Juice Time & Papa Kanafa

Founded in 2011 before expanding to the U.S. with a San Diego location in 2022, Kuwaiti drink and ice cream chain Juice Time (known overseas as Aseer Time) has grown to hundreds of locations internationally, now including two Orange County shops across Tustin (late 2025) and Garden Grove (2026). At the Tustin store, you’ll see signs for both Juice Time and its younger sibling Papa Kanafa, a brand focused exclusively on traditional Middle Eastern desserts. Regardless of the location, Juice Time offers a nice collection of soft serve ice cream desserts, crepes, waffles, pancakes, and chocolate-covered berries, plus fresh juices, shakes, sodas, coffees, and “cocktail” smoothies. Most drinks run from $5 to $10, with ice creams at $6 to $10, and mixed ice cream floats from $11 to $12; other desserts are generally $15 to $18.

When we first visited the Tustin store – notably during the World Cup, when soccer matches were playing on big TVs in the front and back – we were impressed by both its distinctively red- and white-colored, clean interior and atypically large footprint, neither something we take for granted at dessert shops. There’s actual seating if you want to dine in for dessert or a drink, though the ambient noise from music is substantial enough that most people wouldn’t want to bring a laptop to work or study here. Signs promote special Labubu and Dubai chocolate-themed desserts, including full-sized chocolate bars kept in a nearby fridge, while another sign advertises a compelling buy one, get one free ice cream offer every Thursday. (This deal notably does not extend to Juice Time’s menu of more expensive Dubai chocolate desserts.)

Between printed menus and on-TV menus above the front counter, we didn’t see anything resembling kanafa (also spelled kunafa), Papa Kanafa’s signature offering. At the chain’s other locations, four sizes of this crispy shredded phyllo dough and cheese dessert are offered from $16 to $55, made with one’s choice of candy, sauce, nuts, or cream, with similar options for the nutty bread custard-like dish om ali ($21), khechneh or naame ($14 to $50), and osmallyah ($33 to $55). When we asked about Papa Kanafa items on our second visit in June, we were told they would be coming in July; on our third visit in July, the date had been moved to August, but sample menu pages were on display confirming those offerings with local prices.

Like Chocolate Bash, the consistent thread across most of Juice Time’s desserts is decorative toppings (cereal, fruit, cotton candy) or sauces (chocolate, vanilla, Nutella, pistachio, fruit). Valentino ($11), a cup of soft milk chocolate with freshly sliced strawberries, depended on the thick, ample pour of chocolate to feel vaguely worthy of its price, and items that might otherwise be breakfast foods are similarly smothered in sauce. That’s a good thing. We tried a Dubai chocolate crepe ($17), which arrived as a generously sauced, phyllo-covered, and delicious crepe conveniently served in a mess-managing box, and later a Dubai brownie ($17), a thin but large triangular brownie atop phyllo, freshly coated in chocolate and pistachio sauces. If your feeling is that more chocolate sauce only helps things, you’ll love Juice Time’s sweets.