Ayelada

5 stars for excellent service! I enjoyed my yogurt and indulged without any regrets! 5 g of sugar only in the original! So yum and prices were reasonable! Hubby got the blueberry lemon and that was DELISH!
We’ll be back because I’m kind of obsessed and it’s such a large place.

LOVE that samples are available. the yogurt itself is kind of tangy, which lends itself perfectly to certain flavors, like tangerine & lemon. very clean, well kept location (new york site, haven’t been to the one in massachusetts).

I like the taste of their yogurt. Staff are friendly and they get the yogurt and toppings for you. Which is good because it eliminates other customer’s germs from picking and trying toppings with their hands.
It’s a little more on the pricey side compare to the other self serve yogurt places, but hey… It is located in Niskayuna & it is a full service counter so the price evens out.

Great concept of fresh made frozen yogurt and use of locally sourced goodies. While some people may not like the full service counter and prefer to self-​serve/​pay-​by-​weight, I love it here. The atmosphere is bright, bold, and clean. Since the froyo and toppings bar are behind the glass, it is well maintained by the staff (and you won’t have to worry about the person before you giving you unnecessary germs or kids“hand picking” some toppings).
If you ask for a sample, you’ll get one! The mini size ($ 2.50) is actually decent for one person as a post-​meal dessert or snack! If you want 3+ toppings (make it loaded!) it is also a fixed price. No more surprises when you pay because you’ll know exactly how much it will cost. I like to keep it simple to truly taste the froyo flavor so I chose separate cups for each froyo and took advantage of the complimentary toppings at the end of the line where you pay (honey, chocolate, cinnamon, nutmeg). Two words = soooo good! Ayelada brings not only fresh flavors weekly but refreshing and smooth tasting yogurt. The 4 rotating flavors will always include original tart for all the plain tart lovers!
This one is a keeper! Thank the froyo god /​goddess for bringing such delectable yogurt to Albany! I like being able to check out the flavor vault on their website too!

Ayelada is a really good place to get dessert. If you check in on Unilocal,you get a $ 1 off coupon. I normally leave there paying less than $ 2 for a decent size frozen yogurt. I don’t get toppings to keep the price down because you have to pay per topping if you want them. They have honey, caramel and chocolate for free near checkout.
They change their flavors (which is a good thing and a bad thing). They seem to normally have around 3. They always have their regular flavor but they have had flavors such as lemon, peach, coconut, etc…
Overall, very good! I will return.

Not your typical frozen yogurt place! This is an awesome place in Latham where they serve you! So you have your sizes of small medium and large that you can order with their delicious homemade froyo! Today I had blueberry pie and it was awesome! The froyo tasted rich and creamy and I definitely will be back!

I have no doubt this is the best frozen yogurt in the area. It doesn’t have that freezer-​burned, artificial flavor like other local places (e.g. Lemon Drop, Tcby). The fruit was also fresh as opposed to the kind canned in syrup.
I thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Updated
Please see owner’s comment (pasted below) in response to this portion of my original post — very informative:
However, my boyfriend was disappointed the original flavor lacked the characteristic tartness of frozen yogurt (e.g. Like Pinkberry’s original yogurt).
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Owner:
Kat R — Thx for your review! Not sure the issue on the «tartness.» we often hear its maybe a tad too tart and we are not trying whatsoever to create ice cream.
We make it the same way each day skim milk from Highlawn Farm Lee Ma and Low Fat Yogurt from Ronnybrook. Sugar is 5G per ounce and there is no added cream or anything else. Pinkberry does not use the high quality milk and they use yogurt powder only. Some places load up the yogurt powder or even add a splash of lemon to give it the illusion of tart. In the summer the cows milk is sweeter as they are feeding on grass so maybe that made it seem less tart. Hope to see you again soon!

