Snow Ice

Surprisingly delicious find in otherwise desolate food court. It's sad how things change - I remember this food court being quite busy years ago, but when I went today, it looked deserted with only a few people sitting in the mismatched tables and chairs that were littered all over the place. The sign for Snowice is above a counter that appears closed, until you realize it actually spills over to Cafe Milan.

Three of us got a small size of the Eat Your Green (I think that was the name?) with green tea ice cream and honeydew and mochi and chocolate syrup. I really enjoyed it - the honeydew was a nice touch to balance the sweetness of the green tea ice and ice cream. I also like the way the chocolate syrup paired with the green tea flavors. It's pricy at $8, but more than enough to share among 3 people.

Sadly it seems like business is slow now that the food court appears to be going out of business. It's such a waste because their shaved ice is actually quite enjoyable, but it's just hard to enjoy it in the environment of a desolate food court.

Given how muggy the weather has been as of late, now seems as good of a time as any to finally finish my review for Snowice. I mean, if I can't eat it right now, I might as well write about it!

Located inside the Lawrence Plaza Food Court, the counter to order from Snowice is actually underneath the sign for Cafe Milan. However, given how they share the same space, I think they're essentially one in the same. There about fifteen delicious sounding varieties on the menu (including the Titanic, which serves seven), and I've been fortunate enough to try three over my two trips here.

-- MONKEY LOVER - Banana Ice, Bananas, Fresh Fruit, Mochi...$10.99 lg
(http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/snowice-santa-clara#GPzywUZYVKQPZ1SAOKEHKg)
Bananas and chocolate always make for a tasty combination, but admittedly, it was a bit much after a while. Talk about a banana overload, though it probably didn't help any that my friend and I were sharing a large order. Still, it was pretty good overall!

-- EAT YOUR GREEN - Green Tea Ice, Mochi, Fresh Honeydew, Green Tea Ice Cream...$7.99 sm
(http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/snowice-santa-clara#AD-96cs9aUXD72dGo74Q0g)
I had never had honeydew and green tea ice cream together, but they tasted great! I really liked how the tea's strong flavors and the dish's overall sweetness offset each other. Too bad all green tea ice creams don't taste as good as this one!

-- MOCHA MOOD - Coffee Ice, Mochi, Oreo, Fresh Fruits...$7.99 sm
(http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/snowice-santa-clara#r-TfCGJthwqVYW20tHScqA)
To be clear, I thought this one was pretty good. It's just that the flavor isn't as unique as others on the menu, like the Eat Your Green. For better or worse, it tastes just like a mocha, though I thought the grounded up oreos were a nice touch.

While Snowice is an awesome spot in its own right and a solid way to keep cool on a warm day, I have to say it still doesn't surpass my all-time favorite, the now-closed Chasaengwon Tea House (I miss that place so much). That being said, I'm still pretty happy being "stuck" with Snowice as my second favorite. Plus, they make for a perfect dessert spot for a date!

The wifey and I came to Snowice with Super Elite Denise L in search of some good snow. Despite the name, Snowice hasn't caught onto the shaved snow craze. Rather, they do shaved ice.

Shaved ice and shaved snow? Aren't they the same? I initially thought so, but it turns out that the texture and method of preparation is very different. Shaved ice is just that - plain ice shaved into a powder form, then drizzled with flavoring. Shaved snow, on the other hand, involves mixing flavoring with a base, freezing it into large blocks, and then shaving off thin slices with a large blade. The result is that shaved snow has a layered texture and a more consistent flavor.

So... back to shaved ice. We were trying to decide between the Strawberry, Lychee and Green Tea flavors. The friendly cashier told us that Green Tea (aka Eat Your Green) was the best choice, so we went with that. The green tea portion was a small scoop of ice cream on top of chocolate-drizzled shaved ice. Honeydew melon balls and mochi balls adorned the edges. A work of art in itself! At $8 for a small size, the portion was quite reasonable and enough for the three of us to share.

The ice cream was good, and I'm a sucker for chocolate, so I enjoyed the outside of the shaved ice. The inside, however, was somewhat plain with little chocolate and more ice. Who wants a mouthful of plain ice? Heh.

Super friendly service, and they didn't mind us staying past closing time as they were cleaning up. I wouldn't mind coming back, but if given the choice, it's shaved snow for me any day.

