Zinga! FrozenYogurt – Kenmore Square

Deliciousness has its price; prepare for sticker shock!
The owners of this Zinga! franchise have a great location, and I predict this will be a popular spot to visit, particularly in the summer. And it’s very convenient both to Fenway and the Kenmore T-​stop.
They’ve also done many things right. Some of that benefits you the customer, and some of it benefits them as a business.
Their wide assortment of flavored frozen yogurts are pleasing to both the eye and the taste buds, as is the «wall o’toppings» and the «salad bar» of additional ingredients such as fresh fruit, lychee nuts, peanut butter cup chunks, crushed graham crackers, and more. It was really tough not to do the «I’ll have a little bit of everything» thing.
I’m sure it is NOT a coincidence that the cups into which you put your yogurt and toppings are quite large — portion (out of) control, eyes bigger than the stomach, and all that stuff. And have you noticed the price per ounce isn’t necessarily conveniently located? Just be prepared to dish out $ 7 or $ 8 for a full container of yogurt and toppings. If you don’t mind that, you’ll love this place!

What does this girl want after a ball game? Yep — froyo. If I can’t have beer, give me the deliciously sweet dairy.
This was my first outing to a ‘pay by the pound’ froyo place, but I have been well trained by the pricey salad bar in the Hancock tower — don’t go overboard with heavy wet stuff. Or try not to, because it’s so danged delicious you’re going to have a hard time!
I loved the variety in yogurt flavors and the fact you could put in ‘just a bite.’ And the toppings are fun — combining fruit and chocolate is the best. Prices were totally reasonable considering the serving size and toppings my husband and I both got, our orders totaled around $ 9.50. Way more affordable and, more importantly, delicious than many other ice cream options in the area.
The cherry on top (besides the three maraschinos I put on) was that the proprietor was so friendly and welcoming, it made me want to come back lots more. Like right now…

I’m new to this froyo craze and believe me, you’ll want to jump on the bandwagon!
I walked in my first time and knew EXACTLY what to do… my dormant inner 13 year old lil boy instincts kicked in as I darted for a cup and made a b-​line to the froyo bar!
Talk about flavors and toppings, this place is like a kid’s paradise! Lots of flavors to choose from with a great selection of toppings from candies to fruit. But although it’s «yogurt» I seriously doubt you’ll be saving yourself any calories here.

I absolutely love their pomegranate energy and it was pretty much the only one I would settle for every time I came here. I topped it off with some mochi, poppers, and cookie dough. But after trying out other froyo places, I’ve come to realize that their froyo melts extremely quickly. They also aren’t that great with listening to Facebook suggestions despite having it there.
The staff are mostly friendly and not in your face.
However, since the froyo melts quickly and they don’t serve the pomegranate energy that often any more and it is also not nearby where I live anymore, I don’t come back here.

I’ll be frank — I don’t like ice cream. If you love ice cream, don’t go to Zinga, Leave the froyo for the rest of us.
I love the variety of low and non fat yogurt as well as the toppings. Be as healthy or as bad as you wanna be.

After trying some self-​serve froyo from another place that moved in nearby, I have to say I just prefer the froyo at the other place. BUT the staff at Zinga is still nice and friendly, and the place is always clean! So this is just a personal taste preference update.
Also, people sometimes seemed confused — this place is on the 2^nd floor, so go up the stairs and turn right to get in. I’ve seen many people see the sign on the sidewalk, go investigate poorly, and walk away confused/​sad.

As far as fro yo places go, they’re generally pretty hard to mess up. Zinga! just misses the mark. Of the many flavors, I only found a few to be enticing, and so I sampled them and found even less that I actually liked. I ended up going with salted caramel pretzel, which was ok, but nothing amazing.
I will say it was clean and had a larger variety of toppings than most places, but I most likely won’t be back.

i’ve been here quite a few times, and by now i’d have to say this place is a hit or miss. for one, it’s pretty expensive — at 49cents per ounce, it’s up there, but it’s still cheaper than pinkberry or berryline. it’s awesome that you get to choose how much of everything you want, but their flavors are sometimes super watery or super powdery and they don’t always have sample cups.
zinga! will remain an occasional splurge for me.

