Awesome Delicious Flavorful colorful beautiful display of yummy goodness support small business owners
Benita L.
My fiancé and I came to try Snow Fresca at Castro Valley Marketplace! We were looking around inside the marketplace for them but they were actually located outdoors where a lot of the seating is!We got here and filled out the form with our choices. I got a medium sized mango and guava with strawberry and mango bits with condensed milk and vanilla ice cream. I think my fiancé and I could have shared a medium one, especially after a meal!It's not 100% exactly what I would find in Hawaii but it was still good! We loved that there was an option to add ice cream. My fiancé got banana ice cream with his and he absolutely loved it! There were clumps of ice at the bottom, probably from the shaved ice being pushed down as they were making it. The syrup was inconsistent - some areas didn't have any syrup and was just ice. My ice cream as all melted by the time I got it, but my fiancé's ice cream was fine. Odd because I got my order first!It's still a good dessert place to stop by if I have a craving!
Aiyana A.
Such a vibe! Taking me back to Kauai with fresh fruit island flavors. Enjoy this spot Friday and weekends only during the summer. So good that I had to get another so don't kid yourself just order the bigger size from the start. Conveniently in the outdoor dining section of Castro valley marketplace.
Rahn C.
The medium bowl was the perfect amount for a big boy like myself. As a Polynesian I will respectfully say that their shaved ice was not shaved ice. Tbh I think the staff member who was making them was packing it down and making it into a snow ball; warm hands will melt the ice and it will form into the crunchy 'snow cone' kind of ice. Which means the ice will no longer be shaved ice lol However, I enjoyed the flavors. Guava is really sweet and tastes great paired with the mango fruit. The coconut flakes adds a sweet little crunch to it too. Staff is very friendly and gave good recommendations. FYI- this is a stand outside, in-between two buildings, not indoors. But great seating area next to a tiki bar stand! A cute lil Aloha Friday! Lol
Jade A.
It was a hot day, and my husband and I came across this shaved ice place to help relieve us from the heat. Snow Fresca's shaved ice was refreshing, delicious, flavorful, and fresh.The syrup must be made from the real fruit. It does not taste like the artificial syrups that you may usually have with shaved ice. We ordered it with guava and passion fruit syrup, coconut ice cream, and coconut cream, coconut flakes, and passion fruit glaze to top it off. It was so delicious that we devoured whole thing in a matter of minutes! Looking forward to coming back again for more!
David J.
The shaved ice was amazing! It brings good memories of Hawaiian style shaved ice: fresh, natural fruit, and good mix of flavors.
Andrew S.
I tried out snow fresca at their pop-up at the Castro valley marketplace. I really love supporting local food vendors especially ones that are owned and operated by a local family. Snow fresca really hit the spot after a blazing hot week, hitting upper-80s & low-90s. Particularly what they do well is they use real fruit juice which makes a huge world of a difference, they offer sweet fresh cut fruit as a topping alongside coconut cream or condensed milk, and a few other sprinkles and coconut shavings. I ordered a medium shave ice with ice cream, mango/pineapple/guava "syrups" and condensed milk with ice cream. Unfortunately the ice cream didn't make it in the shave ice, but when brought to their attention they offered to bring us a scoop. My personal suggestions: I think the shave ice may be better if the ice cream is topped with fruit and the shave ice is packed a little lighter. The reason I say this is because the fruit is loosely packed atop the shave ice and becomes a bit of a balancing game to try and eat without them just falling off the top and onto the table. This also becomes quite a challenge because you essentially need to pick at your shave ice because it's a bit too solid (but super light and fluffy once you do manage to pick out a bite), and occasionally lose a few fruit from all the ice being picked loose.Otherwise, I'd say this is one of the better shave ice in the immediate Castro valley area - especially the only one who uses real fruit juice!
Chelle N.
Hands down my favorite spot to go now here in Castro Valley. Great shaved ice dessert. Comparable to Matsumoto in Hawaii. My favorite combo is guava , passion fruit & dragon fruit syrup with vanilla ice cream, toasted coconut topping and fresh cut mango, with condensed milk. It's the bomb!!! Come out and check them out. Great vibes and great customer service!
Jonathon H.
