Dessert Places at Ontario Mills

Häagen-Dazs is a brand that has built its reputation over several decades as a supplier of high-quality ice cream. The Ontario Mills location of the restaurant provide customers with its full menu of ice cream scoops, sundaes, and shakes. The company began in 1960 in the Bronx, but Häagen-Dazs is known for its use of simple ingredients without artificial flavors or preservatives. The base for their scoops is dense and rich due to the high butterfat content. Some of their best-selling flavors include vanilla, strawberry, and coffee. In addition to scoops, the restaurant also offers cakes, bars, and sundaes flavored with Häagen-Dazs’ premium ice creams. There are also sorbet options for those who would like to avoid dairy in there desserts. As a company, Häagen-Dazs has focused on creating an indulgent dessert experience rather than the quick soft serve scoops that can be purchased at other locations. The location at Ontario Mills features a clean and simple layout for the store. In addition to the permanent flavors on their menu, Häagen-Dazs also features seasonal flavors that is available for limited periods throughout the year.

Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory started in 1981 in Durango, Colorado but has grown to become one of the most recognizable chocolate shops in American malls. The Ontario Mills location sells a variety of handcrafted chocolates, caramel apples, fudge, and chocolate-dipped fruits. The caramel apples come in dozens of variety and are a particularly iconic candy offering in the store. Customers can watch the candy specialists create the apples in-store. Fudge is available in several varieties, including seasonal flavors. Several varieties of truffles and chocolate bark make up a significant portion of the products displayed in the store’s case. The chocolates are made with real chocolate and traditional candy-making techniques to ensure the products remains as fresh as possible. The gift shop features numerous gift boxes and assorted chocolate selections for those looking to purchase a gift for someone special. Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory is committed to using ingredients and methods that ensure that their chocolates are made with care rather than shortcuts. In addition to chocolates, the store also features chocolate-covered pretzels, Oreos, and other novelty chocolate-dipped items that tend to attract many customers browsing the candy case.

SomiSomi’s soft serve sold in fish-shaped waffle cones is the signature item that helped to put the brand on the map, and the Ontario Mills location is no exception in bringing this Korean-inspired confection to the mall. SomiSomi first originated in Los Angeles as a popular dessert spot that was known for its taiyaki cones. The shop makes these cones fresh in a fish-shaped iron mold, and fills them with either red bean paste or Nutella before topping them with a swirl of soft serve ice cream. Available soft serve flavors include milk, ube, matcha, and taro flavors, all of which is popular flavors throughout both Korea and Japan. The unique design of these cones with the fish shape peeking out from the bottom of the cones has made these desserts some of the most photographed desserts in the world today. In addition to the taiyaki soft serve ice creams, SomiSomi also offers injeolmi, which is a topping for the soft serve ice cream that is made with roasted soybean powder. The brand also offers a dessert known as bingsu, which is a shaved ice dessert with a variety of toppings. Each of these flavors are created with a genuine love for the East Asian dessert traditions.

The smell of cinnamon and brown sugar is one of the more recognizable scents of malls across the country. Cinnabon started in Seattle in 1985 with one product: the Classic Roll. These rolls contain Makara cinnamon from Indonesia, which is stronger tasting than the cinnamon most bakeries use. They are baked all day and feature a cream cheese frosting topping. MiniBons are also offered for those who would like a smaller roll with the same flavors. Additionally, there are Caramel Pecanbons with a layer of caramel and pecans. Cold brew is also offered as well as Chillattas, which are frozen drinks, and cinnamon pull-apart bread. These items can be found at most locations. While they have licensed grocery stores to sell their products, the freshly baked items from the bakery in the mall are a different product altogether. The bakery makes the dough for Cinnabon rolls on-site and sells it warm. This spot is one of the more straightforward dessert options at Ontario Mills.

Krispy Kreme has been making glazed donuts since 1937, when the company was founded in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Since then, the original glazed donut has remained the company’s flagship product. The Ontario Mills location features the full Krispy Kreme menu, which includes dozens of donut varieties in addition to the original glazed donut. The original glazed donut is known for its light texture and thin sugar glaze that sets slightly as the donut reaches room temperature. When the hot light is on at a Krispy Kreme location, the staff is producing the donuts. Various flavors of filled donuts are available, including chocolate kreme, raspberry, lemon, and custard varieties. Seasonal donut flavors are also available throughout the year at various locations. Drinks such as coffee, lattes, and frozen beverages are available to drink with the donuts. Donut holes, also sold as Bites, feature the same flavors as the donuts. Krispy Kreme maintains a significant number of stand-alone stores and locations within shopping malls, such as the Ontario Mills location, which features the same menu as the company’s other locations but without the drive-through stop. Finally, the dozen box is one of the most popular ways of purchasing Krispy Kreme donuts.

