Almost didn't try this ice cream after the initial experience of stepping into the store and smelling a weird, musty smell, but so glad we did! Great dairy free options that taste so creamy and pretty dang close to the real thing. Saw the person in front of me order a Sammie and I'm so glad I decided to do the same - so so delicious! The cookie actually stayed soft the entire time we ate it, I couldn't get enough!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 5
Service: 4
Clint Savage
Super good vegan ice cream! Definitely recommend the cookie & ice cream
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
Max D.
So close to 5 star experience but the pricing was kinda wild. Otherwise the two flavors I got were better than I expected. Pineapple flavor with shortbread crunch was awesome. The Italian butter cookie was honestly gas. Very good option for lactose and dairy free people.
Matt Theurich
We have come here multiple times but for the past 3 times we have had terrible stomach aches afterwards. Consistently, without fail, our stomachs feel awful after eating this ice cream. It’s a cool place, with friendly service, but the quality must be really really bad for it to affect us this way. It doesn’t matter what flavor either. If you care about your health and consuming quality ingredients, I would stay away.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 3
Nutrition W.
Great food and great service. Will come back soon. Also tomorrow. As many times as I can so I can post this review. Lol
Matt T.
We have come here multiple times, but for the past 3 times we have had terrible stomach aches afterwards. Consistently, without fail, our stomachs feel awful after eating this ice cream. It's a cool place, with friendly service, but the quality must be really really bad for it to affect us this way. It doesn't matter what flavor either. If you care about your health and consuming quality ingredients, I would stay away.
Leigh L.
Flavors and service are great! Dairy free! Be aware it's cashless so no hiding your ice cream fetish hahahaha
Crystal H.
What I ordered: Split Single Scoop - $6.95 ** 9.5/10: Banana's Foster - hands down one of the best banana icecream I have ever had! - real banana flavor with a caramelized twist, reminds me of Thai fried banana desserts - candied pecans add the perfect crunch ** 8.5/10: Taiwanese Pineapple Cake - big chunks of candied pineapple - spot on for pineapple cake flavor 7/10: Cookie Monsta - I like how it's colored with blue spirulina - not my preference, but can't go wrong! - most noticeably dairy-free Dear Bella is an icecream store located at the LAB Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa. We came in and tried all their flavors thinking it was a normal icecream shop. It was only until I read the "about us" page on their website did I realize that all their ice creams were vegan/dairy free! It was surprising because even after finishing our scoops, we didn't notice anything. It tasted like genuine dairy based icecream. The icecream was light and I loved the Taiwanese/AAPI inspired flavors on their menu. One flavor I didn't get but still enjoyed was the Red Bean Milk and Black Sesame. Despite being a pretty large store, there is no seating inside. There is plenty of seating outside though. Highly recommend this as a dairy free/vegan option for icecream!! Food: 8.5/10 Service: 10/10 Total: 9/10
Cassidy H.
Drove out here and half the flavors were crossed out and sold out, including the Taiwanese pineapple cake, which was the main reason we chose this place to begin with. It was only 7:30pm on a Friday, so we were pretty disappointed. For awareness the ice creams here are dairy-free!
Jennifer C.
Please bring back your gluten free waffle cones! I really miss them. Your Ice cream is still very tasty, but the gluten free waffle cones are really what I would come to Dear Bella for.
Originally this place said they close at 9pm but on the day said it closed now at 5pm (posted via instagram). What a waste of journey.
Andrew L.
As one of the many lactose intolerant people here, I always want to be able to find those dairy free ice cream places so I do not need to pop a lactaid, especially if I had forgotten to bring one. However, a lot of dairy free ice cream despite the claims you can sort of tell the differences between their dairy vs. dairy free. However, here, they really do stand by their slogan of cannot believing its dairy free. The ice cream was so creamy and the flavors were all so nice. My favorites that we chose were the Taiwanese Pineapple Cake and the Hojicha. These were some of the best iterations of the flavors I have every tried and I would love to come here again!