One man show behind the counter. Placed order and literally wait 1/2 hr before our pat bing soo was ready. Quality was pretty decent but the long wait had no excuses. At least have 2 workers here!

Dead plaza with 1/3 of businesses closed down. Sad place.

Looking to kill time while we waited for our table at Jang Su Jang. I saw the pictures of Snowice and I hoped to recreate the wonderful shaved ice we've had in either Hawaii or, more notably, Los Angeles.

Well, the pictures are nice and the toppings are as well. Serving size is also generous. What is a bit disappointing though is that the ice itself doesn't have much flavor. While we ordered the Eat Your Green and it's supposed to have a green tea flavor, it seemed to just be sprinkled with some green tea powder.

That's a world of difference from Class 302 in LA and even compared to the flavorful Hawaiian Shaved Ice.

Fun to share and was nice to kill time, but I've definitely had much better.

Snowice accepts credit cards, but not American Express.

This is the best shaved ice I've tried in the Bay Area. Not only are the portions large for the affordable price, but the flavors and ingredients are all very tasty and fresh.

For anywhere between $6 and $10 bucks, you receive a MOUNTAIN of customizable, sweet goodness that can fill a good 4 to 5 people up. My favorite combination is Falling Fruit, which especially carries well if you're getting dessert after eating at any of the greasy (but tasty) Korean restaurants outside or within the food court here.

The combination of fresh strawberries, bananas, mango, peaches, kiwi, red bean, jelly,mochi.. (err and some other things that I forgot- please see photo) made for a great treat to share with friends on a sweltering Summer day in the South Bay! Although I have yet to come here when the weather is cold as it is now, I'm sure it will be equally as fun and enjoyable in any temperature!

This place is actually inside of a "mall" so I was pretty confused trying to find it.

Boyfriend and I shared a small Love Your Green shaved ice and the cashier had to ask someone if it was the green tea one. When I asked if there was condensed milk, he was also clueless. 1 star for him. The Mexican guy who made our shaved ice overheard and told my boyfriend in Spanish that he put extra condensed milk for me :)))

The shaved ice was pretty good; I love all of the toppings they put on there. I just thought it was really weird that they didn't put any type of syrup IN the ice like what I usually see. So - the ice itself is pretty plain but the toppings made up for it.

My friends and I were craving shaved ice and it's so weather appropriate.

We all came here and decided to get 2 small orders to share, we got the "Eat Your Green" and "Falling Fruit". If you're into the creamy flavors go for the Green shaved ice, it went really well with the chocolate drizzle, Green Tea Ice Cream and green fruits. The "Falling Fruit" is perfect for fruit lovers and there's plenty of condensed milk drizzled on top.

The shaved ice is flavored well, until you get closer to the center which ended up being more ice than anything. The fruits were mostly sweet and the small portion was unusually filling even split between two people.

Great place for groups to share a shaved ice, kinda pricey ... but I suppose there aren't many places that serve this kind of thing.

Our group of four was craving some dessert so we decided to check out this place, located in a little food court.

What we swallowed:

RICH LYCHEE SNOWICE: This snowice was made with lychee, milke, nuts, dried fruit and yummy mochi balls.. then drenched with condensed milk. I am not sure how many rounds that guy did of squeezing condensed milk on this thing, but his arm must be really buff. The ice was shaved a perfect powder. The toppings were perfect, although the condensed milk started to freeze up a bit and get a bit gooey on us. The strawberries were fresh and the mochi balls were plentiful.

I liked this place WAAAYYY better than Paris Baguette in terms of customer service AND waiting for the shaved ice, so if I'll be coming here from now on for my snowice fix.
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/Xa_jjUQ6sY7iPubU6AMv6w?select=ircTu686U7JeW3BhIPegVA#fCxJHQWB1mcqNKye268khQ

Snowice is located in the Korean mall plaza. I love that although they're in the mall, they have their own small seating area with the cutest array of chairs!

Their menu is various with drinks, ice cream, and their famous snow ice of course. I've tried a few different snow ice plates and I have to say, they LOOK better than they taste unfortunately. Even with all the condensed milk it's still very bland. The fruit on the dishes are never sweet sadly and doesn't add anything to the ice. It's pretty pricey but at least it feeds a group of people.

It's a decent dessert place for the area but I wouldn't go out of my way for it.