Snowfresca is a Hawaiian shaved ice business thats vegan & gluten free. Using real fresh fruits, as well as real homemade fruit syrups for their garnishes. Everything here is homemade & then handmade on the spot for you. It's so cool to see them shave the circular ice block on the machine. The end results is beautiful . Christine is the fearless leader whos in charge of Snowfresca a long with her family. So hows their shaved ice? Shaved ice in a coconut bowl $17:With the coconut bowl ("snowfreca" engraved on it) you get a bamboo straw & a wooden spoon. You can wash it out and take it home as a souvenir. For the syrups i went with red dragon fruit, white dragon fruit & watermelon. Ice cream I did ube. Snow cap I did condensed milk & coconut cream. Fruit I did both white & pink dragon fruit, and topped it off with toasted coconut. The end result of Christine's hand crafted shaved ice bowl leads to this right here. Now I've never been to Hawaii, so I've never had authentic shaved ice. But I can say I'm content knowing I had Christines Shaved ice in my life time. The texture of the shaved ice is amazing, so soft and melts right away, the syrups pack so much flavor all around. And it doesnt taste like something with excessive sugar content. The fresh fruits really seal the deal for me. When you get to the bottom you're greeted with this sticky ube ice cream, probably the best ube ice cream if I have to add too.
Ziyan C.
At a hot outdoor event in San Rafael, Snow Fresca looked like everything I needed - cold snack, fresh fruit, flavorful toppings. Everything is customize-able and you can pick and choose your syrup, ice cream, toppings, fruits, etc. My shave ice was beautiful and several people asked me where I ordered it.My order - 4 starsSize (12 oz (up to 3 flavors)) $12.00Syrup (Acai) $0.00Ice Cream (Vanilla (fat free, sugar free)) $2.00Snowcap (Coconut Cream (vegan)) $1.00Fruit Garnish (Dragon Fruit - Red) $1.00Fruit Garnish (Mango) $1.00Total (before tax/tip): $17.00However, be aware...- There are two sizes, a smaller bowl and a larger bowl. The smaller bowl looks puny, so of course I got the larger one. What I didn't realize was they were going to pile the ice to be about 4x the height of the bowl, so it ended up being way more than I wanted. Go with the smaller bowl unless you're sharing!- They don't list prices anywhere at their booth (from what I could see). I was shocked that my price came out to $17.00 (and this is BEFORE tax/tips). I warned everyone who asked me about my shaved ice about the price and that was enough to turn them away.
Awesome Delicious Flavorful colorful beautiful display of yummy goodness support small business owners
My fiancé and I came to try Snow Fresca at Castro Valley Marketplace! We were looking around inside the marketplace for them but they were actually located outdoors where a lot of the seating is!We got here and filled out the form with our choices. I got a medium sized mango and guava with strawberry and mango bits with condensed milk and vanilla ice cream. I think my fiancé and I could have shared a medium one, especially after a meal!It's not 100% exactly what I would find in Hawaii but it was still good! We loved that there was an option to add ice cream. My fiancé got banana ice cream with his and he absolutely loved it! There were clumps of ice at the bottom, probably from the shaved ice being pushed down as they were making it. The syrup was inconsistent - some areas didn't have any syrup and was just ice. My ice cream as all melted by the time I got it, but my fiancé's ice cream was fine. Odd because I got my order first!It's still a good dessert place to stop by if I have a craving!
Such a vibe! Taking me back to Kauai with fresh fruit island flavors. Enjoy this spot Friday and weekends only during the summer. So good that I had to get another so don't kid yourself just order the bigger size from the start. Conveniently in the outdoor dining section of Castro valley marketplace.
The medium bowl was the perfect amount for a big boy like myself. As a Polynesian I will respectfully say that their shaved ice was not shaved ice. Tbh I think the staff member who was making them was packing it down and making it into a snow ball; warm hands will melt the ice and it will form into the crunchy 'snow cone' kind of ice. Which means the ice will no longer be shaved ice lol However, I enjoyed the flavors. Guava is really sweet and tastes great paired with the mango fruit. The coconut flakes adds a sweet little crunch to it too. Staff is very friendly and gave good recommendations. FYI- this is a stand outside, in-between two buildings, not indoors. But great seating area next to a tiki bar stand! A cute lil Aloha Friday! Lol
It was a hot day, and my husband and I came across this shaved ice place to help relieve us from the heat. Snow Fresca's shaved ice was refreshing, delicious, flavorful, and fresh.The syrup must be made from the real fruit. It does not taste like the artificial syrups that you may usually have with shaved ice. We ordered it with guava and passion fruit syrup, coconut ice cream, and coconut cream, coconut flakes, and passion fruit glaze to top it off. It was so delicious that we devoured whole thing in a matter of minutes! Looking forward to coming back again for more!
