My dad used to bring home Velatis caramels after work when I was a kid. I grew up in Silver Spring…read moreMaryland, just outside of DC. I'm 72 years old. It's delightful to know they're still in business, still available. Not too many old traditions alive these days; Velatis is a tasty one.

Actually, this store is on Hampden Lane in Bethesda now. Beautiful caramels and other sweet treats…read morein this new location. Be sure to stop by and make a purchase. The charming woman whose family owns the store will regale you with the history of the store which dates back to the 1800's.

They're open during the pandemic which is a YAY! My littles wanted ice cream (not popsicles) after…read morea long hard day playing so we drove over around 6pm. They're located on Georgia right next to Denizens, and It's kind of in the cut and hard to see (well it was for me). If you're coming in from East-West Highway (pro tip: don't if you're driving, the parking there is restricted and they tow) you have to walk down stairs between the 1830 building and Denizens to find it. They allow one party in the building at a time. My boys and I went in and the young man immediately asked if we were just using the restroom or also getting ice cream-- I doubt they have public restrooms but I was on a trot after 3 hours out-- and when he realized we were getting ice cream, he didn't allow anyone in until we came out of the bathroom, ordered and left. Very safe. Their ice cream is clean, delicious, and their flavors are unique. I tried honey lavender and It was SOOO good until the very end ( I ate a bit of lavender and didn't taste anything else til I was done). The boys' strawberry ice cream was delicious and NOT pink- we avoid red dyes so this was exactly what we were looking for. The sugar cones are just the right size for the small children and they don't overstuff the cones a la Brusters and Ben and Jerry's. These are just right in size and price for kids. They didn't have a "kids cone" option per se (but I didn't ask) we just did a single scoop. That's one thing I'd like- a cake cone (smaller) with a kid sized scoop. As ir was, I got a scoop and a half helping the 3 year old finish. The 6 year old inhaled it in 2 minutes so it's just about right! Overall it's close to home, easy to get to once you know it's there and had great service plus AWESOME ice cream. I cannot wait to try the ginger, coconut, and wild blueberry! Lo

Interested in some super premium ice cream (aka ultra premium at this business)? Super premium,…read morepremium, standard, and economy are marketing terms used by ice cream makers. The FDA rules (in general) for calling a frozen dairy product ice cream are: 1) it must have at least 10% dairy milkfat. 2) it must weigh at least 4.5 lbs per gallon. 3) the overrun cannot exceed 100%. Super means the ice cream has at least 15% milkfat and less than 50% overun. Each ice cream company has their own definition, but they are similar. Overrun is the percentage of air in the ice cream compared to the starting materials. E.g. If you start with 1 quart of ice cream ingredients and mix it until it expands to 2 quarts, you will have 100% overrun. More milkfat and less overrun makes ice cream thicker, richer, creamier, and smoother. So, my wife and I came here to try their super premium ice cream and sorbet. They have 17% milkfat in their ice cream. We sampled 5 items and bought 4. 1) Pumpkin milkshake It tasted like pumpkin pie with cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. No noticeable clove flavor, which was fine with me. It was thick, creamy, and rich while still being easy to drink through a straw. It had a smooth sweetness that was just right. A great milkshake if you love pumpkin pie! The pumpkin ice cream was smooth, rich, and creamy with a great pumpkin pie flavor. It was the best tasting out of the 5 we tried. That's why we picked it for the milkshake. 2) Peanut Butter It had a strong roasted peanut flavor with a moderate sweetness level. The flavor was excellent, but the texture was not right. The ice cream had ice crystals throughout, not just the surface. I hope this was a production error and not the norm. Iciness is not acceptable at $9.25 per pint. 3) Gingersnap It had finely crushed gingersnap cookies in it. It tasted like gingersnap cookies with a strong ginger flavor. It was smooth, rich, and creamy. There were 2 problems: it melted very quickly and the ginger flavor was too strong. Less ginger and a touch more molasses would have made it great tasting. Ironically, molasses makes ice cream softer and melt faster. My photo shows the amount of melting that occurred in less than a minute after scooping it out of the container. I can imagine the mess on a hot day while eating this from a cone. You have to eat this very quickly if you don't want to drink it. This is inconsiderate to the customer. 4) Mango sorbet This had a natural mango flavor with a good amount of sweetness, but not too much. There were bits of mango in it which added some tanginess. It was thick and smooth with no iciness. This was fruity and refreshing! The service was informative, helpful, and friendly. They let you sample as many as you like. There were only 12 flavors available on our visit. They usually have more, but supplies had not been delivered. There are 2 freezers with pints of ice cream and sorbet for sale. The store was clean. They had 7 tables with chairs and counter seating. There are no restrooms for customers. I found the sorbet to be one of the best around DC. Some of the ice cream was disappointing in either taste or texture. The iciness in the peanut butter ice cream was probably due to a mistake that was made during the production. They need to check each batch of ice cream before release. The incredibly rapid melting of the Gingersnap ice cream will turn people off. That's easily fixable. Taste is subjective. I just think it's better to have less ginger as opposed to more. The pumpkin ice cream was an excellent example of super premium ice cream. We will return to try other flavors and give the peanut butter ice cream another try.