Mrs. Fields is a brand that built upon the idea of selling freshly-baked cookies while other food concepts were just finding their footing in shopping malls. Debbi Fields started selling Mrs. Fields cookies in Palo Alto, California in 1977. Her business advisors told her it would never work, but she proved them wrong. The brand offers a variety of cookies at their Ontario Mills location, including chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin, and white chunk macadamia. The semi-sweet chocolate chip cookie is the most popular offering from Mrs. Fields. Their cookies have a soft texture since they are underbaked to the point of being slightly underbaked. In addition to cookies, Mrs. Fields also sells nibblers, which are bite-sized version of the full-sized cookies. They also offer brownie bars and cookie cakes. Cookie cakes are a popular item, especially for those who celebrate birthdays with cakes. Mrs. Fields cookie cakes can be personalized with a message in the frosting at each of their locations. They also offer gift tins and boxes so customers can purchase Mrs. Fields cookies for a birthday or other celebration. The store makes all of the cookies in-store rather than being shipped in pre-made form. There are no dessert items other than cookies within the store.

The Sweet Spot is a concept store that sells a variety of bulk candy and novelty sweets. The store features many different types of candy, such as gummy candies, sour belts, chocolate products, licorice, hard candies, and numerous other retro candies that are typically not available in grocery stores. Additionally, the store features a bulk candy area where customers can make their own candy selections to take home. Other products that are sold by the store include novelty candy items that are popular with younger customers. Furthermore, many brand-name candies are sold by the store in packages that are not typically available in other retail locations. Seasonal candies are also sold throughout the year to accommodate holidays such as Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and Easter. Gift sets and novelty candy boxes are sold by the store as well. Overall, the store features colorful displays of candy products to encourage customers to browse the store. The store fills a niche in Ontario Mills that is not filled by any of the other retail locations in the mall, especially not the bakery and ice cream stands.

The Michoacana Premium brand draws its inspiration directly from the tradition of the paleta and nieve from Michoacán, Mexico, a region renowned for its quality mexicana frozen treats. The company has successfully translated this tradition into a modern, accessible product for the general public. Available in both fruit and cream-based flavors, the fruit-based varieties contain chunks of real fruit such as mango, strawberry, tamarind, and watermelon. The brand’s flavor offerings go beyond the flavor offerings of most ice cream shops. Instead of relying on flavors such as vanilla and chocolate, Michoacana Premium offers flavors like chamoyada, which is a popular drink in Southern California containing fruit, chamoy sauce, and tajín chili powder. Additionally, another popular flavor available in cups contains layers of mango sorbet, chamoy, and chili, another feature of the flavors upon which the brand is built. Other flavors available in cups and cones include horchata, cajeta, and guanábana, in addition to the more popular vanilla and chocolate flavors. The brand has expanded its availability into California and the Southwest United States, areas with strong familiarity with its flavors. Overall, the brand relies on real fruit-based ingredients rather than artificial flavoring to prepare its products.

Auntie Anne’s is a staple of food court culture since its founding by Anne Beiler at a farmers market in Pennsylvania in 1988. The soft pretzel has remained the brand’s central product since its inception. At the Ontario Mills location, Auntie Anne’s offers its full lineup of soft pretzels, which a rotating oven bakes fresh all day. The Original flavor of Auntie Anne’s pretzel is lightly salted with a buttery finish. Other flavors include cinnamon sugar, pepperoni, and jalapeño cheddar. Another product at the Auntie Anne’s location is pretzel nuggets. These come in the same dough as the pretzels but are available in a bite-sized format that is ideal for sharing with others. A variety of dipping sauces come alongside the pretzels, including cream cheese, marinara, and caramel. Other products include lemonade and frozen lemonade, which have become almost as synonymous with Auntie Anne’s as the pretzel itself. The staff makes the pretzel dough without trans fats and uses simple ingredients. Auntie Anne’s also offers pretzel dogs, in which the soft pretzel dough is wrapped around a hot dog. The brand has a variety of sweet soft pretzel flavors, most notably cinnamon sugar, allowing it to take place in the dessert category. Finally, the aroma of the dough draws in customers to the Auntie Anne’s pretzel stand.

Wetzel’s Pretzels started in 1994 in Redondo Beach, California. Today, it is one of the most recognizable brands of soft pretzels within shopping malls across America, as it competes with Auntie Anne’s in the same locations. Wetzel’s Pretzels offer their hand-rolled soft pretzels in salted and flavored varieties. The staff brushes the Original Pretzel with butter and lightly salts it, and it comes with a chewy texture that is best enjoyed with dipping sauces. Other varieties include the Pepperoni Pretzel, which has real pepperoni and cheese on the pretzel, and the Sinful Cinnamon Pretzel, which is rolled in cinnamon and sugar and is sold as a dessert. In addition to pretzels sticks, which come in bags for those looking for a lighter snack, Wetzel’s Pretzels also offers frozen lemonade. Wetzel Bitz are small pretzel pieces, available in plain and cinnamon flavors and come in a bag with a dipping sauce. For those looking for a meal option, the staff makes the pretzel dog by wrapping an all-beef hot dog in a pretzel. Wetzel’s Pretzels maintains its brand and product recognition by providing consistent products at each location. Additionally, due to the availability of cinnamon and sweet flavored pretzels, Wetzel’s Pretzels has become a dessert stop for many who visit the malls where the pretzels are sold.