Kat's 9 Lives

As you can see I made my rounds in the Ferry Building, scouting for old favorites. It's been a while since I have been to Ciao Bella Gelato. I remembered that they were pretty good. They are definitely no Amarino in Paris, but not bad. Since I have had a slew of horrid gelato everywhere, I thought it was time to cleanse my palette and let it have a taste of the good life. Of course it was super busy on Saturday since the weather was nice and it is also Farmer's Market. The wait wasn't too bad.
When we finally reached the front we saw the array of choices. The sorbets were in the left case and the regular gelatos were on the right. Immediately we started to explore the choices/flavors by asking to try them. We debated on which flavors to get because we like to share but most of the time we like different flavors. Each of us got 3 scoops and I told Ms. Lin to separate them into groups so that no fruity flavored sorbet would mix with the milky gelato. The flavors that we didn't get but tried were the Creme Fraiche, Mojito, Hazelnut Biscotti, and something with Champagne. There were probably a lot more flavors we tried but obviously they weren't worth me mentioning. Apparently creme fraiche is some sort of banana flavor. The mojito was only so-so and I thought the hazelnut was lacking in flavor. I was so excited to see that flavor but it really had no hazelnut taste and what biscotti?? The champagne one was very strong and I didn't like it because I am not a fan of alcohol. They had a lot of sorbet with alcohol and they do taste like the alcohol used... so if you like alcohol then be sure to try them out. I am fair about things I don't like because it could be a simple matter of preference.

The gelato cup had Valrhona Chocolate, Dulce de Leche, and Turkish Pistachio. I thought the chocolate was too rich and sweet for my taste, but Ms. Lin thought it wasn't bad. The consistency was very thick. She loves dulce de leche so we had to get that flavor, but I didn't think it was anything too special. Again I thought everything was way too sweet. As for the pistachio, I thought it was lighter in taste but still sweet. They had a decent amount of nuts inside and really had the pistachio flavor. Of course I ate this myself since Ms. Lin detests nuts. They were very stingy on my cup because it was a LOT smaller than the sorbet cup.
For the sorbet cup we both unanimously agreed on the Sicilian Blood Orange. She chose Passion Fruit and Espresso as the other flavors. I thought the blood orange was extremely delectable, packed full of favor, and sweet with a hinge of tartness. It helped balance out the extreme sourness of the passion fruit. I normally love anything with passion fruit, but this way too tart for my taste. As for the espresso... that was completely random in my mind to have that as a sorbet. It definitely is packed full of caffeine and tastes just like an icy espresso. Poor Ms. Lin basically had to eat the two cups. Although most would find that a pleasure but I am sure she was sweeted out.

All in all it was not bad but definitely not what I remembered it to be. It was very rich and sweet. I know it's weird for me to say this but I found it to be too sweet. I just couldn't take it anymore. This means something is off because at the other ice cream places we go to in SF, I could eat a lot of ice cream without any hesitation. I think it will be a while before I come back here for more gelato. Don't get me wrong, I do think they are pretty good but it really isn't for me anymore. The flavors are good, but I don't want to become diabetic any time soon. =P