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| - Basis for my starred ratings (which skews heavily to the food or drink):
1 star: Never again.
2 stars: Poor food, poor experience, extraordinary measures in order for me to come back.
3 stars: Average, nothing really special, nothing particularly bad.
4 stars: Very good, would definitely return.
5 stars: A favorite, one of the best.
This rating comes from the ice cream sandwich standard to which all should be compared - Diddy Riese in Westwood, CA. If that place is a 5-star joint, this place is a respectable 3.5.
Diddy Riese excels in three respects: cost, balance of cookie to ice cream, and quality of the cookie. Diddy has raised their prices to $2 (used to be $1!!) This place is more than double that at $4.95. Granted, it is bigger and you get a topping, but even with all that, does it taste twice as good? I can't say that it does. Which leads to balance. Diddy has smaller cookies but they cram in more ice cream. And finally, as to the cookie, Diddy makes no excuses for their really unhealthy amounts of butter and probably shortening in their cookies, but the bigger thing is - you can often get that cookie WARM, which makes it so, so good.
I have no real knocks on Sammies itself. The staff is super friendly, the place is nice with a huge patio, and I'd take a Sammie any day over a Slickable. Everything here is fine, but just, when compared to the best, isn't quite there yet.
(Other ice cream sandwiches to compare that I think are better: It's It (SF but regionally available commercially), Bi-Rite and Miette (also SF), Meatball Shop and Genuine Superette (NYC). Also have a soft spot in my heart for the giant Oreo frozen custard sandwich at Culver's.)
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