Half of Yalla Mediterranean Locations Have Closed

Fro-yo girl here. Last June, I mentioned that Yalla locations were no longer serving Greek froyo. Now I’ve learned that half of Yalla’s locations have closed. Last year, pre-pandemic, Yalla had branches in the following cities:

• Burbank, CA
• Culver City, CA
• Dublin, CA
• Fremont, CA
• Pleasant Hill, CA
• Seal Beach, CA
• Walnut Creek, CA
• Chicago (delivery only)

The Fremont location at 3141 Mowry Ave. closed and the space has been taken over by Nick the Greek, the fast casual Greek chain which happens to serve Greek froyo. It looks like it closed at the end of 2020. It opened in 2016. I used to go fairly often because if you checked in on Yelp, you’d get a free Greek froyo with baklava. The food was decent, healthy, and reasonably priced. But once the froyo machine broke, the food didn’t seem as good either. The portions got smaller. The broken froyo machine seemed to be a sign that they weren’t making an effort to maintain their standards.

Yalla Seal Beach, 12420 Seal Beach Blvd, opened in 2016 and seems to have closed in September 2020. I went once for froyo but the froyo machine was broken. The machine worked for two years and the it seemed like they “broke” at every Yalla location. The froyo was always on the icy side but it became icier over the years.

The Yalla Dublin location at 5246 Dublin Blvd opened in November 2015 and closed for good some time during the 2020 pandemic (hard to say when exactly since it was probably a temporary closure that turned permanent), maybe in the fall or late summer? It became a Nick the Greek as well.

Yalla Pleasant Hill, 55 Crescent Dr Ste F, opened in December 2014 and may have been open earlier this year. Yelp says it is permanently closed and the location is no longer on the Yalla website. Yalla Pleasant Hill was the first location. It was a new concept from Daphne’s California Greek, with a different look, a broader Mediterranean menu than Daphne’s, and an emphasis on sustainability by using local GMO-free ingredients, responsibly raised meat and fish, and eco-friendly packaging. Daphne’s was acquired by Victory Park Capitol Advisers earlier in 2014 and FAT Brands in December 2018.

As of March 2021, only Burbank, Culver City, Walnut Creek and Chicago remain open. Those locations do not serve froyo. I used to go to the one in Burbank for froyo but once they stopped offering it, I stopped going.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

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