Imagine it is the start of fall, the leaves are falling, and it is cozy sweater weather outside. As you are walking into an ice cream shop the smells of the sweet savory treats are mouth-watering. You can see all the ice cream, caramel, apples, and pies. It all looks so delicious!
In a review of Galveston’s Sweet Retreat and its new fall menu items, Courier members, Alyiah Reynoso, and Alana Fagan went in search of the best fall treat! The new flavors included maple walnut, pumpkin spice, apple pie, and caramel praline. Sweet Retreat also had a caramel apple sundae, along with apple cider sorbet and an apple cider slushie. Most of the flavors sampled in our taste test were delicious!
First, Lewis Cass student, Adalyn Fagan, reviewed the new flavor, pumpkin spice, and rated it a 6 out of 10 because she thought it was not too flavorful, and she is not a huge fan of pumpkin-flavored foods. The last two things she tried were the apple cider sorbet and apple cider slushies. Adalyn said, ¨ The apple cider sorbet was so good it was sweet and was like ice cream and a popsicle mixed and the slushie just tasted like normal cold apple cider¨. She rated them a 10 out of 10. Her favorite flavor was the apple cider sorbet because she loves to drink apple cider so having it in an ice cream and popsicle form mix was yummy. Her least favorite flavor was pumpkin spice because she thought it tasted like nothing. She would recommend the apple cider sorbet because it was her favorite flavor, but she would recommend most of the new fall flavors even though she is picky, she still likes the flavors.
Next, I rated new Sweet Retreat flavors. I tried all the flavors, but I decided to rate the apple pie ice cream and the caramel apple sundae. I rated the apple pie ice cream a 9 out of 10 because the flavor was so creamy and had a nice apple taste and there were little pieces of apple in it. I gave the caramel apple sundae a 9.5 out of 10. The warm, gooey caramel mixed with the warm apple pie filling and ice cream was delicious. My favorite flavor overall was the Apple Pie ice cream because it had a nice apple spice flavor along with a cinnamon flavor. My least favorite flavor was pumpkin spice because I did not really like the actual pumpkin flavor. I would definitely recommend other people try these flavors.
Sophomore, Alyiah Reynoso also sampled the new fall flavors. My most favorite flavor was definitely caramel praline, I rated this a 10 out of 10. The vanilla flavor mixed with caramel was super delicious, and not too overpowering. My least favorite flavor was pumpkin spice, I am personally not a fan of pumpkin-flavored treats, so I rated this a 4 out of 10. The apple pie flavor was pretty good, my rating was a 6 out of 10. The strong apple flavor really made it enjoyable to eat. The maple walnut flavor was also good, but not in my top rankings of flavors, I thought this was a 5 out of 10. The maple flavor kind of took over the other flavors in the ice cream, and I am not a huge fan of maple-flavored treats. The apple cider sorbet was one of my favorites. I rated it a 10 out of 10. The sorbet tasted like apple juice, which is one of my favorite juices. After trying all of those, I still went back and got a scoop of strawberry ice cream, which is my most favorite flavor of ice cream.
Lewis Cass alumni, class of 2002, Dan Fagan, rated the new fall flavors from Sweet Retreat as well. His favorite flavor was pumpkin spice with a 10 out of 10. He loved the taste of the pumpkin spice and described it as ¨ It tasted like pumpkin pie and was so creamy.¨ His second-ranking flavor was apple pie with an 8 out of 10 rank. His favorite things about it were the smooth cinnamon taste, as well as the spiced apple flavor in it. Third on his list was maple walnut with a 7.5 out of 10. Dan said he liked the maple flavor and the nice crunch from the walnuts. Mr. Fagan said his least favorite flavor was caramel praline with a rating of 5 out of 10 because he thought it was basic and tasted exactly like plain vanilla.
Overall, fall is a great time for sweet treats and these fall flavors were delicious! Everyone agreed and would definitely recommend trying out these ice cream flavors, as well as the apple cider sorbet and apple cider slushie. Sweet Retreat is located at 429 S California St, in Galveston and is open 4pm to 9pm Fridays and Saturdays and is open 4 pm to 8:30 pm Monday through Thursday. They close on October first, so hurry to get your ice cream!
