Chilly Ribbons

Chilly Ribbons, a snow ice chain originally from Florida, recently opened its first location in San Diego. It plans to have three in total, according to Eater San Diego.

The first one is a kiosk inside Mission Valley, outside of Macy’s, which had its grand opening this weekend. Of course with my snow ice obsession, I had to go check it out immediately.

Chilly Ribbons claims to be the original business to bring snow ice to North America after seeing its popularity in Taiwan.

At the stand, they offered four different snow ice flavors: green tea, coconut, mango and strawberry. There were also two sizes available: Kiddie ($3.75) and Regular ($4.75).  There was a decent amount of toppings to choose from and the first topping is free. Syrup is also included in the price.

While we waited in line to order, they passed out samples of the mango snow ice. It was surprisingly icier than I expected so I opted not to get that flavor.

Green Tea Sow Ice with Mango and Condensed milk (kiddie size)

The green tea snow ice had a much better texture than the mango one we sampled. It was creamy and sweet, with distinct layers. I did think the portions were a bit small for the price. I realize I got a kiddie size, but I usually have a hard time finishing a small by myself and I had no problems polishing this off.

Overall, I had a decent snow ice experience here. I’m happy to see snow ice places continue to pop up in San Diego. This is the first store in San Diego that is dedicated exclusively to serving snow ice. I’ll be interested to see how the actual store fronts are, as I imagine they will offer many more snow ice flavors than the mall kiosk. Currently though, my go-to snow ice in San Diego is Yogurt Swirl (visits here and here), which has many more flavors, bigger portions for the price, and a good ice consistency.

Chilly Ribbons
Mission Valley Mall (in front of Macy’s)
1640 Camino Del Rio N.
San Diego, California 92108