Knudsen’s Ice Creamery – Castro Valley – Update

I originally tried (and reviewed) Knudsen’s Ice Creamery in 2004, soon after they opened. We went several times after that, but for some reason we hadn’t been back in a couple of years. We finally went yesterday (9/5/09) and, as usual, we had a great time.
Knudsen’s had not changed much since our last visit, it looks pretty much the same, but the food and service had improved, while the ice cream had gone downhill. Mike and I shared the sliders ($10), four little sandwiches, each with a different filling: grilled chicken (bland), angus burger (quite nice), bbq pork (very nice) and pot-roast (ok, also somewhat bland). It came with a small portion of fries (standard) and fried onion shavings (ok). The girls had the chicken nuggets ($3 – 5 per portion) and they enjoyed it. In Mika, my 7yo’s words, “they are better than McDonald’s chicken nuggets” (note, we don’t take her to McDonald’ s, but family members do from time to time).
I was disappointed by the ice cream, however. It’s now made in-house rather than by Fentons. I thought that the flavors were very mild. The maple nut we had was pretty good, but the peanut butter cup ice cream tasted as a malted chocolate ice cream, there was barely any peanut butter in it. Mika’s mocha almond fudge, in particular, had an off taste that I disliked. She was happy with it; her only complaint was that it wasn’t as creamy as the ones I make (but I usually follow Ben and Jerry’s recipes).
The hot fudge and caramel sauces, on the other hand, were quite good.
In all, we had a very pleasant meal at Knudsen’s, but I’m not super eager to return.
Knudsen’s Ice Creamery
3323 Castro Valley Blvd
Castro Valley, CA
(510) 582-2775
http://www.icecreamery.net/

2004 review

2006 update