Rita’s Italian Ice is a dessert parlor that specializes in Italian ice and custard. The nearest location from campus is at 3905 Irvine Blvd, Irvine, CA 92602 in Northwood Plaza.

Rita’s Italian ice flavors are both diverse and delicious, and the parlor also sells custards, cookies and cakes.

Personally, my favorite flavor of Italian ice is green apple because of its sweet and sour flavor. My least favorite is cotton candy, because it is far too sweet for me. However, I think that they are both very high quality.

The atmosphere in Rita’s is warm despite the cold temperature of the ice treats, and I found that it was a very inviting and calm place because of the employees, and the unique charm that the store has.

“I like working here because of the independence it gives me… My favorite flavor of Italian ice is cotton candy,” a Rita’s employee said.

I found that the customer service was great, and the food was even better. The Italian ice’s texture is so smooth that it feels like fresh snow, and the flavor is the same throughout so you never taste raw ice.

“I don’t really have a favorite flavor; I like all of them,” sophomore Marize Ayad said.

The flavor takes on a new and complex flavor when custard is added, and this is due to the slow disruption of the constant flavor of the ice as it mixes with the flavor of the custard and slowly melts. My analysis of the custard’s flavor profile is that it has an amazingly smooth texture, not to mention rich and creamy.

The more unpopular items on the menu, such as the cookies, although pleasing to the eye, left something to be desired because they felt frozen and stiff. I believe that this may be due to most locations being very cold in order to preserve the main items on the menu, leaving the cookie frozen and thawing.

Because of this issue, I will only give four out of five stars to Rita’s Italian ice.

My rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