Incredible space. Service is always warm and amazing. Some of the best sweets in town! Amazing that…read morewe have a place where vegans can also enjoy a treat. The lemon raspberry cupcake and the sweet and salty cookie are my absolute favorites

Coworkers ordered these directly from Sticky Fingers Bakery for me as a gift. The flavors below are…read morethe ones I tried and my review: Red velvet cupcake--my favorite! Very moist and the icing is delicious and creamy. 5/5 Birthday cake--also delicious love the sprinkles and icing, moist cupcake. 5/5 Chocolate chip--rich and moist, omg, and it had all of the chocolate I desired through and through! 5/5 Cookies and cream--great icing, a little dry on the cupcake 4/5 Chocolate covered strawberry--didn't care for the chocolate coating but the strawberry flavor is strong and I absolutely love it! I'm happy I finally found a strawberry vegan cupcake since this was my favorite flavor prior to being a vegan. 5/5 Overall, I would love to try more cupcakes and other vegan treats from this bakery as I was thoroughly impressed.

Overall value is 3.5 - it's a bit of a splurge for a regular dinner but we were craving Italian and…read morethis was the closest. We do really like the Tacoma Park area. It's on the same block as a really nice Thai place and a nice Mediterranean spot as well. There weren't many people on a weekday night so we just walked in. Street parking is free after 7 PM. The star was the margharita pizza. And we also got a calzone, which was also really good. The texture of the crust and the little slight crunch and the sauce was really great. I wish there was more basil on the margarita pizza. There were three pieces of basil on the entire pie the pasta we got was the seafood pasta and it was a bit salty and portions are a bit small, but maybe that's the norm now? And we also got this other mushroom ravioli thing that is also pretty good but just really small. I think it was like five or six pieces of ravioli for $24. Service was fine. It was standard. The restaurant was a little bit hot during the heat wave. I wish it was a little cooler so with the four dishes altogether it was over $80 before tip for two people and we just had a little bit left over which is why I thought the value was more 3.5 than a four. That said, I'd still come back and get the margarita pizza and calzone - they're really quite good.

Trattoria Da Lina has become our family's "special occasion" restaurant in Takoma Park, though it's…read morejust as wonderful for an ordinary weeknight when you want outstanding Italian food. It's family-owned and operated, and you feel that warmth the moment you walk through the door. The staff are genuinely welcoming, happily accommodate substitutions and dietary restrictions, and often recite the nightly specials with a delightful mix of English and Italian--usually accompanied by a compliment about your outfit or your dinner companion that makes everyone smile. We had Christmas Eve dinner there this year, and it was every bit as memorable as we'd hoped. The portions are generous enough to share or take half home for lunch the next day. I especially recommend the Chicken Marsala, Chicken Piccata, and the classic mussels, all prepared beautifully. Don't overlook their neighboring pizzeria either--it's our go-to for both takeout and casual dining. Trattoria Da Lina is the kind of neighborhood restaurant every community wishes it had.

tasty espresso drinks and teas. strawberry shortcake was…read morevery delicious, so was the croissants, my fav was the one with almonds. service was fast with high accuracy. restroom on site. shop was intimate, clean and cozy. pricing was not bad at all. street parkings or nearby garage parking with a short walk. 5/5 stars, and will return. highly recommend by foodies from @WineDinenVacay

This place is truly the crème de la crème of sweet treats and cutesy coffee and matcha drinks!…read more You will have different dessert and baked good options to choose from - my only hang up is wishing there were more savory options (but maybe the cafe it's meant to be more for sweet treats and desserts). Bear in mind there is no readily available parking near this spot - there is street parking if you can get lucky for a spot.

