Frost Gelato

There’s nothing worse than writing the obituary for a restaurant you really appreciated, so saying goodbye to Frost Gelato is hard. The Arizona-based chain opened its first Orange County location in 2021 at the Irvine Spectrum Center, and for reasons that we can only ascribe to bad timing and limited marketing closed here in 2024.

It wasn’t for lack of quality products. Some gelato shops specialize in traditional Italian flavors – chocolates, vanillas, nuts, fruits, and coffees – while others are alchemists, mixing multiple flavors together to entice thrill-seekers. Frost leaned closer to the former, with a large selection of classics, some obvious American crowd-pleasing favorites, and a handful of eye-catching specials. Their display cases were routinely filled with different and unique gelatos, some already substantially depleted by prior excited visitors, and you could assemble cups with three flavors.

In one case, we combined an actually strong enough honey lavender with an intense toasted coconut creme brulee (including large chocolate candy chunks), and marble black cherry with nice sweet cherry pieces. In another, a medium cup contained chocolate and dark chocolate gelatos, the former with thin slivers of chocolate inside, the latter nearly onyx with large dark chocolate slices folded in. Flavors from gianduia (chocolate/hazelnut) and pistachio to eggnog, peppermint, and mint chocolate chip were equally strong, while sorbets including blueberry, pineapple, limoncello, and passion fruit were intense and delicious, too. Rotating monthly options offered a reason to keep revisiting.