Rita’s Italian Ice

I grew up on the east coast, so Rita’s has been an indelible part of my childhood. I remember walking down with my mom or my best friend and her mom to the closet one on my birthday for a free regular ice – part of their birthday club, which is awesome. I have very fond memories of this company, and I suppose it’s the weight of all that nostalgia that makes my disappointment sharper. That and the forty five minute drive from Hays county.
The ice is just as good as it’s always been – smooth, wonderful, perfect on a hot day, which Texas has in abundance. But I got very unenthusiastic service from the staff. No smiles, cursory greeting, no apology when I asked after the cherry, which had apparently run out prior to my four o’clock arrival. I felt like I was intruding on their precious standing around time. I left unsatisfied and I doubt I’ll be making the trip back to this location.
That said, the red velvet, a new flavor, tastes like… red velvet. I’m not a big fan of it, but if you are fond of the vibrant red cakes, I would definitely try a free sample. Just maybe swing by the Guadalupe location – I’ve had nothing but pleasant experiences there.

Very refreshing Mango Misto after long, hot hike! The ladies at the counter were Austin friendly, even made a doggie cone for our Lab. :) Only turn-​off was the state of the outdoor seating area. Pretty grungy chairs and floor, which is blackened with remnants of old spills that have bird feathers and poop stuck to them. Had to keep our dog from licking the ground.

Great place! The lady at the counter was very helpful and offered us several samples. It’s $ 3.49 for regular gelati which gave us a good idea of what the ice and custard tasted like. We got a mix of vanilla and chocolate custard and dragonfruit ice! The vanilla and dragonfruit were great but the chocolate tasted like regular soft serve chocolate ice cream. I highly recommend it!

Great time at Rita’s today! And great ices! Joe, the owner, was super nice and generous with mango/​lemon samples and was really helpful with tips on what to do in the area. This place is a great rest stop for families and a good exploration starting point for the area.

I finally got to this Rita’s and was not disappointed. When are they coming to San Diego? I just got plain unadorned Frozen Custard, a vanilla-​chocolate swirl in a waffle cup, so I could enjoy the flavor and creamy consistency I love. It was as good as I remembered it.
I had just discovered Rita’s in Tempe, AZ not long before I left that area and had looked forward to returning on my next trip but I found out Austin had this one so I got to enjoy it here. I was raised in the Midwest where Frozen Custard is prevalent but have had to go years between tastes since I’ve lived in San Diego, so whenever I find it on my travels, be it Austin, Denver, AZ, Solvang, Indiana or wherever, I will always indulge.
This one was a little hard to spot. There are small shopping centers on every corner of this intersection so make sure you go in the one across from Michaels and across from Randalls, I guess it is the southwest corner. I didn’t see it till my second pass thru. Once there, you will encounter friendly employees and a wonderful taste treat. Enjoy!

Came here on a Friday night and it was super slow. The gal working was super sweet and gave us samples, but wasn’t able to answer questions about the different flavors/​ingredients/​etc.
LOVED the italian ice, but the custard was WAYYY too thick and not really flavorful. We got Orange italian ice and vanilla custard= tots to make a creamsicle mixture:) YUMMM, but we ended up throwing away more than half of the custard because it literally just tasted like frozen, fatty cream…
Would pass on the custard and just get the ice if i ever came back! OH, and check in and you get a discount.

MAN-​GO MIS-TO…*clap, clap, clapclapclap*
MAN-​GO MIS-TO…*clap, clap, clapclapclap*
MAN-​GO MIS-TO…*clap, clap, clapclapclap*
Pinkberry, schminkberry. Imma get my Rita’s on.

I understand that you can have the custard + ice, or just ice, or just custard + toppings, or just rocks + ice, or just magic custard + rocks + ice + toppings — what I’m getting at is that this menu has an awful lot of ways to eat essentially the same stuff, and I found it confusing. I guess if you wanted to make a mission of it, you could figure out what you really like here.
The thing I got was alright.

I love Rita’s! The concept of mixing custard and ice is genius. It goes well together. I like that you can try the flavors before deciding what you want. The sour patch kids cherry flavor, pineapple and piña colada have always been my favorite ice.

We like the gelati here, which is the flavored ice (kind of like a shaved ice/​slurpee) with the custard on the top and bottom of the cup. Kind of expensive for what you get in my opinion, but you can’t really get this anywhere else, so what are you gonna do? The custard is really thick in consistency, kind of like a rich whipped cream. Blends well with the tart ice-​E flavors. One of my favorite flavors is the lemonade. I’ve seen a lot of people getting the root beer ice with the custard, that looks pretty good, I’ll have to try that next time.

I love Italian ices! I learned to love them on visits to NYC growing up. The ices at Ritas are exactly like the ones you get in NYC. My favorites are the 2 kinds of cherry and the lemonade.

Felt like i just payed for an overpriced slurpee. I’ll stick to the snowcones.

We got there 10 minutes before they opened but they let us in anyway, and with a smile. The root beer Italian ice tastes like drinking cold beer and getting slapped in the face. That good. And just like they said, the frozen custard was happiness.

I loved the custard!
I found it amusing that there is an exercise spa next door.
Thats service for ya.
The staff was nice and willing to sample flavors if needed.

Always great ice and custard, but the thing I really appreciate is the great customer service here. You guys are amazing! Plus the diet flavors are good too.

The Italian ice here is so addictive. There is real fruit blended in with the slushy ice, and they are all amazing. My favorite hands down is the wild cherry.

Yummy icy goodness

I love the location because you get the coffee flavor frozen custard here. The other location in Austin doesn’t have this flavor.

Dear Rita
Do you love me as much as I love you? Check yes or no and return.
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yes I I no I I
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Where was Rita’s when I was a kid? All we had was syrupy snow cones in leaky paper cups with number #4 red dye. Rita’s has natural ingredients, interesting flavors, and a very energetic staff waiting to make all your wildest dreams come true.
When I was a kid I had to frantically shake out my dads work pants for loose change to buy a Popsicle from the truck as it headed down our street. Last weekend I stood in line with my son and his friend Ivy at Rita’s grand opening and being in the first 100 they received free Rita’s for a year.

We stopped by this place by the recommendation of some friends who called it, «Amazing micro-​ice.» It was true! It wasn’t like a snow cone, and it wasn’t like shaved ice… it was like micro-​ice where the water doesn’t separate from the syrup. Incredibly smooth and fantastic — great for the summer heat in Austin. I was also told that they use all natural ingredients which is very cool. I had the lemonade Italian ice and it was sooo yummy! This place has recently opened, and they day I went it was their grand opening — so they were offering regular sized Italian ices to everyone — so my boyfriend and I had Italian ices for free — always a plus! I did not try any of their mixtures with custard, but I’m fairly positive we will be back here throughout the summer and I will get the chance at some point.