rice 'n' roll & red mango

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ah, rice'n'roll....i remember when this small chain opened up downtown along madison, and there was a huge buzz because it was cheap, fast, and affordable downtown lunch fare. several months later, an outpost opened up in bellevue square, a nice addition to the sparse food selections in that mall.

white pepper went with the combo #2 meal, which was a neat little package of 4 slices of california roll, 4 slices of spicy tuna, and a side of edamame. it looked so perfect! there were so many options on the menu, i panicked and didn't even see the combo meals (or the awesome handwritten bento options on a sheet of paper by the register, stupid!). she can comment more on her meal, but it looked great, and in the end, there was nothing left but a pile of edamame shells and a whisper-thin slice of pickled ginger.

i went with the double tuna: spicy tuna topped with slices of more tuna! boy do i love maguro. it's seriously been one of my favorite things in the world, ever since my grandma (rest her soul) introduced me to the goods when i was but a wee babe. rice'n'roll did not disappoint. since i just ordered the roll, i got a hefty 8 slices of tasty tuna. i was surprised that the spicy tuna was actually spicy (my heat tolerance is quite high), and it was good. i'm not going to go into the texture/flavor of the rice and the technique because, come on, this is mall food, and it did exactly what i wanted. it was quick, inexpensive, filling, and delicious.

when we first arrived, we passed by a red mango, which is a korean frozen yogurt joint, much like crazyberry and pinkberry. the selections were a little different than the ones at crazyberry; they had more fruit selections available at the same time, cinnamon toast crunch, ghiradelli dark chocolate, and granola (all of which cb doesn't have). also, if you click on the menu picture, you can see that they have a TWO TOPPING option!!! at crazyberry you either get one topping or three...and you can get two, but you'll just have to pay for three, and then why the hell not get three at that point?!?! yeah, pissed me off, too.

the fro-yo slanger also wears a uniform. unfortunately i couldn't snap a good picture of her get up (since she looked a little self-conscious to begin with). you'll just have to imagine: red visor with logo, mango-hued short-sleeved shirt with white long-sleeved underneath, red apron with logo, side ponytail (i think her creative addition).

i went with the raspberry/slivered almond combo. i love slivered almonds, especially in frozen yogurt. mmm! also, fresh raspberries??? yes please! the yogurt is actually quite distinct. it was more creamy and almost left a greasy feeling around the corner of my lips (gross), whereas crazyberry's is more ice crystal-y. also, red mango's base was lest tangy than crazyberry's (i am a fan of the tart yogurt flavor).


pepp got almonds and coconut. delicious. i love coconut, too...i should have gotten that as my third topping, but i felt like i should take advantage of the two topping option.

the red spoons were so choice! i really liked them, and they were heavy duty! small details count in my book.

overall, i'll most likely visit crazyberry more because it's so convenient (broadway), and i enjoy the yogurt base more. however, thanks bellevue square! i enjoyed your wares and food selections on my eastside foray.

crazy bootleg

With all of the brand new condos going up on the Hill, they are also bringing some new restaurants to Broadway besides Pho, Thai food or Indian fare.

I am a huge fan of frozen yogurt so I was patiently waiting for Crazyberry to open. This is the part where I admit that I watch The Hills on MTV and the reason it is relevant is because this past Monday, Lauren and her friend went to Pinkberry. I watched them eat this yogurt in the LA sun and talk about nothing while important things were most likely erased from my memory, only to be filled with curiosity (ie: if Audrina would end up screwing Lauren like Heidi).

Crazyberry is a bootleg Pinkberry. I will say, I never knew about Pinkberry until Monday and have never eaten there but all it takes is one look at the website to see that Pinkberry is the originator. They share the same concept down to the mission of the place. I have read a few reviews about Crazyberry and people are saying that we should be lucky because our "Pinkberry envy prayers" have been answered. Uh, how about someone getting a Pinkberry to open or fuck it a TCBY. This is so Seattle.

Crazyberry took it one step too far, they have a rip off logo that is so similar to Pinkberry, I would not be surprised if they got sued.

I went for the plain yogurt with gummi bears, L. went for the green tea yogurt with pineapple. Both of us got their most likely rip-off signature stick of Pocky. At first I was not into the taste because it is kind of sour but it grew on me. L. was not into it but realized he might have fucked up by not getting chocolate chips with the green tea.

My guess is that we will go back because it is 2 min from our house and like I said I love frozen yogurt. Someone who has eaten at Pinkberry needs to go here and tell me if it is the same thing.