Finally I can update and (happily) upgrade Ayelada! It’s a bit out of the way for us so I went a little crazy and got a mini with 2 different twists so I could try the 4 flavors-Don’t judge… And a pint of mango for the road.
This week’s flavors were original, creamsicle, vanilla and key lime. As I suspected, their fruit flavors are the way to go for them! I had an original/​creamsicle twist and vanilla/​keylime twist topped with cheesecake bites and honey! It was just enough sweetness without being overwhelming.
Haven’t tried the mango yet but I’m very excited since I had missed the mango and coconut week!

The service issues I outlined in my earlier review seem to be working themselves out; while I think there’s room for improvement in the way they handle orders (just being more assertive in the servers saying «who’s next?» would go a long way) the last couple of visits have been much better.
And the FroYo is really quite exceptional; unusual, «real» yogurt flavor, and the rotating flavors have been nearly uniformly interesting. (The Key Lime Pie that tasted *both* like the pie filling *and* a graham cracker crust, without any evidence of crackers in it, was quite a feat.) Our last couple of visits we took newbies from out of town and they all raved over the yogurt.
So, upgrading from three to five; I wish it were a little cheaper, a little easier to get in and out, and the seating was a little more comfy, but if we’re just looking at quality of product, best in class.

I LOVE this place! I love a frozen yogurt place that actually tastes like yogurt and not just soft serve ice cream — though I like those too in their own respect!
The yogurt is all homemade and from local ingredients (same with the toppings), and you get a perfect amount for the price you pay.
The downside to some may be that they only have four flavors at a time but they’re rotated every week. I haven’t had a bad flavor yet!
Perfect if you want something refreshing and not pumped full of sugar on a hot day! All the nutrition facts are right there for you… So you don’t have to feel like something’s being hidden from you.

I’ve never really thought of myself as a frozen yogurt guy. I’ve often left fro-​yo only shops feeling unfulfilled and rather light on cash. After reading review after review for Ayelada, I decided to give frozen yogurt one more try.
The Ayelada business model is something that should be aspired to. They use ingredients that are sourced locally. They don’t mass produce their product and churn it out all day long. Ayelada creates smaller quantities of yogurt to allow an emphasis on quality. They also use entirely eco-​friendly cups, spoons, and napkins.
The set-​up of national frozen yogurt shops have always turned me off — the self-​serve and weighing system just feels gross to me as a consumer. This is not the case at Ayelada, where the staff controls portioning and presentation. Speaking of the staff, they were excellent. They were patient and helpful. I asked a lot of questions about the toppings and they were offering me small cups to sample before I even finished asking the question.
Consistent with everything to this point, the frozen yogurt itself was great. I opted for a plain flavor (they rotate flavors on a weekly basis) with strawberries, raspberries, graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon streusel, and dark chocolate chips. There are dozens of topping options, including fresh mango, shaved coconut, dark chocolate raspberry cups, boba, and granola to name a few. I finished it off with a generous amount of local honey. The honey, my friends, is the kicker here. Don’t think twice about it.
I checked-​in here and got $ 1 off my purchase. For the amount we ordered and the total quality of the product, I think the prices are a steal. You’ll pay at least $ 10 at a local ice cream stand for a couple of cones. You’ll pay about the same here, but you get so much more.
Choosing to indulge yourself at Ayelada is an entirely «no guilt,» experience and I’m not referring to calories. To patronize Ayelada, you are supporting our farmers, our artisans. You are making the decision to support our local economy. You are choosing to not fill your body with garbage from who knows where. This is bigger than just frozen yogurt. This was a fantastic experience.

Coming next week (8÷02÷15) — I’m assuming Monday. Check the Facebook page!
Blueberry, Vanilla Bean Caramel and Banana.
The rotating flavors, it gives you a chance to test out new flavors and previous loves.
The space is clean and open. I was offered a sample while trying to decide. I opted for coconut, which I learned was the Original tart blended with toasted coconut flakes.
Delightful.
I spent 5.00 on a small coconut with walnuts and mango. Of course, I drizzled honey at the end. I have spent 6.00+ at other Frozen Yogurt places. The prices are transparent which is great.
While some might find they miss the create your own topping portion, I didn’t. I do appreciate that the toppings are kept behind the counter. It means they are not handled by the person before you who maybe didn’t wash their hands (eck!), the spoons aren’t mixed up and no sticky handles.
A+ for hygiene! Thank you Ayelada for making fruit flavors out of actual fruits and providing us with wonderful frozen yogurt.

