— TheToothfish

Review: The Original Flavor, Red Mango

★★★★★

With any trend there are imitators and posers, wanna-be’s and copycats. Oh, how hordes of frozen yogurt shops have spawned across the United States. Yolo, Yoforia, Yogli-Mogli, Yogurt Mountain, Sweet Cece’s Frozen Yogurt — these names. What is the deal with these names? Are we so starved for creativity that the best we can do starts with a “Y”? And who is Sweet Cece? Somebody who gets a lot of $1 bills.

None of this matters. What matters is that the real master of frozen yogurt — Red Mango — has a chance to speak in this overcrowded marketplace. Red Mango is the original trendsetter from South Korea. My understanding is that RM entered the US market via California. Pinkberry jumped on the bandwagon, and now…well…we have Sweet Cece.

black cherry, coconut, graham crackers, chocolate sauce

Red Mango is different and better in two essential ways. One: the interior doesn’t look like somebody fed Dora the Explorer twenty pixy sticks before giving her a paintbucket. Red Mango’s color scheme is red and white. The primary font used around the store is sans serif. It’s a grown up place. Two: the flavors have the all-important tang from yogurt that so many imitators lack. Pinkberry is also good, but Red Mango balances flavor (banana, strawberry, coconut etc…) and tang better. Red Mango is cheaper at 45 cents an ounce compared to Pinkberry which starts at $3.95 if you want toppings.

Red Mango
(404) 320-1111
Decatur 2052 B North Decatur Rd.
Decatur, GA 30033
www.facebook.com/redmangoemory