Bonaventura Gelato Lounge

What an amazing place for cold treats. The selection is amazing and made in the house. Anything from whiskey pecan to Belgian chocolate flavor. They have it all. Great customer service as well

I was so excited about this place, and my experience was great! It’s a cute little shop, and the employees were pretty friendly. I got to sample some of the interesting flavors, and I liked how enthusiastic they were when we asked them for recommendations or favorites (people don’t usually add so much commentary). I ended up going with a regular cup and had three scoops– strawberry chocolate chip, blueberry, and pomegranate. A delicious trifecta of a berry bliss. There’s a whole bunch of parking in the plaza and service was quick and easy after the flavor deciding. I’m so looking forward to coming back!

Best gelato in town for sure. I love the passion and love they put into there ice cream.
Most ice cream is just sweet but there’s is full of flavor and you can really taste the ingredients.
Good job guys keep it up and open lots more places.

Today was my first time here. I let the guy at the counter know because I figured I’d try some samples, but he ended up telling me the history of the owners and all about the ingredients they use!
Okay, now that I am up to date, I tried the mint chip and hazelnut. Very yummy!
I ended up getting the caterpillar and it was very cute AND delicious. I could tell he spent time to make it look really nice. :)

The three hazelnut gelato flavors taste great if you like Ferrero Rocher candy. You can even get all of them (small size) if you can’t decide.
Lots of interesting options on menu like spaghetti with ice cream. May try that next time.

I’ll admit that I am not a fan of gelato shops that give out stingy samples (like this shop), but Bonaventura Gelato Lounge sure knows how to serve gelatos with strong flavors.
This is one of the two locations in the SoCal (the other one is located at Manhattan Beach) and it is always a plus to know that the plaza parking lot is absolutely free.
I almost fainted when I saw the price tag for one geladough … $ 5.95 for glazed donut or croissant + one ice cream filling with extra $ 1 for cronut. Here are some quick comparisons … Bengees at Pasadena sells their cronut ice cream sandwich for $ 5.50, Frozen Bar sells their fronuts for $ 5, and Afters Ice Cream sells their milky bun for $ 6.
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Kid size (up to two flavors, $ 4.75 — hazelnut + pistachio): Both kid scoops (I mean literally two tiny scoops) still retain one of gelato’s characteristics — strong and rich flavors (especially hazelnut). Texture was slightly smoother than I expected and overall gelato quality was pretty decent (B/​B+).
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If I HAVE to pick between Paciugo Gelato & Caffe at Hermosa Beach or Bonaventura Gelato Lounge, then I would pick Bonaventura because of better value (more gelato for the price you pay), friendlier service, and less stingy samples. However, I still need to give some credits to Bonaventura’s gelato … not the best in my book, but I was very satisfied with what I had.

Great dessert and very nice /​helpful/​patient staff. I am a huge fan and love the shakes and all the unique flavors of gelato. I definitely recommend, I came in late and the MDR location had about 6 people and everyone was complimenting the «cronut» as sharing some so I will be getting those next time.

We went in for the first time and this place is AMAZING !! A big variety of gelatos and your able to sample the one you will chose ! Staff is super friendly and helpful one of the best mom and pops joints I have come a crossed.

I’m a huge fan of their stracciatella gelato here. I’m not much of a sweets person but this place is always good for that sugar fix no matter how big (or small in my case) your sweet tooth is. They also serve this «cronut» monstrosity which is gelato mashed inbetween a sweet glazed donut/​croissant combo that (as a doctor) I think probably instantly puts you into a diabetic coma. They have incredibly fresh daily gelato with a terrific selection of flavored. Highly recommend for anyone in the area craving gelato. There’s also a doggy day care next door that is great to browse while enjoying your sweet treat!

I’ve been coming here since this place got converted over from Penguins and have to say that I’ve never been disappointed! It’s family owned, so you always see familiar faces and they make their gelato fresh every morning. In addition to this, their flavor variety’s great and amazingly spot on with what each is based on!
Today, I finally got to try their «Geladough» and was beyond impressed with how all the flavors meshed perfectly together! For mine, I got the glazed donut filled with their cookie gelato and hazelnut pralines and it definitely was delicious. They also provided a wet towelette, which was nice for after.
Love the service, appreciate their creativity (gelato spaghetti, Geladoughs, gelato sandwiches), and always look forward to that welcoming, family feel! Pop your head in and try a sample next time you’re in the Marina.

