JJ’s Place Bakery and Ice Cream

Sadly JJ’s is gone. Store is cleared out. Great effort here. Sorry it didn’t work out

I never thought I’d leave this kind of negative review for anywhere. My friend and I made a mistake of going there for lunch and ordered two salads, a pizza and soup. We decided on the place, since it was right across the street from our work.
Salads– used old veggies! Lettuce that turned black and raspberry that seemed only half way defrosted.
Pizza/​flat bread– ummmm… more like cardboard.
Soup– «tomato basil’ uh, NO. first bite, both my friend and I said «this is ketchup! !!!»
We ended up leaving most of our food untouched and went somewhere else for lunch.

I had a cobb salad and was very impressed. Everything on the salad was so fresh. How many places can you say that about?
My daughter had the ice cream and said it was great. She is looking forward to our next visit to try one of the ice cream specialties… and to get a chance at the chess board table.

We’ve been here a couple of times. The milk shakes and root beer floats are very good. A little pricey maybe, but very good. Today my youngest got a muffin and the oldest got a cupcake. They were $ 2.75 each. My oldest said his was a little dry and didn’t taste good. My youngest isn’t verbal enough to describe his, but I noticed he ate it slowly, unusual for him. I overheard a girl at the table next to us say her cupcake was dry also.
We haven’t tried anything else there, but they have a good variety of items.
I don’t think this will be a regular spot for us, but we’ll go occassionally.

I miss the days before the ascendance of frozen yogurt when ice cream shops were still relatively easy to find. Alas, at least for California, those days are past. Thus, I was more than a little excited to discover this new place opening up near my dear comics store.
And… it’s ok. I wouldn’t say it’s bad, but it doesn’t really fill the creamy void. On my first trip, I did as other Unilocalers have done and ordered the ice cream cookie sandwich. And, as they all mention, the cookies are way too hard to be used in this fashion. Arguably, they would be too hard even without the ice cream. (See Baked Bear in Pacific Beach for a much better attempt.) I was also disappointed that the ice cream was not made in-​house; rather, it’s made by an outside vendor. So, all in all, not that special. On the other hand, what you get is rather sizable.
The other baked goods at JJ’s are generally better, with the apple fritter being particularly tasty. That said, over all, JJ’s can’t really compete with some of the dessert locations downtown, but if you’re here and not there, give it a try.
Summary: Fills a hole in the area it’s in, but not the one in my heart.

I liked this place! It has a real homey feel to it. Like you’ve gone to a friend’s house and his mom baked a bunch of pies and cookies for you. I was sad to see it so empty though, because I think it has a lot of potential. I had an ice cream sandwich and it was good. Only, the cookies were too hard for an ice cream sandwich. Every time I tried to take a bite all I did was squeeze the ice cream out the back of the sandwich. The cookies weren’t too hard to eat, let’s make that clear. In fact, they were really good. But in my opinion, they should be much softer for an ice cream sandwich. A lady walked in the same time we did and stated that the best pie she ever had was from here, so I know I’m coming back to try one of them. Overall, I really liked this place. The baked goods were delicious. But there is something missing. Not sure if it’s their presentation or marketing or what. Once they figure that out, I could see this place being packed all the time.

I didn’t like it wasnt worth my six dollars

I came here a couple months ago to try their ice cream sandwiches. I was very disappointed. The young man who helped me did not wash his hands before touching my cookies, or even use gloves. GROSS. The ice cream scoop wasn’t much of a scoop, it was more like a pebble. My brother was being helped by a young lady with braids, her hair was so long that it actually went into the ice cream as she went to scoop it. I hope this place has improved since I went there. I recommend the Baked Bear in P. B instead.

Great neighborhood place! My son had his first banana split tonight and thoroughly enjoyed it. Thanks JJ and welcome to Clairemont!

I don’t know if we will be back but this place is a great place to get a ice cream shake & everyone is super friendly. It’s a small family business and it’s nice to spend my mom local and not to a store that has around 30 (isn) flavors.
I know it’s not as «flashy» as most places and service to get your items (shakes) is a little slow but again it’s nice to go spend my money at a family owned place.
I only had shakes this time — and there was a little bit of wait but they were pretty good :)

What a great ice cream shop and bakery. Loved the snickerdoodle cookie and butter pecan sandwich. Friendly staff and the place is spotless. Had a great time. This is our second visit. The first time we came we had oreo cheesecake! It was out of this world.
We wil definitely be back!!!