I've walked past Fantasticks on several occasions, and I decided to stop by after getting my drink…read moreon at another spot in Downtown Silver Spring. Hey, YOLO. Fantasticks pretty much is a gelato and "gelato pop" shop. The shop has decent selection of pops; I counted about 8-10 varieties during our visit. The concept is pretty cool and easy - you pick your pop base, a dip, a drizzle, and some toppings. One can come up with some very interesting and (hopefully) delicious combinations. I went with a raspberry cheesecake pop with a chocolate hazelnut dip and strawberry (I think) drizzle. I thought the pop was just ok because I'm more used to creamy rather than icy gelato. However, I understand for this to work that the gelato has to be a bit icy so it can maintain the popsicle shape. So, I will not hold the icy texture against the gelato shop. If you are not interested in the gelato pops, the shop has about 12 gelato options. Oh, they even have a few vegan options too. Two gelato pops with the dip and drizzle was about 14 bucks without a tip. The service was pretty good because the two young ladies were very patient with us and explained the process very while. Although I was not a huge fan of the gelato pop, I will return to try some of the regular gelato flavors.

Popsicles, ice cream, and gelato! What more to ask for!??…read more Fantasticks is a new addition to the Silver Spring Town Center area. You can't miss the store with its bright signage, open concept, and cool inside vibe you can see from the street. Fatasticks offers great homemade gelato of many flavors and some of the most eye-appealing popsicles i've ever seen in a quasi-ice cream shop. I stopped by yesterday and was blown away by all of the great flavors and offerings. I tried a Strawberry popsicle and a Double Chocolate, Brownie gelato that was amazing. The flavors were all there, and the profile of the gelato was one of the most I first noticed. It was smooth, creamy and had no lumps or icicles. And it was so good!! I think I may have noticed at least over 25+ flavors of gelato in the store and wanted to try them all. They offer samples....but please don't go ham...trying to try them all in one visit.....because I almost did. lol. The price point and the popsicle offerings were great. The only star deductions of this new store location was the customer service. The customer service was average to borderline nonexistent. There were two employees there and as I walked in the door, and I noticed others walking in the door, no one was greeted nor did anyone behind the counter offer to explain the store concept our offerings. The two employees just stood there looking docile and unbothered, with no interest in wanting to eagerly help folks. This kind of observation and expectation definitely soured my first experience, but definitely not the taste of the product. *Note to the manager and owner: please train your employees on proper customer service and etiquette. It goes a long way and making an oppression on the customer, increasing return visits and more importantly your sales! The products and offerings here on the other hand are amazing. I recommend this store as a must try, but don't expect much on a customer service as I hope it will improve over time. The store has plenty of inside seating and it's bright and very clean. There is a seating area outside as well. It would make the perfect spot for the warmer months to sit outside and enjoy some good gelato and chill, people-watch. In all, I'm sold.....at least on their goods....not so much on the customer service for now. Can't wait to go back tho' and try some of the other offerings!

The crepes and iced coffee were delicious! Crepes were made to order and came out quickly - I…read morecouldn't believe how big they were. This was a unique breakfast experience with tons of options to choose from.

Good atmosphere and food. Looking forward to returning to the restaurant. I came during the week I…read moresuppose the weekend is more crowded

This was an interesting one. This is a secret menu for the All Set Restraunt…read more The BBQ was not bad. The meat was tasty. The restaurant was comfortable. The waitstaff were a little slow. Never got a refill and it took a bit to track someone down to get bbq sauce.

Got to stop by the truck while they were in Glen Echo Park for Carousel Day. The staff is…read moreefficient, kind, and clearly have great communication and systems in place, the line was insane and they just kept calm and cranking food out insanely fast. The smoked mushroom sandwich was absolutely delicious as was the mac and cheese! Definitely recommend checking them out :)