The Geladough Croissant-​Donut is excellent!
Rich in flavor, and not overly sweet.
Great service too.

Thanks to my sister, I’ve just earned the Conehead Badge. That girl is an ice cream junky. After her first pick for ice cream had moved, she decided to try the gelato spaghetti at Bonaventura.
The little ice cream shop is located inside a large strip mall. We arrived about an hour before closing time. There was one other couple inside. We briefly browsed the ready made ice cream desserts in the freezer by the door, but nothing jumped out at us.
Just so our orders weren’t redundant, I decided to get the gela-​dough. You get to pick between a cronut or regular glazed donut, a gelato flavor, and one topping. I went with regular donut, pistachio ice cream and marshmallow fluff. Sister got The Alfredo but substituted with salted caramel gelato. The gelato is manually pushed through a contraption that resembles an oversized garlic press. The extruded gelato forms «spaghetti» strands. It is then topped with chocolate (shell) sauce and brownie bits. I thought this was a very inventive dessert. I’m a huge fan of salted caramel normally, but I found this to be overly sweet. Like a sticky sweetness that just coats your entire tongue and throat. I enjoyed the pistachio gelato’s flavor much better and the marshmallow fluff firmed up due to the cold temperature, giving it a nice almost taffy-​like texture. However, my doughnut was pretty stale. And there wasn’t enough filling to make up for it. I think I would have been better off just getting a couple scoops in a cup.
Customer service was great. He greeted us right away and explained how the gelato is made in small batches in-​house. This place is pretty close to where the Kings practice. If ever I’m in the area and in the mood for gelato, I would come back.

Didn’t actually visit this establishment but we were able to try out their gelato as they setup a little stand in Old World Village in the OC area. Since we were trying to save our appetite for actual food and not fill ourselves up with dessert, we only got a single scoop of the Double Chocolate Brownie Batter in a waffle cone. After having my first taste, I regretted in not making it into a double scoop! Absolutely refreshing and not overwhelmingly sweet or chocolaty. I’ll definitely make it a point to stop by the shop next time I’m in the area and try out more of their flavors!

Fantastic! Freshly made gelato! Spaghetti-​eis! Well-​worth the trip for dessert. This place is amazing and the staff is super friendly, granted the owner was right there leading the way.
My suggestion: get dinner at sugar fish, have some saki. It’s a short walk over here and get some Gelato with you and your significant other. Makes for a perfect anniversary dinner. Or apparently Ice-​cream Crawl?

1, 2, 3, 4… I DECLARE AN… ICE CREAM CRAWL!!!
DAY 3, STOP 2
BACKSTORY: (Repeated on all ice cream crawl reviews. If you’ve read it once, no need to read it 20+ times :-p)
Thanks to social media and their ways to entice peeps, like me, to get out and about town, I recently succumbed to their power of suggestion and checked out ice cream parlors in the LA area. The goal? The goal was not to find the best ice cream parlor, nor the worst, and to see what was out there, instead the goal was to have a frame of reference when peeps or fellow Unilocalers ask, suggest, or check into places.
Here we go, here we go again, with «armed with an appetite and not afraid to use it»!!!
PARKING:
Parking is in a strip mall and it’s FREE
INTERIOR:
Although quaint, this creamery is spacious with tables and chairs set for two along the side walls, covered display case with 20+ gelato flavors, and menu board mounted behind the counter high above.
CUSTOMER SERVICE:
I believe our scoops were scooped by Alessandro Bonaventura himself. Btw, his wife has the best name ever!
ORDERED:
A split scoop of Pure Sicilian Pistachio and Cookie Attack for cohort, Belgium Chocolate and Sea Salt Caramel split scoop for me. OMGoodness, indeed-​o this is some silky smooth stuff. From trowel to tongue, throat to tummy, this delightfully, delectable dish was divine.
IN A SCOOP:
Bonaventura was not on our official list of parlors to partake, the one on our list was, «closed to the public,» apparently there was some private gig goin’ on. Even when I explained that I was doing an ice cream crawl and I just needed one scoop, cohort and I were denied. Somewhat annoyed, opened up this phone app. called Unilocal and started thumbing my way down the list of creameries nearby. At first taste, annoyance was non-​existent. The funny thing is, I checked their website the day before to see if there were any events going on at the original official creamery and there was nothing on the calendar. Hmm… what’s the point of having a calendar if you’re not going to keep it up-​to-​date? Mind you, we drove from DTLA to Playa Del Rey for just two scoops, and we were denied!
Anywhoo, Parking was super easy, interior was clean, fresh, and well stocked with a multitude of mmmm gelato flavors to keep our taste buds doin’ the happy dance.
#LAICECREAMCRAWL

