REVIEW: Tooti's – Competition for Sprinkles?

When a new ice cream parlour opens in town, naturally The Tab go along to try it, but the question on everyone’s lips: Is it as good as Sprinkles?

Tooti’s Gelato Bar recently opened on Bedford Place taking over from Pure, which in the year that I have been here I have never seen open, so actually being allowed in the establishment already put it one up from the bar that was there before. In addition to this, living miles away from uni on Archers Road, it was nice to have the prospect of being able to go somewhere nice without getting on the bus.

It was a good start when my three friends and I got a lovely table outside in the sun, although the view onto the traffic lights wasn’t the most appealing.

Rebecca Lock, a first year nurse and Romero Halls resident said:

The layout is better than Sprinkles

Although you have to wonder why it was empty at lunch time on a sunny day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At first glance the menu filled with crepes, waffles and sundaes made our mouths water. However, on closer inspection most dishes had an ingredient in that we didn’t like, for example orange blossom, and of course, nearly every dish was finished with a maraschino cherry. We decided we would have a couple of scoops of ice cream instead, so headed to the bar to order. Once again we were disappointed. Yes, there were the expected Oreo and stracciatella flavours, but the rest seemed limited to a particular taste. Lots of the flavours were based on alcohol or coffee, for example, Amaretto, Tiramisu and Daiquiri.

After deciding it was too late to leave without being rude, between the four of us we ordered two milkshakes (£3.90 each) and two pots with two scoops of ice cream in (£3.50 for two scoops). At first I was accepting of the price (naturally comparing them to Sprinkles in my head), until I saw the size of ice cream in my cup. Where in Sprinkles you have to be careful walking back to your seat as to not drop your overflowing ice cream on the floor, here I could still see the bottom and edges of cup around my two measly scoops of ice cream.

Having nearly finished by the time I got back to my seat, I decided that it did taste nice but that was all-nice, nothing special. In fairness, my friends did say that the milkshakes were good but that they’d

Rather go to Sprinkles for one

By this point we had already decided that we probably wouldn’t be coming back but then something happened that meant we definitely wouldn’t be coming back. My friend found a hair wound in her ice cream. It put us all off to say the least. We told the staff, who did seem shocked but were nervous of what to do and reluctant to rectify the situation. We were offered more ice cream but none of us really fancied that anymore.

Courtney Ackerman, the victim of the hair, said

I was gutted by my visit

It would seem to me that Tooti’s is trying to be too sophisticated, however, perhaps that is the audience they are aiming for as they do have an alcohol license and an over 18s area only at the back. Seeing that it is located between halls for both universities and close to primary and secondary schools I believe that it can be improved, they need to try and appeal to a wider audience; it isn’t a child friendly place. I suggest a wider and better range of ice cream, a less refined menu and some background music!

Liam Scoble, a first year English Literature student and Archers Road resident, agreed with me and said that it

Needs more variety on the menu

Perhaps I just had a bad experience and the flavours might change like they do in Sprinkles but I won’t be rushing back any time soon to find out. Also, a grammatical error to this extent is enough to make me boycott the place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unfortunately for Tooti’s, it will forever be compared to Sprinkles- where the bar has been set so high I don’t think a match will ever be found. Perhaps there is only room for one ice cream parlour in Southampton.

Credit where credit is due, some people have differing views than me:

Cormac Starling, our Marketing Director, said he thought that:

It was good value and I like what they’ve done outside

Liam Scoble also said that:

The cheaper price isn’t shown in the quality