Dominion's Gelato

Dominion is one of the worst grocery stores around. BUT, their gelato is pretty good. Not Hollywood good. Not quite La Paloma. But, pretty good.

I had a small ($1.95) which was plenty. Despite the small cup, the gelato came a good 4 inches out of the cup, giving me a generous portion.

I had chocolate and pistachio, two benchmark flavours. The chocolate was very good; nice, dark, and chocolatey. Very nice texture. The pistachio was as good as La Paloma's: a bit too green, and tasting of artificial flavour. But, tasty nonetheless.

Hollywood is the best, bar none. La Paloma does not even come close. Dominion is third place, but not far behind LP.

[wordsworth]

Dominion is as good as any place. Their meat, in particular, is far better than any other of the big chains. The worst by fasr is Lowblaws. They will sell anything, no matter how old.

Anyway, their gelato is fine for what it is.

[hungryabbey]

Does Hollywood only have gelato, or ice cream too? Do they sell any other treats and goodies?

[embee]

Gelato and sorbet and excellent espresso. No regular ice cream. They sell pastries and such and these are good, but they aren't house made and are available elsewhere.

[hungryabbey]

mm sounds good, must try before it gets too cold.

[embee]

Dominion, like every other supermarket, has good stores and bad ones. Sometimes it's a conscious decision on their part -- I once worked with a chain (not in Toronto) that had (quite openly) "A", "B", and "C" level stores. C-stores had a poorer selection, lower quality, and typically cost MORE than the better locations. A good store can also become bad overnight with a change of manager.

I'm puzzled about Bayview/York Mills. Sure it's small, but with the high-end competition in that plaza and the nature of the clientele, I'm surprised they would carry crap. Seems a manager transplant may be in order. The artisinal breads at some Dominion's are great. A few have really good stone baked pizza. Some have veggies that stand up well to Whole Foods. Some carry largely crap.

But this was supposed to be about gelato... I'm surprised at the praise from you Hollywood fans. The Dominion gelato looks gorgeous (if a bit garish). It's cheap. It seduced us immediately---but only once. We tried 4 different flavours. All were artificial and nasty tasting.

[bestandworst]

I had to try the gelato at dominion today because I couldn't imagine fwagra noting something positive about such a pedestrian place. He is always so self righteous and snobby. Glad I tried it! Now I can cross that one off of my list of things to try. Ok to be fair the chocolate was good, but not great. The strawberry and the Pistachio however is a BIG disappointment. I say its Hollywood or nothing for gelato. (haven't tried Paloma)

[pinstripeprincess]

i'm a fan of solferino, their pistachio is not to be missed but i have little to say bad about their offerings.

i recall going to dominion in a moment of excitement from a new renovation and going straight for some hazelnut gelato. it was fairly good and something i would repeat again but wouldn't likely consider in the top as fwagra has noted.

[S_K]

The one I go to is hit and miss. Sometimes it's good and sometimes it's not.

[aser]

I'm eating some right now, bought a half litre of mango ice. It's decent, although I find the flavour a tad mellow. It does taste pretty fresh though, nothing artificial about it.

A good fix when I can't get to hollywood or la paloma. My friend keeps hyping up Soma, saying it's the best in the city. It's in the distillery district, I'll have to try it out one day.

Where is the gelato located in the store? Is it in the ice cream section? How is it branded? I cant believe I've never seen it before...

Not all stores carry it. If they do, it has it's own counter. It is usually in the area where they serve prepared foods.

Yeah, Ive tried their gelato a little while ago, and I was surprised by their portions! It was $3.99 for a sugar cone (I think), but they pile it mile high. You can even ask for two flavours (or even 3, which my friend did), and they'll do it for you. My friend was saying that it's because they charge you a hell lot for it (comparing to an ordinary Baskin Robbins ice cream, I guess).

Hmm... now you've got me curious about pistachio gelato at Dominion! I had the one at Hollywood Gelato, but didn't think it was that good - probably wouldn't order it again.

I totally agree! What a nice surprise that such good gelato comes from a grocery store. I didn't care for the caramel, but the lemon is perfectly tart. The strawberry and raspberry are heavenly. They will also make gelato cakes upon request and they aren't bad!

We also frequently buy gelato from Dominion. It is pretty good. A half litre goes for $7 and a full litre for $10. Check their weekly flyers, sometimes they sell a full litre for $7.

i believe dominion's carries Sicilian company's gelato - which i think is the second best, after la Paloma. But given Paloma's prices, I think Sicilian's is better value. I only eat these two.... haven't tried hollywood's yet

The St. Lawrence Dominion makes their own in store

I disagree. Fruit and vegetable prices are breathtaking an dthey are photography quality, but so are Loblaws'. I get a real kick out of Dominion's "specialty" potatoes in the clamshell at $1.29 lb. They are also trying to turn tomatoes into the same clamshell B.S. But I do like their meat and always buy on sale their prime rib roasts, which I cut for steak, at $3.99 or $4.99 a lb. The $20 a lb stuff of previous posts is unnecessary.

Your Dominion is obviously better than the one near me: Bayview and York Mills. At mine, the produce does not take anyone's breath away. I once had to wave near-rotten produce at the store's staff, repeatedly asking them sarcastically if they really "fresh-obsessed?"

Anyhoo, the gelato is darn good. I'll be popping in for that stuff near weekly.

Fwagra, I totally agree. That's the store near me as well, and I have been totally disappointed with the produce since we moved into the area 4 years ago (limp, rubbery broccoli, wilted greens). I find myself going to Bruno's or Loblaws for produce even though the Dominion is closer (and the produce store next door is outrageously overpriced).

But I'm looking forward to trying the gelato (Hollywood is my all-time personal favourite).

[ognir]

Dominion can have good meat. I got a fresh rabbit at the one on College last week. And they often have excellent sales on rib steaks that are decent quality.

Their Master Choice peanut butter is excellent.

Have not had the gelato.