Excellent gelateria! Definitely not my all time favorite ice cream/​gelato spot because I have tried too many and become far too picky but I would absolutely come back here.
I loved that this quaint shoppe was in a plaza so parking was relatively easy. It was pretty empty at the time I went and the lady helping me out was generous with samples. I loved most of the flavors I tried and settled on the salted caramel and straciatella. The gelato textures and flavors were really good. Beware of the deceiving cups though! I thought I was getting a good amount for my money until I realized that it was one of those cups with higher/​raised bases so that the cup was actually much shallower than it looked. I was disappointed to have less gelato in that cup than I thought was all.
Overall, a great gelato spot and would recommend it!

AMAZING– ALL OF IT AMAZING! must go here!
The staff is so friendly.
The gelato is fresh and light!
Try the spaghetti eis … rose water and lavender is amazing too.
Best Stracciatella around!

What? Spaghetti eis, Pizza Gelato, and Steak & Fries for dessert?!? Not something you typically get or even have on the menu in a gelato shop. A casual glance over the menu board may have you wonder if you came to the right place, but don’t let that fool you, or you’d miss out the creativity of this unique gelato shop. All the signature eisbecher are playful frozen dessert shaped and presented as dinner entrees.
Spaghetti eis ($ 6.75): velvety vanilla gelato, home made strawberry sauce with white chocolate sprinkles
Pizza Gelato ($ 7.50): choice of gelato toped with fruit sauce, fresh cut fruits, chocolate sauce, and white chocolate sprinkles
Steak & Fries ($ 7.50): chocolate and vanilla gelato, homemade strawberry sauce, chocolate suce
If you think that’s too much, you can get scooped gelato ($ 4.25-$ 6.25). As always, sample the flavors before you decide which one (s) to get. The flavors are so rich and amazing! My favorites are expresso, pineapple, and lavender honey. They also have other creations like geladough which scoop of ice cream is stuff inside a doughnut, various sundaes, smoothies and coffees.
TIP: Spaghetti eis, Pizza Gelato, and Steak & Fries and other creative entrees take at least 5 – 8 minutes to make.

I’m with a few of my fellow Unilocalers on this one. I wasn’t impressed by the gelato. The flavors sounded wonderful — lavender honey, vanilla wafer, chocolate strawberry, Nutella, Belgian chocolate, coconut, and several others. Unfortunately, the gelato just didn’t deliver.
Compared to other gelatos in the city, Bonaventura’s wasn’t as creamy and many of the flavors tasted the same, including honey lavender and vanilla wafer, despite their name descriptions. The strawberry in the chocolate strawberry tasted very artificial and the Nutella didn’t have a very distinctive taste. Perhaps all of the gelato creations that they offer — pizza, spaghetti, steak, geladough — help to mask the taste of the actual gelato.
Going with simple gelato, I got a small cup ($ 4.25) of Belgian chocolate and coconut. After having Bonaventura bookmarked for a while, I was hoping that it would join the list of great gelato places in the city. Unfortunately, I was left disappointed.

They let you sample so you can try out the different flavors that they have if you’re incisive.
Faves:
Pistachio
Mango
Gran strachello
Coconut
Service: A
Very accommodating & nice. =)
Décor: B+
Clean, small place with chairs & tables inside & outside for you to chill & hangout with friends. =)