Katherine Trivanovich
This place is amazing! I enjoyed the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream with a gluten free cone. My husband had an ice cream sandwich with chocolate chip cookies and cookies and cream ice cream. Everything was gluten and dairy free! It's a little pricey for us but it was a birthday outing so it was worth it. There was only one employee working at the time and it got busy so we gave her a good tip. You can sample different flavors too. Highly recommend it!Dietary restrictions: Pretty much every flavor is gluten free and all the ice cream flavors are dairy free.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, Build-Your-Own Sammie, Freshly Baked Cookie, Gluten-Free Cake Cone Contains Soy
Melanie H.
Went in thinking I wasn't going to get any ice cream but ended up leaving with a split scoop of hojichq brown sugar and Taiwanese pineapple cake! The flavors were so fun and too hard to pass up that I had to try! Everything tastes exactly as it is described, with the hojichq super tea tasting, roasted, and fragrant, which was a delicious surprise compared to most places that have tea flavored ice cream but the dairy part is overpowering to the tea flavor. I've also never seen a Taiwanese pineapple cake ice cream flavor before and it tasted exactly like I was eating it! Love the pineapple filling gems! The girl that worked there even said people travel far just for this ice cream flavor! For a vegan ice cream place, everything was super creamy and delicious and I felt like they chose a lot of flavors that complemented the coconut milk base! They definitely know what they're doing so go go go!!!
Amelia D.
My friend and I came here in pursuit of vegan ice cream, since she is mostly dairy-free. We showed up at about 7:45 pm and saw that there was a "be back soon" sign on the door, which said they would be back at 10:35, which was odd because their posted hours were only until 9:00 pm. We stood around for a few minutes weighing our options, and then thankfully a very sweet employee came back and re-opened shop, so we think the sign was actually meant to say "be back at 7:50." Either way, we went in, I tasted a flavor and then we both got split scoops. I got butter pecan and snickerdoodle with whipped cream on top - so yummy! The butter pecan was amazing and the snickerdoodle was good, but would have been overpoweringly sweet on its own. The whipped cream tasted great too! Overall, I was very impressed with the ice cream, which was just as delicious as non-vegan ice cream, but just be aware that if the sign is on the door, you should just wait a few minutes.
Almost didn't try this ice cream after the initial experience of stepping into the store and smelling a weird, musty smell, but so glad we did! Great dairy free options that taste so creamy and pretty dang close to the real thing. Saw the person in front of me order a Sammie and I'm so glad I decided to do the same - so so delicious! The cookie actually stayed soft the entire time we ate it, I couldn't get enough!
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 5
Service: 4
Super good vegan ice cream! Definitely recommend the cookie & ice cream
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 5
So close to 5 star experience but the pricing was kinda wild. Otherwise the two flavors I got were better than I expected. Pineapple flavor with shortbread crunch was awesome. The Italian butter cookie was honestly gas. Very good option for lactose and dairy free people.
We have come here multiple times but for the past 3 times we have had terrible stomach aches afterwards. Consistently, without fail, our stomachs feel awful after eating this ice cream. It’s a cool place, with friendly service, but the quality must be really really bad for it to affect us this way. It doesn’t matter what flavor either. If you care about your health and consuming quality ingredients, I would stay away.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 1
Service: 3
Great food and great service. Will come back soon. Also tomorrow. As many times as I can so I can post this review. Lol
We have come here multiple times, but for the past 3 times we have had terrible stomach aches afterwards. Consistently, without fail, our stomachs feel awful after eating this ice cream. It's a cool place, with friendly service, but the quality must be really really bad for it to affect us this way. It doesn't matter what flavor either. If you care about your health and consuming quality ingredients, I would stay away.