I’ve been here half a dozen times. I will start with the positives — the cupcakes, donuts, and brownies are good. The cookies, however, could be the worst cookies I have ever had. The dough is the same for all cookies (and appears to lack brown sugar?). The difference between the various types of cookies is what’s been smashed into the top of the cookie. I’ve never seen a chocolate chip cookie with the chips squished into the top. The first time I went to JJ’s, I purchased cookies and they were standard, chips in the dough, chocolate chip cookies, then the cookies changed, and not for the better. I see people talking about how good the ice cream sandwiches are; perhaps the ice cream covers up the bland cookie? I don’t know what to say about the cookies. They’re the weirdest cookies I’ve ever seen and they’re all like that — M&Ms smashed into the top, toffee smashed into the top, white chocolate/​macadamias smashed into the top… am I obsessed? Perhaps. I can’t imagine why anyone would mess with one of the most perfect food creations — the chocolate chip cookie. Every time I go in there, I check the cookies, hoping that they’ve been fixed by making each with its own dough (that includes brown sugar), with its accessories IN the dough, but I continue to be disappointed.
Why do I keep going back, you ask? Like I said, the cupcakes are good, the brownies are good, and the donuts are good. Please, JJ, fix the cookies, and make the cupcakes and brownies available earlier in the day. I’d take a cupcake and/​or brownie any day over a dumb breakfast muffin. You have the space, JJ. Make better use of it and have «bakery» items available for purchase at all hours.

What a great place for ice cream :) we order ice cream but it looks like they have lots of other great stuff as well. We will definitely be back to try some!
My only criticism is they should use the space a little better — more table and chairs. The décor they have is cute, they just need some more :)

such a huge ice cream sandwich for a good price. The cookie was yummy yummy in my tummy. And the ice cream was a good complement to my cookie! I’m a happy camper.

My boyfriend and I have been here twice the ice cream sandwiches are so yummy the cookies are so soft and chewy and the ice cream has great flavor plus the price is great!

Dropped by this place at random since we were in the area.
Staff is very friendly and their items are fairly inexpensive. Place looks like a good place to hang out with friends or just sit and read you latest buy from the comic book store just a few stores away. Free wifi is available and wouldnt you know they also have a chess table available.
Im a fan of their build-​your-​own ice cream sandwhich. For $ 3 you definately are getting your moneys worth. Their milkshakes are also great.
Definately will stop by this place soon. I needs my ice cream fix.

Excited to try this place and the best thing here is the ice cream sandwiches for only $ 2.95! Cool place to hang out and very friendly customer service!

We are so excited to have a new dessert place open in Clairemont — especially since Baskin Robbins just closed for renovation.
My daughter and I both had make your own ice cream sandwiches. For $ 2.95 you get an enormous sandwich. Choose two cookies and your flavor of ice cream. Nearly endless opportunities.
There were also cupcakes, brownie bites, and various pastries. Plus different dessert mousse type dishes.
We went back today for a selection of brownie bites and chocolate dipped strawberries for a dessert treat for a birthday celebration tonight. $ 1.00 a brownie bite and $.99 a chocolate covered strawberry.

I’ve been waiting to try this place since I saw the construction a few months ago. Maybe it was my high expectations but it left me a little bit underwhelmed as a whole. The space was a little open and there wasn’t any music playing when I came in. It felt more like a coffee shop than a high end dessert place.
We tried an assortment of desserts including a lemon muffin, chocolate cake pop, a rasberry breakfast pastry, and a brownie. Most of the pastries seemed a little stale and despite the warning from the cashier the brownie was almost frozen. Aside from being a little stale, the overall flavors of the food was just ok. The one exception was the cake pop that was almost like a chocolate fudge pop and not at all stale.

For what it’s worth, the other Unilocal review made me really want to try one of the custom Ice Cream Sandwiches. I’ll give JJs another shot and revise my review at a later date after they’ve had some time to work out the grand opening bugs.

Woop! Woop! Finally open! After driving by numerous times over the past few months, JJ’s has finally opened its doors! They’ve got a bunch of different dessert options as well as some breakfast snacks. Their orange raspberry muffins and blueberry muffins look pretty good, but I didn’t give them a try just yet. I did get one of their ice cream sandwiches!
It’s definitely a growing fad in the ice cream world. Pick 2 cookies and a flavor of ice cream and you’ve got yourself a customized sweet! The two cookies I got were the chocolate chip and they M&M cookies with coffee ice cream. Pretty good, but I do wish that the cookies were softer. When cookies are somewhat hard, the soft ice cream just squishes out. Either softer cookies or a deeper freeze of the ice cream to make it nice! Oh, and they’re $ 2.95 each. Cheaper than a couple other places around SD, but a dollar more than the famous Diddy Riese in LA.
They’ll make you a milkshake with any flavor of ice cream they have, so that’s probably what I’ll be doing next. If you’re in the area, don’t be afraid to stop by. They’ve got some kinks to work out product-​wise, but they’re pretty friendly (seem to be family run) and it’s a pretty nice space.