The shaved ice was amazing! It brings good memories of Hawaiian style shaved ice: fresh, natural fruit, and good mix of flavors.
I tried out snow fresca at their pop-up at the Castro valley marketplace. I really love supporting local food vendors especially ones that are owned and operated by a local family. Snow fresca really hit the spot after a blazing hot week, hitting upper-80s & low-90s. Particularly what they do well is they use real fruit juice which makes a huge world of a difference, they offer sweet fresh cut fruit as a topping alongside coconut cream or condensed milk, and a few other sprinkles and coconut shavings. I ordered a medium shave ice with ice cream, mango/pineapple/guava "syrups" and condensed milk with ice cream. Unfortunately the ice cream didn't make it in the shave ice, but when brought to their attention they offered to bring us a scoop. My personal suggestions: I think the shave ice may be better if the ice cream is topped with fruit and the shave ice is packed a little lighter. The reason I say this is because the fruit is loosely packed atop the shave ice and becomes a bit of a balancing game to try and eat without them just falling off the top and onto the table. This also becomes quite a challenge because you essentially need to pick at your shave ice because it's a bit too solid (but super light and fluffy once you do manage to pick out a bite), and occasionally lose a few fruit from all the ice being picked loose.Otherwise, I'd say this is one of the better shave ice in the immediate Castro valley area - especially the only one who uses real fruit juice!
Hands down my favorite spot to go now here in Castro Valley. Great shaved ice dessert. Comparable to Matsumoto in Hawaii. My favorite combo is guava , passion fruit & dragon fruit syrup with vanilla ice cream, toasted coconut topping and fresh cut mango, with condensed milk. It's the bomb!!! Come out and check them out. Great vibes and great customer service!
Snowfresca is a Hawaiian shaved ice business thats vegan & gluten free. Using real fresh fruits, as well as real homemade fruit syrups for their garnishes. Everything here is homemade & then handmade on the spot for you. It's so cool to see them shave the circular ice block on the machine. The end results is beautiful . Christine is the fearless leader whos in charge of Snowfresca a long with her family. So hows their shaved ice? Shaved ice in a coconut bowl $17:With the coconut bowl ("snowfreca" engraved on it) you get a bamboo straw & a wooden spoon. You can wash it out and take it home as a souvenir. For the syrups i went with red dragon fruit, white dragon fruit & watermelon. Ice cream I did ube. Snow cap I did condensed milk & coconut cream. Fruit I did both white & pink dragon fruit, and topped it off with toasted coconut. The end result of Christine's hand crafted shaved ice bowl leads to this right here. Now I've never been to Hawaii, so I've never had authentic shaved ice. But I can say I'm content knowing I had Christines Shaved ice in my life time. The texture of the shaved ice is amazing, so soft and melts right away, the syrups pack so much flavor all around. And it doesnt taste like something with excessive sugar content. The fresh fruits really seal the deal for me. When you get to the bottom you're greeted with this sticky ube ice cream, probably the best ube ice cream if I have to add too.
At a hot outdoor event in San Rafael, Snow Fresca looked like everything I needed - cold snack, fresh fruit, flavorful toppings. Everything is customize-able and you can pick and choose your syrup, ice cream, toppings, fruits, etc. My shave ice was beautiful and several people asked me where I ordered it.My order - 4 starsSize (12 oz (up to 3 flavors)) $12.00Syrup (Acai) $0.00Ice Cream (Vanilla (fat free, sugar free)) $2.00Snowcap (Coconut Cream (vegan)) $1.00Fruit Garnish (Dragon Fruit - Red) $1.00Fruit Garnish (Mango) $1.00Total (before tax/tip): $17.00However, be aware...- There are two sizes, a smaller bowl and a larger bowl. The smaller bowl looks puny, so of course I got the larger one. What I didn't realize was they were going to pile the ice to be about 4x the height of the bowl, so it ended up being way more than I wanted. Go with the smaller bowl unless you're sharing!- They don't list prices anywhere at their booth (from what I could see). I was shocked that my price came out to $17.00 (and this is BEFORE tax/tips). I warned everyone who asked me about my shaved ice about the price and that was enough to turn them away.
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