Flavors and service are great! Dairy free! Be aware it's cashless so no hiding your ice cream fetish hahahaha
What I ordered: Split Single Scoop - $6.95 ** 9.5/10: Banana's Foster - hands down one of the best banana icecream I have ever had! - real banana flavor with a caramelized twist, reminds me of Thai fried banana desserts - candied pecans add the perfect crunch ** 8.5/10: Taiwanese Pineapple Cake - big chunks of candied pineapple - spot on for pineapple cake flavor 7/10: Cookie Monsta - I like how it's colored with blue spirulina - not my preference, but can't go wrong! - most noticeably dairy-free Dear Bella is an icecream store located at the LAB Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa. We came in and tried all their flavors thinking it was a normal icecream shop. It was only until I read the "about us" page on their website did I realize that all their ice creams were vegan/dairy free! It was surprising because even after finishing our scoops, we didn't notice anything. It tasted like genuine dairy based icecream. The icecream was light and I loved the Taiwanese/AAPI inspired flavors on their menu. One flavor I didn't get but still enjoyed was the Red Bean Milk and Black Sesame. Despite being a pretty large store, there is no seating inside. There is plenty of seating outside though. Highly recommend this as a dairy free/vegan option for icecream!! Food: 8.5/10 Service: 10/10 Total: 9/10
Drove out here and half the flavors were crossed out and sold out, including the Taiwanese pineapple cake, which was the main reason we chose this place to begin with. It was only 7:30pm on a Friday, so we were pretty disappointed. For awareness the ice creams here are dairy-free!
Please bring back your gluten free waffle cones! I really miss them. Your Ice cream is still very tasty, but the gluten free waffle cones are really what I would come to Dear Bella for.
Restaurantji Recommends
Originally this place said they close at 9pm but on the day said it closed now at 5pm (posted via instagram). What a waste of journey.
As one of the many lactose intolerant people here, I always want to be able to find those dairy free ice cream places so I do not need to pop a lactaid, especially if I had forgotten to bring one. However, a lot of dairy free ice cream despite the claims you can sort of tell the differences between their dairy vs. dairy free. However, here, they really do stand by their slogan of cannot believing its dairy free. The ice cream was so creamy and the flavors were all so nice. My favorites that we chose were the Taiwanese Pineapple Cake and the Hojicha. These were some of the best iterations of the flavors I have every tried and I would love to come here again!
This place is amazing! I enjoyed the chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream with a gluten free cone. My husband had an ice cream sandwich with chocolate chip cookies and cookies and cream ice cream. Everything was gluten and dairy free! It's a little pricey for us but it was a birthday outing so it was worth it. There was only one employee working at the time and it got busy so we gave her a good tip. You can sample different flavors too. Highly recommend it!Dietary restrictions: Pretty much every flavor is gluten free and all the ice cream flavors are dairy free.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Cookies and Cream Ice Cream, Build-Your-Own Sammie, Freshly Baked Cookie, Gluten-Free Cake Cone Contains Soy
Went in thinking I wasn't going to get any ice cream but ended up leaving with a split scoop of hojichq brown sugar and Taiwanese pineapple cake! The flavors were so fun and too hard to pass up that I had to try! Everything tastes exactly as it is described, with the hojichq super tea tasting, roasted, and fragrant, which was a delicious surprise compared to most places that have tea flavored ice cream but the dairy part is overpowering to the tea flavor. I've also never seen a Taiwanese pineapple cake ice cream flavor before and it tasted exactly like I was eating it! Love the pineapple filling gems! The girl that worked there even said people travel far just for this ice cream flavor! For a vegan ice cream place, everything was super creamy and delicious and I felt like they chose a lot of flavors that complemented the coconut milk base! They definitely know what they're doing so go go go!!!
My friend and I came here in pursuit of vegan ice cream, since she is mostly dairy-free. We showed up at about 7:45 pm and saw that there was a "be back soon" sign on the door, which said they would be back at 10:35, which was odd because their posted hours were only until 9:00 pm. We stood around for a few minutes weighing our options, and then thankfully a very sweet employee came back and re-opened shop, so we think the sign was actually meant to say "be back at 7:50." Either way, we went in, I tasted a flavor and then we both got split scoops. I got butter pecan and snickerdoodle with whipped cream on top - so yummy! The butter pecan was amazing and the snickerdoodle was good, but would have been overpoweringly sweet on its own. The whipped cream tasted great too! Overall, I was very impressed with the ice cream, which was just as delicious as non-vegan ice cream, but just be aware that if the sign is on the door, you should just wait a few minutes.