I used to love Zinga… Then they got rid of their gummy candies. I was ok with that, but recently when we have gone there was a BC student who used the same sample cup and sample many times (sometimes the same flavor). That’s really unsanitary and the staff didn’t seem to really care… Even though they saw her doing it. We complained to her telling her she needed to stop and she replied «it’s not touching». It didn’t matter to us if it was touching… It was still gross. The employee stared at me blankly… i knew we couldnt win… We had already bought our yogurt and left when we thought we didn’t want to chance it. So we threw it out and went to Mixx…

It was like entering the twilight zone. Everything, and I mean everything, right down to the same choice of 2 spoon colors was IDENTICAL to our chain Menchies at home. The clerk denied any relationship between Zinga and Menchies but I know better.
Because of the self-​serve design of this shop I was able to create a medley of three of their yogurt flavors — original tart, dreamsicle and blueberry cheesecake (I was able to sample all 3 before committing). I think they had about 12 options to choose from, unfortunately you are limited to a couple of samples a person. That is why it is good to come here with a friend that you don’t mind sharing germs with so you can maximize your sampling!
They only offer one large size cup, so it is only your self-​discipline which prevents you from filling it up to the top and having it cost you a bundle at $.49/​oz. The offered a huge variety of fruit, mochi, cookie, nut, candy and syrup toppings. You have to choose wisely though, with the weight of 3 giant gum drops you could be paying an extra $ 1.
The yogurt itself wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t great either. I chose non-​fat flavors which all became icy and watery quite fast. For around $ 5 for a smallish portion, I doubt I would ever return. 2.5 stars

Flavors: HUGE variety and really interesting (they make cinnamon bun froyo?!)
Toppings: plenty to choose from, along with many different types of sauces
Location: Right on comm ave so really easy to get to
Overall this is probably the best froyo place in the greater boston area. Decent prices amazing ice cream /​topping plus they have a rewards program to get free ice cream
Pro TIp: Go out the back way and check out the strange art gallery you enter on your way out. Really interesting

I was pretty excited to see a frozen yogurt store opened up in Kenmore. I previously had to go to Berry Express in Coolidge Corner for self serve frozen yogurt. I usually get the plain flavor and love to add a bunch of toppings so I liked the variety they had. I’m also a huge fan of the weigh and pay method. Sometimes I just want $ 2 worth of yogurt and sometimes I want $ 10.
I’m pretty excited about their rewards program too. Every 40 oz of yogurt that you purchase you get a free10 oz yogurt. You also get a free yogurt for registering on the website and for your birthday/​anniversary.
Pink Berry and Mixx have better quality ingredients, but since Zinga has the rewards program and is on my way home, I’m their new number 1 customer.

I love that its very buffet-​like in the way you help yourself to whatever flavors and toppings you want. They have the fun diabetes inducing candies and assorted sugary confections in one area and fresh fruit for the more health conscious froyo enthusiast in another. They offer WiFi and a reward zone type card (DANGEROUS) for repeat offenders.
Also, everything is priced by weight, so you measure your scoopage by weight and usually ends up being less than $ 5 (unless you’re a fatty, like me).
A definite must on a hot summer day.

Self-​service and price by weight is a plus for me at Zinga. The froyo is good and there is a great selection of staple flavors (like vanilla, chocolate and strawberry) to flavors like NY Cheesecake, cake batter and watermelon. The appeal is the variety of candy and fruit toppings and any selection of syrups you feel like drizzling or pouring on your helping.
When you enter it is a bit cramped in this second-​story location, and first time visitors can sometimes have a tough time of figuring out where to go (and the staff doesn’t really help you, so much as watch you). There is ample seating, but you will have to battle some youngins to snag a table. Apparently this is where all the prepubescents go to hang out on hot days since they can’t go to the bar. All-​in-​all a solid alternative to places like Berryline and Pinkberry, but definitely try to go when it’s not super busy.

