The best frozen yogurt in San Diego, ranked
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At Yogurt Mill in El Cajon, frozen yogurt never went away. Photo: Claire Trageser/Axios
Frozen yogurt is making a comeback, though in San Diego it may have never fully gone away.
The big picture: The once-crowded froyo scene has been shrinking for years, industry data shows. But nostalgic fans are returning.
State of play: Roughly 128,000 TikTok posts were tagged #froyo during the first 10 months of 2025 — up over 16% from the same time last year, according to internal data shared with Axios.
- Some customers want what they're calling "Obama-era froyo."
💭 Claire's thought bubble: Finally, my time to shine has come. I am a San Diego froyo expert and have a lot of opinions. Here are my top picks:
🍶 Yogurt Mill in El Cajon. The building has a giant tower on top that kind of looks like swirled frozen yogurt, and that's only the beginning of its amazingness.
- The yogurt quality is thick and creamy and the flavors are always on point.
- The portions are ridiculous. What they call a "child size" fits in what looks like a Big Gulp cup.
- My family usually brings ours home and then eats froyo for a week.
- Caveat: It's cash only.
🪨 Rockie's Frozen Yogurt in Kearny Mesa. Also giant portions, also really great quality.
- I'd consider ranking them the highest, except they don't give out samples.
🏖️ Paradise Yogurt in Mission Valley. This cute shop has vegan options and low glycemic fruit fructose options that surprisingly don't taste disgusting.
- They also have books lining their walls that you can borrow.
🥄 Golden Spoon in Hillcrest. Their flavors are always changing and usually very good.
- They rank high on my nostalgia scale because my husband and I used to go there when we were newly dating.
- Also, my husband once convinced the owner to sell him the shop's old San Diego CityBeat newsstand shelf for $20.
- It's now sitting in our garage.
🎨 Yog-art Frozen Yogurt in Allied Gardens. I generally think self-serve yogurt's quality isn't as good, but theirs tastes great.
- Their flavors are always changing and are consistently good.
- They also have shakes, Boba tea and Chamoy drinks.
Follow the money: Unsurprisingly, the days of 35-cent-per-ounce swirls are long gone.
- Higher costs, including for labor and ingredients, have hit froyo stores just as they have others in food service.
The bottom line: Froyo's having a moment, but it's looking more glow-up than boom.