Love Berry in San Francisco, CA: A Restaurant Review

San Francisco State University next door has slightly better frozen yogurt at much better prices, but if you're not a student, getting in there involves a parking hassle, a lot of walking, and a crowd of kids so preoccupied with their iPhones that they forget how to walk properly. So if you want a frozen treat in the Lakeside area, it's basically down to either Love Berry or McDonalds for their $1 sundae special.

While the Mickey D's is certainly tasty enough for the price asked, sometimes you need a little less fat in your life. So that sticks you with Love Berry. The frozen yogurt here isn't something I'd go out of my way for, but if you happen to be in Stonestown anyway and have a jones for something sweet and fruity, it's non-fat and worth a shot.

The flavors regularly available are "original tart," pineapple, cookies & cream, vanilla and Belgian chocolate. There's also a rotating flavor of the day / flavor of the week (not sure which). I've seen orange-vanilla and cappuccino, word is they sometimes have mint as well.

I've been seeing some claims that the fruit toppings are canned, but I cant see how that's possible with the strawberries and kiwis based on texture and how they are cut. I'll buy that the pineapple is canned, but do you really expect a place to slice up a bunch of pineapples fresh every day (and is there even that big a difference from canned?) I mean, good luck getting a shake during the cold months for less than like $100 if you insist on fresh pineapple sliced that morning.

I've tried the orange-vanilla, pineapple, and chocolate. They're great about giving you little sample cups of each to try before you decide. The orange-vanilla flavor is extremely mild which, to be fair, the guy who was working warned me about before I tried it. I thought it would be decent with the right additions though. The pineapple is nicely sweet, a little bit tart, and refreshing without being overbearing. The chocolate was also satisfyingly rich and sweet. The latter two stand up just fine on their own with no additions. None of the flavors were knockouts, but I thought all three were quite good.

The only issue is that they're charging prices that are closer to the "knockout" range than the actual quality is. Of course, this is in a mall, so mall food court markup is fully in effect here and has to be anticipated. The smallest size costs $3.25, but it was about a cup and a half's worth and satisfying unless you have some monster froyo appetite. The next step up to a "medium" is $4.15, and a "large" is $6.75. Toppings are also about $1 per. It's a shopping mall, and it's in San Francisco, so I'm giving them a lot of slack on the pricing here.

One other point of interest, if you don't mind a little more fat in your life, is that they serve Lapperts ice cream, a small chain that is quite popular but only otherwise has a presence way over in Sausalito. So you can hook it up here, just be prepared to pay even more than the fro-yo for it, and I don't think they have the full selection an actual Lapperts store does.

One last point that I appreciate here - shakes and smoothies come with a nice wide straw that prevents blockages, They also use Greenware cups which are apparently made from plants and compostable/biodegradable, so be sure to chuck the remnants in that green bin.