à la minute

the vanilla ice cream tastes like butter. it was surprisingly tasty, not amazing but pretty good.

the 1 star rating in this review, is not meant for the quality of à la minute's product, their handmade ice cream is one of the best around....but for the very prejudiced signage posted inside of their store. one of the fundamentals of doing business (speaking from experience) is to never mix political views or religious beliefs in doing business. à la minute's owner's should carry over from their website into their store front their mantra of love and giving, "send some love to the ones you love!"...sadly they have chosen to display signage that spreads hate and division. we were longtime customers/supporters of à la minute, but will no longer support them due to their active support of prejudice, hate and division.

i've heard about this place from friends and how amazing the ice cream is and i finally got a try this past weekend on sunday when i was driving through the area. the flavor a were amazing and i can't wait to try all of them. i tried the strawberry balsamic and it was magical. not overly sweet or fake tasting. i'm sure that has something to do with the fresh local strawberries that were used!

i have been an ice cream lover all my life and al la minute is the best ice cream period! many places say they are "fresh, or they use great organic local ingredients" and al la minute clearly uses and highlights the local fresh ingredients. you go into al la minute and its rustic and charming. i was first amazed by liquid nitrogen ice cream, but this is not a gimmick! the ice cream is made right there, and this keeps the ice cream fresh, but it gives it an amazing creamy texture. this place is an original liquid nitrogen ice cream place. don't be intimidated by the wild flavors, there is not one that i haven't like!

as good as it gets. huge portions and much less expensive than los angeles. if you happen find yourself in redlands its worth the trip  to a la minute

best ice cream i've ever had! great ambience, nice staff and phenomenal taste! my 11 year old buddy gave it 5 stars ;)

the best ice cream ever. period. this should have food network coverage, every day. yes, it's that good. to all the haters who say it's too creamy: it is ice cream, it's supposed to be creamy.

espresso chip (minus the chocolate chips) is an amazing flavor to start. . it is made with real espresso from a coffee place close by. salted caramel is also pretty "dank."

my dog pressures me into going about every day or so (the espresso chip is his fave).

cons- it is kinda yuppie and hipster-esq ice cream. they don't have too many "normal" flavors.

but once again, the best ice cream my mouth has ever encountered.

ok so here's the thing. i took my out of town family here and unfortunately it was not great. with our party of 9, there was an hour difference between our first order and the last. i also didn't think the ice cream lived up to the hype. it tasted more like a freezer burn ice cream. we kindly let the owner know the waiting issue through fb in a direct message and didn't get a response. good idea i'd rather go to quick, inexpensive, reliable baskin robin's down the street.

the affogato is simply a scoop of ice cream drowned in espresso. everything always seems to sound better in italian. what makes this one so special is that it is a collaborative effort between augie's coffee house and a la minute. it is great to see two local businesses working together and do it with a bit of flair. currently served on sundays only. you could try this at home, but it won't be the same without the liquid-nitrogen made ice cream.


-----08 may, 2012-----

great place in redlands. i have not seen lines out of the door for any such food item since the cupcake craze kicked off a few years ago. that being said, going to "a la minute" for ice cream is like going to a concert where the people behind the counter are rock stars. i was completely unaware of the liquid nitrogen concept in creating ice cream, and i was not convinced that it would work until my first taste of the orange-honey flavor. all that i can say is that this is great stuff! being able to watch the process of the ice cream being created through the large windows really enhances the experience. the long lines do not really translate into a long wait, but that isn't a problem either because there are a lot of interesting people here, some posting instagram photos and others checking in on foursquare. the range of customers is from hipster to active seniors. this is a must-visit in redlands.
generally, i prefer not to comment on other reviews, but the one titled "yawn" seems to be quite unfair. perhaps they could do it better or have seen it done better, but i do not think so. also, if you visit a self-serve frozen yogurt place and pull on the lever that everyone else touches, then how different can touching an ipad be?

while i was suffering from the local heat wave in socal, the idea of ice cream just hit me. and not just for regular dq around the block either, i was looking for something adventurous to try out, curry or garlic ice cream maybe. so, when my cousin mentioned an ice cream parlour making their ice cream with liquid nitrogen, i was all for it. on a monday night, i rounded up the gang and we headed to redlands for the special treat. we pulled up to a quiet, dim-lit street, the town virtually emptied. yet, there was one particular shop that had a large crowd spilling out and lining up down the street. this was the place we were looking for, the famous   ã  la minute . while i couldn't believe how busy they were, judging by how in demand it was, it definitely should be worth the wait. as the name says it, "   ã  la minute   " in french means 'made to order' which would explain why the wait seemed almost eternal. we waited in line for about 15 minutes to order, then another 20 to wait for the

yawn.... this is a nice idea, but the way it was implemented it has become a contrived concept ripped off from others that do it much better. the owner is definitely trying to hard to be "fancy" by advertising "local flavors" but what they don't mention is that the base is from far away thereby negating any carbon footprint savings. the ipad used for ordering is disgusting after so many have touched it. the menu board is unclear. some items are sandwiches, some ice cream, not clearly distinguishable with specials on a different board on the other side. they use sticky notes for the orders and the young lady taking the orders was not adding the information consistently so when orders were up, none of the guests knew which was theirs. people were assisted out of order. there was a long wait. when multiple items were ordered, they came up at different times, so one person's was melted by the time their friend's order was up. the cups were all sticky with melted goo by the time they were given to you and so was your hand after you picked it up.

the owner seemed very unhappy to be there and was not welcoming or thankful for the business. he was definitely out of his element.

if the processes don't get straightened out to make the experience pleasurable, this place will be out of business by the end of the summer. the product is no where near good enough to put up with the hassle of trying to place and retrieve an order from the cranky staff.

this is an example of an idea that was ripped off from other sources....and not perfected.....