A new sort of culture war has been sweeping the Claremont Colleges, and it has nothing to do with Sarah Palin . I refer now to the debate between frozen yogurt consumers about 21 Choices or its new competitor Yogurtland. Traditionalists have a soft spot for the incumbent 21 choices, but the buzz about Yogurtland has been undeniable. Which should you choose? Read on for my head to head comparison:
Location and Hours of Operation
Yogurtland: 101 N Indian Hill Blvd
Every day: 11 am - midnight
21 Choices: 460 W 1st St.
Sunday through Thursday: 11 am - 11 pm
Friday and Saturday: 11 am - 12 midnight
Advantage: Yogurtland.
It's open later every day, and it's a couple of blocks closer to the Claremont Colleges. To a car-less Pitzer kid who gets a craving for froyo at 11 pm on a Monday, that makes all the difference.
Selection
Yogurtland: 16 flavors at a time, changes infrequently. Usually includes Vanilla, Chocolate, Taro, Pistachio, Pineapple, NY Cheesecake, Strawberry. Includes a respectable selection of fruit, nut, and candy toppings.
21 Choices: 6 flavors at a time out of a pool of dozens. 21 Choices flavors can be a little more unique than Yogurtland flavors. Current flavors include "Sunkist Mango", "Reese's Double Trouble", "Cherry Kisses", "Pineapple Nectarine Lychee", "Vanilla Roasted Almond". Includes an assortment of dozens of toppings/mix-ins.
Advantage: Judgment call.
I prefer the consistency of Yogurtland's options, but if you're okay with being surprised, or if you just LOVE chocolate powdered flax seeds, the win goes to 21 Choices.
Decor
Yogurtland:
21 Choices:
Advantage: Yogurtland
Layout and Seating
Yogurtland: This place is a feng shui wet dream. It's spacious and open, and there's a back door so you can enter directly from the Laemmle courtyard after a movie or a drink at the Hip Kitty. Indoor seating capacity is around 20.
21 Choices: The interior of 21 choices is long and narrow, and you have to awkwardly squeeze past people in order to get to the back of the line. There is one awkwardly placed bench inside the store, but you'll usually want to sit outside on the benches or by the Packing house.
Advantage: Yogurtland
Service
Yogurtland: At Yogurtland, your server is you. You can make your cup of froyo to your exact specifications. During my first trip to Yogurtland, I sampled every flavor. Plus even when the store is crowded, your wait is never long because all the cashier has to do is press one button locking in the weight of your cup, rather than having to mix and serve your yogurt, then type in cup size plus toppings.
21 Choices: When it's crowded, 21 Choices can take a LONG time. But if you require your toppings to be mixed into your yogurt, 21 Choices has the edge in service.
Advantage: Yogurtland
Cost
Yogurtland: Yogurtland froyo is priced according to weight, at $.20 per ounce. You can pack your cup with as many flavors and toppings as you want and still find it very difficult to spend $5.00. The cup pictured here had NY Cheesecake pieces, chocolate chips, M&Ms, on top of Pineapple Tart, Nutter Butter, Pistachio frozen yogurt.
21 Choices:
The 21 Choices pricing structure is defined according to cup size and number of toppings. Each topping is $.95. As you can see below, an 8 ounce small is $3.00, a 10 ounce small cup is $3.75, and a 12 ounce large cup is $4.50.
Advantage: Yogurtland.
The cup of yogurt I bought at Yogurtland for $3.95 (not including tax) would have cost $7.35 at 21 Choices.
Final Verdict: Yogurtland!!!
Yogurtland is the total package. Cheap, delicious frozen yogurt served late every day, in a beautiful sanctuary to froyo? IT'S AMAZING. If you haven't yet tried it, get moving! However, if you really want to benefit from the offerings of both stores, check the 21 choices website to see the nightly flavors before heading out, so you can decide whether it's worth it to venture there every once in a while.
P.S.: To those readers who are thinking, "My god, there are much more important things to blog about than frickin YOGURT. What about the ____ and the ____ crisis?"
I am a human being, not a robot. Blogging about yogurt makes me happy.
Related posts:
- Update on FroYo CAGE MATCH The Student Life’s Trevor Felch disagrees with me. I don’t particularly like his review, in which he wastes three paragraphs talking about frozen yogurt as a…
Yogurtland is amazing.
Yogurtland is simply another one of the passing frozen yogurt fads in the area. See KiwiBerry and countless others before its time. People will enjoy it for now but eventually the lack of change in flavors will get stale and people while claiming their approval for the place will resume living their lives and out of this ridiculous so called craze they are currently in and begin going less and less. 21 choices is a consistent and proven powerhouse in the frozen yogurt community and it will continue to dominate as it has for many years because at 21 choices you know you are going to get some delicious yogurt AND they always keep you on your toes with the flavors. Bottom line 21 choices is a way of life. Suck it yogurtland!
you suck it drew! suck on the amazing flavors and prices that y’land offers. just so you know, yogurtland IS a way of life in other cities like LA, fullerton and huntington beach. it just took awhile to make its way over to the IE. trust me, now that it’s here, it’s here to stay. score 1 for yogurtland. boooooyah!
Came here via the TSL website’s froyo article, and I have to say, I completely agree with you. 21 Choices is pricey, the workers a little awkwardly and forcefully cheerful, and every single time I go there, their flavor options are not what I am looking for. I think they’re trying to set themselves up as a Cold Stones for the hip (mixing toppings? etc)… except the Cold Stones in the Village is where Yogurtland currently stands…
Yogurtland loooves you. <3
There’s a really intense review on Yelp discussing Claremont’s 21 Choices and Yogurtland:
“Yogurtland (YL) vs 21 Choices (21C) -
YL is great for the wallet and tummy-concious because you get to control how much you eat and pay since it’s self-serve while at 21C there’s pretty much no flexibility.
YL has 16 constantly changing yogurt flavors ranging from tart to sweet to suit every tastebud and an overwhelming and always different assortment of toppings while 21C has 6 different choices (irony?) each day and pretty boring choice of toppings since they rarely change.
YL employees give you a huge stack of sample cups which (if you’re like me) can use over and over and fill way over the top and pretty much have a free dessert while 21C employees give you the evil eye when you ask for that 3rd sample.
YL has plently of seating inside so you can enjoy your yogurt in the cool while 21C has none whatsoever, forcing you outside to eat your already melted yogurt because that’s what happens when the employees mix your toppings and yogurt together Cold Stone Creamery style.
Winner: YOGURTLAND.
Yogurtland vs Cherry on Top/Yogiyo — Although Yogiyo has better tasting pineapple yogurt… Yogurtland is 10+ cents cheaper!
That’s right. Before YL opened, basically anyone in the Upland/Claremont area had to go to resort to Cherry on Top or Yogiyo so those two yogurt places monopolized their prices to over 40 cents and basically competed with each other on who could get away making more money per ounce. YL could have easily done that too but halleluja it’s only 30 cents/oz.. Love.
Winner: YOGURTLAND.”
-http://www.yelp.com/biz/yogurtland-claremont#hrid:zTMWXFaP1nkBgfUs110YGA
No one reads this shit anyway. The TSL review was better. Btw, why do you write so much about CMC?
–Google analytics disputes that.
–I disagree.
–CMC produces a lot of written media, much of it crappy.