Fresh, Local & Real! That’s the motto at Ayelada, and that’s exactly what they deliver.
In my three visits so far, I’ve tried the original, nutella, and black cherry flavors of yogurt. All three were excellent; light, refreshing, and delicious! But it’s not just the yogurt that’s awesome here (which they make fresh daily, by the way), the toppings are top-​notch as well. The fruit is juicy, the candy is quality and, of course, liquid gold in the form of local honey is available to give your creation its finishing touch. While everything is very good, I think the winning formula is this: original or fruit yogurt, fruit and berries of your liking (don’t pass on the blackberries or boba, so good!), and a generous pour of honey. It’s the perfect treat for a hot day, or any day really. Is it ever a bad day for frozen yogurt?!
The staff here are as pleasant to interact with as the yogurt is to eat. They’re quick to offer up a sample of anything you’d like to try, and go above and beyond to make sure your experience is an enjoyable one. My brother has a nut allergy, so after filling his cup with yogurt they took it to the back and served him newly opened toppings that haven’t been in the vicinity of the nut offerings yet. That’s five star service in my book! Also, pre-​set pricing eliminates the guessing game; no more walking up to the register to learn you’ve topped your yogurt with thirteen dollars worth of gummy bears.
The difference between Ayelada and the other frozen yogurt options in the area is night and day. You’d be silly not to give it a try!

The snozzberries taste like snozzberries… the yogurt tastes like yogurt!
Local dairy, local ingredients (whenever possible), and small batches made fresh on site daily? Yes!
Frozen yogurt that actually tastes like the flavor it is named for and doesn’t leave a chemical after taste in your mouth? Yes!
On the day of my first visit to Ayelada, the flavor choices were original, chocolate raspberry, watermelon, and nutella. I sampled them all, and enjoyed all of the flavors. Choosing was difficult, so I got a small cup ($ 3.50) with nutella and original side by side. There are many fruit and candy toppings, but I went with just a drizzle of (local) honey on the original side. I wanted to be able to taste the flavors and not have them masked by the toppings. I was initially hesitant about the original flavor, because I do not really like plain yogurt or the «tart» flavor from other yogurt establishments. However, this one had a light vanilla flavor to it and serves as a great canvas for toppings. The original was fantastic with the honey, which got a little chewy from the cold of the yogurt and was like a delicious, natural taffy. The nutella was also a fantastic option. The tangy yogurt flavor shined through the not-​too-​sweet-​chocolate-​hazelnut yogurt and helped me feel just a teensy less guilty about choosing this indulgent flavor. Their yogurts are made with skim milk, which also makes me feel a little better about picking this over a heavier ice cream option.
Two small yogurts (one with toppings) came to $ 8.50. This is about on par with other yogurt shops in the region, but the quality is far superior. Unlike the other locations (TCBY, 16 Handles), where the trend is to «make your own» yogurt, the staff at Ayelada make you your treats. I find this preferable, as you won’t then be in that unfortunate position where you get to the counter to find that your «make your own”-handiwork landed you $ 7 bill for one cup.
There is plenty of indoor seating, as well as outdoor seating (some under umbrellas). It was sweltering when we visited, so we opted to sit inside and enjoy the air conditioning. There are freezers that have take-​home pints in several flavors, including ones that were not on tap that week (we saw vanilla, original, chocolate, hazelnut, tropical fruit punch, etc.). I didn’t opt for taking home a pint this time, but it was tempting!
Ayeyada also makes you feel good because their spoons are «made from corn,» and, thus, are biodegradable. Who doesn’t want to eat their dessert and also help reduce their footprint?
Ask for a hole punch card — once you get ten punches, you get a small yogurt with toppings for free! Ayelada is definitely out of the way for me, but is certainly worth the trip. Also, if you check in on Unilocal on your first visit, you’ll get $ 1 off of your order!

