Yoforia

Yoforia, located over by the sushi and Sprint place at Promenade on Providence, is another serve yourself yogurt place. They have small tasting cups, which is nice, for those of us who aren’t quite sure what we want. I do like the descriptive signage that goes along with the flavor to let you know if something is tart or not.
You sanitize your paws, grab a cup, serve yourself the yogurt flavor (s) of your choice, add your own toppings and then get your order weighed. My toppings-​less cup came in just over $ 3.
I decided on a little Almond Butter flavor and a little Cookies and Cream. The Almond Butter is a little tarter than the name would suggest, but hey — it is yogurt, eh? Cookies and cream was sweet and delicious. It was a refreshing treat on a summer evening after a pizza dinner a few doors down.
The location was clean with plenty of seating indoors, and on an unusually cool August evening, the patio seating was nice.

How far this Yoforia has fallen since it opened. Yoforia used to tout organic, healthy ingredients, and the toppings once included lots of healthy choices, including whole almonds, lots of fruit and other good-​for-​you stuff. However… like the other Yoforia locations, this one now crowds its topping bar with «wet walnuts», Cap’n Crunch cereal and tons of gross, sugary, high-​fructose-​corn-​syrup laden nastiness. The fresh fruit that is left — and there’s very little of it – looks old and unappealing. Shall I also mention that the entire place looks like it’s in need of a good scrubbing? Add to this «invisibile» or surly help and I’m really sad to say that our neighborhood fro-​yo place is being crossed off my list. Pinkberry, you win. Yoforia needs to step it up.

This location is new to me, but it looks like Julia cleared it up — I vaguely remember a Coldstone here, but more power to Yoforia for taking over. We came in on a Sunday after dinner (7ish) and the place was deserted. Most likely everyone was staying home, but seeing how it has been ridiculously hot for the past couple of days, I would figure this place to be hoppin’.
Two girls were manning the station… didn’t really welcome us (but instead were on their smart phones). I don’t mind it so much, but when it came down to check out… the girl made me wait about a minute before she looked up from her phone and didn’t really say anything but, «Is that it?» I almost feel like the payment process should be self served as well…
The place seemed fairly clean… I’m always impressed by their unique looking table and chairs (the spaceship/​futuristic feel). Toppings were well stocked and was what I expected from a Yoforia.

We tried Yoforia recently on a Sunday afternoon. So, what we had was good. But, they were out of several flavors and there were multiple empty machines. So the selection was really limited; not bad, but certainly more limited than it should have been. They were even out of Chocolate (See the other review from ³⁄₈).
There were several toppings to choose from (none labeled), but TCBY (at Blakeney) has them beat with variety. One of the very friendly staff members was very apologetic and actually revealed the reason for their condition. The morning staff hadn’t made backup batches (like they are supposed to I gather) AND she said that the equipment keeps breaking down.
So, it’s not that I wouldn’t go here again, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to go here. Given the option, I go over to Blakeney to TCBY.

I do really love me some Yoforia, but this location can be a let down. I tend to go in with my 4 y/​o nephew and he always wants the same thing, chocolate. But a few times they were out of it, along with half of the flavors. Really? Out of chocolate one of the most common flavors? Odd. I like the original, which they do always have, but the fruit options can be really lacking, or not look appealing. Nothing worse then biting into a sour tasting strawberry.
I can’t really comment on the service, there is never anyone up front when we walk in, and sometimes it can be 5 minutes till someone shows up so we can pay. So for this reason I appreciate it being self serve. The quicker I can get in/​out and my nephew can dig in to his treat the better!

This shop in Providence Commons took over the space formerly occupied by Cold Stone Creamery. The pros about Yoforia — lots of different flavors to choose from plus you can sample every flavor before you commit, and since it is frozen yougurt– the calorie count is low per serving. The con (at least in my book) is that it is self serve, more on that later.
Last night, the offerings included: Honeydew Melon, Peanut Butter, Vanilla Bean, Dark Chocolate, Cookies and Cream, Ferrero Rocher, Taro, Mango, Pineapple, Pomegranate, and Original. I’d like to go back to try the Blueberry and Green Tea as these flavors were not available last night.
I think their mango is not as good as the Mango yogurt at Pinkberry. Yoforia’s Mango has an odd flavor — couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was, but it was definitely a turn-​off.
However, I really liked their pomegranate, dark chocolate and honeydew melon. I tasted the pineapple and it was really good as well.
I was really excited about trying the Ferrero Rocher, but it was really a sublte flavor– it didn’t really taste like the real thing at all in my book. Bummer!
Personally, I am less than thrilled with the self-​serve concept and decided to bypass the toppings. I prefer Pinkberry’s toppings since they are behind a glass served up by an employee. (Sorry, call me a germophobe, but I’d rather not consume food items that random people & little kids have been sticking their hands into or coughing all over, bleh!)
The hours of this store are Sun — Thursday 12 –10:00 PM and Friday/​Saturday 12 — 11pm.