hang out and chill with friends if the chairs were more comfortable.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

 

2

72

E H.

Walnut Creek, CA

Great place for desserts, and I'm not talking about cakes and pies.  This place offers different types of desserts such as the Mango Maniac that has Mango Puree, Mango Ice Cream, Mango Mousse and 2 more Mango things which I can't remember.  They also have other awesome drinks and hot sweet soups, sweet dumpling, tofu custard, egg nuggets, etc.

One thing I don't like about them is that they are not very reliable on their hours.  There are a couple times I drove all the ways there during the "normal" business hours yet to find them close.  I try to call before I go now, but no answer most of the time.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

Elite '08

13

181

Aiko L.

Hayward, CA

do not go here on a cold night.

by the time we were half way through our desserts, we were pretty freezing in our seats. didn't stop us from eating our icy food, though! i got A8, don't remember the name, but it had red bean icy & coconut icy w/nata de coco and some "rice balls." it lacked flavor...it needed to be a little more sweet.

my sister got a sago (essentially tapioca) thing w/grapefruit, mango slushy and mango ice cream. the ice cream was GOOD! our friend got a mango madness thing w/mango slushy and mango pudding. the pudding was GOOD! so i guess just stick to something mango, and it'll be a happy time..hahah! all dishes were $3.99. not bad. they also have salty things like wonton noodle soup and tea eggs.

i want to try their icy dishes w/condensed milk. mmmm...

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review

 

0

20

EJ T.

Fremont, CA

They have recently changed ownership and their desserts are not as good as before. The egg puffs were soft, dense and bland. The dessert drinks tasted watered down, too. We were very disappointed as we used to love going there.

Bookmark   Send to a Friend Link to This Review