Review & Release History of Gilco Salted Pocky, Frankford Giant S’more, & More

Review

As advertised, these are definitely vanilla with a light buttery taste from the Pocky biscuit itself. It’s not a pure sweet vanilla either, instead being a lot lighter, sweeter tasting as it has just a hint of sugar and an essence of saltiness, and from the biscuit toning it down.

Overall, these feel like regular vanilla biscuits with a mild to moderate sweetness and some bits of saltiness that help balance it out to more or less than preferred vanilla levels. I’d prefer sweeter, more bold-tasting Pocky, though; these are more plain than other Pocky I’ve had for reference.

Release Date

Released some time before July 2025, as it made a reappearance in July. Found at Five Below mid-December 2025.

Review

As a side note, the Dum Dums mystery varied.

These Dum Dums clearly tasted more premium than regular Dum Dums. A lot more flavor–more pronounced, and the flavors are fairly accurate. There are also generally more sweet and give you a mini Sugar Rush every time you bite through it. Even as someone who doesn’t like Dum Dums, I really enjoyed these.

Quick review:

Blueberry Donut tasted oddly authentic, I get a moderately sweet blueberry candy and even an icing dough sugary taste–very good rendition. Was it perfect? No, but it was surprisingly accurate. Smoothest flavor!

Spicy pineapple was an odd artificial pineapple with a very small spicy kick. Good combo, just not my thing.

Chocolate orange tastes like a cheap chocolate with an artificial orange flavor. Reminds me of Tootsie Roll chocolate. Moderately sweet. Weird combo in this form.

Cherry lime soda, where you can actually taste a cola flavor paired with a candy cherry and a hint of lime. Like an off-brand cherry Coca-Cola with a flavor shot of lime to me.

Caramel frappe had an odd, dull but sweet caramel flavor with a hint of bitterness in the background. I feel mixed about this flavor.

Fried banana, where you get the flavor notes of a fried banana, but to me, this is more of a fried candy banana flavor. Sweetest out of the bunch.

Ranking, best to worst: Fried Banana, Blueberry Donut, Cherry Lime Soda, Caramel Frappe, Spicy Pineapple, Chocolate Orange

Release Date

Released September 2025. Found at Five Below mid-December 2025.

Review

A strong pretzel flavor when biting in with an equal pretzel crunch. It’s basically a glorified, white chocolate peppermint-covered pretzel in ball form. And to me, it simply isn’t as creamy as it should be. Even the shell is hard and dry. At the very least, the peppermint is definitely defined and is noticeable, non-toothpasty, and more of a sugary flavor.

To me, this was weird–salty, crunchy pretzel with a dry peppermint shell. No thanks.

Release Date

While I’m unsure of an exact release date, versions, such as a candy bar, were mentioned in late 2025. Found at Five Below mid-December 2025.

Review

When I open this, I immediately smell a very literal s’mores-like candy scent. Then biting in, I notice it’s pretty slimy–all the pieces slid away from each other! And like other gummies, it’s thick and exceptionally chewy, though it doesn’t get caught in your teeth… it kind of just… slides away. Ick.

Weirdly, I didn’t notice much of a s’mores taste. It’s just lightly sugary sweet with just an essence of s’mores at most. Each piece carries a part of that flavor–the middle white part sports an ever so slightly marshmallow, the gummy grahams are a smidge buttery, and the chocolate is, well, a faint chocolate.

For the most part, just expect an ultra-thick, slimy, lightly sweet sugary-tasting gummy that hardly resembles a s’more. Honestly, this was somewhat unpleasant to experience, to say the least.

Release Date

While I can’t find an exact release date, mentions of this date date back to September 2025 alongside mini versions. Found at Five Below mid-December 2025.

Review

First, I love how the filling reaches the very, very top. It’s a pretty solid inside, almost hard, and not as soft as I’m used to compared to other waffle cones. Additionally, its flavor, despite being a white chocolate, is simply mildly sweet at most. This is surprisingly tame for a white chocolate-based treat. Furthermore, the lightly crunchy shell is primarily plain, offering only a hint of a waffle-like taste.

Together, both the shell and filling make the cones sort of more unflavorful than they should be for what they represent, and will likely come across as enjoyable for those without big, sweet teeth. Otherwise, I’d look elsewhere if you want something more impactful.

Release Date

I’m unsure of a release date. Found at Five Below mid-December 2025.

