Review: Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt

Nothing tastes better on a hot, muggy Cincinnati day than a refreshing, ice cold frozen yogurt (well, maybe an ice cold beer). Orange Leaf, a frozen yogurt chain, recently opened up in Kenwood, and on this 97 degree day I knew it was the perfect time to try it out. It's located in the strip mall across from the Kenwood Towne Center, between M. Hopple and Dewey's. I'm a die hard fan of frozen yogurt and soft serve ice cream, so I went in with high expectations. And I was not disappointed.

When you enter the store, you first notice all the modern white and orange furniture and the huge, shiny orange-tiled wall of frozen yogurt flavors. It's fun and exciting, and definitely gets you pumped up to see what it's all about.


Photo courtesy of Orange Leaf website

It didn't take me long to realize that this was like my version of heaven. There are about 16 different flavors to choose from, which rotate daily, although some of them are there all the time. A few of the options available when I was there included peanut butter, chocolate, mango, banana, strawberry, coffee, cookies & cream, wedding cake, red velvet, vanilla, white chocolate, cheesecake, and more. And they are all non-fat or low-fat, which takes some of the guilt out of the experience. You'll notice in the photo below that there are 3 levers....one for peanut butter on the left, one for chocolate on the right, and one to mix the two flavors in the center. So, they put two flavors next to each other that they think pair nicely together (like peanut butter and chocolate - duh!).

Lucky for me, there was an employee standing over by the yogurt wall giving out free samples of any of the flavors you'd like to try. I went a little bonkers, but it was all for the sake of the blog, I swear! I tried the wedding cake (amazing), red velvet (okay, but not as amazing as I expected), cheesecake (great), cookies and cream (excellent), coffee (delicious if you like coffee) and peanut butter (UNREAL). Needless to say, I'm sure the sample lady was really annoyed with me!

I decided immediately (after my 6 samples, of course) to go with the peanut butter. Not surprising since peanut butter is one of my top 5 favorite foods. I also got a tiny dollop of the cookies and cream on the side.

After you choose your yogurt flavor, you make your way to the enormous bar of toppings. They have a large selection of fruit, cookies, candy, nuts, cereal, etc. I decided to stick with the peanut butter/chocolate theme and went with chocolate sprinkles and reese piecese. Great choice! This was delicious!

The one downfall of this place is that it can get a little expensive. The price is based on the weight of your dish (49 cents per ounce), so it really depends on how much you get. There are two size containers - large and extra-large - so they make it hard to only get a little because the containers are so enormous. My friend joked that the extra-large container is like a small popcorn bucket. If you filled that all the way up, it could definitely get pricey. Mine was only $2.89, which I didn't think was too bad for what I got.

If you're in the area, I'd definitely give it a try before the summer's over (although I'm sure I'll still go in the winter)!!

~Kris

Food: 4.5
Service: 4.5
Overall: 4.5