Pineapple Float at Jollibee - Irvine

The Irvine branch of Jollibee can be uneven. There are times when my order comes out lickety-split, but there are other times when the employees can be as comically disorganized as Keystone Cops fighting a fire. And then there's the food: while Jollibee's version of pancit palabok remains a favorite of mine, when I'm looking to eat a traditional Filipino breakfast, I'm much better off at the Grill City counter across the way, where I'll pay nearly half the cost for twice as much garlic fried rice and tocino.

Despite the unevenness, I've been to Jollibee twice in one week now. It's for our current obsession--a special drink that's not only cheap ($2.79) but surprisingly good despite that most of it comes out of one of those recirculating beverage dispensers that I always equate with artificial flavors and colors.

The drink is their Pineapple Float, and to make it, an employee scoops ice cubes into a cup, pulls a lever on that dispenser to fill it near to the brim with the chain's pineapple punch, then on another lever to plop a squiggle of vanilla soft serve on top of that. Finally, to finish, he adds a few spoonfuls of chopped up canned pineapple.

If you think it sounds like it would be a wretched combination, you'd be as wrong as I was. It is, in fact, refreshing, but also ice-creamy, and not as sickly sweet as I initially imagined. And unlike Dole Whip, which I've always thought had an artificial aftertaste, Jollibee's pineapple float finishes clean--a summertime icy drink/dessert that, in the two times I've had it, was consistent, not only in the way Jollibee's employees have made it, but also in my enjoyment.

Jollibee
2180 Barranca Pkwy #120
Irvine, CA 92606

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