Snowy Village
Recommended by: When we asked the cashier, Eldon at Xi’an Noodles, if he could recommend another place that he enjoys eating at, he advised he doesn’t go out to eat much, but the place across the street, Snowy Village, has really good shaved ice(bingsoo) desserts. We can’t pass that up.
Description on the Snowy Village’s website: Snowy Village USA only uses the freshest ingredients available. This keeps customers coming back for more and enjoying our product again and again.
Neighborhood/Type: University District
Address: 5264 The Ave, Seattle, WA 98105
What we ate/drank: Strawberry Bingsoo, Mango Bingsoo, Green Tea Bingsoo, Espresso Bingsoo
Comments: Very similar to when Cinnaholic and The Donut Factory opened, if you looked on Instagram the first week that Snowy Village was open all you saw was photo after photo of food shots coming out of Snowy Village.
Snowy Village is a chain from Korea that specializes in Bingsoo and Taiyaki. Bingsoo is the Koran version of shaved ice. It’s typically flavored with milk, chocolate or green tea and topped with fresh fruit, red beans, cookies, cake crumbs and rice cakes. It also typically comes with condensed milk that’s poured over the shaved ice. Taiyaki is a Japanese cake normally bought on the streets and in the shape of a fish. There’s normally a filling of azuki beans, but can also include chocolate, custard or sweet potato.
This is Seattle Snowy Village location is only the 4th in the US. The others being in LA, San Diego and Houston.
First thing you need to know is that Snowy Village is located at the northern end of The Ave(University Ave) near UW and it’s always packed. They opened in May of this year and waited for the hype to die down. Whenever we went there we always ordered our Bingsoo to go and ate it at home because there was always a line for seats. They have seating for maybe 25 people? Don’t come here expecting to get a seat anytime soon if you have a party of more than 4.
All throughout the summer we took our Bingsoo to go and thought when autumn comes around and the tempature goes down, we’ll then be able to eat inside since the crowds have all tried it and people wouldn’t want Bingsoo when it’s cold. We were wrong. Even now as the tempatures get down to the 30’s, we’ve been able to eat inside exactly one time. They do have an ipad to check in, so the process for waiting is at least automated.
Another thing you should know is that they make everything from scratch. You can actually see them peeling mangos and cutting strawberries. This means it will take some time to make your bingsoo. My friend told me she brought her family there and when they saw how crowded it was and ordered 3 bingsoo to go. They made one bingsoo and she took it to her family who were waiting in the car. IT was taking so long to make the second bingsoo , the first one was melting and they had to furiously eat it in the car. They finally finished making the 2nd bingsoo and took that one to the car and her family had to do the same thing because the third one also took a long time to make. She was not too pleased, but we thought it was hilarious. Rookie mistake. She thought 3 workers would be making the 3 bingsoos simultaneously, but apparently how their system works is that one worker completes the entire order, so the same worker made all three bingsoo one after the other.
If you look at the pictures of the bingsoo, you can tell why it takes so long to make and why it’s so photogenic for Instagram.
The real distinction is that the ice in the bingsoo at Snowy Village is 100% milk, not water like most shaved ice.
You can see the variations of bingsoo from their website up top. That’s not even all of them. There’s more than that. Some of the choices are seasonal like watermelon or honey dew melon, so it may not be available in the fall/winter.
They have 3 different sizes single($5.95 fruit/ $5.45 other) for one person, regular($8.95 fruit/$7.95 other) for 2-3 people and large($11.95 fruit/$10.95 other) for 4-5 people.
For our family, Snowy Village is synonymous with bingsoo. We jumped for joy when we heard Snowy Village was coming to Seattle. And now, our entire family gets excited when we decide to come here on a whim. We’re so lucky to live nearby so when ordering one large bingsoo to go, we don’t have to worry about it melting. The fruit based Bingsoos are the showstoppers and the most popular amongst our family. The Green Tea Bingsoo isn’t really my cup of tea, but the rest of the family likes. The Espresso Bingsoo is Snowy Village’s version of the affagato. It’s a perfect dessert choice.
Ratings:
Atmosphere: 4.25
Service: 4.50
Food/Drinks: 5.00
Bang for the Buck: 4.50
Overall: 4.50
Locals Only Factor: “Locals Only” grading-We’ll assign a grading as to how “local” a place is.
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- Well known or Touristy. Most locals don’t go there unless they have business dinners or visitors in town.
- Most locals know about it
- Locals “in the know” know about it
- Only those who live close by know about it.
- You’re in on the secret. Don’t tell anybody!
Servers recommendations to visit in the future: A reader advised us of a new challenger to Snowy Village called, Kakigori that also specializes in Instagramable bingsoo.
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