Proximity and variety make Zinga a fairly frequent destination for me. No self serve place has yogurt that can match the quality of the rotating flavors at Berryline and Pinkberry, but Zinga comes about as close as Boston-​based yogurt stores get (second only to Mixx). Again, the allure is in the selection. Dr. Frankenstein would be proud of the monstrous creations I come up with as I troll the toppings bar at Zinga.
Most yogurt places have a rewards system, but Zinga’s is killer. You get a free 10oz just for registering online. You also get a free one for your birthday and anniversary. I’m single as fuck, but you best believe I listed an anniversary in their database. Speaking of which, I think my anniversary’s coming up soon…

Zinga had me at mango sorbet.
Perhaps a bit easy to miss, Zinga sits, tucked away ontop of a wine gallery/​shoppe, with easy walking distance from Kenmore T Station. Parking here sucks butt. You’d have to circle around several times, or walk a good distance from your parking spot in order to get back to Zinga, but it’s all well worth it.
As soon as you walk in, the atmosphere feels clean, and the seating very college-​cafeteria-​esque: it gave me a feeling that this would be an inviting, good chill/​hangout spot. One wall is filled with 12 different froyo [or in this case, Sorbet too!] choices, and the opposite wall filled with different things to top your frozen goodies with. It’s all do-​it-​yourself at a meager 49 cents per ounce.
They change their flavors daily and their sorbets are always to-​die for. They have an amazing rewards program, which is a winner-​winner-​chicken-​dinner =D
If you register online, you can get your first 10oz cup of froyo w/​toppings completely free! Every time you go to the register, you type the phone number you registered with into a keypad, and points are automatically added to your account. 40 pts gets you another free cup of froyo, which is of course, always a good thing!
AND! They have an awesome game to play: if you bring your loaded cup to the scale and it rings up the magic number of 13.5, you get it for free!
I know without a doubt I’ll be back, that is, if I can find parking!

Tried out Zinga! this weekend and it really hit the spot. Airy space, lots of flavors/​toppings & convenient location.
I’d love to give this place more stars, but watching an elderly gentleman basically hold his mouth under the yogurt machines to eat free yogurt was absolutely GROSS! I understand that times are tough and people want free yogurt, but someone at the store should have regulated that situation right away. When I mentioned the situation to the register staff, they glanced back at him and ignored what was happening.
Not sure if I’ll go back after that major gross-​out, which is too bad since I liked my food and the price was right.

Its no berryline but it’ll do the trick if you walked past Newbury street and decided you still want fro-​yo and you can’t resist.
Love their red velvet flavour, definitely a better taste then the one from YogurtLand.

«First time here?»
I nod eagerly.
«Would you like the grand tour?»
After a friendly greeting like that, I was confident that my experience at Zinga would be a pretty good one. With all the choices for froyo flavors and toppings, I felt like a kid in a candy shop. Literally. One wall is lined with about a dozen self-​serve frozen yogurt machines; the other, with all the toppings you could possibly dream of (some fresher than others, though). I wasn’t in a decisive mood, so I just tried a little of almost everything to top my froyo. M&Ms, crushed Oreos, marshmallows, Reese’s Pieces, brownie, cookie dough, and cheesecake bites, yogurt chips, chocolate chips… You name it, it was on my frozen yogurt.
The frozen yogurt. After sampling everything (yes, I tried every flavor), my final selections were New York Cheesecake, Chocolate Mint, and Birthday Cake. It’s no BerryLine, but really, what is? You don’t go to Zinga for the rich, creamy perfection that is BerryLine froyo, because nothing can compare to that. You come when you want three or four or five (or six or seven or eight…) flavors in your bowl, and toppings that you can’t find at BerryLine. And for that purpose, Zinga works wonderfully.

My favorite kind of frozen treat places are the pay-​by-​weight kind (hey, sometimes I’m in the mood for just 2 spoonfuls of froyo topped with exactly 3 chocolate chips and 2 strawberry pieces), and I was happy to see that Zinga falls into that category. What’s cool about this place is the variety of flavors… my usual self-​serve go-​to is BerryFreeze, which I consider to be more ‘real’ froyo (tart, mostly natural fruit flavors), and in contrast Zinga is less ‘real’/tart and leans more towards synthetically sweet non-​natural flavors (café olé, red velvet cake, cookies and cream, candy cane). As much as I tend towards the more natural stuff, personally I think there’s room for both types in life (mine, at least), so I’m happy Zinga now exists.
After sampling a few flavors (which is encouraged), I went for a mix of birthday cake, dulce de leche, and strawberry, all of which were no/​low fat (birthday cake and dulce de leche were my favorites). Zinga has an impressive variety of fresh-​ish toppings organized neatly and cleanly along the wall (try the mango or strawberry bubbles, so weird), and the whole space was nicely organized and clean and bright, which is a big pro. Service was friendly and helpful, although I’m sure it didn’t hurt that we were the only 2 in there at the time. Check it out if you’re in the area.