I went to Ayelada today and got the original yogurt flavor. I added, black berries, strawberries, strawberry boba, cookie dough, and some honey on top of it. You can tell just by tasting Ayelada frozen yogurt that it’s natural and it has its own unique taste compared to a lot of other frozen yogurt places around the area.
I would say that Ayelada doesn’t have a very large selection of frozen yogurt to choose from. They had about four frozen yogurt flavors when I went today but they do change their flavors every few days so there’s always something new to try when you come back.
I’d definitely recommend to try this place out, I’ll definitely be back here again sometime soon.

Thank goodness I didn’t find this place earlier in the summer or I undoubtedly would have had to take a pass on swimsuit season because this fro-​yo is sort of phenomenal. Looks are deceiving. The atmosphere when you walk in is about as sterile as a Baby Gap but in a modern LA sort of way. We ordered a small cup with both original and Nutella flavored fro-​yo. Topped it off with cookie dough chunks and strawberry. It was amazing. The original was tart but irresistibly smooth. The Nutella subtly sweet. Pure joy. I would have paid triple what it cost. I also devoured it before I had the sense of mind to take a picture of my cup.

So good! This was my first experience tasting real frozen yogurt, and it turns out I’m a big fan. It was great to talk to the owner cause his passion and energy for what they’re doing is contagious.
Down to the goods, I tried a couple samples before settling on cookies n cream, but the passion fruit was a close contender. I’m delighted I chose the peanut butter cups on top cause man they were delicious. Definitely not your run of the mill Reese’s. Frozen yogurt tends to give my sensitive stomach an ache afterward but this stuff is light and refreshing and I feel nothing but happy about the whole thing. The atmosphere is nice, cute, and clean with fun photos of the farmers and such the ingredients are sourced from. You can check their Facebook page for updates on the flavors of the week.
My husband never gets excited about dessert and he’s thrilled we went and can’t wait to return. Finally!

I like this place. They make their own yogurt and the flavors don’t have ridiculous colors. The yogurt itself was very smooth and creamy, no iciness! The staff are friendly and helpful upon walking in. As my friend noted upon entering, this place is freaking clean. What a nice addition to the Capital District!

Strip mall FroYo shops aren’t typically known for their commitment to local farms and producers. But Ayelada is different.
I’ve got four words:
Lloyd Spear Lavender Honey
You think Ayelada is priced at a premium compared to other FroYo places? Well they give this precious elixir out for free at the register, to drizzle all over the top of your FroYo with reckless abandon. And holy moley this honey is amazing. So floral, and so delicate, the liquid tightens up into small candied jewels on top of your frozen yogurt.
I got mine with blackberries and blueberries. Yogurt this good shouldn’t be topped with crap industrial produced candy. But they do have those on the line for those who are into that kind of thing.
But I do like that the staff at Ayelada builds your FroYo instead of the self serve model. I find the pay-​as-​you-​go model unfortunate. I don’t like surprises. So I appreciate having a professional portion out my frozen treats, and to know how much it will cost up front.
The location is less than ideal. Although perhaps it’s good that this place is a bit off the beaten path. If it were closer I would go there more.
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Edit: I was informed by the owner that the candy on hand ins’t the traditional run-​of-​the-​mill «crap industrial produced» stuff, but rather higher quality versions of the form. Next time I’m in, I’ll ask more questions and try to get the full rundown. But the commitment to quality in this shop runs even deeper than expected.

Ok this is not your standard run of the mill chain Froyo shops. This is one of two locations, the other being In Pittsfield, MA. They hand craft each batch of frozen yogurt, it is not a mix that is dumped into a machine. The owners create their frozen yogurt from locally sourced products. Everything from the milk to the toppings are produced by local companies and farms. You can taste the difference when you eat this Froyo. There are four flavors to choose from and it changes weekly. The other difference from the chains is that it is not self serve. But they have a great selections of toppings to choose from. Do give this place a try. They offer a great product that is lower in calories and more natural than the other Froyo shops out there.