Recently I was invited to check out a new ice cream kiosk over in the new Horton Plaza Park. Jake, T, and I had an “early dessert” one Sunday afternoon at Sloan’s Ice Cream.
Sloan’s and Starbucks are currently the only two dining options within Horton Plaza Park. Bruxie was supposed to open here but sadly they decided to pull out of San Diego all together instead. Siiiiiiigh.
Here’s what the new plaza-park thing looks like! It looks like a nice, new gathering spot for Downtown San Diego.
We were only here for an hour or so (that’s all you get from Horton Plaza now) but we saw quite a few people partaking at Sloan’s for a little ice cream treat.
Sloan’s ice cream is all handmade! There are a few different ways you can try their ice cream: in sundaes, in waffle cones, and even in cookie sandwiches.
The giant cookies are on a warming tray so your cookies stay nice and fresh!
[luscious sloan’s white ice cream]
Jake, T and I all started out by trying a few samples.Haley, the shift leader at Sloan’s that day, was super helpful explaining the flavors and letting us sample a few of their delicious flavors. I was quite curious about the Sloan’s White ice cream and that was the first one I tried. The Sloan’s White is a combination of vanilla ice cream with brownies, pecans, almonds, peanuts, toffee, and caramel. I felt like this was a real winner for me since it was chock FULL of nuts! The vanilla was a great base for this one. I loved how nutty it was!
[tracy’s scrumptious pretzel ice cream]
Jake wanted to try Tracy’s Scrumptious Pretzel Ice Cream which is a combination of caramel ice cream with milk chocolate covered pretzels and peanut butter swirls. I liked the sweet and salty aspect of this one.
[circus ice cream]
Jake and T were also curious about the Circus ice cream. I was a bit frightened by it since it’s cotton candy ice cream with gummy bears. I had a tiny taste of the bright blue ice cream and confirmed quite quickly that this was not an ice cream flavor me. It did indeed taste exactly like cotton candy and I found it to be way too sweet. I let T have the gummy bear in this sample and he was quite happy to devour it.
[coffee and doughnuts ice cream]
Mmm, coffee ice cream with Krispy Kreme glazed doughnuts!! You can barely see the glazed doughnuts in here – the pieces are pretty small. The coffee flavor was creamy and nice – kind of like a sweetened iced coffee. I was the only one that liked this sample which wasn’t surprising.
[waffle cone with sloan’s white + strawberry / $5.49 + $.99 for waffle cone]
In the end Jake and I decided to share a small waffle cone (2 scoops!). They also have dolled up waffle cones that have chocolate on the edges if you’re feeling fancy. I just got a regular plain waffle cone since Jake doesn’t like the extra chocolate. The top scoop was my choice – the Sloan’s White – and there’s Fresh Strawberry ice cream on the bottom. I made it extra nutty with almonds for a topping.
You can see the strawberry peeking through!
Hello, Strawberry! The strawberry ice cream we didn’t bother to sample but it’s got quite a punch of strawberry flavor. There are real pieces of strawberries in it which made it extra tasty. No artificial stuff here, my friends! It was a nice combination – the nutty Sloan’s White paired nicely with the creamy strawberry ice cream. We really enjoyed these scoops!
[chocolate peanut butter cookie / $2.79]
After I spied this giantatic cookies, I knew I had to try one! The chocolate and peanut butter cookie was just calling out to me and I was really glad I decided to sample this. The cookies have the perfect consistency. They taste oh-so-slightly underbaked so that they are soft and gooey-ish in the middle while the outer edges have a perfect crispy edge. The cookies are kept on a warming tray (SO SMART) so they taste freshly baked (and they were… just you know, earlier in the day). The chocolate was slightly melted and the peanut butter chips were also soft and creamy. This was a delightfully delicious cookie! I can only imagine how great it would be as an ice cream sandwich!
[classic sundae / $7.99]
T decided to do his own thing and got himself a Classic Sundae. I can’t remember what ice cream he choose but I know he got Heath bar bits on top. We were all impressed with how luscious the whipped cream was. It wasn’t overly sweet at all and complimented the ice cream perfectly. Good choice on T’s part!
All in all we were quite impressed with the ice cream offering’s at Sloan’s. Everything tasted wonderful (well, except that Circus ice cream but that’s just a personal preference) and I can see us stopping by here again for another treat (aka I need more of those cookies).
Sloan’s Ice Cream
Westfield Horton Plaza Park
900 4th Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
619-595-1778
Hours:
Monday-Thursday: 10:30AM-9:00PM
Friday-Saturday: 10:30AM-11:00PM
Sunday: 10:30AM-8:00PM
Disclaimer: I was invited to sample the ice cream and treats at Sloan’s Ice Cream. Our items were complimentary. I was not further compensated for this post and all opinions are my own.
Now that I know the “secret” of going to Macy’s to get my parking ticket validated (3 hours – yay-yuh! Thanks Mary!), I am now more likely to visit downtown once again. A few months ago TC had a performance at the Lyceum and it was right when the Horton Plaza parking garage upped their rates and got rid of the three hours of free parking with validation), which sucked.
The new park looks very nice but, like you, wished that Bruxie would have stayed. I would rather eat their waffle creations than ice cream. But, that “white” flavor does look intriguing though!
Hi CC – You’re welcome for the tip! The validation is very useful and I’ll be happy to go Downtown again. I was pretty much avoiding it for awhile there! I’m still said that Bruxie completely left San Diego. I really loved their waffles! Too bad they didn’t decide to try and open up in a more “regular” part of town than at SDSU campus. Boo.