Recently, a new ice cream parlor opened up near AHS! Located at 55 E. Duarte Road, The Pond is the first of four stores to open in the new strip mall.

Currently, The Pond offers four unique flavors of ice cream: lychee, ube, milk tea, and Vietnamese coffee; these are subject to change monthly in order to introduce more variety. Lychee and ube can be swirled, and so can milk tea and Vietnamese coffee, but if you want a different flavor combination, employees are happy to mix those too! One serving of ice cream costs $4.50 and comes with a free topping of your choice. All orders come with a Goldfish cracker and a Pocky stick that is meant to look like a fishing rod, going with their ‘pond’ theme. You can get your ice cream in a plastic cup or in a charcoal cone, which costs an extra dollar but can be free if you check in on Yelp.

I ordered a charcoal cone with lychee and ube swirl and Fruit Loops on top. The ice cream itself is on the creamier side, and may even be considered too sweet by some. Personally, I preferred the ube flavor to the lychee, as the latter was quite sugary and tasted more artificial than I would have liked. The ube ice cream was pretty much perfect though! However, the charcoal cone was totally underwhelming, to say the least. It did not taste like much other than sugar, so I would not recommend paying for it. The swirl was hollow, but the portion was still quite large, making it perfect to share. I found the Goldfish garnish cute; however, it was a bit odd to be eating such a salty cracker with sweet ice cream.

The ambiance of the store is definitely oriented more towards teens and young adults, with simplistic decor and a leaf wall for taking pictures. But, seating options are pretty limited; the space could be used more effectively to accommodate more customers. The employees were very nice, helping first-timers, offering samples, and respectfully dealing with nosy customers.

If you are looking for a special treat on a hot afternoon, The Pond is definitely a great place to go!