Review

These have a dark chocolate cocoa flavor that’s mild to moderately sweet. The texture is a bit gritty but still lightly chewy. It also contains a few chocolate chips inside. What all this adds up to is a very tasty, dark cocoa-tasting cookie that has a bit of different, nuanced textures. Compared to the regular chewy cookies, however, these are drier and fall apart more easily, which makes sense since cocoa tends to dry things out more.

If I had to choose between these and their regular chewy chocolate chip cookies, I would go for the others because they’re sweeter and chewier.

Release Date

Released in October 2025. Found mid-December 2025 at Walmart.

Review

Twinkies
I love Twinkies, and you know what, for the most part, these candies do a decent job of replicating that flavor. It’s a much more artificial, waxy vanilla taste, although it does have a hint of the creaminess that Twinkies derive from their frosting inside. So of course, it’s not 100%, although the Twinkie vanilla vibe is definitely here, albeit in a crunchy, cheaper, non-cake form.

Snoballs
I never had a Snoball, but what these candy canes give me is a very sweet, vanilla-marshmallow taste. Notably, these taste less artificial and even sweeter than the Twinkies flavored candy canes–yes, there’s even more of a vanilla and creaminess flavoring here! Best tasting one by far!

Ding Dongs
Tastes like an off-brand, sweet Tootsie Roll. It’s very candy-like, which doesn’t mesh well with the milk chocolate flavor it’s trying to convey, specifically in this form. Is it a Ding Dong? The chocolate is a little different, and it doesn’t quite live up to the creaminess either. Essentially, an off-brand, low-tier, weirdly tasting sweet Ding Dong.

Release Date

While I couldn’t find an exact release date, the Twinkies version was released in 2023. Found on Amazon late December 2025.

Review

I feel duped. There is a milk chocolate layered top and an equally solid white coconut filling underneath it. Is it coconut flakes? No. It has the same composition as the already fairly creamy and solid chocolate layer above it.

Nonetheless, this white layer does give it a light coconut flavor—nothing strong or artificial, and about the same recognition as the chocolate itself. What you get is essentially a balanced mix of a reasonably sweet waffle cone with an equal ratio of coconut and chocolate flavor. Honestly, this entire cone could have used a smidge more sugar.

This should also go without saying: the only crunch comes from the soft, buttery waffle cone! Lastly, I would have liked to see additional crunch from the coconut if anything.

Release Date

While I’m unsure of a release date, reviews date back to early 2024. Found at Ocean State Job Lot late December 2025.

Review

So, immediately biting in, I noticed that the filling in these is harder than in their other flavors; it’s less creamy and drier, from what I gather. It also feels like it breaks apart when you bite into it. Not the best mouthfeel and eating experience, so what about the flavor?

It’s a lightly buttery, semi-sweet dark chocolate flavor with a mild mint note. The mint isn’t too punchy, and the dark chocolate isn’t very creamy either. It feels like the dark chocolate itself is on the verge of developing the typical bitter taste of dark chocolate, but doesn’t quite reach it.

I love mint and chocolate mint treats, and while the flavor was okay (it could have been sweeter and creamier), the hard, break-apart mouthfeel didn’t sit right with me. It felt drier than it should have been.

Release Date

It may have been released in early December 2025. Found at Ocean State Job Lot late December 2025.

Review

I already love regular Bueno bars for their creaminess, lightness, crunchiness, flavor, and sweetness. The soft filling on the inside, in contrast with the light crunch from the shell, is fantastic! Unfortunately, I’ve only ever had and have seen the milk chocolate version of these, until now.

The White has an entire bottom and swirls of ground-up crunchy milk chocolate cookie pieces around its white chocolate, soft candy shell. The filling in mine was also solidified and less soft than what I’m used to with Bueno bars.

Nonetheless, it’s a good combination that differs compared to its chocolate brethren. Interestingly, this white chocolate Bueno comes across as quite mild in terms of actual boldness and sweetness -white chocolate is usually much more pronounced and sweeter compared to this. Lastly, compared to the regular milk chocolate, it’s a bit crunchier and has a less sweet, and even less creamy, overall flavor.

The Dark chocolate one is similar to the milk chocolate version and different from the white chocolate one because it doesn’t have those crunchy swirls. I especially like this version because you get both a semi-sweet dark chocolate from its shell, and then the inside is more of an ultra-soft, ganache milk chocolate. What you end up experiencing is a super chocolatey Bueno bar, resulting in a rich, creamy, chocolately delight!

Overall, my favorite was the Dark, followed by regular Bueno bars and then White.

Release Date

I’m unsure of release dates, although mentions of this and their discontinuations are apparent sporadically throughout the years. Found late December 2025 at Stop & Shop.