Somi Somi Review: The Korean Soft Serve and Ah-Boong Experience in Los Angeles

The Verdict

Somi Somi arrived in Los Angeles with a concept that did not exist in the market: Korean soft serve served inside a freshly made fish-shaped waffle cone called ah-boong. The visual is immediately compelling, but what keeps people coming back is the soft serve quality itself. The texture is distinctly different from American-style ice cream, denser and creamier, and the flavor program is built around Korean ingredients that are genuinely uncommon in a dessert-shop context in LA.

After multiple visits to Somi Somi locations across the LA area, including the Koreatown flagship, the assessment is that this is one of the most original dessert concepts operating in Los Angeles right now. The ah-boong format is the draw, but the flavors are what make it worth returning for. This is not a novelty destination. It is a well-executed dessert shop built on a distinctive concept that holds up on every visit.

What Is Ah-Boong?

Ah-boong is Somi Somi's version of bungeoppang, the Korean street food tradition of cooking a fish-shaped waffle stuffed with filling. At traditional street stalls in Korea, the filling is typically red bean paste. Somi Somi replaced the red bean with Korean soft serve, which created a dessert that bridges a well-loved street food format with the modern soft serve culture that has swept across Asian-American markets in the US.

The waffle itself is made fresh to order. It is slightly crispy on the outside, soft and lightly chewy inside, with a mild sweetness that works as a neutral backdrop for the soft serve. The fish shape is not just decorative; the cavity inside the waffle is sized and shaped to create a specific soft-serve-to-waffle ratio as you eat from the tail toward the head. The result is that every bite has both waffle and cream in a proportion that is clearly intentional. No other dessert chain in Los Angeles has anything directly comparable.

Somi Somi Menu: What to Order

The Injeolmi Soft Serve is the order that most distinguishes Somi Somi from any other dessert shop in LA. Injeolmi is a Korean rice cake dusted with roasted soybean powder, and when the flavor is translated into soft serve, the result is a toasted, nutty sweetness with a faint earthiness that reads nothing like the standard vanilla, chocolate, or even matcha options that dominate Korean soft serve menus. If you have never had injeolmi in any form, this is an excellent introduction. If you are already familiar with the flavor, seeing it executed this well in soft serve form is genuinely impressive. Order this as your first flavor on any visit.

The Ube Soft Serve is the most popular flavor and the one that draws the most first-time visitors. The ube flavor is properly made with real purple yam, not artificial coloring, and delivers the earthy sweetness that distinguishes genuine ube from the approximations that appear on many menus. Compared to what Wanderlust Creamery does with ube in their Ube Malted Crunch, Somi Somi's ube soft serve is cleaner and less complex, but serves its role as an approachable, well-made expression of the flavor. For groups where not everyone wants the injeolmi, ube is the default recommendation.

The Matcha Soft Serve is the most consistent performer on the menu and the safest choice for matcha regulars. The matcha intensity is properly calibrated, not too sweet and not so bitter that it overwhelms the soft serve texture. It is a well-made matcha soft serve without any particular surprises, which is what most matcha orders should be. For groups, a matcha and injeolmi swirl is one of the more interesting flavor combinations available.

The Black Sesame Soft Serve is the most niche flavor on the standard menu and the one that polarizes opinions most sharply. Black sesame has a nutty, slightly bitter profile that can feel assertive when translated to soft serve. Done correctly, as it is at Somi Somi, the flavor is complex and memorable. For drinkers who enjoy the earthy, roasted register of Chicha San Chen's oolong teas or the depth in Moge Tee's Pu-erh drinks, black sesame at Somi Somi will appeal for the same reasons. It is not the entry point but it rewards an adventurous palate.

The Cookies and Cream Soft Serve is the one flavor that feels slightly out of place in the context of the rest of the menu. It is well-made but generic. There is no Korean culinary tradition behind it and no particular differentiation from what any other soft serve shop in LA offers in this category. It is the flavor for someone in the group who has not yet found a Korean-inspired flavor they want to try, which is a legitimate role, but it is not the reason to visit Somi Somi.

LA Locations: Where to Find Somi Somi

The Koreatown location is the most accessible for visitors staying in central LA and operates in the same corridor as the city's best boba shops, including Tiger Sugar and Happy Lemon. A Somi Somi visit fits naturally at the end of a Koreatown boba crawl, serving as a dessert-on-dessert conclusion that the neighborhood's density of options uniquely enables.

SGV locations draw a different crowd, primarily Korean-American and East Asian American families who are familiar with the bungeoppang tradition and come specifically for the injeolmi flavor. These locations tend to be in strip mall settings with easier parking than Koreatown. If the primary goal is the most authentic experience of the ah-boong concept without the Koreatown weekend crowds, an SGV location is the better choice.

Weekend evening waits at the Koreatown location can be significant, particularly between 7 PM and 9 PM when foot traffic in the neighborhood is highest. Arriving before 6 PM or on a weekday eliminates the wait entirely without any reduction in soft serve quality. The ah-boong is made to order regardless of how busy the shop is.

Pricing

The ah-boong soft serve runs $7 to $9 depending on size and topping additions. Soft serve cups start at $6. Drinks including boba and soft serve beverages run $8 to $11. Premium combos with multiple toppings can reach $12 to $14. This pricing is competitive with other Korean dessert concepts in LA and represents fair value given the quality of the soft serve and the freshness of the ah-boong waffle. It is priced above budget boba chains like It's Boba Time and roughly comparable to Mochinut on a per-item basis.

How It Compares

The most direct comparison in the Korean dessert category is Mochinut, which also uses Korean-influenced flavors in a novel format (mochi donuts). Both chains draw from the same Korean-American food culture and serve a similar market. Somi Somi's soft serve quality edges Mochinut's boba program in refinement, and the ah-boong format is more visually distinctive than a mochi donut. Mochinut has the better savory-to-sweet balance as a full stop; Somi Somi is more singular in its focus.

Against the artisan ice cream shops like Wanderlust Creamery, Somi Somi does not compete on the same axis. Wanderlust is built around the concept of hand-crafted small-batch flavors rotating seasonally. Somi Somi is built around a specific Korean soft serve tradition delivered at scale. They satisfy different needs. If the goal is maximum flavor complexity and craft credentials, Wanderlust wins. If the goal is the best Korean soft serve in LA in a uniquely designed format, Somi Somi wins.

Pros and Cons

Final Verdict

Somi Somi is the most original dessert concept operating in Los Angeles across multiple locations. The ah-boong format is immediately compelling and holds up on every visit because the waffle is made fresh and the soft serve quality is genuinely high. The Injeolmi flavor alone justifies the visit for anyone who has not experienced Korean rice cake powder in a dessert context. Combined with the Koreatown location that fits seamlessly into any boba crawl itinerary, Somi Somi is an easy recommendation.

A 4.5 out of 5 reflects a concept executed at a very high level with one minor deduction for the generic Cookies and Cream flavor that undersells the kitchen's ability to deliver something distinctly Korean in every other option. The injeolmi and ube ah-boong combination is the most memorable dessert experience in Koreatown, and one of the best in Los Angeles.